They’d presumably talk us into favoring zats (and those red stun rounds that only showed up in a few episodes) over lethal force that’s only equally effective.
We’d make exceptions for replicators. They’d understand. They fight the Borg on the regular.
Like TNG, the pilot episode is a solid intro, but the first season is rrrough. Y’know “Code of Honor?” The same writer submitted the same script as “Emancipation.”
Decent formula episodes: Cor-Ai (s1e16), A Matter Of Time (s2e16), The Other Side (s4e2), Scorched Earth (s4e9), The Fifth Man (s5e4), Revisions (s7e5).
… and honestly the episode everyone goes on about is not a bad introduction. Window Of Opportunity (s4e6) stands alone.
They don’t even need to fly nose-forward. The Enterprise could exit warp at any damn orientation it wanted. Blasting across the alpha quadrant nacelles-first, like Powdered Toast Man.
Seriously though, if you spray-paint bubble wrap black, then run a sponge of gold paint over top, that’ll just about do. I’d only worry about the spray paint somehow melting the thin plastic… and the inevitable damage to all your shiny bumps.
Do pre-strung sequins come spaced-out? I am unclear how those work. If their orientation can be fixed then you could get a little tool and snip each circle into more of a Pac-Man shape.
Oh - “honeycomb sequin” might do. Gold on black, then delete the bottom of each sequin.
Rubber molding is probably the least-bullshit way to get it exactly right. Press or roll a bunch of little divots into some reasonably firm material you’ve made damn sure is level, pour in dark latex, get a thin sheet of flexible material with a bunch of bumps. Try to dip that bumps-down into a very shallow pan of metallic paint. Any goofs can be touched-up by hand.
The quick way is to run a paint roller over some bubble wrap.