They should have done more crossovers!
Why was "Birthright" a Two Parter?
- Thread starter Supernuke
- Start date
I liked the episodes because I think it gave us great background into Worf's character. It shows us that despite growing up with humans, he had taken the initiative to learn about his culture, and was appalled that there were other Klingons who had no regard for their culture. They wasted opportunities that he never had.
I also am a fan of Worf and all the Klingon episodes. Watching season 1 is cringeworthy if you're a Worf fan! I'm glad he's the character that ended up appearing in the most seasons of Trek; gave him time to grow!
I also am a fan of Worf and all the Klingon episodes. Watching season 1 is cringeworthy if you're a Worf fan! I'm glad he's the character that ended up appearing in the most seasons of Trek; gave him time to grow!
I can see that as well, but it's sometimes a tough thing to balance.
On one hand, they could have just wanted a station so that Worf could run into Shrek, and to save money, they figured "alright, simple crossover, why not?"
In that regard, if you had never seen a DS9 episode or had no clue what it was, it served its purpose.
On the other, these shows were both on at the same time and we never got a cool "Sisko must join with Picard to stop a new menace!" type of story. But AGAIN, the universe is so vast and there are so many officers out there, what are the chances OUR two heroes would have to join up? And again (debating with myself here!
), sometimes you shouldn't care about something like that, it's just enough to get a fun story and see what happens when you crossover the things you like. I guess what I'm saying is.... I liked how they took the subtle route. But like you, they should have done something cooler in terms of official crossover with their two franchises that we all love at some point.
Easy advertisement.
But, yeah. The only one that had anything to do from the DS9 cast was Bashir, if I remember correctly. Hell, not even a scene with Miles O'Brien.
FWIW, O'Brien is mentioned in the episode.
Instead of the phoned-in stuff with Data they could have just expanded Worf's story to better fill two parts. I'm sure more could have been added somewhere and given that story a lot more weight.
I can see that as well, but it's sometimes a tough thing to balance.
On one hand, they could have just wanted a station so that Worf could run into Shrek, and to save money, they figured "alright, simple crossover, why not?"
In that regard, if you had never seen a DS9 episode or had no clue what it was, it served its purpose.
On the other, these shows were both on at the same time and we never got a cool "Sisko must join with Picard to stop a new menace!" type of story. But AGAIN, the universe is so vast and there are so many officers out there, what are the chances OUR two heroes would have to join up? And again (debating with myself here!
I guess what I'm saying is.... I liked how they took the subtle route. But like you, they should have done something cooler in terms of official crossover with their two franchises that we all love at some point.
It also gets more expensive for the studio since they will have to pay for the actor to appear on two shows that week, plus continuing royalties from the episodes from both series. Another reason why you wouldn't see things that are much simpler in novel and comic book formats...
On the flip side, I always really enjoyed the Data story in part one of this two-parter and felt there was enough time also spent on Worf. Not counting the 2hr pilot and finale episodes that were split into two-parters later, I think "Birthright" would be among my top favorite two-parters, along with "Best of Both Worlds" and "Redemption".
Eh, it's still a toss-up for me.
The Data story is fair enough, that would have been an okay eps.
The Worf story I like a little better, and that too would have been a good eps.
Still don't see why it's a two-parter. Really two very separate eps and different stories (aside from the tenuous "father" idea).
And then to add DS9 to the mix, which has nothing to do with Worf in the Romulan POW camp or Data in his positronic head.
Just... why? Just because?
TNG was doing stories with the Maquis and the DMZ and the Cardies. If you're bringing DS9 into the mix, I'd think that would be the obvious angle.
Could have even done it 70s style, where Part One is a TNG eps and Part Two ends as a DS9 eps.
The Data story is fair enough, that would have been an okay eps.
The Worf story I like a little better, and that too would have been a good eps.
Still don't see why it's a two-parter. Really two very separate eps and different stories (aside from the tenuous "father" idea).
And then to add DS9 to the mix, which has nothing to do with Worf in the Romulan POW camp or Data in his positronic head.
Just... why? Just because?
TNG was doing stories with the Maquis and the DMZ and the Cardies. If you're bringing DS9 into the mix, I'd think that would be the obvious angle.
Could have even done it 70s style, where Part One is a TNG eps and Part Two ends as a DS9 eps.
I actually liked the Worf plot, especially what it became in the second episode with the offspring of the captured Klingons knowing no otherway of life, the older Romulan and Klingon leaders thinking they're doing a good thing through the slight realization that maybe too much of the Klingon culture was being suppressed. Seems like there's a lot of undertones there, probably relating to Germany, Nazis, Berlin and many other cultures through history that have done much the same thing.
Suppressed one society in an attempt for two to work together for a "common goal." I think it could've easily been expanded to fill two whole episodes since I agree it took a lot of time to set-up and probably shows why a more arced story-telling is the way to go.
On the flip side the Data story line has a lot of promise too and could've easily been expanded to fill an entire episode.
I liked the use of DS9 in this episode and didn't strike me as a "just because" thing. I think it helped to firmly establish TNG and DS9 and being "in the same universe" and just made everything work together pretty nicely. IMHO. And I do see why the Worf story line needed to be so long, Worf getting the information on his father, wrestling with the idea of what that means (his father living in captivity), whether to trust the source (the Yridian), getting to the planet and then dealing with events ON the planet is surely something that couldn't be quickly covered in a meaningful way in one episode. So you can see how it'd need slightly more than one episode to do it. Just seems to me it would've been better to expand it longer (what usually happens when one story can't be fit into one episode) rather than fill in the time with a partial story.
Suppressed one society in an attempt for two to work together for a "common goal." I think it could've easily been expanded to fill two whole episodes since I agree it took a lot of time to set-up and probably shows why a more arced story-telling is the way to go.
On the flip side the Data story line has a lot of promise too and could've easily been expanded to fill an entire episode.
I liked the use of DS9 in this episode and didn't strike me as a "just because" thing. I think it helped to firmly establish TNG and DS9 and being "in the same universe" and just made everything work together pretty nicely. IMHO. And I do see why the Worf story line needed to be so long, Worf getting the information on his father, wrestling with the idea of what that means (his father living in captivity), whether to trust the source (the Yridian), getting to the planet and then dealing with events ON the planet is surely something that couldn't be quickly covered in a meaningful way in one episode. So you can see how it'd need slightly more than one episode to do it. Just seems to me it would've been better to expand it longer (what usually happens when one story can't be fit into one episode) rather than fill in the time with a partial story.
Seeing the embarrasingly youthful and keen Dr Bashir in this episode put me off DS9 for years (I can't put my finger on it, I just didn't like him). So watching this episode didn't have its desired effect of pulling in existing TNG viewers with me.
Thankfully I discovered DS9 many years later despite of this episode.
Thankfully I discovered DS9 many years later despite of this episode.
I was always confused as to why the writers chose to make Worf's father's story arc so similar to the events of Narendra III in Yesterday's Enterprise. Both were Klingon outposts, surprisingly attacked by Romulans, and saved by Federation vessels. Why NOT make them the same event and have Worf's father have a bigger place in intergalactic events.
