Birthright

TNG Season 6 Episode 16 and 17
Air Date: February 22nd and March 1st

This was another two part episode in season 6, though the first part was split into two separate stories and the second focused primarily on the second story.

The first story involved Data getting hit by a plasma beam that caused him to "hallucinate". The Enterprise was docked with DS9 so Lt. Data was helping Doctor Bashir with some gamma quadrant medical technology. It had inadvertently activated a program Dr. Soogn wrote to simulate sleep.

The second story involves Lt. Worf discovering that his father may still be alive, which would bring dishonour to his family. He at first is angry and discounts the information but Counselor Troi convinces him that family is more important and he goes on a rescue mission. When he arrives he doesn't find a prison but rather a secluded village where Klingons are living with their Romulan captures. He learns that his father did indeed die at Khitomer. Since he finds out about this place he is told he can never leave.

But Worf won't accept this and starts teaching the youth about the Klingon ways. He starts to fall for one of the Klingons when he discovers she is half Romulan. It takes him most of an episode to get over this but eventually he realizes that he still has feelings for her.

Since he won't stop trying to escape, they sentence Worf to death, but many of the villagers stand with Worf and say that if he dies, they die, including the daughter of the Romulan leader. They decide to let anyone who wants to go, but that they must keep the place a secret for the honour of their families.

While watching this episode it reminded me why I like Star Trek as much as I do and why there really hasn't been a better TV show out there. The show is constantly using parallels of real world issues. The way the Klingon's were stripped of their heritage when under the oppression of the Romulans shares many similarities where a people are forcefully removed from their homes and forced to change their cultures. Native Americans and Africans brought to America both deal with this today.

Quotes

"Most people are interested in my extraordinary abilities - how fast I can compute, my memory capacity, how long I will live. No one has ever asked me if my hair will grow, or noticed that I can breathe." - Lt. Cmdr. Data
"Well, your creator went to a lot of trouble to make you seem human. I find that fascinating." - Doctor Bashir

"Worf. I don't see how you can eat that stuff. It tastes like liquid polymer." - Lt. Cmdr. La Forge

"Maybe you had a dream, or a hallucination." - Doctor Bashir
"I am not capable of either of those functions." - Lt. Cmdr. Data
"Yet you can't account for what happened today, can you?" - Doctor Bashir
"At present, I cannot." - Lt. Cmdr. Data
"Well, maybe you should approach this from a more human standpoint. You're right that machines can't have hallucinations. But then again, most machines can't grow hair." - Doctor Bashir

"Sshhh. Just dream, Data. Dream. Data, you are the bird." - Dr. Soong

"Why did you come here Worf? If you had found your father, you would have found only dishonor." - L'Kor
"If he had been captured, as you were, if I had found him here, I would be glad to see him. There is no room in my heart for shame." - Lt. Worf
"I can only hope that if my son came here, he would be Klingon enough to kill me." - L'Kor

"You robbed the Klingons of who they were. You dishonored them." - Lt. Worf
"By not slitting their throats when we found them unconscious?" - Tokath
"I do not expect you to understand. You are a Romulan." - Lt. Worf

"Today I learned the ritual hunt, but that is not all I learned. I discovered that warriors' blood runs through my veins. I do not know how, or why, but we have forgotten ourselves. Our stories are not told, our songs are not sung! Tonight, as we came home, we sang a song of victory, a song known only to me as a lullaby, but it is a warrior's song: Bak'ta tu mo, fire streaks the heavens! So-ja du wo, battle has begun!" - Toq

"They will kill you!" - Ba'el
"Yes, but they will not defeat me." - Lt. Worf

"Years ago, your parents made a great sacrifice for the sake of their families. Today, they do so again. For that, we must honor them. You must promise them never to reveal their secret. No one must know of this place." - Lt. Worf