star trek tng birthright

Birthright, Part II (episode)

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 1.7 Log entries
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Story and script
• 3.3 Production
• 3.4 Cast and characters
• 3.6 Reception
• 3.7 Apocrypha
• 3.8 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 4.5 Stunt doubles
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7.1 Deleted material
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

After Worf is captured by the Romulans , he is told he will have to stay at the camp. He learns from L'Kor and Gi'ral the story of the Klingons who were captured. Their deflector shields were taken out and they were knocked unconscious due to the explosions on a Klingon outpost during the Khitomer Massacre . When they awoke in the prison camp , they failed to kill themselves through starvation. After interrogation, the Romulans tried to trade them for territory, but the Klingon Empire refused to accept that their warriors would have allowed themselves to be captured. When Tokath , the Romulan officer who captured them, offered to let them go, they did not wish to return and bring dishonor on their families. He took pity on them and built the prison camp. Their own honor gone, the Klingons had nothing left to lose by staying prisoners. L'Kor asks Worf why he came, noting that if he had found his father, he would have found only dishonor. Worf tells him that he would be glad to see him; he states that there is no room in his heart for shame. L'Kor says that if his son had found him here, he hopes he would be Klingon enough to kill him.

Act One [ ]

Worf observes the Klingon children who live in the camp. Many of them are oblivious of their heritage, for example, a young male Klingon named Toq uses a gin'tak spear for tilling soil. When he asks Ba'el , she tells him the war is far away, and they are safe here. That is why their parents came here; to escape the fighting and find a safe place to raise their children. She seems to have no interest in the outside world or what goes on in it. Worf suggests she tell her father she wants to visit the the Homeworld and see what he says. He tries to reassure her that the war is over, and that The Homeworld is far safer than she has been taught, but her mother, Gi'ral , calls her home. It is clear that she does not want her daughter to speak with Worf.

Worf's homing device goes off shortly thereafter. He retreats to his room and deactivates it. Shortly after, Tokath visits his quarters and tells Worf that he has a Klingon wife, then Worf attempts to escape. He manages to create a bomb from scavenged parts found in a panel in his quarters, and detonates it as a distraction as he scales the wall. However, one of the Romulan guards sees him escaping and begins pursuit. When Worf thinks he has outwitted them, and arrives at Shrek 's ship, Toq tackles him. When Worf is about to strike him, he is surprised to see it is Toq and, during this pause, the Romulans recapture him while Shrek hastily departs in his ship.

Act Two [ ]

" Still no sign of them on long range scanners. " " Contact DS9 . Find out what they know about this Yridian trader. "

Aboard the USS Enterprise , the Yridian vessel cannot be found on long range scanners; the only hope of finding Worf is to contact DS9 and retrieve the ship's flight plan. Riker hopes the station has it and Picard notes that it may be the only chance they have in locating Worf. Meanwhile, Worf has a tracking device implanted under his skin: Tokath allows L'Kor to deal with Worf but warns that " If he becomes a disruption, I will not be so tolerant. ". Toq is instructed to guard him and make sure he does not cause further trouble.

Restless, Worf practices mok'bara in the courtyard in front of the Klingon youths. When Ba'el is confused by the mok'bara , he begins to explain the techniques to her. When other Klingons, including Ba'el, copy him, Toq objects and places his hands on Worf's shoulder. Worf carefully but forcefully flips him to the ground. " These forms are the basis for Klingon combat ", he explains. He offers to instruct Toq in Klingon combat techniques, but Toq leaves to tell L'Kor about Worf's behavior.

Meanwhile, when her mother is out, Ba'el sneaks inside her home and shows Worf several Klingon objects in a case, disused and tarnished, such as a d'k tahg knife with a rusted blade. She tells him she is not supposed to look at these things. He identifies them to her, including a jinaq , a necklace given to a daughter who has come of age, old enough to take a mate.

Just then, her mother enters. She tells Ba'el these things are not needed here and commands Worf to leave. He does, satisfied that her daughter's doubt is well-planted.

Later that night, Worf tells the children around a fire the ancient story of Kahless the Unforgettable . Toq claims that these stories were impossible, that Worf was making it up. Worf explains these are Klingon legends, and they tell us " who we are "; it is not made up. L'Kor interrupts, telling them it is time to sleep, and the group disbands.

Ba'el asks Worf, later, if the stories are true. He says he finds new truths in them every day. She then asks if Kahless ever took a mate, obviously asking a different question. When Worf moves to kiss her, he brushes back her hair to find a pointed-ear . He reacts instantly, backing off in surprise, shocked that Ba'el is part Romulan.

Act Three [ ]

Tokath and Gi'ral, Ba'el's parents

Worf is indignant; the Romulans are without honor, he growls. She defends her father, saying he is kind, generous, and settled here to escape the wars like her mother did. He tells Ba'el to ask her mother about it, but she angrily walks away.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise receives the Yridian's flight plan from DS9 and Geordi La Forge is examining it. He identifies two systems close to Romulan space: Nequencia and Carraya , so Picard tells him to head for the closest one, which is Carraya.

Worf attempts to make amends with Ba'el. He apologizes, saying he was surprised, but it is clear he still holds her father in contempt. She demands that he accept her for who she is and leave the hatred behind. He is unsure if he can do that. She storms off, angry.

When he leaves, he sees the other children, including Toq, playing a game. A line of short spears are set up, a row of spears, Qa'vaks , resting on top of several pairs and a large hoop is rolled between them. The object appears to be to knock off all the spears resting on the others. However, when the hoop is rolled, Worf throws one of the spears through the middle of the hoop as it is rolling.

Worf explains that these spears are used in The Hunt, a ritual which tells Klingons where they came from. He sighs and says perhaps Toq is too young to master the skill. Toq cannot resist this challenge. His first throw is strong, but inaccurate. Worf suggests Toq aim along his arm, which works. Worf suggests they go on the ritual hunt, and Toq agrees, but protests that Worf is not allowed to leave the compound.

Worf talks to Tokath and L'Kor, who considers the idea ludicrous. Worf protests that he cannot just sit idly in the compound like an old man. Worf tells L'Kor and Tokath that he needs to practice his hunting skills and offers his word that he will not try to escape, which fails to convince Tokath. L'Kor points out that Worf gave them his word as a warrior, as L'Kor did 23 years ago , promising never to leave the camp: thus Worf should be trusted. Tokath says that L'Kor will be the one who is taking the risk. L'Kor allows them to go but tells Toq to take a weapon and to kill Worf if he tries to escape.

Act Four [ ]

Worf has found prey, with Toq just behind him. Upon learning to smell the prey, Toq is amazed, feeling more alive than he ever has before. He claims he was never taught anything of being a warrior, Worf tells him there is much that he was never taught.

When Toq and Worf return to the others at dinner, Toq has clearly embraced his heritage, now. He has a dead creature in his arms, which he triumphantly drops at the head table before L'Kor and Tokath. Tokath orders him to get that off his table, but Toq boldly states that he will get rid of it, but not until it's been cooked. Toq then triumphantly explains that the Klingons here have forgotten themselves and sings a song the young Klingons knew only as a lullaby, as a victory chant. All of the Klingons, including L'Kor and Ba'el, slowly join in, much to Tokath's dismay. Tokath stares at Worf, and knows he has to deal with him.

Act Five [ ]

Tokath later takes Worf aside and tells him that he has given up his career to create something wonderful and unique; a place where Romulans and Klingons live together in peace; and Worf is about to destroy all that. Worf argues that they live in harmony, because they have never learned what it is to be powerful. Otherwise, they would leave. Tokath considers the argument futile and instead offers Worf an ultimatum : live here and don't cause any more trouble, or be put to death. Worf chooses death. That honorable death, he says, will show the young people what it is to die truly as a Klingon.

Ba'el urges Worf to attempt escape, offering to remove the tracking device, but he will not run. She believes her father was wrong, that Worf doesn't deserve to die. Worf refuses. " They will kill me ", he says, " but they will not defeat me. " She wants to know if he loves her, despite everything. He says he does, and he didn't think it possible. If he could leave with her, he would, but they can't.

The next day, when Worf stands against the wall, staring at the firing squad, Tokath gives a short speech about how he has agonized all night over this decision, but has concluded that this is absolutely necessary: He cannot allow Worf to destroy what everyone else has built. Worf, with his final words, explains the truth: he has brought something "dangerous" to the children, knowledge of their origins and the real reasons why they are here.

As the two Romulans are about to fire, Toq appears, in a full suit of warrior's armor with a gin'tak spear. To kill Worf, he says, they will have to kill him as well, for he would also rather die than accept this way of life – and there are many others who Tokath will have to kill to keep the community here.

When Toq does not move, L'Kor stands by them. One by one, a dozen others also come beside and behind them, including Ba'el. Gi'ral has him call it off. They avoided dishonoring their children back on the homeworld, she says, but they have lost sight of the children they have raised on this planet. They should be set free if they wish to go.

Worf accepts her compromise and explains to the children that their parents are now making yet another great sacrifice, and that to honor their parents, the children must never reveal their secret.

Ba'el stays behind.

