Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 149 (Rightful Heir)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Worf has always tried to be a model Klingon. It wasn’t easy having to grow up among humans. When it becomes apparent that Worf needs time off, Captain Picard insists that he go on leave and visit Boreth, a Klingon outpost. This isn’t any outpost, though. This is an outpost on a planet that’s orbiting a star that holds significance to Klingons.

Kahless founded the Klingon Empire 1,500 years ago. Kahless pointed to this star and promised to return there. Worf is about ready to leave the outpost when one of the caretakers convinces him to stay. Shortly thereafter, Kahless appears.

Kahless’s position is roughly equivalent to that of Jesus in Christianity. Kahless’s appearance is something that reinforces Worf’s faith a great deal. At first, he’s skeptical. He wants to scan Kahless with a tricorder, which only reveals that he is a Klingon. (However, it does rule out some sort of artificial life form.) All other tests would seem to indicate that Kahless is who he claims to be.

The Enterprise is called to Boreth to escort Kahless to the Klingon home world. There, Gowron, leader of the high council, comes on board with a genetic sample of the original Kahless. It’s a perfect match. Gowron is scared, though. The Empire has strayed from what Kahless laid down 1,500 years ago. He could unite the Empire, but he could also divide it. Not all is as it seems.

You don’t really have to have seen any other episodes to appreciate this one, but it does help. Worf has always been sure of himself. However, events in Birthright led him to have doubts. Michael Dorn is great in this episode as Worf. He has a lot to work with, going from someone who doubts to someone who’s sure of what’s going on to someone who’s taking charge of the situation.

Gowron, played by Robert O’Reilly, is a great character. Again, there’s a lot of history in the series with that character that a casual viewer might not pick up on. This is the only actual appearance of Kahless in the series. However, there were certain episodes that led up to this and he will be mentioned in later episodes. (There was actually an episode of the original series with Kahless, but if I recall, a good deal of imagination went into that.)

I’d give the episode four stars. It’s an interesting story with a few plot twists. (I don’t want to ruin the ending for you.) It’s possible that someone could watch this episode without having seen the rest of the series, but this is near the end of the sixth season. I’d recommend this more for people who have seen more of the series.

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Star Trek The Next Generation - Episode 101 (Redemption: Part 2)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

WARNING:  I’m going to give away major details about this episode, up to and including the ending.  I will also be discussing the previous episode.  If you have a problem with this, now’s the time to stop reading.



One of the disadvantages of a cliffhanger episode is that you have to wait several months to see how it concludes.  With the advent of VHS, DVD and now streaming, it’s possible to wait and simply see everything at once.  With a series like Star Trek: The Next Generation, you could conceivably watch the entire series over a few weeks.

In the last episode, Redemption, some major events unfolded.  Gowron was made Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, which led to a civil war.  Worf resigned his commission in Starfleet to support Gowron.  The opposition?  Toral, a puppet being used by the Romulans, including one that looks a lot like a former Enterprise crewmember.

In Redemption, Part II, some time has passed.  Captain Picard is trying to get the Federation involved, despite it being a Klingon civil war.  This would appear to be a Klingon matter, but the Romulans are involved.  Rather than get involved directly, Chief Engineer La Forge has a plan:  He can use a fleet of ships to create a tachyon net that will expose a cloaked Romulan ship.  The problem is that there aren’t that many ships available.

The shadowy Romulan woman, Commander Sela, takes notice of the plan.  Rather than try to go around the blockade, she uncloaks and reveals herself to a stunned Captain Picard, who realizes that she looks a lot like his former Chief of Security, Lt. Tasha Yar.  She beams over and tells how she’s the daughter of Tasha Yar.  This is difficult to believe, as Yar would have been a young girl when Sela was born.  (She’s the result of an alternate timeline’s Tasha Yar.)

Things aren’t going well for Gowron and his forces.  The Romulan influence is really tipping the scales against him.  Also, Worf is realizing that he’s not fitting in well with other Klingons.  Normally, a Klingon wouldn’t drink with his enemy.  However, his brother, Kurn, has no problem drinking with opposition forces.  Toral’s aunts, Lursa and B’Etor take notice and kidnap him, hoping to turn him.

It doesn’t really matter.  The blockade doesn‘t initially work.  Data, while in command of the Sutherland, is able to devise a plan to expose the ships.  It works and the Romulan fleet turns around, leaving Lursa and B’Etor on their own.  They manage to beam out, leaving Worf to take out the Romulan guards and take Toral to face charges of treason.  Realizing that he may not be cut out to live in the Empire, he returns to the Enterprise to resume his duties.

This is one of those follow-up episodes that didn’t really hold up that well.  We had this nice setup in Part I.  A civil war is starting.  We have this woman that looks a lot like a former Enterprise crewmember.  Worf is on a Klingon ship.  What we get is a kind of wimpy follow up.

