Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 4, Episode 7
Original Air Date: November 5, 1990
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| via Memory Alpha |
Captain Picard, quite surprisingly and controversially, is chosen to arbitrate the selection of the new Klingon leader. There are two candidates: Duras and Gowron. One of them, however, killed K'mpec, the previous leader, slowly poisoning him. Picard must discover which before making his decision.
But wait, there's more. K'Ehleyr is back and she has a son, Alexander. What's more, Worf is the father and this is the first he's learned of the child! Our favorite security officer takes on a lot in this story: reconnecting with his ex, encountering Klingons for the first time since his discommendation, gaining a son and almost immediately taking on primary responsibility for him, leading an investigation of a bombing attack, grieving the loss of his ex, avenging her murder and disappointing his captain.
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| K'Ehleyr, episode director Jonathan Frakes and Worf on set via Memory Alpha |
Question: Are there babysitting services on the Enterprise? At one point, it seems like Worf and K'Ehleyr leave Alexander by himself. Maybe they made arrangements off camera? Or is this part of a broader pattern of neglect? Or simply a narrative oversight? (Children are often "forgotten" on television)
Obviously, this is one of the more important Worf stories in the series and, frankly, one of the most significant Klingon tales in the whole franchise. Gowron is an important character moving forward, for both Next Gen and Deep Space Nine.
Acting Notes
Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) was born March 25, 1950 in New York City. His long association with Star Trek - mostly as Gowron but a few other roles, too - has been his highest profile work. The eye thing helped him get the part!
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| via Memory Alpha |
Other credits include the Jim Carrey film The Mask and guest appearances on Cheers, Knight Rider and MacGyver. He and his wife have triplet sons.
I am generally disdainful of meme culture but these are too good not to share:
Gowron! Such a huge addition to Star Trek lore.
ReplyDeleteI will say this many times: one of the greatest strengths of DS9 is the quality of its secondary characters. That show had a very deep bench and Gowron is one of several who leave an indelible impression.
DeleteExcellent episode for world building of the Klingons and for Worf's character development.
ReplyDeleteAs for who was watching Alexander, the boy seemed pretty responsible from the get-go and I can easily imagine the computer monitoring him while the grownup were away.
Lacking any other explanation, that's kind of what I figured happens. The practically omniscient ship's computer provides, among other things, one helluva baby monitoring system.
DeleteStovokor warriors smiled down on K'mpec knowing full well his time was running out but we know now the pataq was Duras.
ReplyDeletePreach!
Deletereally? I'm honoured. I thought only Vulcans preached in the Star Trek universe.
DeleteAbsolutely. I felt like you were hitting a storytelling stride there and I was simply encouraging you to continue.
DeleteI really hated that they killed her off because she was such a great, strong character. I hated the kid to be honest but, yes, kids can be forgotten. A famous instance is the Doris Day show where she starts off as a window with 2 kids but Day changed things up later and started living in the city and has no kids.
ReplyDeleteIt was a shame that they killed her - an unfortunate choice for moving the story forward.
DeleteRoss and Rachel's child Emma in Friends doesn't feature much towards the end of the series.
And yes, Alexander is... problematic. He gets awfully whiny. Worse than Wesley. Again, Trek really isn't good with kids. DS9 is better (isn't it always?). Jake and Nog both develop compelling stories over time.