“Heart of Glory”

Wow, no comments yet? I'll be first then!

This was the ep that definitely proved Worf was a far more interesting character than Tasha Tar, at a time when they were simply doing the same job: Being the aggressive man/woman of action.

I shouldn't bash Denise Crosby so much for this, because the writers are the ones to blame here. While Worf got an interesting look and was from an intriguing species, Tasha was only human and the writers didn't develop her any further than that.

Now, on to the episode itself. It was pretty interesting to see, being the first character based ep of a guy I wanted to know more about from day one.

But it makes the same plot mistakes of "Datalore". That's it, the bad guy is clearly a bad guy to the audience, yet the Enterprise crew doesn't seem to notice and prefer to show them around the ship (and vital places while we're at it!).

And Worf's conflicting desires to join or not to join his comrades aren't very believable. Do we really think a trained Starfleet Officer will give everything away for a bunch of renegade guys? If that was an imperial call, maybe.

All in all, it's one of the best S1 episodes, imo. This is how you make good use of a ,previously, supporting character. Way to go Worf! Hope there are more episodes based off this klingon.

Totally agree: The biggest plot hole is that Worf (soon to be the Enterprise's security chief and resident hawk when it comes to any threat) would allow the renegades to get a tour of the ship. An episode later in TNG or DS9 would have had Worf give the tour and find out what Korris and Konmel did later.

The other problem with this episode is the fact that Worf apparently isn't known to many Klingons. Given that he was an orphan saved by a human Starfleet officer, that made sense at the time of this episode.

But by the third season, it becomes clear that Worf is well known in the Empire. And by the end of the series and early DS9, the House of Mogh has been restored (or, at least, is important again).

But what happened between the time Mogh died and the Klingon Civil War (outside the period when Worf was banished). Who oversaw the House of Mogh? How did they have lands that were seized after Worf's decision in "WOTW"?

I've always thought this was an unexplained loophole.

I remember watching this episode for the very 1st time, I was 12 years old by then. When the 3 Klingon dudes did their howling ritual, I was so horrified that I instantly switched off the TV.

Oh, Worf is awesome and way more interesting than characters like Tasha, Troi or even Geordi. And as Captain Picard said: "and Mr. Worf, the bridge wouldn't be the same without you". So damn true!

"Birthright II" would turn Worf into the Klingon fugitive. It's funny to see this episode, which for S1 is fantastic, as the fugitives are trying to turn Worf from assimilation...

By season 6, Worf is wearing a ponytail (unique to Klingons, and - of course - the other TV show, known as "My Little Pony") and is convincing others to eschew assimilation of the culture they're adapting in, and the background of their all being in a prison camp is the only reason I can begin to swallow that episode's intent. Worf was always an outsider looking in and read up, but the logic behind "Heart of Glory" is more plausible, and it's definitely not preachy.

The death yell is chilling and worthy.

If anything, the Geordi VISOR plot is cool but inappropriate given they're going into a critical response rescue mission...

And, of course, Worf freely showing the ship to people -- in other episodes he shows himself to be a mindful security-driven officer, but in this episode he's a total twit. Minus 1 point for that.

So I rate it 3 of 4 stars...

This is certainly one of season one's best efforts, and may be the most important episode of the season (next to perhaps Encounter at Farpoint) in terms of introducing important elements. "Datalore" comes close for Data, but no other episode does as much to take a character from having no real personality or identity and making him a compelling figure. It does the same with the Klingon race, convincingly serving as a bridge between the portrayal of Klingons in TOS and the movies as aggressive but treacherous and the ritualistic, honour-obsessed people they are through the 24th century shows.

The primary thing that holds the episode back is that neither the writing nor Michael Dorn are quite able to do justice to Worf's struggle at this point, or to write him in a manner that makes his contradictions clear. What is Worf thinking through most of the episode? It's not that easy to say, and a lot of the episode is taken up by characters saying what Worf is thinking, and we have to evaluate for ourselves how much they are correct. This isn't a bad structure for a closed-off guy like Worf, but it sometimes hits with a thud (as when Picard says something on the bridge about seeing Worf in a new light or...something) and I don't think that Dorn himself is able to convey the inner conflict and motivations well enough.

