Episode of the Week: Heart of Glory

[Captrek]

My comment about the score was in reference to one particular cue, not the scoring of the episode as a whole.

[inflatabledalek]

An episode that suffers in retrospect from us having had about 50000 Klingon episodes mining similar territory over the next decade and a half. It's easy to forget how fresh, fun and different this felt at the the time. The Klingons are back! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

As noted, there are silly aspects to the scripting, but once again Rob Bowman steps up to smooth things over with some top notch direction. There's not much depth, but it is big dumb ffun.

And its also Michael Dorn's showcase. After excellent support work throughout the year he seizes his first focus episode with glee and pretty much guarentees himself a bigger and more pivotal role in season 2. And all in an episode where Tasha is especially ineffectual in writing and performance.

[The Castellan]

We don't really know he has a heart of gold, even if it takes "The Enemy" to finally prove that he does not, or "Where Silence Has Lease" to establish him as a fricking psycho.

Well, in the latter, it's more of needing to vent, I think. Someone from a warrior race probably would get that blood lust for battle like Worf did in the holodec, and pretty much let his civilized self go wild. Picard probably knew how Klingons can become in a fight, and that's why he was concerned when Riker went on one of Worf's workouts. Why else does he do his workouts alone? Hell, we've even seen what Klingon foreplay is like later on.

[Timo]

It almost seems as if this is yet another ritual relating to the alien biology of our favorite Klingon worrier, a special occasion for a special stage in Klingon development.

In it, Worf invites in a fellow warrior (or the next best thing), perhaps to evaluate how well Worf does, perhaps to help him over the worst, at a time when his mental capabilities are being severely taxed by a hormonal rush; a successful fight (even if holo-simulated) proves his worth at this difficult hour. But the mental imbalance doesn't go away, and explains his freaked-out reactions later on - believing in ghost stories so much that he recommends firing a photon torpedo "just in case", losing his marbles in a maze, etc.

Worf keeps missing key Klingon rituals, such as in "Icarus Factor". Perhaps this has retarded his development, or traumatized him, and for this reason he is in fact a poor example of Klingons of his age overall? Perhaps he should be laughing and getting drunk like any good Klingon, but can't, because he wasn't spanked properly during the Age of T'antrum?

Timo Saloniemi

[MikeS]

"One bridge, One Riker!"

[xBiophagex]

BillJ wrote:

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Great, great episode. One of TNG's best and, I think, one of the definitive Klingon episodes. I liked these Klingons a hell of a lot more than Ron Moore's drinking biker gang.

Really? I thought Ronald moore's portrayal of Klingons was what made them cultured and likable, unlike their portrayal in voyager and enterprise. I cite the episodes 'Ethics and 'Redemption' as examples of his positive development of Klingon culture.

[BillJ]

xBiophagex wrote:

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Really? I thought Ronald moore's portrayal of Klingons was what made them cultured and likable, unlike their portrayal in voyager and enterprise. I cite the episodes 'Ethics and 'Redemption' as examples of his positive development of Klingon culture.

Those episodes simply stereotyped the Klingons. Cultured? They like to get drunk and tear their own shit up for no good reason and then cut and run if things don't go their way.

Heart of Glory and A Matter of Honor were the actual episodes that gave the Klingons some depth.

[R. Star]

BillJ wrote:

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Those episodes simply stereotyped the Klingons. Cultured? They like to get drunk and tear their own shit up for no good reason and then cut and run if things don't go their way.

Heart of Glory and A Matter of Honor were the actual episodes that gave the Klingons some depth.

I gotta agree. These warriors seemed to be more purposeful than just "fight cause we're filling a cliche stereotype." Honestly though, I wish we would've seen more episodes featuring non-warrior Klingons. Playing God wasn't a good DS9 episode, but I loved that fat Klingon cook singing opera. The Lawyer in DS9's Rules of Engagement was also a compelling character.

[Dream]

This episode finally proved once and for all that Worf was a more interesting character than Tasha.

[R. Star]

Dream wrote:

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This episode finally proved once and for all that Worf was a more interesting character than Tasha.

They didn't do her any favors when in the second episode she turned Data into a giant vibrator. Did anyone take her seriously after that?

[The Castellan]

Star Grinch wrote:

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They didn't do her any favors when in the second episode she turned Data into a giant vibrator. Did anyone take her seriously after that?

Gotta sleep with someone, eh? He probably had staying power at least.

[Danny99]

Dream wrote:

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This episode finally proved once and for all that Worf was a more interesting character than Tasha.

I think Dorn is a much stronger actor than Crosby and this episode proved it.

What I didn't get was why Worf shooting Vaughn Armstrong and him falling through the glass was replayed several times in a row.