In the transporter room , Worf and Toq are the last passengers beamed aboard. Doctor Beverly Crusher takes Toq away to sickbay for a thorough examination that they are giving to all of the passengers who have come aboard. After they leave, Picard asks Worf if he found what he was looking for, Worf answers no, there was no prison camp. The young people, he claims, are survivors from a vessel that crashed in the Carraya system four years ago. With a knowing look, the captain says he understands.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2369

Memorable quotes [ ]

" I can only hope that if my son came here, he would be Klingon enough to kill me. "

" They say you've come to stay with us. " " Not by choice. "

" A place can be safe and still be a prison. "

" I told you not to speak with him! "

" It is a strange thing when the jailer concerns himself with his prisoner's comfort. " " Mine is a strange prison. "

" Here, Romulans and Klingons live in peace. I won't allow you to destroy what we have. "

" Tonight, we eat well. " " Get that off my table. " " You do not kill an animal unless you intend to eat it. " " Get rid of it! " " I intend to, Tokath… but not until it's cooked ! "

" I will NOT run away! " " But they will kill you. " " Yes. But they will not DEFEAT me. "

" But the truth is I am being executed because I brought something dangerous to your young people. Knowledge. Knowledge of their origins, knowledge of the real reasons you are here in this camp. The truth is a threat to you. "

" If you kill him you will have to kill me. " " Step aside, Toq. " " Worf would rather die than accept this way of life, and so would I. I want to leave, as do many others. You will have to kill us to keep us here. "

" You found what you were looking for, Mr. Worf? " " No sir. There was no prison camp. Those young people are survivors of a vessel that crashed in the Carraya system four years ago. No one survived Khitomer. " " I understand. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Filmed: 6 January 1993 – 15 January 1993
• Premiere airdate: 1 March 1993
• First UK airdate: 1 November 1995

Story and script [ ]

• René Echevarria remembered, " It was very personal, somehow. My parents were immigrants from Cuba, and all of the issues that came up in the episode – about assimilation and how do you keep your heritage – is something I grew up with. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 297)
• Michael Piller saw this episode as a chance for the character of Worf to re-affirm his Klingon nature. " I had just seen Malcolm X , and I said Worf is the guy who's saying 'You're black and you should be proud to be black.' That's where I started from with the character standpoint, but when you get into it and you realize there is something good in this society and that he'll lose this woman he's in love with when he can't shake his own prejudice, it's a price he has to pay for his character and his code… I think it's wonderful when people act in heroic ways that turn back on them. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 274)

Production [ ]

• "Birthright, Part II" was filmed between Wednesday 6 January 1993 and Friday 15 January 1993 on Paramount Stage 8 , 9 , and 16 . It was the first episode of TNG filmed in 1993 .
• Although James Cromwell ( Jaglom Shrek ) appears in this episode, he has no lines. This was, in part, due to Cromwell breaking his leg in the period between filming the two parts of the episode, which entailed cutting most of his lines. A sympathetic scene in which Shrek confesses he was once a prison inmate himself was lost, as was a scene in which he would have been assassinated by one of the Klingons' grown sons who was determined not to hear the truth about his father. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239)
• René Echevarria elaborated, " One idea was that Worf was going to see [Shrek] had some tattoo of having been a prisoner and Shrek was going to talk about being a prisoner and that his government let him rot and it took his family to come and risk their lives to free him. He says he knows how governments can be and doesn't trust them. 'You think I do this for money, but I actually do it because I know what it's like,' Shrek tells Worf. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 274)
• Due to time, several other scenes were also cut, including one further developing the relationship between Worf and Ba'el, as well as a confrontation between Worf and Gi'ral in which the latter stands up to Worf regarding her marriage to a Romulan. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239)
• This was the first and only Star Trek episode directed by Dan Curry .

The Romulan prison camp maquette

Aerial view of the finished composite

• Exterior shots of the Romulan fortress were created by Curry who inserted shots of a miniature into jungle photographs he had taken in Laos in the 1960s. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239) The miniature was a building maquette , measuring 34×48 inches, made out of balsa wood, art card, plastic model parts and lichen trees on a foam board base. Mike Okuda recalled, " That was a secret Romulan prison compound built for "Birthright, Part I" (TNG). Dan Curry directed that episode, and he asked us to make a model based on the sets Richard James created for that episode. I asked Alan Kobayashi to spearhead that project, and all of us in the TNG art department lent a hand in odd moments. The model was simply made, using fomecore, balsa strips, a few Plastruct parts, some model greeblies, plus lichen trees from a hobby store. Rick Sternbach helped enormously by painting it to apply an appropriate amount of aging and weathering. Dan photographed the model, then put it into a photograph of the jungle in Thailand that he took years ago, when he was in the Peace Corps. The result was a great matte painting that showed the isolation of the prison camp that lent a lot of scope to the episode. Later, Dan's painting was modified for an episode of DS9 , and it may have been used another time as well. " [1] (X) Okuda was not wrong in his last assessment, it was first reused as a Faren Kag 's village on Bajor in the episode " The Storyteller ", and subsequently, slightly modified, likewise used in that series episode " Meridian ". The first of its kind to be constructed since the first season Mordan IV cityscape maquette , the maquette was retained by the studio, unlike the usually larger miniatures of this type. As Lot 692 , the maquette was part of the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction, estimated at US$800-$1,200, selling on 7 October 2006 with a winning bid of US $2,200 ($2,640 including buyer's premium). Prior to auction, Curry's maquette was featured in the TNG Season 2 DVD -special feature, "Inside the Star Trek Archives".
• Curry was the person behind the camera who threw the gin'tak spear instead of Michael Dorn . ("Departmental Briefing Year Six – Profile: Dan Curry", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature)
• Over the December holiday break, all the live plants and trees in the jungle and garden sets were accidentally left on the dark sound stages, and had to be replaced. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239)
• When La Forge, Picard, and Riker are viewing Jaglom Shrek's flight plans, one of the planets shown on the screen is called Echevarria, a reference to this episode's writer René Echevarria.
• Among the costumes and props from this episode which were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, was the costume of Jennifer Gatti . [2]

Cast and characters [ ]

• Aside from the opening recap of the preceding episode, Marina Sirtis ( Deanna Troi ) does not appear in this episode. Troi did appear in a brief scene on the bridge, but the scene was deleted and can be seen on the TNG Season 6 Blu-ray .
• Though he featured prominently in Part 1, Data appears only briefly in Part 2 and has no lines.

The music sheet for the Klingon aria

• Music for this episode was composed by Jay Chattaway .
• Dan Curry provided Chattaway with several instruments he had obtained from Laos, including mouth organs known as khenes , which the composer then sampled and incorporated into the score. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 298)
• The Klingon aria was also composed by Chattaway with lyrics by Brannon Braga . Co-producer Wendy Neuss recalled, " We did a Klingon rap version of it too. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239)
• Listen to the Klingon war song  file info

Reception [ ]

• Michael Dorn enjoyed the episode. " I thought it was great. It also showed that this is like a bottomless well. It will never go dry. The Klingon story will just go on and on. " He also commented, " I am glad Dan did it because I've always liked him. He's a very interesting guy and very patient. We have a rapport and he was just wonderful to work for. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 274)
• René Echevarria commented that so much effort had gone into making the Klingons and Romulans sympathetic here that many fans complained that Worf came off as a fascist racist who ruined a peaceful place. " His motives are in fact racist, when he's dealing with Romulans. But his actions are different; all he said was these people should know the truth and be free to leave. He never advocated violence and bloodshed. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 239)
• Michael Piller commented, " I thought there was a wonderful Bridge Over the River Kwai -type story where you had a fundamentally charged relationship between a Romulan camp leader and Worf and this very interesting love affair where Worf had to reexamine his whole attitude towards the Romulans again. It is always interesting to me whenever you can look at prejudice. I think the script turned out pretty well, the show just did not have quite the power I had hoped it would have. I don't really know why. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages p. 274)

Apocrypha [ ]

• Toq would further appear as second officer of the IKS Gorkon in the novel Diplomatic Implausibility , the first book of what later became the non- canon series of novels about that ship by Keith R.A. DeCandido . In the IKS Gorkon novel Honor Bound , Toq was promoted to first officer. By 2381 , Toq was a captain, and commanded the IKS Kreltek , a K'vort -class Bird-of-Prey attached to the Fifth Battle Fleet.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 72, 18 October 1993
• In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Length TV Movies : Volume 7, catalog number VHR 4107, 10 April 1995
• As part of the TNG Season 6 DVD collection
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete TV Movies collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Cristine Rose as Gi'ral
• James Cromwell as Jaglom Shrek
• Sterling Macer, Jr. as Toq
• Alan Scarfe as Tokath
• Jennifer Gatti as Ba'el
• Richard Herd as L'Kor

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Majel Barrett as Narrator
• Chris Blackwood as Klingon
• Cameron as Kellogg
• R. Duncan as Klingon
• Elliot Durant III as operations division ensign
• Inez Edwards as Turla
• Caroline Fortune as Romulan
• Jack Gilroy as operations lieutenant j.g.
• Christie Haydon as command division ensign
• Gary Hunter as Romulan
• Kairon John as Klingon
• J. Lee as Klingon
• Charles McIntosh as Ba'ktor
• Ted Parker as Sentith
• Kurt Paul as Romulan
• Irving Ross as Klingon
• Toni Taylor as Klingon
• G. Warren as Klingon
• B. Wirth as Klingon
• Bridge officer (voice)
• Klingon infant