That said, there is enough here for us to understand where Worf is coming from most of the time, if not all of the time. A nice touch in the episode is the notion that Worf's plight actually reflects the plight of Klingon society generally -- the bonding between Worf and the captain of the Klingon vessel sent to collect Korris and Kommel is maybe my favourite part of the episode (though his having both Klingon and Federation insignia behind him is a weird touch that doesn't jive with Klingon sovereignty). Worf is a symbol of Klingon/Federation cooperation, but he rebels against the taming influence of peace internally even more than the rest of the Klingons because he is even more committed to peace and to the Federation values. The question of whether the Klingon Empire can survive the peace with the Federation without losing its fire is related to the question of whether Worf can himself, which is related to the question of whether humans can connect to the primal instincts without being overtaken by them. That is all interesting enough to carry the hour.

The Geordi-VISOR stuff feels badly out of step with the rest of the episode. This episode also has one of my favourite bits of goofy, bad dialogue in the series:

Data: All routes are equally dangerous.
Geordi: Well what's the LEAST dangerous route, Data?

Hee. Anyway, 3 stars.

Another problem I have -- at the episode's end Worf (rightly) lays into Korris for going on about glory without talking about duty and honour ("without which a warrior is nothing!"). Part of the problem I have is that I don't think that any episodes before this one had particularly established honour and duty as central Klingon tenets. TNG inherited a Klingon race from TOS which was largely underhanded and sneaky, and eventually portrayed them as mostly honour and duty-bound but with lots of hypocrisy which led to people (especially Duras and his sisters, but also Gowron and even Worf himself) going on about honour but acting another way. Still, watching this episode I almost felt shocked when Worf started talking about the importance of duty & honour because I had no real idea that those ideas were already on the writers' minds at this point -- I had just assumed that the concept of honour as central to Klingons hadn't yet been thought of and had written that off as a flaw. As is, the episode is closer to how Klingons are portrayed later but there is a bit of whiplash taking the episode as an independent work (and as the first episode focusing on Klingons in TNG). Still a good episode and good speech.

This is my favorite episode of season 1 by far!! It was nice to see Worf interacting with other Klingons for once. But why is Picard so freaked out by Klingons at the beginning of the episode? They are your allies

@Shenbaz: In early TNG, it's pretty clear Starfleet doesn't feel particularly comfortable around the Klingons. This episode and "A Matter of Honor" show that the alliance is an uneasy one. Picard's involvement with Gowron strengthens ties between the two sides. It's also possible that Romulans re-entering the picture in TNG's first season helped the Federation and the Klingons get closer.

Keep in mind that the Federation and the Klingons really weren't allies until the 2340s. They weren't enemies after STVI, but the events of "Yesterday's Enterprise" indicate that a treaty was being worked on before the Enterprise-C's battle at Narendra III.

Oh, the honorable Klingons. Taking hostages, the incident with the little girl, is "Not our way", says Worf. Yet twenty minutes later, Korris is pointing a weapon at the ship, supposedly threatening to blow up that same little girl and all the occupants of the Enterprise. Sounds like a hostage taker to me.

Korris and his mates killed a whole bunch of people who were just following orders. I don't think they, the renegades, deserved our sympathy. Worf should have been fighting mad.

I'm also a little disappointed that Enterprise security officers, supposedly the best in Star Fleet are so dim witted and unprepared. "Don't be an open target" should probably have been the first lesson in their training.

Reasonable and competent. This is an all right episode that introduces us to a slice of 24th-century Klingon culture. It also (kind of) works as a real introduction to Worf, who has otherwise been a speaking extra up to this point. I think the three other Klingons in this episode did a solid job - more believable than the average meathead Klingons that show up in later TNG and DS9.

One point already raised by William B is that the other Klingons tend to have more lines than Worf. While the character now has something like 11 seasons of development under his belt, I can see how Worf would have felt a bit distant in 1988 even after the airing of this episode. A notable moment comes at the end when the bridge crew seem to not be able to figure Worf out. Interesting (or out-of-character?) considering Remmick described that Enterprise crew as family at the end of the previous episode.