First, there’s the issue of Sela.  She’s the daughter of Tasha Yar, a blond, and a Romulan.  Every Romulan I’ve seen has dark hair.  I doubt very much that Sela would be a blonde.  (Genetically, darker hair tends to be dominant.)  Yes, it’s possible that Sela bleached her hair in deference to her mother, but she states that everything human in her died after her mother made a failed escape attempt.  If anything, I think she’d dye her hair to look more Romulan.  Why stand out if you hate what makes you stand out?  Also, I’ve found the convention of using the same actor to play parent and child overused.  I know we’re supposed to recognize her as the daughter of Yar, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Speaking of Sela, how is it that the blockade works?  I’m not sure how big the blockade is that Sela can’t just go around it.  I’m not sure because it’s never mentioned.  This is a valid concern, as she’s already running late.  No one ever says, “It will take us an extra day to go around.  What are we going to do?”  Also, there’s a fleet of 23 ships, all of them making a net with the other ships.  Displays show it as being a net, meaning that there should be gaping holes.  The harder it is to go around the blockade, the easier it should be to go through one of those holes.

For that matter, how did they know exactly where to meet the Romulan ships?  You could probably get a pretty good guess, knowing where the Klingon home world is.  However, if I were a Romulan commander and I saw this fleet of ships going along the border, I’d change course immediately.  Cloaking devices may make them a bit arrogant, but wouldn’t it be better to not risk confrontation?

It is nice to see Data take command of a ship.  This is one of a few times in the series that he questions Captain Picard and gets what he wants.  One of the side stories is him having to deal with his first officer, Lt. Cmdr. Hobson, who doesn’t think that an android would make a good captain.  Data gets to put him in his place and eventually earn his respect.

This may not be the best episode to use to introduce someone to the series.  Those that have never seen Star Trek: The Next Generation before will be confused.  A lot of it depends on knowledge not only of the previous episode but of the previous four seasons.  At least the writers did a good job of incorporating previous story lines and building up to this one.


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Star Trek The Next Generation - Episode 100 (Redemption: Part 1)

Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

WARNING:  This review gives away major details, up to and including the ending.  If you’re not in to that, you may want to stop reading.


The season cliffhangers tended to be problematic.  The first two seasons didn’t use them.  When the third season ended, we had a cliffhanger where Captain Picard had been assimilated by the Borg.  The last scene is Commander Riker giving the order to fire on the Borg cube containing the captain.  The forth season begins with it not working at all.  The resulting episode ended up not being that good.

Here, we have a similar situation.  This is the final episode of the fourth season.  Captain Picard is on his way to finish his role as arbiter of succession when he’s met by Gowron, the man he’s supposed to be installing as leader of the high council.  Gowron informs him that things aren’t going so well.  Before Gowron leaves, Worf makes a proposition:  My brother, Kurn, and  I will support you if you restore our family honor.  Gowron tells Worf that this is not how a Klingon gets his honor back.

Just before Picard is able to install Gowron, a challenger appears in the form of Toral.  Toral is the illegitimate son of Duras, the man who challenged Gowron for the position of chancellor.  With Toral are his two aunts, Lursa and B’Etor.  They ask Picard to consider Toral’s claim.  He does and, while the lineage is not in question, Toral hasn’t done anything to prove himself.  Toral can go take a flying leap for all Picard cares; Picard completes the ceremony.

This leads to Lursa and B’Etor to start a civil war with the Romulans backing them.  There’s also that shadowy female Romulan from a few episodes ago.   Gowron does end up needing help and Worf does help, leading Gowron to restore his family honor.  Gowron then uses this as leverage to get Worf to lean on Picard for Federation support.  When Picard doesn’t want to get involved in an internal Klingon matter, Worf resigns and joins Kurn on his ship.  In the final scene of the episode, we see the shadowy woman step out into the light…and it’s Denise Crosby playing a Romulan!

As you can imagine, there are certain continuity issues for people just coming in to the series.  Denise Crosby, for instance, played Chief of Security Tasha Yar for most of the show’s first season.  She returned for an episode called Yesterday’s Enterprise which will serve as the basis for her appearance here.  (More on that in the next episode.)  Also, the whole story of Worf’s discommendation took up much of this season and the last.  He took discommendation knowing that calling out Duras might split the empire.  Apparently, it delayed it rather than preventing it, although this is never mentioned in the episode.

I do have issues with the episode.  First, Toral doesn’t realize what a huge tool he is.  This is in addition to being your typical arrogant, self-important teenager.  Lursa and B’Etor have to handle him.  The Romulans want to deal with him as little as possible.  Everyone else seems to recognize him for what he is.  We get the impression that this is the Duras Sisters' last, desperate hope at not seeing Gowron as chancellor.  If it weren’t for the fact that Toral is such a twerp, I’d feel sorry for him.

By other big issue is when Denise Crosby comes out of the shadows.  It seems that this is played for effect.  When the episode first appeared, we had to wait three months for an explanation.  Who was this woman?  She has a Romulan haircut, but she’s a blonde.  How is she related to Tasha Yar?  This will be answered in the season-five premier.

