S6E16 & 17 - Birthright

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dnaphil
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S6E16 & 17 - Birthright

Post by dnaphil »

I selected this episode for two reasons. One, it is another part of Worf's history and also is a good set of Worf stories. Two, it is our first glimpse at Deep Space Nine.

When DS9 started the writers leaned heavily on TNG to give the show a boost. The first episode of DS9 has a TNG tie in, and several season 1 episodes have minor TNG characters making appearances. This is the TNG crossover episode that is also part of those early tie-in's.

The story of the Prison Camp is interesting. It is a challenge for Worf who has for so long sought to live what he thinks is the true Klingon life, though we see time and time again with these Worf episodes, that the Klingon life is complicated and is not always about Honor nor is it black and white. Worf has some serious issues with the half-Klingon half-Romulan woman.

But my favorite part of this is at the end. Picard asks him about the prison camp, while they are loading the children of the camp onto the ship, and Worf, the Klingon, says there was no camp, keeping the secret of the prisoners safe and the honors of their Klingon families intact. Picard totally gets what Worf meant by his answer.
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Jared Rascher
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Re: S6E16 & 17 - Birthright

Post by Jared Rascher »

It was really interesting to see Worf passing on information about Klingon culture to the younger people in the settlement. Its also always an interesting story to think about the ramifications of suddenly knowing what you didn't know before.

As a gaming side note, this actual play takes place after the Romulan supernova event, and they used the planet where the prison camp is located as one of the planets where Romulans were relocated. I'm interested to see how that develops as the campaign goes on:

https://endeavourshow.podbean.com/
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RobAbrazado
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Re: S6E16 & 17 - Birthright

Post by RobAbrazado »

To be honest, I'm not super into this one. I do like the DS9 crossover aspect, and there's something really special to me about a Data/Bashir team-up. I can't really put my finger on why, but I know I'm left feeling like I want more of that. :) In any case, though, I much prefer part 1 to part 2, and the Worf half of the story doesn't really do it for me. I like the two parallel father-seeking storylines, though, and I do particularly like it going explicit when Data goes to Worf for advice. I like, too, that it's supposed to be Data seeking advice from Worf about visions, but it basically ends up being Worf getting advice from Worf about fathers. :)

Though I do prefer the Data portion of the story, it does get a little bit woo-woo for me, so...eh, I dunno. It's, like...neat? But I don't feel it really speaks to Data's android nature, which is what I'm usually here for. It's much more about his "human" side. (As an aside, though, I will say this does set up a future episode that I really like, so we'll see if we get there in Watch Club.) The Worf portion, though (so, mostly part 2), really just speaks to an aspect of Worf's conservatism (traditionalism?) that irks me. Like...this is nothing new; I feel like Worf is someone constantly in a state of cultural crisis, and honestly I feel strong-ass immigrant vibes off his desire to be super-Klingon in the face of being a Klingon who grew up and lives now in Human society. It's funny, actually, I didn't think until just now how Worf's overall general cultural crisis and the more specific cultural crisis he faces at the prison camp are both results of the Khitomer Massacre. That event caused Worf to be separated from Klingon culture and grow up idealizing and craving it, while the prisoners "gave up" on it when they were separated from it and started a new generation with a whole different cultural outlook that left the Empire behind. Anyway, though, what I mean by Worf's specific crisis here is that...he encounters this community that's like "we live in peace here now; we've left the war behind," and Worf is simultaneously trying to convince them that the war is long over and they can come out however y'all are still blood enemies 4ever, so...don't stop hating. I dunno. This is definitely not Worf in his best light, but it's also troubling that that goes totally unexamined.

Anyway. Mostly I just had a special tidbit for [mention]dnaphil[/mention]. The Klingon girl's mother at the prison camp was played by the actress who also played Ted Mosby's mother on HIMYM. :D
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dnaphil
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:10 pm

Re: S6E16 & 17 - Birthright

Post by dnaphil »

Astute observations about Worf. I think he grows more after TNG, but he is hindered by HIS image of Klingon culture. I really liked Kaylar and she challenged his views on Klingons.

And nice pick up on Ted's Mom.
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