I haven't seen this one in a long, LONG time. It's one of the episodes I used to re-watch a lot on VHS when I was a young'un. When the episode started, I thought I'd misremembered the episode title because the rescue on the freighter took such a large portion of the episode. It's neat how they managed to fit in some Geordi moments (with the visor camera) but ultimately I wish a few of those minutes could have gone towards the Klingon story.

Anyway, this is a pretty decent one. It has some of the standard S1 problems of being a bit stilted, but unlike most of the rest of the first 25 episodes it's paced and written reasonably well. I want to agree with the 3 star assessment, but I don't want to recommend on that big of a curve. It's one of the better S1 outings but I think it plays more like a 2-1/2 star show. I recommend it nonetheless.

As an add on to what the others were saying, Yar and her team are shown to be quite inept. Her security team doesn't even check the prisoners for the most basic weapons. The prisoners assemble the weapons and the guards are looking the other way...I half expected the captain to chew her out...the breakaway floor at the end was another LOL moment...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh

Finally, we get to see the Klingons and are introduced to Worf in more detail. And it's an effective episode, particularly as it begins to explore the fundamental tensions inherent in Worf's character and his foot in both cultures. And it also sets up the Klingons nicely - the ones who crave battle and glory above all else are the outlaws here.

On the debit side it takes an awfully long time to get going - the business with Geordi's visor particularly seeming like a pointless filler. 3 stars.

Poor Tasha. What a dreadful Chief of Security.

Well, this was not half bad ,especially for season 1.
Worf's lack of security sense whilst showing the self confessed renegades around the ship was just unconvincing and the death ritual was a bit much but the story was workeable.

Best episode of Season 1. Great character development, good acting. This is the first one that didn't make me sick to my stomach with wooden acting, boring story or sickly kids.

On the X-Files, you always knew a Rob Bowman episode; it looked like a feature film, was gorgeously lit, had great action scenes, felt kinetic and muscular and had clever camera work.

Watching season 1 and 2 of TNG, Bowman's (a young, novice director at the time) episodes are the ones that stand out. They have an energy about them, the best of which is arguably Heart of Glory, an excellent little episode which, if I'm not mistaken, is our first re-introduction to the Klingon Empire.

Forgot to comment on this one. I think it's a worthy first entry into the pantheon of Worf/Klingon episodes.

And I liked seeing that the alliance with the Klingons was a very shaky one. Makes a lot of sense.

Nice episode, but don’t they check prisoners for items that would allow them to build a phaser before putting them in a holding cell?

A pretty good episode, especially for Season 1, but it bothered me how long Picard spends marveling over Geordi's VISORvision in a dangerous situation. Bet he would have regretted that if he'd gone on a minute longer and it led to losing half his senior staff when the freighter blew up before they could beam back. I also wonder if the third Klingon might have had a better chance for survival if the away team had gotten to work right away instead of chatting.

When I was a young kid watching for the first time, I thought for a long time that the Klingons had actually joined the Federation rather than just allying, and seeing things like the Federation symbol on the Klingon transmission makes me understand why.

So cute to watch Starfleet “security” in action. Lieutenant Moe, escort the prisoners to the brig! Ensigns Larry and Curly, accompany him!

I can only assume it was a simpler viewing audience back in the 80’s and 90’s? The security people jumping into the open and firing one time and then waiting for the bad guys to shoot them just seems goofy now. Is phaser fire a round-robin affair in the future?

Man, I’d push the hell out of the phaser button if I were a Starfleet security dude. “Yes, Captain, I neutralized the threat. I also regret to inform you I destroyed Shuttle Bay 7, 8, and half of deck 11.”

Hello Everyone!

@Prince of Space

I loved your phaser comment. :)

I touched on this in some comment, somewhere, but it seems Starfleet just doesn't know how to use their phasers. They fire them precisely, as if they need to aim perfectly, like the Klingons must do with their single-shot weapon. A beam weapon needs to be used like a machine gun, sweeping back and forth over everything, or perhaps even set it to the wide setting we so rarely see. Then when the smoke cleared, they'd have two baddies down, and have to call for a damage control team. :)

Regards... RT

The Geordi visor thing is never used again that I remember. It seems like simple tech--why not just have the away team strap a GoPro on their heads?