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Irving Lewis as stunt double for Sterling Macer, Jr.
• Rusty McClennon as stunt double for Michael Dorn

Stand-ins [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton and Sterling Macer, Jr.
• Debbie David – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Cristine Rose
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden and Jennifer Gatti
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes and Alan Scarfe
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart and Richard Herd

References [ ]

2346 ; 2350 ; 2365 ; adoptive parent ; blood ; blood enemy ; boridium ; boridium pellet ; breeze ; capture ; career ; Carraya IV ; Carraya system ; compound ; daughter ; D'deridex -class ; Deep Space 9 ; Deep Space 9 traffic control database ; d'k tahg ; Echevarria system ; energy signature ; execution ; flight plan ; gin'tak spear ; heart ; hunting ; interrogation ; jailer ; jinaq ; jungle ; Kahless ; Kahless' father ; Khitomer ; Khitomer Massacre ; Khitomer system ; Klingon ; Klingon High Council ; Klingon homeworld ; Klingonese ; L'Kor's son ; leader ; love ; Lukara ; lullaby ; military career ; Mogh ; mok'bara ; Morath ; Nequencia Alpha system (aka Nequencia system ); number one ; outpost ; pack ; perimeter ; pond ; prison camp ; prisoner ; qa'vak ; replicator ; ritual hunt ; Romulan ; Romulan High Command ; Romulan space ; Romulan supply ship ; Romulus ; Rozhenko, Alexander ; rust ; shackles ; shame ; shields ; slit ; spear ; starvation ; sword ; table ; territorial concession ; throat ; tilling ; tracking device ; trader ; upwind ; warrior ; warrior's armor ; wife ; wind ; word ; YLT ; YLT-3609 ; Yridian ; Yridian vessel

Deleted material [ ]

midwife ; morag ; weeping ; wrestling

External links [ ]

• " Birthright " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Birthright " at Wikipedia
• " Birthright " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Birthright, Part II" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Birthright, Part II " at the Internet Movie Database
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 World War III

Star Trek The Next Generation: Birthright, Part 1

2 comments:

I've been a TOS fan since forever, but because I lived in a TV-free household for a couple of decades, I'm watching TNG for the first time (in order to learn the back story for the upcoming Picard show). I find that Klingon culture as described in TNG is mostly a form of extreme masculinity that I consider toxic. I think Worf's obsession with honor and death makes him all too ready to avoid really thinking a problem through or understanding other points of view. And yet I love Worf! I'm having trouble understanding just why I love Worf so much, given that there's so much I find problematic about Klingon culture, and of course he's devoted to Klingon culture. I'm just barely bisexual -- I'm mostly a lesbian -- and yet I do find Michael Dorn sexy. I guess he -- like Spock -- is just so sexy that even *I* can feel it. :-) Even though Patrick Stewart is an acting god, I'm always glad when we get a Worf or Data episode; the non-human characters are just more interesting to me.

This is good stuff indeed, and I like it when we get more of Worf and Klingon culture beyond just killing stuff and the many USSR analogs that the original Klingons possessed back in TOS days. I almost always enjoy Data and his exploration of what it means to be alive while also being an extremely sophisticated machine. I also dig DS9 even if I didn't watch all of it unlike TOS and TNG, and the links between that show and this one make this episode all the better.

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Birthright, Part II

Data explores the experience he had while zapped, Worf is held prisoner by Romulans with the Khitomer survivors.

Richard Herd

Cristine Rose

James Cromwell

Jennifer Gatti

Alan Scarfe

Sterling Macer, Jr.

Cast appearances.

Patrick Stewart

Jonathan Frakes

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Brent Spiner

Episode discussion.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Birthright, Part I”

Air date: 2/22/1993 Written by Brannon Braga Directed by Winrich Kolbe

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

The Enterprise docks at Deep Space Nine to assist with Bajoran equipment repairs. While there, a Yridian who traffics in information (James Cromwell, nearly unrecognizable) approaches Worf and says that his father Mogh did not die at Khitomer 25 years ago but instead was taken prisoner and is still alive in a Romulan POW camp. Meanwhile, DS9's Doctor Bashir (Siddig El Fadil) comes aboard the Enterprise to run an experiment and becomes fascinated with Data. (Bashir is mostly interested in Data's human personality traits as programmed by his creator Soong; this plays into the story's theme about fathers and sons.)

"Birthright, Part I" is TNG 's only explicit DS9 crossover episode. Looking back ex post facto, it's interesting, almost funny, to revisit this version of Julian Bashir, so greenly wide-eyed and enthusiastic, knowing how much more serious and grown-up he will become. That's really neither here nor there as far as this episode is concerned, but it was something that caught my attention.

What's of more relevance is when Data gets zapped by an energy beam and is knocked unconscious for about 45 seconds, during which he has an intriguing vision that includes his father. He spends much of the rest of the episode trying to reconcile the meaning of the imagery. He creates dozens of paintings of what he saw in the vision and ultimately decides to recreate the circumstances of his unconsciousness. While Data's subsequent exploration of this dream realm gets a little heavy on arty, new-agey mumbo jumbo and imagery, there's a resonance in the message Soong has for him that feels like a rare moment of actual growth for the character. By the end, Data realizes that he should shut down every night and try dreaming, to see where it might take him.

Meanwhile, Worf struggles with the idea that his father might be a live prisoner rather than having died at Khitomer (which, of course, would be a grave dishonor; what isn't a dishonor for Klingons?). This is mostly setup for the second part, but what we have here is reasonable table setting, as Worf travels with the Yridian to the Romulan prison camp and discovers that although his father did in fact die at Khitomer, there's an entire colony of Klingons that survived. Before this final revelation, however (which kind of feels like a bait-and-switch), "Birthright" is about two orphaned sons who are confronted with new things about their fathers that could significantly alter their own self-identities.

Previous episode: Tapestry Next episode: Birthright, Part II

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50 comments on this post.

Found this one rather dull, and kept busying myself with other things.

3 stars???? Sorry More like 2 or 2.5 stars. Bashir and DS9 were totally gratuitous and a waste, Bashir was annoying. The episode was plodding. And you could tell TNG was getting long in the tooth when they thought a show like this needed to be 2 parts--I mean really! By this point in the show the Klingon stories were yawn-inducing and the only interesting part was the possibility of Mogh was still alive except that never materialized. Also Data's new age soul searching wasn't any more involving.

I agree this was a moment of true growth and progressio for Data. I loved the idea of him dreaming {and I really liked the follow-up in "Phantoms"}. Great visuals. I liked the ds9 element too, the whole episode had a large scale/scope to it really. And I always appreciate the crossover stuff, it reinforces how big and connected the whole universe of star trek is. Good worf-data connectio. Unfortuately part 2 was REALLY boring, dull and slow. I give part one 3.5 stars.

I think 3 stars is a fair review. This didn't need to be a two parter, but I still think the final dream sequence is one of the best dream sequences in the entire series. It was just a beautiful atmospheric scene with a beautiful score.

This is one of those episode's where the Berman-era musical directives really take their toll. The dream sequence was visually sufficient for the time, but the music is saccarine and minimal, totally sabotaging the moment. I giggle every time I see it. I found the Bashir scenes redundant and ponderous. I like talky, I enjoy patiently-paced dialogue scenes, but I need the characters to SAY something of interest. I think Data's general "who the fuck are you?" expression is very telling about how poorly the actors and director understood the scenes: ironic that the executors of an episode about identity crises seem not to understand what this show is about. Data's growth is a joke in the final seasons of TNG. With the exception of "All Good Things..." and ST: VIII, nothing after "Time's Arrow" feels genuine for the character. A shame really as he was given so much attention and was, by that point, such a strong and defining character in his own right. On the other hand, Worf's story (in this part of the 2-parter, anyway) is pretty strong. I didn't need it explained to me about Klingon suicide and honour and so forth; Mogh's death at the hands of the Romulans is such a key element of Worf's personality--his hesitation to get close to people, his lack of imagination and his commitment to duty--that to have this idea shattered was very involving. I recognised Cromwell the moment he spoke in that signature rasp of his, and boy does he sell the oily Yridian perfectly. It's also a shame then that part 2 was so terrible. Overall, this is a 2.5*

Did anyone else notice how bad the makeup was? To me, Worf, the Yridian, and Data's makeup jobs were extremely artificial and plastic-y. Spiner's closeups really show his age lines and Data's color seems to change several times between scenes. Even some of the human characters seemed worn or overdone. I'm usually not picky about these sorts of things, but the crappy makeup on this episode really ruined it for me.

I think the mystery should have been kept a bit more with the dream, it was quite intriguing before Noonian explained it to death.. Agree that we should have met Mogh, and that Bashir was gratuitous in this episode. Was surprised that they didn't throw Quark in.

Doing these two stories together hurt both of them. Also I think it was dumb for Data to stand in front of a machine that they were working on. That to me is like working on an eletrical appliance with the plug in and the power on.

