Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we return to our "Best Of" series for The Next Generation with a look at the best moments for Worf.
Worf has been the subject of a Best Of segment before, but that was about his time on Deep Space 9. Before ever stepping into Sisko's crew, Worf built a big bit of character in his time as the sole Klingon on Picard's Enterprise crew. These are some of his best moments and episodes.
Although Worf is often an overly serious character dedicated to his security role, that allows for some true moments of hilarity when Worf is pushed outside his normal comfort zones. One of these moments comes in the episode Qpid, in which Q creates another elaborate world for Picard's crew in which they are placed in roles based on Robin Hood. Worf was having none of it.
Although Worf is often an overly serious character dedicated to his security role, that allows for some true moments of hilarity when Worf is pushed outside his normal comfort zones. One of these moments comes in the episode Qpid, in which Q creates another elaborate world for Picard's crew in which they are placed in roles based on Robin Hood. Worf was having none of it.
QUOTE (from Qpid, S4):
"I must protest! I am not a merry man!"
Indeed, Worf usually is not. Another somewhat soft side of Klingons was revealed in the episode Yesterday's Enterprise, in which a seemingly throwaway scene in Ten Forward reveals that prune juice is going to become Worf's true jam. This is mentioned almost 10 more times in the series, becoming the most prolific reference to a character's drink of choice behind Janeway's coffee and Picard's Earl Grey tea.
QUOTE (from Yesterday's Enterprise, S3):
Guinan - "It's an Earth drink. Prune Juice."
Worf - "A warrior's drink!"
When not dealing with codes of honor, security issues, or flavorful juice drinks, Worf likes to find himself in romantic relations. This is of course hard given the lack of Klingon suitors on Picard's Enterprise, but we see him meet his match later when he has a strong relationship with Jadzia Dax. To lay the groundwork for this and how Klingons make love in a very masochistic and warrior-like manner, we see Worf give some truly terrible love advice to Wesley Crusher when Crusher falls for an alien bear in the episode The Dauphin.
Guinan - "It's an Earth drink. Prune Juice."
Worf - "A warrior's drink!"
When not dealing with codes of honor, security issues, or flavorful juice drinks, Worf likes to find himself in romantic relations. This is of course hard given the lack of Klingon suitors on Picard's Enterprise, but we see him meet his match later when he has a strong relationship with Jadzia Dax. To lay the groundwork for this and how Klingons make love in a very masochistic and warrior-like manner, we see Worf give some truly terrible love advice to Wesley Crusher when Crusher falls for an alien bear in the episode The Dauphin.
QUOTE (from The Dauphin, S2):
Worf - SCREAMS
Worf - "That is how a Klingon lures a mate"
Wesley - ".."
Worf - "It's not the men, but the women who do the roaring, and they hurl heavy objects and claw at you."
Sounds like a fun time. Speaking of screams, since Klingons also do that when someone dies, one of the top character moments for Worf is when he discovers in the episode Reunion a former lover K'Ehleyr right before her death at the hands of Duras, the chief political rival family of Worf's Mogh family line. This is where Worf must first deal with the revelation that K'Ehleyr hid the fact that they had a son Alexander, who would become vital to Worf's development moving forward, while also dealing with the latest Klingon rivalry drama and backstabbing. Most of Worf's Klingon-centric episodes in the TNG run stem from or build towards this seminal moment, when he force his son to look upon his dead mother.
QUOTE (from Reunion, S4):
Perhaps ______ on death scene
Worf - "You have never seen death. Now, look and always remember."
Worf goes on to kill Duras in the same episode as revenge, but this is just one bloody battle in the long war between the families. Worf may be terrible at giving fatherly advice, but he does stand by his crew and his bloodlines, which is a handy thing to have when you've got a Klingon warrior around. Worf's character development hit another gear in DS9, but all of these were important framework moments for that latter role.
Worf - SCREAMS
Worf - "That is how a Klingon lures a mate"
Wesley - ".."
Worf - "It's not the men, but the women who do the roaring, and they hurl heavy objects and claw at you."
Sounds like a fun time. Speaking of screams, since Klingons also do that when someone dies, one of the top character moments for Worf is when he discovers in the episode Reunion a former lover K'Ehleyr right before her death at the hands of Duras, the chief political rival family of Worf's Mogh family line. This is where Worf must first deal with the revelation that K'Ehleyr hid the fact that they had a son Alexander, who would become vital to Worf's development moving forward, while also dealing with the latest Klingon rivalry drama and backstabbing. Most of Worf's Klingon-centric episodes in the TNG run stem from or build towards this seminal moment, when he force his son to look upon his dead mother.
QUOTE (from Reunion, S4):
Perhaps ______ on death scene
Worf - "You have never seen death. Now, look and always remember."
Worf goes on to kill Duras in the same episode as revenge, but this is just one bloody battle in the long war between the families. Worf may be terrible at giving fatherly advice, but he does stand by his crew and his bloodlines, which is a handy thing to have when you've got a Klingon warrior around. Worf's character development hit another gear in DS9, but all of these were important framework moments for that latter role.
Worf was played by Michael Dorn, who can still be found providing voice talent to many shows today including Arrow. Perhaps someday we will see his Captain Worf show as well!
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