I was bored. I like Worf but these guys he became sympathetic with were annoying at best.

An average episode. Good general story brought down by some dumb moments and huge obvious plotholes like "why can't you beam the guy out of engineering?" but it was one of the first episodes that really showed that TNG could become a good show and go somewhere useful that TOS had not gone before.

Definitely one of the highlights of TNG Season 1 (which isn't saying much) however this is a good episode on its own merits. It does have some of the flaws that plagued TNG S1 but establishing Worf as a character and fleshing out the Klingon species was huge for Trek and this episode did a reasonably good job getting that started.

Clearly Korris is delusional and misguided but through him and the effect it has on Worf we get the picture of a warrior race, the quest for glory etc. It's misplaced given the alliance between the Klingons and Federation but it's not unreasonable given nationalistic tendencies people can have popping up. Worf is called a "brother lost among infidels".

As for Worf's development, it's pretty good here as he tells Korris about duty/honor/loyalty coming from within. Easy to see how some nut jobs can take valid and good principles and distort them for whatever means they see fit. Bottom line, Korris is a fugitive criminal but he serves a good purpose. Worf's line "they died well" is understood by the Klingon captain, even if strictly speaking, it may be a tad hollow in truth.

As for what didn't work -- too much time was spent examining the cargo ship before it blew up and Geordi's visor nonsense really hasn't aged well. Why not a regular camera on his head FFS?? And why were Riker and Geordi not in some kind of enviro-suits with oxygen masks when going aboard?

And then there's the phaser shootout scene where Korris escapes -- how lame were the Enterprise security officers? Seriously, this was a pitiful action sequence. Absolutely no cutting edge to it. The hostage scene with the little girl could have been a really strong moment -- Worf didn't seem to know what to do or maybe he realized the girl wouldn't be harmed as Klingons apparently don't take hostages.

This episode also had a decent musical score, which is very rare for all the Treks coming after TOS.

3 stars for "Heart of Glory" -- the 1st Worf episode has plenty of strong points and sets the stage for plenty more to come regarding Klingons. We can gather a great inner conflict is going on within Worf's mind although that much wasn't reflected well in his acting. Some weak points given it was TNG S1 but it goes a good length to fleshing out Worf/Klingons in the era post-TOS with some interesting philosophical debates.

I never understood why that detention cell seemed to be located at some random spot along a corridor. You would think there would be a more and practical area to hold prisoners.

They probably hadn't built the brig set yet :)

Meant to write, "a more secure and practical" area to hold prisoners. You are probably right. A budget issue.

7/10

this episode gave a good look at Worf. I think there were some issues with the mechanics of the conflict with the Klingons: why were they left with sharp implements in their cell? why didn't Worf see them as traitors? he was initially shocked at what they had done but then became buddy buddy with them. I think the Trek series always has some problems fleshing out the Klingons.

I didn't really understand why Picard was talking about Worf feeling allegiance to "his own kind". The Klingons who were after the two traitors were also "his own kind".

Although we've been Klingon'd to death now, it's important to remember that when this episode first aired, it was the first good look at TNG-era Klingons.

I don't feel super strongly about this one one way or another - 2.5 stars.

Leaving the Klingons sharp implements in their cell is, I think, a plot contrivance and nothing more significant -- a flaw to move the plot along.

Worf not seeing the Klingons in this ep as traitors, though, I think has character meaning. The Klingons claim that the Empire has become too "safe," that they have lost much of the Klingon warrior spirit which led them to conquest. I think the bottom line is that Worf (and the Klingon official we see at the episode's end) are sympathetic to this idea, not because they think that peace with the Federation, not doing huge imperial expansion stuff, etc. are bad, but because they understand how much meaning for Klingons is derived from the fight, the conquest. It is very difficult to take an entire culture whose meaning is derived from external conquest and then channel all that meaning and energy into personal "conquest" (conquering one's fears and weaknesses, fighting more abstract foes such as injustice). This is what Worf and the modern Klingons want to do, but they still have a certain respect for the warrior spirit that drives the outlaw Klingons in this episode. Worf will stop and even kill them (and does) but that doesn't mean he won't feel an allegiance to them, and a desire to bring them with him into the modern era of Klingons who (at the moment) coexist peacefully with the Federation.