DS9 tie-in was underwhelming and didn't realize potential. Data dream sequence had potential...but never "took off" IMO. Just seemed like simple pycho-babble + data's background. No sense of mystery for which dreams should have. The original concept from Ron Moore and Braga was more of an NDE...THAT would have been interesting! Can you imagine data being programmed with a "NDE" program for Data to experience when he was about to die? Would have been "meatier" than the dream sequence which was weak.

I just saw this, and all of Bashir's dialogue would have made more sense coming from Geordi. It's nice to see Bashir, but they were shoehorning the role in an artificial way. Like making rebel Chekov into the idea lapdog in "The Way to Eden" (TOS) Having said that, Data's story is magnificent and the music almost has a Ron Jones style to it...

While Part 2 is a major snooze, the first part definitely resonates with me. The A and B stories (really, the two A stories) compliment and echo each other in surprising ways: I liked how both Data and Worf's father issues and struggling to exist in a alien (human) society seemed to dovetail each other. I thought the dream program storyline is just fantastic- I knew they'd never give us a emotional Data (at least until the films) but it was nice to see him evolve. Continuity on TNG! ;) The dream sequences were wonderfully directed (although who was that person sitting in the corridor during the "crow's eye view"?) I don't know how they got the crow to respond to direction like that, but for once having an animal in an episode didn't seem gimmicky. (Note: Spot the Cat is immune from criticism.) And Bashir's appearance is actually a nice touch- it's nice to see the Enterprise actually go to a Starbase and see crews interact. Other than the Bynar episode, Starfleet mostly seemed to be made up of Excelsior class starships we never get to explore, Admirals on subspace, and Starfleet HQ in San Francisco. I also have to agree with "dpc"- for a later season episode, this really does have some effective music. The DS9 theme NEVER sounded better than here. (I just Googled it and the composer was Jay Chattaway. I'm sure the producers chastised him for writing it and they were wrong. It was nice to hear some REAL melody actually enhancing the drama.) Much better than I remembered it being. This is easily a 3-star episode. PS- Part 2 should have been about Data. Bo-ring!

The big question for "Birthright, Part I" (I think we all know what the big question for Part II is) is "why was this story the one chosen for the DS9 crossover onto TNG?". The DS9 elements add virtually nothing to the show. This could literally have been done without any involvement from Bashir and without having the Enterprise even docked at the station. The closest DS9 comes to relevance here is that they needed some way for Worf to meet the Yridian. That obviously couldn't happen on the ship; they needed a setting like an open port-of-call like a space station. But, that could have been anywhere. It's a complete waste of the new show to have it used in so trivial a fashion. Then there's the DS9 component of Data's plot-line. What was the point of this?! Was it to showcase the new show and maybe draw some TNG viewers over to it (that's usually what crossover episodes are intended to do)? If so, then it was a complete and total failure! The only character we even meet from the DS9 crew is Bashir. (Well, okay, I guess Morn does make a cameo appearance.) And it's first season Bashir, no less! I've heard that it was originally intended for Dax to be the crossover character here, not Bashir. Well, that wouldn't have been much better. Season One Dax is just about as insufferable as Season One Bashir. These early DS9-TNG crossovers were all subject to the exact same problem - they all dull as fucking dishwater! Even Q's appearance over on DS9's first season was dull, bland and uneventful. This really doesn't do a service to DS9. All it does is make it look unappealing. And, it does a disservice to TNG as well by bogging it down with this boring crap! But beyond even that, what did Bashir even add to the mix here? He's barely in the episode to begin with. When he is around all he does is stare in dewy-eyed amazement at Data. That is, of course, when he isn't making himself look like a complete dipshit - "Oh hey, I have a mysterious piece of Gamma Quadrant alien technology. I think it's a medical scanner but I really don't know. I think I'll just go hook it up to the main computer of the fleet's flagship without any authorization or warning. I'm sure that won't go wrong!" Yeah, dipshit! This was supposed to be the introduction to DS9 for people who hadn't signed up yet? Good grief, at least VOY got it right and had Quark as its crossover character - he at least brings something enjoyable to the table. I mean, we don't even find out what the device from the Gamma Quadrant actually was! It's nothing more than a McGuffin to fuel Data's dreaming. In other words, DS9 wasn't needed for it! Oh, and by the way, Worf straight up assaults, blackmails and threatens to murder the Yridian on the Promenade in full view of passersby and Odo is nowhere to be seen (and neither are any of his deputies)? That must be the first and only time something like that happens! But enough about the complete and utter waste of a DS9 crossover. Let's focus on Data learning to dream. This is actually a pretty intriguing concept and could have been a worthwhile episode in its own right. Maybe we could have gotten something like Data exploring all those "religious/philosophical/cultural symbols and interpretations" he mentions to Picard on the holodeck or something along those lines. But, sadly, it's so woefully underdeveloped. If it hadn't been paired with the Bashir appearances or with Worf's plot-line, it could have possibly been developed into a nice look at dreams and what they mean for people, as well as some nice character growth for Data. But, instead, we get a bunch of new-age, hippy claptrap. It has the feeling of (put on your best hippy voice here) - "Yeah, man, it's like the wings and the birds, man. And your dad is the blacksmith hammering your soul. Wow, man, that's deep! And then you're the bird and stuff and.... duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I saw the center of the Earth, man!" Seriously? This is where they wanted to go with this idea? Talk about another failure. The use of Data's dreaming was better used in "Phastasms" and that's no masterpiece of an episode either. Then Worf, after doing some truly unnecessary soul-searching, decides to go look for his father. This the only passable section of the episode. But even it has its problems. Namely, like Jammer said, it's nothing but window dressing for Part II; and it's not particularly interesting window dressing either. Most of it could have (and should have) been cut and that time spent on Data's story. Most of Worf's soul-searching, his threatening of the Yridian and most of their banter in the Yridian's ship spring immediately to mind as things that could have easily been excised. It's not bad, but it's not good either - it's mostly just padding. But more on that when I get to Part II. And, finally, all the talk about this being about orphans and their fathers really rings hollow for me. Now, again, I'm not saying that an A/B structured episode has to have the two plots inter-relate with each other. One of my favorite episodes of DS9 has two plotlines that never actually connect with each other in a narrative fashion. But these two - why jam them together? They don't even relate thematically. Data's story is about him learning to dream and, oh yeah, his dad just happens to be involved. Worf's story is about a son setting out to find, and possibly rescue, his father and Mogh is absolutely, 100% essential. So, "Birthright, Part I" is... well, I suppose it's not as bad as it could have been. There's nothing downright offensive or simply unwatchable about it. It's certainly nowhere near a zero rating or as bad as "Man of the People" or "Aquiel." But, still, given what it sets out to do, it's quite a dud. 3/10

Diamond Dave

Has there been a less compelling two parter intro than this? It takes a long time to get where it's going and the two main themes are simply not carried over in an interesting way. Data's visions are a bit too spacey, and Worf's story has some interesting elements (his desire to find his father, even if that results in dishonour for him and his heirs), it's not truly explored. I can't also help think that the ball was dropped in regard to the DS9 crossover. A few more cameos, apart from Bashir? Let's face it, this episode could have been set anywhere. Ah well, at least we get to see Morn.... 2 stars.

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone I rather liked the Data storyline in this one. Yes, even watching it first-run in the 90's, I instantly knew Data was going to be zapped by the machine. But I liked seeing him 'fly' around the ship, as in a dream. And I didn't notice the first time that Soong was crafting a wing for a bird, and since Data was the bird, Soong was creating Data. :) I never quite understood how Bashir would jump to the conclusion that the machine was medical in nature. He admitted he did not know how it worked, so that is quite a leap. I kept wondering why they didn't call Geordi in to take a look at it. He likes new, strange things, and would probably enjoy fooling around with it. My comments on the Romulans, Klingons and other various items are on the page for Part II. I do believe I'd have liked it better if Part II had been set weeks or months later though, instead of seeming like days. Regards... RT

This sucked badly. The entire data string was another forced attempt to humanize data. With some random bs about crows and hey! Lets get brent spiner in here without makeup.... yahoo. Maybe what made it worse was that they forced the DS9 Line with worf and his own totally unrelated problems on top of it. This episode was a complete sham. If anyone disagrees pleas explain bashir and his contraption brought aboard unannounced to zap data into his dreams. I can clearly see this was a clever attempt of the of the producers to meld 1.5 episodes (birthright) to a half episode (data) all the while tying into DS9 which had just been launched. Great job at multi-tasking, bad execution for all stories combined. It would have been better if they made birthright a standalone episode and tied datas dream sequence into ds9 kickoff party somehow or just drop the latter altogether.

Trekkie Dave

OK, not a great episode, but there were a few things I liked. Bashir's interaction with Data asked questions that had occurred to me also. Does his hair grow? And what is it about that breathing I've been seeing going on for years! There were other things about Bashir I liked also, including his aversion to beets that I shared (an endearing quality if ever there was one!), but that one's confined to DS9. These are certainly not ground-breaking reveals but details that occurred in idle moments (like a majority of the show). Maybe that's a bit harsh but I didn't feel drawn in by any of the story lines.

James Cromwell, nearly unrecognizable? LOL. Let's not insult the man and go with unrecognizable.

