I was watching First Contact and it got me thinking of Worf. From what I read in other places, Michael Dorn has a comedic background before he signed on to play Worf. With that being said, I can understand why there were so many comedic spots at Worf's expense. But I think it was done way too much. I think it's sad that Worf didn't have more "bad-ass" moments in all of his Trek moments. I mean let's be honest, when Worf was about to fight the Borg drone in First Contact, and then gets cut to where his oxygen is escaping, and then you see Worf again with the drone's arm being attached to the wires wrapped around his leg to keep the oxygen from escaping, wasn't that just a cool spot? Why, he didn't have more of those type of moments is beyond me. I just would have liked to see more of a balance with moments like that and comedic Worf moments. Another example is Nemesis. I understand why Riker was the one to fight Shinzon's viceroy, but wouldn't it have been cool to see the "bad-ass" Worf go one on one with the viceroy? Another great moment was the scene in DS9 where one of the Jem'Hadar soldiers talks about wanting to kill or fight a Klingon, and then you see Worf and the soldier with their hands around the others neck...anyway, what do you think?
Well given that the post-GEN movies wanted to emphasize themselves as action movies, bigger roles for Worf would have made sense (and he works very well in FC). As for the series itself... yeah, it does rely a little heavily on Worf being beaten to prove that the bad guy of the week is tough. But it also has him kill a contender for the highest office in Klingon society in ritual combat.
There's a whole lot of wonderful, deep Worf stories that don't involve comedy. It's arguable that he got far more character building than most of the other characters in TNG, even. "Sins of the Father," "Redemption," "Birthright, Pt. II," "Rightful Heir," and a whole plethora of DS9 episodes. It's almost as if the writers practically felt bad that they misused Worf for the first couple of seasons, and decided to make him the star of the show.
yeah, Worf pretty much was then most thoroughly developed of any of the TNG characters. Actually, other than Kirk and Spock, probably the most developed of ANY Trek character.
^ You could probably argue he's more developed than Kirk and Spock (not 'better', but 'more' - we definitely know more about Worf's family and upbringing than we do Kirk's for example). It's certainly undeniable that Worf has had more screen time than any other character on Star Trek.
ANY Trek character? I can think of several DS9 characters who could match Worf in terms of development.
It seemed to me that Michael Dorn's acting improved immensely during the course of TNG. I don't know if it's just due to Dorn growing more comfortable with the character, or the writers finding Worf's voice. Probably a bit of both, since they all had over 10 years developing Worf. I like to think that Dorn learned a lot working with Patrick Stewart, whom the cast reportedly nicknamed "Coach". Anecdote: I saw Dorn at a small convention in Sacramento about 20 years ago. He said he used to stand at the tactical console, looking down at Stewart's bald head, and thought about throwing an egg at it.