You know, up until this moment I had no idea how much this episode was about America. Future episodes about the Klingons, especially by Ron Moore, tended to be more about a foreign culture that was managing between corruption and honor, but this episode seems to squarely sit in the territory of "your glory needs to come from something other than victory in battle", which is a completely relevant message for America and not a particularly apt one about other nations in the 80's.

@Peter G.

Of course you're right that this show was written by Americans with America in mind, but wouldn't this message be a message for all the allies of WWII? The UK, for example, has seen its share of victory in battle historically, but you could say that post-1950 it has worked to identify itself and its culture in a non-military fashion. The 20th century is remarkable in that it had a series of large "wars to end all wars", so the question of what the warriors do in relative peace is an appropriate one that the writers might hope is inclusive of other nations.

@ Chrome,

If you take the episode to be descriptive of changes already made - sort of like a memory book - then I suppose it could apply to any previous world power. And to most of the world beside. But if the episode is more of a warning, a call to stop being trapped in the violent ways of the past and to try to find new ways for glory other than fighting, then the only country in the world it could reasonably be applied to in the late 20th century would be the U.S., and arguably the odd country in the mid-East. There have been other conflicts since WWII, but predominantly they weren't part of a larger pattern of war. Another take could be a continuation of TOS take on the Klingons, as USSR stand-ins, however given the specific story shown in Heart of Glory, namely that an old romantic view of triumph may still arouse sympathy but still need to be retired, that certainly cannot apply to Russia, as I can't imagine anyone watching TNG would have held romantic notions of the 'good old days' of the warlike Soviets. So my conclusion is that it must be seen as a call towards peace to the U.S. specifically.

Why is there no sort of protection for vital parts of the ship? There don't even seem to be security doors or some authentication system. Any drunken idiot can potentially enter and blow up the whole ship with a single shot of his phaser. And you don't even consider sending security teams to protect these crucial areas, even after a breakout of dangerous suspects and at least one security officer killed in action?

I really enjoyed the episode, but these security measures are ridiculous. It's the bad guys in general being that incompetent.

"Of course you're right that this show was written by Americans with America in mind, but wouldn't this message be a message for all the allies of WWII? "

It's not just a message for the victors. It could have been a message for Imperial Japan as well (something the Klingon Empire resembles many times but I rarely see that comparison drawn).

"I really enjoyed the episode, but these security measures are ridiculous. "

Not to mention that they could have just beamed the guy with a phaser out of the vicinity of the warp core.

A slow start on that Talarian vessel - endless. But picked up well once we got back on the Enterprise.

Nice intro info and development for both Worf and Geordi, as we watch Picard begin to understand their inner lives. There's quite a bit of talk about individual perspectives and inner lives (and outer shells) - what makes us who we are.

A good one.

Yar should be working on her resume after Picard fires her for the inept security job. I suspect the Klingon captain had heard through the grapevine all pathetic star fleet security is and was thinking: "2 Klingon warriors against a whole star fleet vessel? oy! I best send over some help because those guys are worthless."

Whatever owns Star Trek now can lick a lot of nethers.

This is a hilariously clunky first season TNG. The first act is completely nuts. “Hey, let’s play with Geordi’s toy in the middle of this time critical mission.”

Actually you know what? Screw the morons that own ST now. They get paid mega bucks to understand a damn near 60 year property. F the F off. Orville time.

Heart of Glory

TNG season 1 episode 20


"As I watched Worf, it was like looking at a man that I had never known.”

- Picard


3 1/2 stars (out of 4)


Here is the episode that gave us Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. How interesting, that “Heart of Glory” is both the sequel to that movie - taking place 70 years after the events of that movie, and also a prequel of sorts, airing 2 years before that movie.