If it weren't for the fact they were filming "Move Along Home" at the same time, having the entire DS9 cast cameo in it would have likely made the show better, or at least having an O'Brien-Picard meeting or even a Sisko-Picard meeting. It'd have certainly been interesting to have seen Worf meet Odo long before they would meet and work together again.

Not sure why they did the Data subplot only to completely drop it during the second part of this "two-parter". They could have made it a character developing moment but instead it came off as "oh by the way Data can do this now too isn't that cool okay back to Worf". Do androids dream of electric sheep? Apparently not. The "dreams" were more interesting when they appeared to be some sort of near death experience, they should have gone with that and pushed it to being the main plot. The doctor from the other show showing up and screwing around in sickbay without authorization was stupid. If we're supposed to consider the guy competent shouldn't he be shown following the rules, or at least breaking them for a reason other than "oops I guess I forgot lol court marshals don't happen to main characters." Okay, it was a little funny watching the guy having a severe crush on Data, and Data's reactions to it (in some scenes he's got that insufferably smug look he sometimes gets (how did Spiner get away with that, I wonder), in others he seems severely weirded out by it). But I could've sworn in a previous episode Data stated his hair didn't grow, and given how long Lore survived in space I think he's under exaggerated how much he doesn't need to "breath". (Now that we're explicitly told he apparently has a "respiratory system" that cools internal components like the fans on a pc I imagine him periodically popping himself open and having a go at it with some canned air---too funny! No wonder he was trying to figure out how to sneeze back in season 1.) We never did find out what that machine actually was. A machine that makes robots dream, I guess. Looks like the doctor was way off the mark on it being a medical scanner. I'm getting a little bored of Worf's Klingon storylines by now. We get it, he has issues, but quit bringing them up unless you're going to show him working past them, he's getting stagnate. I'll admit, it's a little fun seeing Worf enjoying plastic pasta and roughing up some ugly alien, but once he actually found the Klingons things got pretty dull.

It was obvious from the get-go this episode was going to be a bad one when the first thing Bev Crusher wants to do on station is visit the holodeck... you can't do that on The Enterprise (?!)

@Luke: glad someone else noticed worf's bad behaviour. He threatened to kill the Yridian if he didn't take him to the prison. Very un-starfleet.

I watched this one right after 'Aquiel'...whoa. Talk about a contrast. This is an absorbing drama on two fronts: Worf investigating the prison camp hoping to find his father, and Data exploring a vision of his creator Dr. Soong. The backdrop of Deep Space Nine is surprisingly underutilized, as Dr. Bashir is the only character from that series to actually make an appearance (unless you count Morn), and he's as irritating as ever - although his interest in Data helps a bit. Data's story is rather murky and new-agey, but the ability to dream does add something new to his character. Worf's situation will be more complicated, as the Romulan prison(?) camp he sneaks into is obviously not what it seems. A very good setup that left me looking forward to part two.

Just watch this one in 2017 on Blu-Ray. It was a lot better than I remember, at least Part 1 was. Things I liked: -The scene where Worf is giving Data advice about his vision. Worf talks about the importance of one's father. This is one of the most moving scenes in the series, with the way the camera pans around and the music plays. -Picard saying that Data is a "culture of one." I never thought about it that way. -The thought of Worf's father possibly being alive. It's quite a revelation. -The dark side of Worf emerging. -The elder Klingon sharing his memories of Worf as a child. It's adds another piece to Worf's background. His life before his foster parents was never discussed before, to my knowledge. Things I didn't like: -WAY too much time is spent on Data trying to find meaning from his initial dream. -It was never revealed what the medical device was used for. -The crew of the Enterprise on board Deep Space Nine acting like replicated food and holodecks are some new thing 3 Stars

Not a bad first parter. Data's dreams were rather trippy and mysterious. Our human dreams are very difficult to understand so it's not surprising that Data is confused. The Word segment was tripping because we've had multiple storylines revolving around his father. The revelation that he might still be alive was a nice twist in Words arc. I don't get why so many here crave an appearance from O'Brien to show up and recite a few lines. The man crush on him is baffling.

Darned autotype. My second paragraph was supposed to read "The Worf segment was gripping because we've had multiple storylines revolving around his father."

The sequence where Data dreams he is a bird and he flies through the ship and eventually out into space is one of the most mesmerizing, beautiful, and creative sequences in all of dramatic art. It's just so awe inspiring! It's sequences like this in TNG--sequences that are "out-there" and unique in a highly creative off the wall sort of way-- that make TNG not just a great dramatic show, but a wonderful work of cinematic art. It's stuff like this that transcend the medium and make TNG a mythology that becomes part of the collective consciousness. Totally heavenly. For this sequence alone, and similar sequences, this episode is worth 3 stars. Plus a pretty good story...equals 3.5 stars.

A rather dull affair that doesn't seem to have the story to go with making use of DS9 and revisiting the Khitomer massacre of Klingons by the Romulans. The potential of adding to that historical tale is intriguing, but it's not realized here unfortunately. The dishonor thing is a strong motivator for Worf to find his father, but this A-plot was slow to get going. Data's quest to understand his visions did not do it for me -- what "character development" he gets out of this isn't worth the time spent on all the nebulous aspects of interpreting his visions. So this is an episode about the importance of the father figure -- Worf realizes he should pursue the Yridian's info to learn about his father after telling Data to learn about his own father, Soong. I found the Data/vision subplot to be particularly dull and arbitrary. So Data decides he should try dreaming -- big deal. Ultimately, this Data dreaming subplot is filler material to turn "Birthright" into a 2-parter. I guess the episode does a good job creating some intrigue for the 2nd part given that the Klingons make it clear that they don't want to leave / can't leave and that Worf is to be a prisoner there. Hope Data's dreaming is not part of Part II! A low 2 stars for "Birthright, Part I" -- just too much padding here, really don't know how Jammer rates this 3 stars. Data's quest to be more human is an often visited theme on TNG but this aspect of dreaming/visions does not lead to some specific human characteristic like love etc. What Data was going through just was not interesting. Most of the Worf subplot was just mechanical but at least it ends with leaving the viewer wondering what's up in this prison camp with Klingons apparently having freedom with Romulans about.

What a yawn. Boring stupid episode. Everyone acts like an idiot. DS9 is pointless as a setting.

8/10 I enjoyed the Data story as I do most if not all Data stories. I remembered the clanking hammer from first seeing this episode so many years ago. Spiner playing both Data and Soong is a treat. I had hoped to see more of the DS9 characters to be honest. The Worf story is okay and continues his arc. The forested planet reminded me of Worf and Jadzia on that mission to rescue a defector.

Does Data dream of electric crows? More Worf ninja stuff-always ends badly.

Man, I liked this one -- both the Data and the Worf stories -- but yeah, they coulda done so much more with a DS9 crossover. Instead we get pointless Bashir and also the food on the Promenade sucks, what else is new.

Picard Maneuver

I realize DS9 has a wild west type atmosphere to it, but I'm still doubtful a Starfleet officer could get away with holding someone over a railing 15 feet up with half a dozen other officers watching. Loved the wide angle, low shot camerawork during the dream sequences. James Cromwell is lookin' pretty bad. Did he go to warp 10 and have lizard babies with Janeway, too? It's really more the Janeway part than the warp 10.

Not great, and the Worf parts ultimately have terrible payoff in part 2. For me, the Bashir/Data parts are pretty well, probably because Julian is intentionally a Scrappy saved from the heap, as TV Tropes calls it. Bashir is silly here, but completely consistent with his contemporary DS9 character. The Data stuff isn’t bad at all, and gives some amount of character growth. The Worf stuff is already trite and cheesy by now. Klingons aren’t/don’t take prisoners unless we’re captured or need to or whatever. Blah. Garbage.

Hotel bastardos

Maybe Worf should've just left a box of milk tray in the camp then buggered off, considering that gear he was wearing....

Frake's Nightmare

Is it just me or does a 'protein bath' sound dirty ? And on an ornithological note - it's a raven not a crow....unsure if this has any relevance ? Seems unlikely that Data would be channeling Norse mythology ?

Yawn. I expected better from a two-parter.

I’ll save most of my comments when I’ve rewatched Part 2 but… Data on LSD! Yes I remember that. Probably what I remember most about the episode, the brilliant psychedelic landscape that TNG wandered into. I’d forgotten that it was also the “TNG meets DS9” story and that Dr Bashir came on-board. I have always loved this one. It’s quirky and different from the normal routine. I hope Part 2 is as good, though I can’t remember right now… I’ll give it 4 stars, though I’m tempted to deduct 0.1 star for the producers thinking we are so stupid that we would believe that a genius like Dr Soong would gratuitously insert a panel of lazily and randomly flashing red, green, and orange LEDs into Data’s head for no good reason… (useful at Christmas perhaps, if Data could be persuaded to stand in your living room for 12 days with part of his head removed, and wearing a Santa outfit while balancing a cardboard star on his skull, a heap of wrapped presents at his feet, and singing Christmas songs from a variety of different galactic cultures).

That is how genius Soong was. He put those LEDs in on purpose so that the primitive Humans would not be freaked out by Datas brain. He also made sure that the LEDs blink in a way that calms us down. You look at those LEDs and think:" Everything is alright up there. This android is completely harmless and certainly will not murder me and destroy the Utopia Planitia shipyards" https://i0.wp.com/readysteadycut.com//wp-content/uploads/2020/01/F8.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1

As a bonus kids can use his cranium as a Lite Brite.

