Why was Worf always wrong?

[marlboro]

I'm sure we've all noticed that Worf is constantly being shot down every time he offers an opinion on a subject. It's bizarre and kinda funny when you start paying attention to just how often it happens.

But why does it happen? Why would one character always be given the "Stupid suggestion" line of dialog? I was watching "Violations" today and there was a scene with Picard and Crusher discussing the medial condition of the comatose crew members. For some reason, Worf was in this scene as well. He delivers one line of exposition, and then he offers a quickly rejected suggestion. Why would you even write the security officer into this scene? You only needed 2 characters, and yet they squeezed Worf in only to slap him down again.

Multiple writers over multiple seasons did this - why? Have any of the shows writer/producers/actors ever commented on this?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Worf was right much of the time. In Samaritan Snare remember he was shot down for his distrust of the Pak'leds.

Worf is the only main cast member who is naturally skeptical and distrusting of diplomacy so any situation that called for a dissenting viewpoint on whether to trust the strange aliens called for him. When Ro was on she got some of those lines.

 

[Kemaiku]

Mostly because Klingons are stupid, and always use agression to make decisions, which the series all chose to show was wrong.

 

[Leviathan]

He got this one right:

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[OtherGene]

I think it suited Worfs character to be the "wrong" one but I always thought the role of that character was to voice what maybe the viewer may ask only for another character to explain to the viewer why they weren't doing that.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

There are two interesting things about this:

1. Worf is portrayed as the big, gruff, Klingon. His solutions are usually violent/agressive. He isn't as patient/ethical/thoughtful as the cast and is used as a vehicle to display how violence isn't always the solution etc. Thus, we have YouTube compilations of Worf constantly being told he is wrong/no etc.

2. What is ironic about this is Worf is actually frequently right. His suggestion to just murder the agressive aliens/destroy this weird creature that has appeared is frequently something that would have solved the whole issue before it started. It makes things amusingly clunky when Worf says something, gets shot down for a more enlightened approach...and then they pretty much have to do what Worf had initially suggested.

 

[LJones41]

Mostly because Klingons are stupid, and always use agression to make decisions, which the series all chose to show was wrong.

Strange. I can think of a few episodes when a Klingon was proven to be right. After all, it was a Klingon named Gorkon who had initially came up with the idea to form an alliance with the Federation in "Star Trek VI".

It was Worf who tried to reign in Picard's aggression and hostile refusal to abandon the Enterprise in "First Contact" and managed to control his own temper when the captain insulted him for being a coward. And it was a Klingon named Kohlar from a generational ship in the Delta Quadrant, who proved to possess a cool head in the "Voyager" episode called "Prophecy".

I agree that the Trek franchise tend to be rather clichéd when it comes to the Klingons . But there have been moments, even with Worf, when it has been able to overcome this cliché.

 

[Tenacity]

Mostly because Klingons are stupid, and always use agression to make decisions, which the series all chose to show was wrong.

Problem with this is of course there are time when agression is the correct course of action. Often it's Picard and his snotty "only the intellectual path" that screws things up, and as mention above, they end up doing things pretty much as Worf originally recommended.

 

[Green]

If they had listened to Worf more -- the crew would have survived and not all died.

 

[Phoenix219]

I would have enjoyed seeing Worf interact with the TOS cast as a whole, in some special event. It was a complete shame that no one but Picard got scenes with Kirk. I have always wished that the TNG movie franchise had mutated itself into a "Star Trek Franchise" movie series instead, being able to mix and match characters from the various shows, including the fact that Kirk, Spock and Scotty were all alive and well in the 24th century. I would love to see Admiral Kirk with a Klingon tactical officer....

 

[Christian Weston Chandler]

Like others have said, Worf is often right. It's not that he's always wrong but that he's always overruled. Or, to be more generous to the writers, there are situations in which Picard (implicity or just silently by not disagreeing) accepts Worf's factual assessment of a situation, but disagrees with him on what the best course of action regarding that situation would be because they have different value systems.

 

[Ghrakh]

If they had listened to Worf more -- the crew would have survived and not all died.

Who died?

 

[Mojochi]

Frankly, I only recall a couple times that anyone ever proclaimed an agreement with Worf's perspective at all, Riker in The Wounded about the Cardies on board, & Picard saying something, in another episode, to the effect of understanding his concerns & sharing them. (Forgot where that's from) There may be a few more times, but I'm betting it was mostly Riker. The majority of his peers seemed to almost never find value in his perspective. That would realistically be hard to deal with in a working environment

I think my favorite Riker moment is in The Enemy, when he counsels Worf about the dying Romulan. Despite disagreeing, he was the only one there who didn't bear some judgmental tone about the whole thing. That is how respect works. Riker really was the only one who seemed to understand Worf.. I know Picard respects him, but it really never seemed like he understood him, or identified with him much in their relations with one another. It oddly enough seemed like he understood Data better

 

[elamigodemiamiga]

He wasn't always wrong.
He was right in the dark matter episode.

And about the Cardassians in The Wounded.

I think it was something to provide a counter, but it made Worf look like an overly aggressive dope, which he wasn't he was a smart/calculated guy.

 

[elamigodemiamiga]

Problem with this is of course there are time when agression is the correct course of action. Often it's Picard and his snotty "only the intellectual path" that screws things up, and as mention above, they end up doing things pretty much as Worf originally recommended.

that's called being Starfleet.....

 

[elamigodemiamiga]

Worf also solved the issue in The Emissary with the dormant Klingons, and there were countless other times where his suggestions were taken on.

thing is he WAS wrong on some occasions. Like the Tamarians, they weren't threatening the border. Or in The Inner light, he may have given Picard brain damage if he destroyed the probe. it's a balance.

 

[Catarina]

often but not always

 

[Tenacity]

If they had listened to Worf more -- the crew would have survived and not all died.

Who died?

Cause and Effect.

Worf: "Maybe we should reverse course."
Riker: "For all we know, reversing course may be what leads us into the crash."

If they had listen to Worf's idea, there wouldn't have been a collision with the Boseman in that time loop, and they wouldn't have all died in that time loop.

 

[elamigodemiamiga]

Time's Arrow. Worf suggested destroying the planet, even with the Captain in 19th century America and Riker agreed.

 

[TommyR01D]

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