The episode opens with a scene out of hard scifi, something like Arther C. Clarke. Picard sees the world through Geordi’s eyes. And what he sees is a "visual frenzy” and a “jumble.” Geordi and Picard see the world in very different ways. Another person who sees the world very differently from a typical human, is Worf. And by the end of the episode, we will see Worf in a very different light.

The nice thing about Worf in this episode is that his character’s development doesn’t just come out of nowhere. Just last week in “Coming of Age,” Worf and Wesley have a pivotal conversation,

WESLEY: I thought there was nothing that could frighten a Klingon warrior.

WORF: Only fools have no fear.

WESLEY: I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I'm asking too many personal questions.

WORF: It is very difficult for me to depend on anyone for anything, but especially for my life.

WESLEY: But on the Enterprise you do that every day. Everyone depends on everyone else to protect them.

WORF: Yes.

WESLEY: So you overcame it?

WORF: No. It is still my enemy.

When we think of honor and duty and valor and Klingons, it is hard sometimes to appreciate that Klingon warriors experience fear. There can be no bravery without fear - if you aren’t afraid, what is there to be brave about?

But Worf suffers a very different kind of fear. At least Klingon warriors have other Klingon warriors around them - brothers and sisters in arms - who they can depend on, who they can be assured are willing to kill and to die for each other. But Worf lives with a deep suspicion that the men and women around him are just too fragile for him to lean on for help.

Worf had a similar discussion earlier this season with Riker in “Justice”,

WORF: The females available to me, sir, Earth females, I must restrain myself too much. They are quite fragile, sir.

RIKER: Worf, if anyone else had said that, I'd suspect he was bragging.

WORF: Bragging, sir?

The wonderful thing about seeing Michael Dorn play Worf across 15 years is we get to see these threads develop and grow and play out across two different series. This particular aspect of Worf’s character comes out again most vividly in a dialogue he has years later with Jadzia,

WORF: When I was thirteen, I was captain of my school soccer team. We had made the championships, and I was determined to win. Near the end of the second half, with the score tied, my team got a corner kick. The ball sailed up high. Both I and one of my opponents, a human boy named Mikel, leaped up to head the ball. He had position, but I was determined to score. I remember laughing with excitement as I threw myself at him.

DAX: Go on.

WORF: The next thing I knew, the ball was sailing into their goal. I roared with triumph and turned around to Mikel to gloat, only to find him lying on the grass bleeding. Our heads had collided when we both went up for the ball. I had not feel the impact, but I had broken his neck, and he died the next day.

DAX: It was an accident.

WORF: Which only makes it worse. Compared to Klingons, humans are fragile creatures. I realised at that moment to live among them I must practice restraint.

DAX: That must have been difficult for you.

WORF: At first. In time it became part of who I was, who I am.

DAX: And you're still afraid that if you lose control -

WORF: Someone I care about might get hurt.

This episode, “Heart of Glory,” shows us exactly what will happen if a Klingon warrior loses control on the Enterprise. The two renegades, political descendants of the same ideologies as General Chang and his co-conspirators in The Undiscovered Country, are not able to adapt to the new peace with the Federation. When they break out of the detention cell, Enterprise personnel start to die.

The uneasy feeling about this alliance is something a man like Kirk would have completely understood,

KIRK: Bones, are you afraid of the future? … Some people are afraid of what might happen. I was terrified. … No more Neutral Zone. I was used to hating Klingons. It never even occurred to me to take Gorkon at his word.

McCOY: Try not to be too hard on yourself. We all felt exactly the same.

KIRK: No, somebody felt a lot worse. I'm beginning to understand why.

Old, rigid, stubborn men, you might say. Kirk, Chang, and “Heart of Glory’s” Korris,

KORRIS: Brother, this peace, this alliance, is like a living death to warriors like us.

And in the world of Klingons, what Korris is saying is not some crazy mentality of fringe ideologues. Even 70 years after Kirk and the Federation have made peace with the Klingons, this is a feeling that the Klingon captain understands all too well,

K’NERA: Brother, I feel as you. I too wish they could fly free, but I have no choice.

What separates the klingon captain from the renegades, is duty and loyalty,

WORF: Yet in all you say, where are the words duty, honour, loyalty. Without which a warrior is nothing.

