[Film Club] Worf: A Failure At Everything

Stop dishonoring Worf!

 

Worf was a mixed bag for me. His absurd rigidity in adhering to Klingon cultural norms certainly created a lot of comic moments (intentional and otherwise) and a fair share of frustration, yet I always found myself rooting for him because his intentions were always good and yes, honorable.

As with Chief O'Brien I enjoyed Worf's character a lot more on DS9 (except for that atrocious episode where he ruined everyone's vacation on Risa ersevere than on TNG.

 

Don't know why, but I somehow don't like DS9 as much as the others. But I am going to give it a chance once I have finished TNG. I had to insert a break because it became a bit repetetive at some point. It's possible, though, that I just watched too many episodes on one go.

Of course you always root for the crew (members), otherwise you proably wouldn't watch it. But that moment where Worf bounced off that borg's shield was hilarious. Your video too, @Lady Jolanda . Sometimes it's just not so much the character itself that is so brilliant, but the dynamic with others that makes it beautiful.

 

Worf, the klingon too human to be accepted by klingons and too klingon to be fully understood by humans. Thus making him a true alien.

I always liked Star Trek and it's over abundance of leeway in suggesting humans could mate with practically every species they encountered. That's important to spread our DNA across the universe. Because every living thing should want that. Right?

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From an evolutionary standpoint, yes.

But you don't include the problems between vulcans and humans mating, this was impossible in the early times. Only later did it become possible to "mate how you wanted". Within reason, of course.

 

Imagine it mating with a genetically altered mantis.

 

As far as I recall at some point in TNG an explanation was given that most humanoid species from the Alpha quadrant were seeded by the same ancient aliens, thus having some form of genetic similarity that allows them to interbreed in theory. Also the only established hybrids that I can remember in canon were Betazoid x Human, Vulcan x Human, Klinglon x Human, Bajoran x Cardassian and Romulan x Klinglon By the way Worf wasn't half Klinglon, he was adopted by Human parents and raised on Earth. The half-Klinglons were the mother of Worf's son Alexander and B'Elanna Torres.

 

If you include Archer's Enterprise, and I think it was a point in Kirk's as well, that back then they couldn't have a hybrid offspring. Trip and T'Pol had the very first human-alien (human-vulcan) child.

But the theory posted by @Peppermint is intriguing. I'm wondering who those ancient aliens were. Reminds me of the Ancients from Stargate.

 

DS9 is special to me because it's the best attempt Trek ever made at long-form storytelling (Discovery is working that angle as well, but still has a ways to go). Character actions large and small throughout the series have real consequences to the overall story, sometimes multiple seasons after the fact. Dozens of plot lines all branching from the initial few story concepts and all eventually leading back to the finale in a rather satisfying way. A fine cast of main characters, supported by a spectacular menagerie of recurring players that often steal the show (Garak for instance is not a "main credits" character but I consider him one of my top 5 characters in the history of television).

Give it a chance. Start at the beginning and be patient. Like all Trek series, it's a slow burn, but it really pays off the longer you stick with it.

I realize I'm not reinventing the wheel here by making these comments (DS9 fans like myself are notorious for hyping the show into the next galaxy) but to me it really is unique in the Trek lexicon.

 

I don't wish to drive you against me, I just saw this and thought it might be nice to share and discuss this with you, even if it drives us a bit off topic (sorry). Doesn't mean that I necessarily endorse this theory, but it's an interesting perspective.

 

Heh, pretty good. I would've gotten to my point before 5 minutes into the video, but whatever (Ti ).

One certainly has to suspend disbelief regarding the Federation. It largely depends on a Utopian, essentially communist vision of humanity (and other alien races, for that matter). Gene Roddenberry caught a lot of shit for this in his time.

Interestingly enough, he strongly opposed a future humanity with "human" flaws we would readily recognize, which is one reason the first series launched after Gene's death was...DS9, which was notably darker and less optimistic than prior series.

 

As a youtuber, you probably have to dumb it down for the slow people, and the ones who only have limited knowledge of the francise.

And Gene Roddenberry was also the "creator" of Andromeda, which was the revival of a cancelled project created at the request of his widow, who BTW also played Deanna's mother as well as the voice of the computer. There was a similar concept, the Commonwealth (ikr), and the series starts after its fall. That also makes it darker IMO. This series may be seen as an example of what might come after the fall of such a regime as that of the Federation. If someone were to make that connection, that is.

No one ever really thinks about this, do they? What happens after the Federation? What could bring about the end of the Federation?

 

Shit, that was the Kevin Sorbo thing, wasn't it?



That said, it sounds like a cool concept. I imagine any number of things could bring about the end of the Federation. DS9 (and Voyager, tangentially) did explore this a bit with the Maquis storyline, i.e. a sect of individuals rebelling against a Federation directive. It would be interesting to see a series based around a non-Starfleet perspective.