@Booming "He also made sure that the LEDs blink in a way that calms us down" LOL. I think I'd be calmer watching Worf practice Tai Chi'plakk...

@Tidd Ok, I hear ya but picture this. You are on an away mission. Things have gone awry as they often do and it's only you, Worf and Data and you are one spoiled food ration away from sitting down and crying for ~30 minutes. What calms you down more? Data opening his head and showing you all the little funny lights blinking away like nothing is wrong or Worf starting to practice Tai Chi'plakk? Let me tell you, if Worf starts to train murdering people I will start dictating my last will to the tricorder...

Sigh... Now Data is having a near-death experience... And wants to engage in meditation... And delves into religious exegeses... And "visions" and "trips"... 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ What on earth happened to this show...? If this wasn't a two-parter, I'd have moved on after 15 or so minutes but I felt guilty skipping the previous one plus these TWO episodes so I persevered. I had it mostly in the background and, even then, had to pause it every few minutes. Fast-forwarded through the Data nonsense. Still took me most of the day just to plow through this first part. I'm glad I stuck around because the Worf angle was more interesting although the whole "it brings dishonor to three generations" bit really had me rolling my eyes almost out of their sockets. Worf's antics, obstinacy, bigotry, parochialism, jingoism, and sheer bloody-mindedness in the second part were extremely disappointing. So, so ridiculous... However, it all provides a very salutary lesson about the inherent dangers of group-think and collectivism, which are very much in vogue these days, especially among the lunatic Leftists. They rightly denounce religion for its excesses and for impinging on individual freedom, yet they aim to impose a different collectivist dogma on us all (statism, socialism, politically-correct right-think, etc.). The antithesis to the Religious Right is not Socialist/Globalist Left; it is individual freedom. For the smallest and most vulnerable minority is indeed the individual. A bird born in a cage thinks liberty is a disease. The Romulan-Klingon chick is hot!

Okay, so I was giving this Worf thing some more thought afterward (I guess it's a testament to the quality of an episode, if it or something it brings up sticks in your head afterward) and I realized that my comments above may seem contradictory. How can I be advocating for individual freedom but simultaneously reproach Worf for seeking to awaken the community portrayed here to the fact that it's living in a type of "slavery"? My issue is not with Worf trying to make them alive to the realities of their situation--I very much support that: Stirring the thirst for FREEDOM in a person is one of the noblest things a man can do--but the argument(s) he uses to do so. He's not focusing on every living entity's unalienable right to make his/her free choices in and about life; rather, he appeals to "tradition." He argues that the "prisoners" should seek change not for the sake of asserting personal sovereignty and gaining liberty but because they ought to feel beholden to "their" traditional codes of behavior. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Replace one form of bondage, both physical and mental, with another. Not Worf's finest hour, that's for damn sure.

In one of the corridor scenes aboard the Enterprise Bashir is wearing white tennis shoes.

Blooper Snooper

@Squiggy - I noticed that too. I thought it was just my imagination, but after reading your comment I went back and double-checked: Bashir is definitely wearing white shoes!

Reminds me of the movie Flatliners. I found it slow and plodding too, I'd give it a 2.5 ish.

I would think that the reason the Enterprise crew would want to try food and holo-programs on DS-9 would be because DS-9 is a hub of trade. The Enterprise would come programmed with standard foods and holodeck programs and of course, you can make your own if you have the knowhow. So really, any base and especially a trade port would have access to some new and cool stuff. And if Quark was the owner, you know it would be protected from being copied (profit!) I loved the idea of Data being able to grow as a thinking being and learn to dream. It makes me wonder if that was something Lore was missing and it made him crazier.

This was a decent episode, but it was a really lazy crossover with DS9. There is literally no reason why this episode had to take place on DS9. It felt like they just took a script they already had written and tweaked it so that it was on DS9 and wrote Bashir into it. Bashir's presence in the Data plotline contributes nothing other than a fresh voice to say "Hey, an Android. Cool!" Once we got past that, Bashir might as well be any random member of engineering. A random engineer would actually make more sense, as a medical doctor really has no place helping with an experiment on an android. The only benefit the Worf plot has from the DS9 setting, is its a believable place for someone to approach Worf with information on his father. But they literally could have done that just as easily at any station, planet, etc. They could have also had the person contact Worf remotely. It wouldnt be a big stretch of the imagination. Basically, for it to have really been a worthwhile crossover, they should have utilized more of the DS9 cast (have O'Brien say hi) and have DS9 serve a more crucial role in the story.

Why does Worf like the pasta? Is the joke that he's gone so far beyond his Klingon tastes that he now likes *bad* human food? Shouldn't he want gaQh or bloodworms or something? On DS9, the crossroads of the galaxy, the only thing he wants to eat is bad pasta? I don't get it! And it's enthralling enough that the alien sneaks up on him, a trained and seasoned Klingon warrior and Starfleet security officer! Such a weird way to start off an episode.

That food gag is basically reused from "Time Squared." I guess the joke is how alien Worf is?

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Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Birthright, Parts One And Two"

"Birthright, Part 1" (season 6, episode 16, first aired: 2/20/1993)

or  The One Where An Android Does Not Dream of Electric Sheep

I'm not sure if it's a shift in the general culture, or just something unique to me, but I've never had any emotional investment in carrying on my father's legacy. I love my dad, and I would be the first to tell you he's a good man, and that he's accomplished a lot in his life to be proud of, but I don't feel any direct connection to those accomplishments. I'm ambitious, no question, and I certainly wouldn't object to either of my parents taking pride in what I do, but there's no sense that I need to achieve in order to do right by the family name. Stories about fathers nearly always revolve around a son needing to live up to his dad's expectations, or else transcend them. I've seen and read dozens of them, some good, many bad, and I've always wondered is this a theme that we repeat more because it's always been there, than because it means anything to any of us now. Maybe it's about maintaining fictional continuity, just as the son who strives to make sense of sire is trying to maintain a biological one.

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Or maybe I'm just odd. Either way, the "I need to connect with my dead dad!" element of "Birthright: Part 1" didn't do a lot for me emotionally, but it's a sign how much I liked it (and it's follow-up) that this didn't really matter. As yet another two-part storyline in a season jammed full of them, "Part 1" seemingly makes the mistake that so many other part ones have made, with a plot that's heavily padded with unrelated material in order to justify the running time. But where before I've been frustrated by  TNG 's inability to make the two-part structure work, here, that clumsiness actually made for a more interesting episode than I was expecting. What we've got here isn't  really  a "part 1," despite what it says in the title. "Birthright" is more a peek into the kind of show  TNG  might've been had it been able to more fully embrace serialization. I appreciate that peek, and for the interesting ideas raised here. I can see how they wouldn't work for everyone, but it worked for me.

Ostensibly, "Birthright" is about Worf. While the  Enterprise  is visiting Deep Space Nine (leaving time for Beverly and Picard to rave about the stations recreational facilities, while Geordi complains about the food), a Yridian information trader, Jaglom Shrek (James Cromwell, no stranger to  Trek , although he isn't given much to do here), comes to Worf with an offer: he knows where Worf's father is. This enrages Worf, because as far as he knew, his father died during the attack on Khitomer, fighting the Romulans. If Worf's father is actually alive, a prisoner instead of a corpse, it will bring a shame down on the family that will reach all the way down to Alexander. Not that Alexander couldn't use a bit of shaming, just to keep him in line. So Worf threatens Jaglom, dismisses what he says as a lie, and we spend most of the rest of the episode waiting for Worf to have second thoughts. If he doesn't, it's not much of a story.

But then, an entire episode given over to Klingon doubt wouldn't be much of a story either, so while we're waiting for Worf to realize that he'd be better off having a living, shamed father, then a dead noble one, Dr. Bashir pops over from DS9 to muck about with a new toy, and Data has a dream. It's nice seeing Bashir (Alexander Siddig); as I mentioned in the comments section last week, the good doctor was a favorite character of mine when I watched  DS9  as a kid, and he's fun here. Once again, we have a terribly smart person being very interested in Data, although, as Data notes, Bashir is more interested in Data's ability to mimic humanity than he is in Data's computational skills. To Bashir, Data's hair growth and breathing is impressive, and also indicative of his creator's big goal. The android wasn't designed to be a magic robot super hero. He was designed to be alive, and that means something.

That's relevant to what happens next. Bashir is on the  Enterprise  to test out some mysterious space tech, and when Data and Geordi get involved, Data gets zapped by a bolt of energy from the machine. The energy knocks him offline, and in the thirty seconds he's out, he sees himself walking the halls of the ship, and meeting a young version of his creator, Dr. Soong (Spiner, without the make-up). The vision ends before Data can make any sense of it, but it haunts him, and while Worf is coming around to the idea of going on a dad hunt, Data is puzzling out how to handle the first seemingly irrational experience of his life. In the end, he does the logical thing, and recreates the initial exerpiment that caused him to pass out, with instructions to Geordi and Bashir to let him stay under for as long as he needs.

