ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

____________
HEART OF GLORY episode #20; 1st season / Air Date: 3/21/88
written by Maurice Hurley; Directed by Rob Bowman



This was the first of several TNG episodes concentrating on the Klingon culture (and updating it from the time of TOS and the films).

The Enterprise is signaled about a battle taking place between a couple of ships. They find a nearly-destroyed freighter and 3 Klingons inside. One of these dies soon after.

Here we see the Klingon custom of screaming a warning at the after-life.

These Klingons turn out to be renegades; they are too enamored of glorious battle, even for the average Klingon of this time. (The Klingon Empire has a peace treaty with the Federation).

A Klingon ship soon appears, in pursuit of the criminals.



There is an early, lengthy sequence here when we see though the visor of LaForge, giving everyone a glimpse of how he sees things. Picard states that now he is beginning to understand LaForge. I'm not sure why this was included.

This is a sample of 'touchy-feely' stuff that grates on Trek purists during these early episodes — it's supposed to be insightful or perhaps wonderful, but is merely sugary.

Otherwise it's an interesting thriller. The two aggressive Klingons prove to be a danger to the entire ship, and this episode probably influenced the later ones which focused on Worf and Klingons — usually fan favorites. There's more action and tension here than the usual first season episode.



The goals of these Klingons, however, were a bit vague. Of course, long term goals and Klingons rarely jell — that's how their empire got into trouble in the first place.

It would have been more understandable if there had been an entire sect of these Klingons, or perhaps just a few hundred of them. As it is, I fail to see how just these two Klingons were plausibly going to change the face of the galaxy with the old ways. They would have been eliminated in the next excursion even if they escaped the Enterprise.

This was more of a parable — a glimpse into the contradictions of the Klingon culture during the 24th century, as compared to the one-note depiction of the 23rd.



This was the early one which allowed actor Michael Dorn to expand on his usually limited Worf character. Denise Crosby as Yar was also finally pretty good here in her role as security chief. Worf is caught between his family on the Enterprise and his ties to traditional Klingon virtues.

I especially liked the performance of actor David Froman as the captain of the Klingon ship who speaks with Worf a couple of times via the viewscreen. These were great little scenes, especially towards the end when he offered Worf a possible other future and, to the consternation of the bridge crew, Worf seemed to accept.

"I was just being polite" Worf later tells them — great stuff.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I concur with Andrew Bogdan's evaluation of the performance by the actors who played the Klingons. They were calm, intelligent, and . . . believe it or not, almost suave!

Suave Klingons? Clearly an oxymoron.

Halfway through the episode I finally realized why one of the Klingon's distinctive voice sounded so familiar to me. He was played by Vaughn Armstrong, the actor who appeared in eighteen episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise as Admiral Maxwell Forrest.

At first I thought it couldn't be Mr. Armstrong because he looked too young. But that turned out to be because I was remembering his character from a series that aired almost twenty years later.

This is a very exciting, well-written episode. It refutes the general assertion that TNG's first season was weak. This episode was NOT weak.
It has the heart of a warrior!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

"The Heart of Glory" March 21, 1988, Trivia.

Director Rob Bowman utilized a Steadicam for the scenes on board the freighter ship the Batris.

The freighter Batris can be recognized as a miniature model that was reused throughout ST:TNG episodes.

The Batris is referred to as a Talarian vessel. We will meet that race on the episode "Suddenly Human."

Michael Dorn was somewhat disappointed with this episode.

Yes, the focal point was his character of Worf but according to Dorn it was just informational regarding Worf.

The script told you where Worf was from, why he's on board the Enterprise-D, is he loyal?

However, Dorn felt this offered none of the complexity of his character at all.

Michael Dorn is a highly skilled pilot in real life including with jets.

The scene with Geordi's VISOR tied into the bridge of the Enterprise-D was very cool.

Sadly it wasn't utilized much probably due to the budget.

The VISOR effect would be seen again on the episode "The Mind's Eye."

The original script had the final battle between the crew & Klingons take place in one of the passageways.

Director Bowman found that anticlimactic and designed the more elaborate scene of the battle taking place in the multi-decked main engineering section.

This was one of the better episodes coming out of a generally mediocre first season.

I remember a friend and I having a discussion regarding the Klingon brought on board who dies.

Worf and the other Klingons have a mourning ceremony and then the head Klingon essentially says that the body is now an empty husk and does not care what happens to it.

My friend recounted how the US military, as well as other nation's military, will go to any length to retrieve deceased soldiers on the battlefield. Even to the point of risking the lives of other soldiers to retrieve their fallen comrades.

Leave no man behind.

So my amigo did not buy into the warrior honoring Klingon culture being so dismissive of their deceased friend's body.

I told my friend while the Klingons pay tribute to their fallen, they take a realistic & practical approach to dead bodies.

The individual is no longer; they have arisen to Klingon heaven.

Therefore, the body is an empty vessel no longer serving the empire and is to be viewed as useless.

There is no emotion about the body or disrespect intended at all.

It is simply a matter of the empty body not being the person they loved any longer with their spirit gone.

You have their memories so don't worry about an ''empty husk."

[johnnybear]

The Batris was also the standard Visitor spaceship from the V series or so I have read! They darkened it and gave it a battered look!
JB

[Pow]

Nitpicker's Guide

When the away team first arrives on the freighter, does it seem like a good time to engage in small talk? Another five seconds of "show and tell" with LaForge's VISOR and everyone would have died when the freighter exploded.

On the way to rescue the Klingons in the freighter, Data states that all routes are equally dangerous. LaForge responds by asking which route is least dangerous? Evidently he was not paying attention to Data's previous statement.

Under the category of "What Kind of Security Officer is Worf?" this episode has a pair of Klingons admitting to Worf that they took over a freighter, stranded its crew, and destroyed a Klingon cruiser.
What is Worf's response to all of this? He proceeds to take them on a tour of some of the most strategic sections of the Enterprise!

The Klingon named Korris trains a Klingon disruptor on the warp core threatening the destruction of the Enterprise in the finale. Worf mounts an attack and shoots Korris

Why not transport him out of there and deactivate his weapon, as O'Brien did to Data in "The Most Toys" episode? Or why not turn off the warp core? LaForge does this in "Galaxy's Child" and it seems to go dead very quickly.

The final admission by the Klingon renegades that they actually destroyed a Klingon cruiser raises an interesting point. Earlier in the episode, the renegades claimed that they went into battle with only a battery of "ancient Merculite rockets." Are we to believe that a bunch of rockets with chemical propellants actually destroyed a much larger Klingon battle cruiser possessing highly sophisticated modern weapons?

In Engineering, Koris is shot and smashes through a glass panel and lands with a thud on the clear panel below, cracking it.

Does this seem right? Engineering is filled with fragile glass panels in the 24th century? No other material has been concocted in the following centuries that would be sturdier and safer to use, especially on board a Federation star ship?

[Bud Brewster]