For this is a call that Worf too hears loud and clear,

WORF: What burns in their eyes, fires my soul. I hear their words, and I see it all as it was. Part of me longs for that time.

What holds Worf back from losing himself to his Heart of Glory, is duty and loyalty.

But that is not always a choice Worf will stick with.

Years later, Worf will chose to go with his Heart over duty and loyalty, in the DS9 episode, "Change of Heart.” When the writers of Star Trek get something right, they really get it right. And my god, over 15 years, did they get Worf right. And so much of that started here, in “Heart of Glory”.

Perhaps the saddest thing for Worf is that the people who have never seen him for who he really is, are the people he has chosen to live it. As Picard says in the quote at the top of this review,

PICARD: And as I watched Worf, it was like looking at a man that I had never known.

The good news is, Picard will get ample time over the next seven years to really know Worf for the man that he is.

https://youtu.be/e2D91ejMPE8

In some ways a good solid episode in which we learn more about the Klingons (and Geordi’s visor) than ever before. It was good to see Worf’s character developing including his back story of his upbringing by humans. The death ritual scenes were convincing and the whole ‘Klingons are dishonoured by the alliance’ bit was believable.

However it spent too much time on exposition and too little on action making the episode rather ponderous. As for Picard’s fascination with Geordi’s visor while the away team are on an unstable ship in the neutral zone... ha!

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I should have - 2.5 stars but nevertheless it was one of the better episodes.

I’ve read the other comments and I must rail against all the “This is so inconsistent in relation to what we know about the Klingons in Series 4 (5, 6, whatever)”. For heaven’s sake, are you not going to allow the writers to develop a theme during a multi-season show?! It’s a fictional series... There will always be inconsistencies looking back with hindsight!! Don’t be such nerds!!

@Tidd

If you think our conversations here are nerdy, then you must not have read Phil Farrand's Nit-Picker's Guides to Trek.

Ever notice how people's professional work sometimes has something odd in common with their hobbies? The same attention to detail that lets me find misplaced commas in book manuscripts makes it fun for me to come here and play Star Trek nerd.

@Tidd
" Don’t be such nerds!!"
Says the person that has written dozens of Star Trek reviews. :)

@Trish

LOL

@Booming

It’s true (smile) - but good to know that someone is reading them!

I'm sure quite a few are reading them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3K2N7FZSXc ;)

@Booming

Lurkers of the world unite!

Terrible episode. You all must be smoking that good bud while you watch.

Terrible writing throughout, dialogue is not just bad but at an unprofessional level. Yar: "I do not think that is a good idea, Worf. I do not think you should do that, Worf. I do not use contractions. I do not do things. I am not a good actress."

This is one of the only episodes I can recall where the dialogue and direction are so bad that even Patrick Stewart doesn't come off as a good actor.

The plot makes no sense and is filled with absurdities. The first 15-20 minutes is straight cringe in every direction (plot, concept, direction, writing, acting) and possibly the worst 20 minutes in the entire series.

Then you get the Klingon stuff which is only slightly better. The two Klingon "survivors" tell Worf that they stole a freighter and destroyed a Klingon warship that was pursuing them and lied to Picard about all of it, and Worf is like, "I understand you my brothers. Let me take you on a tour of our vessel." And that's that, he tells Picard nothing and shows them around as honored guests. Then Yar comes to arrest the Klingon criminals with a big security team (no thanks to Worf) and Worf stands in between Yar's team and the Klingons and refuses to help. And he acts suspicious toward Yar and the security team not toward the Klingon confessed murderous criminals that he just met. Some friend and some officer, wow.

What else? Well the dangerous Klingon criminals are confined to the brig without a fight but of course they have a whole huge kit of weapons and devices on them that are not searched for or confiscated so they easily break out and start shooting people. Thanks to the backstage tour of the ship provided by their "brother" Worf they know exactly how to get to the Ship's dilithium crystals and hold the Enterprise hostage at phaser point.