If you view "Part 1" as a typical first-half, it leaves something to be desired. While there's a nominal thematic connection between Worf's soul-searching about his dad, and Data's attempts to reconnect with his own father, the connection is never all that compelling, and the two storylines could easily have been relegated to different episodes. The only problem being that neither story has enough meat to it to stand on its own. Worf's arc, from learning that his dad may be alive, to rejecting this, to learning from his friends that he might have been to hasty, to going back to Jaglom, to setting out for the prison camp, isn't enough for a single episode. Nor is Data's arc. The drama for both characters is entirely internal, and there isn't much danger for either of them. (Sure, Worf decides to put himself in danger, but that doesn't happen till the second part.) Which makes it easier to dismiss this as padding, but I think it works.

The highlight here is Data's dreaming, and it's the dreaming that makes the padding easier to forgive. In order to get this story in this form, you need to have something else going on around it, and in most other cases, that would've meant some artificial conflict. At the very least, we would've had to create more artificial difficulties to keep Data from understand what was going on before the final five minutes. That would've been a shame, because the strength of these scenes lies in their efficiency. If this  is  padding, it's a sort of padding that doesn't come across as belabored or pedantic. The dream sequences are nifty, and Data's attempts to paint them show a new side to his character. And for once, Spiner's work as Soong comes across as more inspiring than unsettling. Data's self-discovery in "Part 1" represents the purest form of  TNG , exploration done for knowledge that leads to personal growth, and it's such a lovely, quiet thread that I'm willing to put up with some structural clunkiness if this is we get in trade.

Really, the biggest misstep in "Part 1" isn't something that becomes a clear mistake until the second half of Worf's story. When Worf arrives at the prison camp, he finds the situation not at all what he expected. He finds a Klingon elder, who tells him that Worf's father, Mogh, did die on Khitomer after all—and then the elder turns Worf over to the Romulan guards. Take Worf's father out of the story is a bad call, I think, but we can wait till part 2 for that. For now, let's just leave Data to his dreams, and Worf standing there with a confused expression on his face. He does those so well, don't you think?

"Birthight: Part 2" (season 6, episode 17, first aired: 2/27/1993)

or  The One Where Worf Throws a Spear Through a Hoop

And back in we go.

Here's my criticism: a large part of the first part of this two-parter is taken up by Worf trying to understand his relationship with his maybe-not-dead dad. Klingon culture dictates that warriors are supposed to die in battle, and being taken for a prisoner of war indicates a certain cowardice or weakness. Lord knows, Klingons aren't forgiving when it comes to cowardice and/or weakness, and Worf knows that if Mogh really did survive Khitomer, if he's spent the decades since the attack as a Romulan POW, it's not going to be good for the family name. Worf's family name has taken a number of hits over the course of the series, but those hits were always unjustified, part of a frame job that looked to turn Mogh into a traitor for political reasons. Here, the shame would be, at least by the dictates of Klingon culture, entirely deserved.

I've said before that I appreciate  TNG 's attempts to treat Klingon laws and ritual with the same amount of respect the show gives other, easier to relate to cultures.  TNG 's record isn't spotless, and it sometimes treats Worf as a headstrong child who needs to be taught to think before he stabs, but in general, the series has done a decent job of handling Worf's struggles to balance his Klingon side with his Federation duties. "Part 1" is no exception to this. While to you and I, Worf's fury at the very idea that his father might not be dead may seem ridiculous, the episode itself never acts as though Worf is behaving foolishly, instead allowing him to come to his own decision through conversations with friends about  their  relationships with his father. It's a nice bit of writing, and it's one of the reasons this storyline, at least theoretically, needed two eps to work. With only one episode, Worf would have to had to make the decision to rescue his dad almost instantaneously. I'm not sure any of us would've noticed (my knowledge of Klingon culture is, "shouting and stabbing and whatever Worf says"), but we would've lost some fine acting from Michael Dorn, and some good character work.

Which is why it's so frustrated that almost the first thing Worf learns upon arriving at the prison camp is that Mogh really did die at Khitomer after all. I'd thought when L'Kor told Worf his dad had died that L'Kor was lying; I thought there was even a chance that L'Kor  was  Worf's dad, and that the shame of his capture and emprisonment had led him to hide his true identity. I was wrong, though. Mogh is definitely dead, which means Worf spent "Part 1" doing all that soul-searching for nothing. Sure, the idea of Klingon values is an important one for "Part 2," and the scene where Worf talks about fathers with Data is strong enough that it doesn't need to be justified, but the writers here have chosen to take away the strongest emotional connection that their hero and the audience has to the situation, without any clear reason. The episode does a decent job finding conflicts without having to deal with any father/son unpleasantness, but why sacrifice the most interesting development without having anything to replace it with?

The twist here is that the Klingons who survived Khitomer to be taken captive by the Romulans are now by and large happy with how things ended up. Sure, they had their problems at first—and they certainly didn't want to be captured, but when the Romulans knocked them unconscious during battle, they didn't have much choice. But now, everyone is getting along very well, enough for a whole new generation of Klingons to have been raised in the confines of the camp. Even more, there's been some inter-species hooking up. Tokath, the Romulan in charge of the camp for the start, chose to keep the place going after the war, and he's now married to a Klingon; they've even produced a beautiful half-Klingon/half-Romulan daughter named Ba'el. It's a relationship that wouldn't work in the outside world, just as the peace between the Klingons and their former guards wouldn't work. It's an Eden for people who've only known bloodshed, and then Worf has to arrive and screw up everything.

The problem with "Part 2" is that it's soft; despite the increasing tension between Worf and the elders, despite the fact that Tokath nearly has Worf executed at the end of the episode, the tension isn't particularly strong. There doesn't always need to be tension, of course, but given the volatile nature of the situation, everything that happens here happens too easily, and to much by rote. The elders resist Worf and refuse to let him leave, so he starts behaving like a Klingon in front of the younger people, and they soon grow infatuated with the ways of their culture which have been denied them. This comes to a head, Tokath tries to remove Worf from the equation, but it's too late, and Worf finally leaves the planet with the young people who are curious to see more of the universe. (Barring, presumably, Ba'el, whose mixed-species parentage would probably cause some problems.)

There's no real sacrifice here by any party, and, apart from realizing he's maybe a little racist towards Romulans, Worf doesn't learn much of anything about himself, or open his mind. I appreciate the way "Part 2" presents us with a conflict that has no clear answer: the peace that Tokath and the others have achieved is laudable and worth preserving, but Worf's attempts to bring culture and self-awareness to his own kind are also important. It's also fun to have the ostensible hero of the episode be the nearest thing there is to a threat. Worf is a disruption here, not the others, and if he'd never come to this colony, there may never have been any strife. The episode asks just how much our heritage and social identity is worth, and it does its best to show both sides of the idea without giving any easy answers.

It just doesn't hold together, though. I'm not sure that the lessons Worf teaches really are that worthwhile, and the fact that all we get to see is the Klingon side of this, when it's a Klingon/Romulan camp, makes it less interesting to me. I suppose there's some point being made here about the way the older generation always resists young people coming into their own, and how forcing people to make one choice isn't right, even if that choice is better for them in the long run, but it's too tepid to have much impact. It's especially disappointing how easy that final resolution comes—Worf makes everyone leaving with him swear never to reveal where they truly came from. That's it? If that's all that was needed, they should've just done that at the start. (I realize it's more complicated than that, but the end here is too much of a wish fulfillment for Worf. Apart from one awkward last look, we don't even get an acknowledgement that Ba'el won't be able to leave with the others, and that even if he loves her, Worf will have to leave her.)

Despite all my assertions otherwise at the start of this review, I seem to have once again come around to a two-part episode in which the first half is stronger than the second. But really, these episodes are so distinct that I don't think the failing of "Part 2" is the usual failing we see with two-parters. It's not that "Part 1" raised the bar so high that the conclusion couldn't hope to live up to expectations. As cliffhangers go, Worf-at-phaserpoint isn't going to blow anyone's mind. It's more that the second half failed to deal with the ideas it raised in a satisfying way. I appreciate the ambition and thought that clearly went into both these episodes, but while I found much of "Part 2" interesting and fun to watch, I was never gripped by it. "Part 1" brought me something new, with Data's strange visions and the ghosts of dead fathers. "Part 2" is a little too much of a classic  TOS  plot, without the camp: first thing we do is find an Eden, the next thing we do is destroy it.

Stray Observations:

• I didn't mention the quick scenes on the  Enterprise  in "Part 2," but there are quick scenes on the  Enterprise  in "Part 2." They're largely irrelevant.
• Morn puts in an appearance in the background of "Part 1." Or, as he'd put it, …
• Troi is absent from "Part 2," but she does help Worf make up his mind in "Part 1," and even gets the episode's funniest line: "Did the table do something wrong?"
• When Worf tells Picard that the Klingons he brings aboard from a downed ship, and that there were no survivors from Khitomer, Picard says, "I understand." I wonder if he does—something about the look on his face suggests he might have a good guess or two.

Next week:  We find out who the  Enterprise  really belongs to in "Starship Mine," and learn some "Lessons."

