Dorn: I Had A Blank Slate For Worf

[Doug Otte]

It is fortuitous that I am re-reading the excellent The Continuing Mission by the Reeves-Stevenses when I came across the item in Trek Today about Dorn's interview. In it, he states, regarding the creation of Worf: "...I went to Gene Roddenberry and said: hey, what do you want from this guy? Who is he? And being as smart as he is, he said: don’t listen to what you’ve heard or read or seen in the past, nothing. Just make the character your own. And that’s what I did.”

In The Continuing Mission we see how Justman really pushed Roddenberry to have a Klingon on the bridge (as well as several other things that later became signatures of TNG). Roddenberry wanted to avoid Klingons altogether. So, was Roddenberry being smart in giving Dorn so much leeway? Or, did he have no idea what the character should be, because he didn't create the character? Or even, maybe he was petulantly avoiding any investment in the character because he thought it would be a failure? I vote for item 3.

Doug

 

[Starbreaker]

Well, whatever the case, Worf has always been one of my favorite characters. Michael Dorn was great in the role.

 

[Alrik]

Check out the TNG Bible thread. Worf wasn't even given a mention initially.

 

[drazzz52923849]

I think that is pretty cool how dorn made the role his own. All of my favorite TNG episodes are the Klingon stories.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Dorn must have looked at some past Klingon moments (few though they were), because he was quintessentially Klingon.

At least as far as the TNG Klingons went.

 

[indolover]

I think Dorn played Worf well, even though Worf probably isn't a good acting challenge. The character is very staid for the most part so not very expressive.

 

[JonBaas]

I think Dorn played Worf well, even though Worf probably isn't a good acting challenge. The character is very staid for the most part so not very expressive.

Speaking as an actor myself, a Klingon would have been an excellent challenge for Michael Dorn. Considering the limited Klingon backstory already existing from TOS and the motion pictures, he really did have an open slate -- once his character became a regular that is. He was in a position (which most actors long for) to intimately influence what we as fans came to know about his character and his character's species. Without Dorn's characterization of Worf, we probably wouldn't have the Klingons in their present post-Enterprise state.

Michael Dorn defined the Klingon species. No question about it.

-Jon

 

[Saquist]

It is fortuitous that I am re-reading the excellent The Continuing Mission by the Reeves-Stevenses when I came across the item in Trek Today about Dorn's interview. In it, he states, regarding the creation of Worf: "...I went to Gene Roddenberry and said: hey, what do you want from this guy? Who is he? And being as smart as he is, he said: don’t listen to what you’ve heard or read or seen in the past, nothing. Just make the character your own. And that’s what I did.”

In The Continuing Mission we see how Justman really pushed Roddenberry to have a Klingon on the bridge (as well as several other things that later became signatures of TNG). Roddenberry wanted to avoid Klingons altogether. So, was Roddenberry being smart in giving Dorn so much leeway? Or, did he have no idea what the character should be, because he didn't create the character? Or even, maybe he was petulantly avoiding any investment in the character because he thought it would be a failure? I vote for item 3.

Doug

I think he didn't have an idea of what Worf was suposed to be so he essentially told Dorn to follow his instincts which turned out to be the right advice.

 

[Doug Otte]

I think Dorn played Worf well, even though Worf probably isn't a good acting challenge. The character is very staid for the most part so not very expressive.

Speaking as an actor myself, a Klingon would have been an excellent challenge for Michael Dorn. Considering the limited Klingon backstory already existing from TOS and the motion pictures, he really did have an open slate -- once his character became a regular that is. He was in a position (which most actors long for) to intimately influence what we as fans came to know about his character and his character's species. Without Dorn's characterization of Worf, we probably wouldn't have the Klingons in their present post-Enterprise state.

Michael Dorn defined the Klingon species. No question about it.

-Jon

I would go so far as to say that Dorn re-defined the Klingon species. His Klingon was much more serious and reserved than any Klingons seen before.

And, I agree that it was a huge acting challenge. Dorn expressed quite a range of deep emotion and thought within that reserved character.

Doug

 

[toughlittleship]

It wasn't until TNG's last two seasons that I actually began to like Dorn's acting as Worf. He did his best work in DS9 though.

 

[Alrik]

I think Dorn played Worf well, even though Worf probably isn't a good acting challenge. The character is very staid for the most part so not very expressive.

Speaking as an actor myself, a Klingon would have been an excellent challenge for Michael Dorn. Considering the limited Klingon backstory already existing from TOS and the motion pictures, he really did have an open slate -- once his character became a regular that is. He was in a position (which most actors long for) to intimately influence what we as fans came to know about his character and his character's species. Without Dorn's characterization of Worf, we probably wouldn't have the Klingons in their present post-Enterprise state.

Michael Dorn defined the Klingon species. No question about it.

-Jon

I would go so far as to say that Dorn re-defined the Klingon species. His Klingon was much more serious and reserved than any Klingons seen before.

And, I agree that it was a huge acting challenge. Dorn expressed quite a range of deep emotion and thought within that reserved character.

Doug

I agree with you. I would be willing to take it another step and say that Dorn did almost as much to (re-)define Klingons as Nimoy did to define Vulcans.

 

[Doug Otte]

Speaking as an actor myself, a Klingon would have been an excellent challenge for Michael Dorn. Considering the limited Klingon backstory already existing from TOS and the motion pictures, he really did have an open slate -- once his character became a regular that is. He was in a position (which most actors long for) to intimately influence what we as fans came to know about his character and his character's species. Without Dorn's characterization of Worf, we probably wouldn't have the Klingons in their present post-Enterprise state.

Michael Dorn defined the Klingon species. No question about it.

-Jon

I would go so far as to say that Dorn re-defined the Klingon species. His Klingon was much more serious and reserved than any Klingons seen before.

And, I agree that it was a huge acting challenge. Dorn expressed quite a range of deep emotion and thought within that reserved character.

Doug

I agree with you. I would be willing to take it another step and say that Dorn did almost as much to (re-)define Klingons as Nimoy did to define Vulcans.

Excellent analogy...cheers!
Doug

 

[Alrik]

^

Why thanky.

 

[CoveTom]

I also think it's interesting to note that there are basically three different versions of Worf. The early season TNG Worf, the later season TNG Worf, and the DS9 Worf. They all have things in common, but they are played very differently.