Rightful Heir is the 149th episode of the American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

'' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and the 23rd episode of the sixth season. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the

Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduc ...

crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode,

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Worf Worf, son of Mogh is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. He appears in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG'') and seasons four through seven of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (''DS9'') as well as t ...

suffers a crisis of faith which leads him to an encounter with the seemingly resurrected

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

of ancient Klingon religious and historical beliefs,

Kahless Kahless the Unforgettable ( ''Klingon'': qeylIS'e' lIjlaHbe'bogh vay') is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' universe. He is portrayed in ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' by Robert Herron and in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' by ...

. He soon finds himself caught between supporting the religious figure and the more

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

leader of the conventional Klingon

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

power structure In political sociology, but also operative within the rest of the animal, animal kingdom, a power structure is a hierarchy of competence or aggression (might) predicated on power (social and political), influence between an individual and other ...

. This episode aired in

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

the week of May 15, 1993.

Plot

Lt. Worf fails to report for duty, and Lieutenant Commander

Data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

and

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

William Riker William Thomas "Will" Riker is a fictional character in the '' Star Trek'' universe appearing primarily as a main character in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Throughout the series and its accompanying films, he is the '' Enterprise''s fi ...

become concerned. Riker finds Worf's quarters filled with incense and burning candles while his chief of security sits before a small fire in a trance-like state. Worf later explains to

Captain Picard Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''T ...

that he was attempting to reconnect with his Klingon spiritual beliefs by summoning a vision of

, the messianic warrior who founded the Klingon

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. Picard suggests Worf immerse himself in Klingon culture, granting him leave to journey to the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

of Boreth. After ten days of doubt-filled rituals, Worf is approached by a physical manifestation of Kahless. Worf brings the prospective spiritual leader to the ''Enterprise'', but is troubled that Kahless does not remember how Klingon warnog tastes or what Sto-Vo-Kor, the Klingon

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

, is like. Klingon

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Gowron Gowron, son of M'Rel, is a fictional character who appeared in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Portrayed by Robert O'Reilly, he is the leader of the Klingon ...

arrives with a test to prove whether Kahless is genuine. Gowron is displeased with the prophet's return, convinced he is an imposter foisted by the priests to gain power. Gowron requests that the Federation genetically test the dagger he brought, stained with the blood of Kahless in antiquity. The test indicates a match. Gowron provokes a D'k tahg duel with Kahless and wins, leaving Worf to ponder how the "greatest warrior of all" could be beaten. Worf confronts Koroth, High Priest of the Boreth Temple, who admits that Kahless is a clone of the original, noting that the legend of Kahless' return did not specify the exact manner. He feels Kahless is needed to rally the people's faith.

advises Worf that during a crisis of his own, he made a

leap of faith A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview The phrase is commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard; however, he never used the term, as he ...

to assume he could evolve beyond the sum of his programming. Gowron is outraged when Worf tells him the truth and prepares to execute the clone and priests. Worf tells Gowron he supports Kahless, explaining that he made a leap of faith. He suggests the

Klingon High Council In the fictional '' Star Trek'' universe the Klingon High Council (in Klingon tlhIngan yejquv) is the supreme ruling body of the Klingon Empire. The council meets at the Great Hall of the First City of the Klingon Empire on the planet Qo'noS (al ...

appoint Kahless to the ceremonial position of

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

; while only a

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...

, he might unite the Klingon people. Seeing the wisdom of cooperation, Gowron offers his devotion. Departing for the Klingon homeworld

Qo'noS The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise '' Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids ...

, Kahless notes the troubled demeanor of the "Son of Mogh" and reassures him that the beliefs espoused by Kahless made the ancient Klingons what they were; his spirit lives within the hearts of all true Klingons.

Broadcast & Releases

"Rightful Heir" was originally released in broadcast syndication on May 15, 1993. It received

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

of 10.6 percent, placing it in third place in its timeslot. This was part of a brief decline in ratings towards the end of the season; " Suspicions", the episode broadcast prior, received ratings of 11.3 percent. The episode broadcast after "Rightful Heir", " Second Chances", received a rating of 9.7 percent. The episode was released as part of the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' season six

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

box set in the United States on December 3, 2002. A remastered HD version was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

optical disc, on June 24, 2014. On November 3, 1999 this episode and "Second Chances" were released together on

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

in the United States for 34.98 USD. The episodes were on a single 12" double-sided optical disc with a Dolby Surround soundtrack.

Reception

In 2011, The A.V.Club rated this episode an "A", praising Kahless (played by Kevin Conway), Worf, and the exploration of Klingon culture. In the book ''Star Trek FAQ 2.0 (Unofficial and Unauthorized): Everything Left to Know About the Next Generation, the Movies and Beyond'' (2013) they said that Conway delivered a "righteous and inspiring" Kahless and it was one of Dorn's best performances as Worf. In 2017,

Io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

noted "Rightful Heir" for being one of the "weirdest" TNG adventures, with Worf helping to install a Kahless clone as Emperor of the Klingons. Medium.com ranked this the 68th best episode ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' in 2017. They praised the presentation of Gowron as a politician.

References

External links

* * * {{Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, 6 Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 6) episodes 1993 American television episodes Television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore Television episodes about cloning

Plot

Broadcast & Releases

Reception

See also

References

External links