Rightful Heir

DVD, TNG S6 (Rightful Heir)

Religion, politics, bat'leth battles, a personal quest for a crewmember and a shipload of Klingons - it feels like a 'DS9' episode, before they'd begun to do that kind of thing. It also sets the stage for Worf to join that series as episodes like this showed how he could fit in. It's quite far removed from the usual 'TNG' stories, delving much deeper into Klingon life and society with clerics and scientists performing experiments and honest talk about the state of the race - they've become decadent and dishonourable, forgetting the noble heritage that we're told has been passed down through hundreds of years. The thing is, the Klingons have rarely shown themselves to be the great people of honour they're always boasting about, and in fact they've been quite the opposite. Only good examples like Worf have weighed the balance in a positive light and much that we think we know about the race is skewed in the wrong direction. This episode was necessary to point out the inconsistencies in Klingon traditions and their actions, but rather than solve the problem, this (like Boreth), is a place of questions. I could imagine these blights on society being addressed in future, but they don't come up nearly as much as you'd think, the race consistently shown to be fighting when in reality their fighting nature seems to be a big part of what has caused their infrastructure to crumble.

Not that the Klingons have ever given in to their people's weaknesses and died out, but they haven't lived the lives they could have lived if they were as honourable as Worf, and it would have been fantastic if Emperor Kahless had ushered in a new era of nobility and self-sacrifice. I'm sure he did change many Klingons, but there's still something missing from even the best men's lives as Worf is proof. I love the notion that Kahless could still come back one day, though the romantic stories and legends (such as the forging of the first bat'leth!), do little to assuage the gap in Worf's faith. I have to say I believed. Not at first - I thought this Kahless was just a large, bumbling fighter, as wide in girth as he was tall and lacking any real substance. Not the way I might have imagined the greatest Klingon warrior of all time, that's for sure. But as he spoke and acted, as he rallied his men's affections and showed such strong belief in himself as Kahless I grew to appreciate the character and he won me over so much that I wished he'd been in other episodes and had crossed over to other series' like Gowron, Kurn, Kang, Kor and Koloth did.

His bat'leth battle against Worf was exciting, though I sensed Worf's hesitance at accepting the validity of the fight as it was basically called off by Kahless by diverting the attention of the assembled watchers, ending the fight early. To begin with it suggests he did this on purpose but as we go on we learn he really believes he is Kahless and this self-belief fostered by his creators is half of what makes him a possible true Kahless. It was still a fast and furious battle and the knife fight was also good, though it would have been better to have seen Gowron put in his place. The leader calls down contempt on this attempt to usurp power, but it's a new era for his people. Sadly it doesn't turn out to be the panacea that was needed - later, in 'DS9,' the Emperor opposes Gowron's actions against the Federation, but it doesn't do much good. It would take a superior warrior to beat the sly Gowron, but it was to happen eventually.

I sometimes find it difficult to keep up on the state of relations between the Klingon leader and Worf since I watch both 'DS9' and 'TNG' and at different times they're friends and enemies, but at least Worf was able to influence him into accepting this version of Kahless. Worf seemed to get a bit mixed up as he suggested the people didn't need a false god, but the Klingons were supposed to have killed all their gods. Does that mean they put up one of their own people on that pedestal to worship in the place of gods? That seems to go against the Klingon way, but then they are full of little self-contradictions like that and in any case the writers didn't want Worf to be too religious since he is a Starfleet officer and that would go against the ideals of the series a bit. They weren't as brave as 'DS9' in putting characters with real, unshakeable faith in the cast so that Worf's beliefs were really a bit of a leap for him.

Riker was another to make a bit of a leap (though not of faith) when he assumes something's wrong because Worf's late for duty. It would have been a bit embarrassing if he'd broken in and found Worf had simply overslept! Picard's excellence as a Captain comes to the fore again when he visits Worf in his quarters to chastise him, but also to give him leave to pursue his personal quest. He's a very understanding leader, though I have to admit I was waiting for a 'Qa'pla' at the end which never came. One big question I had as the episode progressed was why a Federation ship (the flagship, no less), was required to transport Kahless to the homeworld. Surely a Klingon ship would be closer? The answer is given in the episode by none other than Gowron, who claims he didn't want Kahless turning a ship full of Klingons to his side, which is fair enough, and a good enough reason to get the Enterprise in there.

Kahless had been seen once before, way back in the third season of 'TOS,' though again it was a reproduction of the man, not the man himself. It made sense that Klingons of that era would re-imagine Kahless as a superior Klingon that looked like them so the Excalbians probably got their information from the Klingons of the day, which explains the difference in appearance with the pasty-headed version on display here. I like that it was Worf's experiences with the young Klingons whom he rescued from the camp in 'Birthright' that instigates the story, though I'm not sure why his visit to Boreth (a place he returned to after the destruction of the Enterprise), coincided with the fulfilment of the cleric's plan to bring Kahless back. Perhaps they took advantage of his presence and the fact that he had links to Gowron and the High Council as the quickest route to acceptance for their clone, and it worked: without Worf he may never have become Emperor. That also explains why Koroth didn't want Worf to leave. I was surprised when I realised Koroth was played by the same actor that would later play the strong-willed Captain Keogh in 'DS9' as they're such different people. That's acting!

It's sad Worf doesn't find his faith strengthened, as even Data seems to have been more successful in that area - his leap of faith was to believe he was a person and not just a machine. I don't think the real Kahless would be very happy with the cleric's assertion that it doesn't matter about him, it's just his words that mattered, especially if he really does come back one day. Gowron cares only for his own power, however and demonstrates that again. I suppose the positive side is that he keeps order in the Empire and at least he sees the wisdom of accepting this Kahless as a figurehead Emperor. If only we could have seen how Kahless settled into the role and the troubles he faced. It would make a good book.

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