So "some things happened" like one or two security officers getting killed, Klingons getting killed, and the whole ship nearly being destroyed with everyone on board, but Worf never confesses to or faces any responsibility for his gross negligence and dereliction of duty, nor does he ever appear to have any regrets about it. None of it is consistent with the character at all, even within the episode itself.

There are practically an endless number of other absurdities, non sequiturs, inconsistencies, illogicalities, and irrationalities in this episode, but let those examples suffice.

One star at most. All of you that gave more than two stars are fired from giving further reviews!

WRT the Klingons being part of the Federation, it is VERY strongly implied in the first season that they are, or are at least subservient. Q also mentions the Feds having defeated the Klingons and it doesn't appear to be a Q joke.

This was retconned away in the following seasons.


The two surviving Klingons in this episode look somewhat more like TOS Klingons, particularly the one with the mustache and constant grin. The smirk itself may be what gives that vibe.

The acting was pretty bad in this episode, felt like a high school play. The Klingon commander's monotone script reading in particular. I still laugh at that silly weapon they put together with what looked like two drinking straws stuck on the end so flimsily that I don't see how you could even aim it. I know season 1 was low budget but come on. Also the "security guard" who was shot after he jumped right out into the open for some reason. Are you sure this show didn't start out as a comedy?

@Thrackerzod

Actually season one wasn't low budget at all, it was notable at the time that it was the first tv show created for syndication with a budget rivaling prime time network shows.

Paramount was still making crazy bank on TOS (very unusual for a 20 year old show at the time) and if TNG failed, they planned to add the season to the TOS syndication package.

It just took the show a while to figure out the kinks and that actually could extend to things like the security officer jumping out to be shot at. What I mean is, TOS had incredibly goofy things like that and when making a new version of something so iconic, it's not immediately obvious what to keep and what to change.

I think that's certainly the source of so many first season planet sets with the solid color backgrounds. A matte painting background simply would not have cost much.

The weapon the Klingons put together never bothered me. It's flimsy and looks goofy but it was specifically designed to appear to be inconspicuous uniform decorations and such. I do remember being amused the connectors look like my old PC keyboard's.

I thought I'd copy-paste an interesting bit of text:

WORF: Through an act of kindness. The Romulans attacked the Khitomer outpost. Everyone was killed. I was buried under the rubble and left for dead. A human Starfleet officer found me. He took me to his home on Gault and told his wife to raise me as his son.
KONMEL: How old were you?
WORF: Before the age of inclusion.
KONMEL: That young?
KORRIS: Gault is a farming colony.
WORF: When my foster brother and I were of age, we entered the Starfleet Academy. He hated it and returned to Gault. I stayed.

Contrary to what I had assumed, S7's Homeward is not any kind of retcon/surprise as the introduction of Sybok was for Spock. I had totally forgotten that they mention this early that Worf has a foster brother.

Michael Dorn is brilliant in this. At last an episode that shows what he can do when given some good speeches instead of just being a one-line supporting character. I agree that there are enough plot holes in this to drive a bird of prey through, but this is where we see the characterisation of Worf that sets the tone for his appearance through innumerable future seasons and establishes him as a fundamentally interesting character.

To my mind the somewhat light-hearted ending rather spoils this, as it seems to be trying to undo the previous half-hour and make Worf a joke again. Doesn’t anyone care about the dead security officer, too?

Trent said: "Watching season 1 and 2 of TNG, Bowman's (a young, novice director at the time) episodes are the ones that stand out."

Interesting. I was watching this ep last night and I was struck by how much better it looked than the preceding episodes. There are 8 episodes from season 1 that I like, and Bowman directed 5 of them.

It's impressive that a director so inexperienced could do so well, considering how poor much of the rest of the season is. I chalked up the show's sucky-ness to the producers and writers which makes me wonder how he was able to overcome them. Does the director have the power to excise crappy lines?

@Black Oatmrak

Bowman was a maverick who could make a TV budget look like a blockbuster film. His early X-Files episodes were so cinematic, he quickly got the gig directing the franchise's more action-heavy episodes, and then the first X-Files movie. Unfortunately, his career tanked soon after.

I'd imagine Bowman had the power to alter minor lines, but not much more. He always struck me as a visual stylist, rather than a traditional director-auteur.