Birthright part 2 Stardate: 46579.2 Original Airdate: 1 Mar, 1993

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Paul Sorvino In Star Trek: TNG & Worfs Human Brother Explained

• Lt. Worf's human brother, Nikolai Rozhenko, portrayed by Paul Sorvino, appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7.
• Nikolai Rozhenko served as a cultural observer for the United Federation of Planets and had a child with a villager on Boraal II.
• Worf's unique upbringing as a Klingon raised by human parents contributed to his internal conflict and shaped his character throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) had a human brother in Star Trek: The Next Generation , portrayed by Goodfellas actor Paul Sorvino in his one onscreen Star Trek appearance. Worf was introduced in TNG's premiere episode with the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, but the Klingon Starfleet officer didn't get much to do in TNG season 1. After the death of Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), Worf became Chief of Security and began featuring in more storylines. Having been raised by human parents, Worf often struggled with his identity as a Klingon and a Starfleet officer.

After Worf's Klingon parents were killed by Romulans at the Khitomer Massacre, Worf was raised by Sergey (Theodore Bikel) and Helena (Georgia Brown) Rozhenko on a farming colony on Gault and then on Earth. Sergey had been serving on the USS Intrepid when the ship answered a Klingon distress call. In the wreckage left by the Romulans, Sergey found the young Worf, and he and his wife decided to raise him as their son. Worf's parents visited him on the Enterprise in TNG season 4, episode 2, "Family," but his human foster brother, Nikolai Rozhenko, did not make an appearance until Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7.

Star Treks 10 Greatest Klingons

Star Trek has many great Klingon characters from Kor to Worf and Kruge to Torres. But who are the best Klingon warriors that Qo'noS has to offer?

Paul Sorvino Played Worfs Brother In Star Trek: TNG

Worf reunited with his human brother in tng season 7, episode 13, "homeward.".

The only biological child of Sergey and Helena, Paul Sorvino's Nikolai Rozhenko served the United Federation of Planets as a cultural observer. Worf and Nikolai had been raised as brothers, although Nikolai's impulsiveness sometimes conflicted with Worf's more stoic nature. In 2370, Nikolai was observing the people of Boraal II, where he fell in love and conceived a child with a villager named Dobara (Penny Johnson Jerald). When the atmosphere of Boraal II began dissipating, Nikolai forced the hand of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) hand by transporting the villagers to the USS Enterprise-D. The Enterprise crew then found a suitable new planet, and Nikolai decided to remain with Dobara and their unborn child.

Penny Johnson Jerald may be more well-known to Star Trek fans for playing Kasidy Yates, the eventual wife of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Italian-American actor Paul Sorvino is most known for his role as Paulie Cicero in Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas , and he often played authority figures. Sorvino also appeared as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta in the second and third seasons of Law & Order. He portrayed Fulgencio Capulet, the father of Juliet (Claire Danes), in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo + Juliet , and also played Henry Kissinger in 1995's Nixon. More recently, Sorvino appeared in episodes of Elementary and The Goldbergs, and he had a recurring role as Frank Costello on Godfather of Harlem . Sorvino passed away of natural causes at the age of 83 in July 2022.

Worfs Brother & Human Parents Are Important To The Klingons Story

Throughout his time on tng and ds9, worf often struggled to reconcile his starfleet duties with his klingon heritage..

Worf grew up as the only Klingon in a small farming village, where he gained his sense of self-control, as he often had to hold back his strength when playing with human children. Despite being raised by humans, Worf always felt drawn to his Klingon roots, and he traveled to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS to perform the Rite of Ascension at the age of fifteen. Worf returned to Earth and later became the first Klingon to join Starfleet, eventually landing a position on the USS Enterprise-D.

In many ways, Worf is more Klingon than most Klingons. He strives to uphold everything he knows about what it means to be Klingon, but he has never actually lived among his own species for any significant amount of time. Worf's unique upbringing makes him a man of contradictions - he feels too human to be a true Klingon warrior but too alien to be human , and this is where much of his conflict stems from. Worf's Star Trek: The Next Generation journey explored his duel nature, but the Klingon didn't truly come into his own until he joined the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Cast Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden

Release Date September 28, 1987

Showrunner Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Screen Rant

I wish star trek: tng had never introduced data's emotion chip.

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25 Best Star Trek: TNG Episodes Of All Time

10 ways data was human before picard season 3, the star trek: tng episode that predicted ds9 & voyager.

• Data's emotion chip storyline in TNG films was underwhelming.
• Data's humanity was already evident without the chip.
• Star Trek: Picard Season 3 redeemed Data's emotion chip storyline.

Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has always been my favorite Star Trek character, but I wish Star Trek: The Next Generation had never given the android an emotion chip. Since his introduction in TNG's premiere, Data wanted nothing more than to be human, so he spent TNG's seven seasons observing the humans around him. Created by cyberneticist Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner), Data was a one-of-a-kind technological marvel, with superior strength and an advanced positronic brain. Without Data, the USS Enterprise-D would've been destroyed on multiple occasions, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) considered the android one of his closest friends.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4, episode 3, "Brothers," Dr. Noonien Soong activates a homing beacon in Data's brain that causes the android to hijack the Enterprise and return to his creator. When Data arrives, Soong reveals that he has created an emotion chip that will allow Data to experience human emotions for the first time. Data's evil twin brother, Lore (Brent Spiner) , ends up stealing the emotion chip meant for Data, leaving Data to witness the death of Dr. Soong. While I think giving Data an emotion chip could have worked, the TNG movies squandered the opportunity, reducing Data's emotions to comedic relief.

Star Trek: The Next Generation produced some of the best and most beloved science fiction television of all time. Here is TNG's best of the best.

Data's Emotion Chip Storyline In Star Trek: TNG Films Didn't Work

Data's star trek generations storyline makes me wish tng had never introduced the emotion chip..

After Lore was deactivated in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, Data put the damaged emotion chip away for safekeeping. It wasn't until Star Trek Generations that Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) helped Data repair the emotion chip and install it. But rather than giving the android realistic human emotions, the chip made him erratic and prone to bursts of humor or fear. Considering Dr. Soong had spent years building this emotion chip specifically for Data, I never understood why it would malfunction this way in Star Trek Generations.

The emotion chip should not have changed Data's personality so drastically.

The emotion chip could have been used to bring Data closer to humanity in a nuanced way, and I hate the way it became little more than a running joke. By Star Trek: First Contact, Data was able to turn the emotion chip on and off as he wished, and by Star Trek: Insurrection , he had removed it entirely. The emotion chip should not have changed Data's personality so drastically, but rather given him the ability to experience the emotional response to things he was already feeling in his own way.

Data Had Already Achieved His Own Kind Of Emotions In Star Trek: TNG

Data was already human in all the ways that mattered..

Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , Data insisted that he did not have the ability to feel. Despite this, Data clearly cared for the people around him and he regularly displayed very human reactions. Even as early as TNG season 1, Data mourned Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) after her death and thought of her often. In one of Data's most important episodes, TNG season 2, episode 9, "The Measure of a Man," a trial was held to determine if Data was the property of Starfleet. Although Data had decided to accept whatever the court decided, he was clearly disturbed by the idea of being dismantled and studied.

Though Data was finally given a more human body and emotions in Star Trek Picard season 3, he was already human in all the ways that mattered.

Later, when Data created a daughter named Lal (Hallie Todd), he was obviously devastated by her death. Even when Data could not see his own humanity, those around him saw it. Dr. Noonien Soong knew that Data would mourn him "in [his] own way," and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and others aboard the Enterprise expressed their disbelief that Data was an unfeeling machine. Over time, Data could have grown into his humanity, but his journey on Star Trek: The Next Generation was not always consistent.

For example, Data seems to take a step backward in TNG season 4, episode 25, "In Theory," as he behaves like an android who hasn't spent years observing the humans around him.

When Lore returned in the Star Trek: The Next Generartion two-parter, "Descent," he had found a way to project his emotions onto Data. Because the emotion chip was not designed for Lore, it made him even more unstable and prone to emotional outbursts. In "Descent," Data begins to experience anger and even hatred, as Lore manipulates his brother's emotions. While the "Descent" two-parter not be perfect, I think it presented a more interesting exploration of Data's emotions than anything in the TNG films. As someone who loved Data's journey on TNG , I was disappointed that the films undermined his most important story arc.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Redeemed Data's Emotion Chip Storyline

Data finally became as close to human as he could ever hope to be..

Despite his apparent death in Star Trek: Nemesis and again in Star Trek: Picard season 1, Data returned in Picard season 3. Picard season 1 revealed that Data's consciousness had survived the events of Nemesis, only to kill him off again in an emotional death scene with Admiral Picard. While I don't hate this scene in and of itself, I do not understand why Picard season 1 brought Data back only to kill him off again. Not to mention the fact that Data did not get to say goodbye to Geordi, the person he always considered his best friend.

Thankfully, Star Trek: Picard season 3 redeemed almost all of these blunders for me. Data received a new synthetic body and the ability to experience realistic, organic emotions (with no mention of the emotion chip). His new consciousness incorporated not only Data's personality, but also that of Lore, B-4, and Lal. Data also got to reunite with Geordi and the rest of his USS Enterprise-D family, finally bringing his story to a satisfying conclusion. Still, I hope we get to see more of Data's story, as he keeps exploring his newfound emotions and continues the journey that began back on Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: The Next Generation

*Availability in US

Not available

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Birthright, part i (1993), james cromwell: jaglom shrek, photos .

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