This episode and the next one are probably the most continuity-dependent episodes so far in the series.  For this reason, I’d recommend not getting the VHS, but getting the DVD season sets instead.  Unfortunately, the two episodes will be split.  This will be on the last episode on fourth-season set while Part II will be the first episode on the fifth-season set.  (This shouldn’t be an issue for those that have Netflix streaming, though.) 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 81 (Reunion)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

I’ve always liked a show that uses continuity.  Some shows go all out and establish a mythology while others simply have an overarching story line.  The problem with this is that it’s hard to pick up in the middle of a show.  If you miss one episode of 24, for instance, it throws everything off.  Shows like Law & Order, on the other hand, are easy to pick up.  You could actually shuffle the episodes and continuity would barely be an issue.  With the fourth season of Star Trek:  The Next Generation, we were beginning to see that continuity.  “Reunion” is a perfect example.

The episode starts with The Enterprise being surprised by a decloaking Klingon ship.  K’Ehleyr, Worf’s half-Klingon girlfriend from “The Emissary”,  greets them.  She wants to beam over.  Worf is sent to greet her…and her son.  And yes, the child is his.  Worf isn’t comfortable with this, as he was recently dishonored.  Before we can get to that, K’Mpec is dying.  He’s the leader of the Klingon High Council.  K’Mpec knows all about this.  He and Worf agreed to cover it up to protect Duras, as Duras being dishonored might fracture the Council and with it, the Empire.

K’Mpec wants Picard to oversee the Rite of Succession.  Most of the work is done for him.  There are two contenders remaining.  All Picard has to do is figure out which one of them poisoned the guy they might be replacing.  K’Mpec doesn’t want someone so cowardly that they’d use poison leading the Empire.  Oh, and by the way…one of the contenders is Duras.  (The other is named Gowron.)

Things aren’t easy.  K’Ehleyr, not being too big on Klingon culture, is the only adult of Klingon descent comfortable around Worf.  Duras and Gowron throw a hissy fit whenever Worf is around.  At one point, Picard has to tell Worf to deal with it.  Picard understands that Worf doesn’t want to be around other Klingons and that the feeling is mutual.  Picard will do his best to accommodate this, but Worf is still a Starfleet officer under Picard’s command, so tough luck.

If you’ve seen any of the previous episodes, it will seem strange that anyone is seriously wondering who poisoned K’Mpec.  (At one point, K’Ehleyr says something to the effect of, “Well, Gowron did try to bribe me…”)  We don’t know who this Gowron guy is just yet, but Duras’s father collaborated with the Romulans and set up Worf’s father to take the blame.  Yes, K’Mpec and the rest of the High Council knew about it.  They tried to frame Worf’s family because they figured Worf wouldn’t say anything.  Still, is it any surprise that this would come back to bite them where it hurts?  When it’s discovered that the detonator is distinctly Romulan in design, it’s just a matter of getting the proof before fingers start pointing in Duras’s directon.  (Doctor Crusher finds that one of his men had the bomb implanted in his arm, giving them the smoking gun.)

If you’ve seen later episodes of the show or have watched Deep Space Nine, you know that Gowron goes on to lead the High Council.  He even takes care of Worf’s little discommendation problem at one point.  Things don’t end well for Duras.  At least Worf sees to it that things end relatively quickly, though.  (The Klingon Empire considers the matter closed, but Picard puts a reprimand on Worf’s record.)

I think of all the episodes in The Next Generation, this one requires the most knowledge of Trek history.  Aside from “The Emissary” and “Sins of the Father”, there is some connection to “Heart of Glory” and “Family”.  Add to this that the episode introduces Gowron, who will play an important role later on.

My one and only complaint was that no one seemed to think it was Duras.  I understand that they need proof to do anything, but no one says tells anyone to keep an eye on him.  This leads to K’Ehleyr getting killed, leaving Worf to send Alexander (his son) to live with his adoptive parents on Earth.  Plus, as I mentioned, Worf takes care of the problem, effectively negating the need for said proof.  (And, for all intents and purposes, Worf gets away with it.)

Nobody saw this coming?  It’s not even that having him onboard the ship is an issue.  Seriously, no one thought that he might poison K’Mpec?  No one thought that he might be in league with the Romulans?  I understand that the truth was hidden, but no one on the High Council though to secretly monitor him?  You’d think that at some point, Worf or Picard would have said, “Yup.  Told you so.”

Looking back, I can see why a lot of things in this episode had to happen.  I wasn’t too thrilled that K’Ehleyr had to die or that Worf basically passed his son off on his adoptive parents, but at least Alexander would return, even if played by a different actor.  Being that I’m technically reviewing the episode on VHS, I can’t recommend buying the VHS tape, as I’m not even sure where you’d get it.  I do like the episode and I recommend watching it, but I’d recommend watching the previous episodes first. 

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