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| Tokath (Alan Scarfe), commandant of a most unusual prison camp. |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise is docked at Deep Space 9 so that Picard can coordinate with the Bajorans on rebuilding their aqueduct system. Worf is enjoying a meal on the station when he receives a visitor: Jaglom Shrek (James Cromwell), a Yiridian information broker. Jaglom claims that Worf's father is alive, held with other Klingons in a secret Romulan prison camp. Worf is reluctant to believe this, as surrender casts a Klingon's line into dishonor for three generations, but he decides he must follow up. What he discovers at the camp is very different than what he was led to expect.
Meanwhile, an accident in Engineering provides Data with a vision of his own father, Dr. Noonian Soong. It is a flash of images, one that puzzles him when he can find no sign of malfunction. Determined to pursue it further, Data unlocks a dormant message from his creator - one that promises to expand the limits of his reality!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Looks almost physically pained at the prospect of spending days, if not weeks, poring over the finer points of Bajoran aqueducts. I can't say that I blame him for that. This makes him receptive to Data interrupting him, and the advice he gives is sound: Rather than drawing on cultures that are not his own to assign someone else's meaning to his vision, he advises Data to pursue it himself to find his own meaning for it.
Worf: One area in which Birthright excels is as a showcase for Michael Dorn's Worf, who has developed into a genuinely complex figure by this point in the series. He goes through a number of shifts across the two episodes. He first reacts as a man receiving news he doesn't want might, with denial. Then he is a Klingon warrior in the best sense, determined to face the truth whatever it may be. Then he is a defiant prisoner, determined to escape the Romulan camp. Finally, he takes on the role of teacher, demonstrating through himself the best virtues of the heritage denied to the Klingon children of the camp. Dorn is good throughout, and particularly good in the scenes opposite the Klingon youth. It may not be an excellent episode, but it is a fine showing for Worf.
Data: The glimpse of Soong in his vision is something he can't ignore. Data begins by falling back on his usual pattern: Questioning his friends to search for the ways they would apply meaning to his situation. This is hardly unusual, but then he does something that shows his development across the series: After his talk with Picard, he is actually able to act on the advice of applying his own meaning to the experience.
Geordi: Acts as a supportive friend to Data, listening as Data talks about his vision and helping him to recreate the accident to unlock it. Just as a good friend might, he is willing to go along to a point - but he tells Data that if the risks become too great, he will stop the experiment.
Dr. Bashir: Crossing over from Deep Space 9, Bashir plays a key role in Part One's Data subplot. Refreshingly, he gets more than just a cameo - He has a full supporting role, allowing TNG viewers to get a sense of his character. This is the Bashir of DS9's first season, but fortunately writer Brannon Braga steers clear of the character's early boorishness. Instead, the script focuses on his enthusiasm for new discoveries. He is amazed at the more mundane aspects of Data, recognizing the complexity that went into such things as growing hair and incorporating breathing and a pulse into the maintenance of his functions. Bashir recognizes how much work went into making Data appear so human, and recognizes that this is part of what makes the android such a marvel - not his computing capabilities, which many machines can match, but those traits that allow him to actually live as a man instead of just a machine.
THOUGHTS
Birthright is a two-parter that shouldn't be. There is certainly good material in it. Themes include generational conflict, prejudice, and the importance of connecting young people with their culture. Worthy topics, and there are many fine scenes and some excellent performances. All that's missing is a story that justifies a 90 minute running time. Separate the Data subplot into an episode of its own, and the Worf storyline would play fine in 45 minutes. In fact, it would play better.
Part One just about works, the pace given a considerable boost by the strength of the Data subplot. Brannon Braga scripts the first episode, and he juggles the two plot strands well enough to keep either from ever feeling diminished by the other. There's a sense of unity, the strands brushing against each other at just the right moment for Data's personal quest to push Worf to act.
Rene Echavarria's script for Part Two, however, narrows its focus strictly to Worf's story. There are interesting scenes, as Worf pushes the young Klingons born in the compound to connect with their heritage. But it becomes very clear, very fast, that this episode has been left to fill 45 minutes of episode with maybe 25 minutes' worth of material. This shows - most particularly in a leaden and unconvincing romance subplot involving Worf and the half-Klingon daughter of Tokath (Alan Scarfe), the Romulan who runs the camp.
Scarfe is particularly good as Tokath. He is in conflict with Worf throughout the episode, but he is never treated as a villain. He is instead consistently shown to be a sincere and well-meaning man, one who has given up a promising career to protect his Klingon charges. The climax is particularly good in its treatment of both Worf and Tokath, and allows the episode to end on a strong note.
Ultimately, this gets a mixed response from me. It has some good material, and Part One works quite well. But as a full piece, Birthright is just stretched a bit too thin. The main plot would have been better-served by being confined to a single episode, perhaps with the Data material allowed an episode of its own.
Worth viewing on the strength of several of the individual parts... It's just a shame those parts never form a very satisfying whole.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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