"Rightful Heir" is the 149th episode of the American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

'' 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 conduct ...

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

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Worf Worf, son of Mogh is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, portrayed by actor Michael Dorn. He appears in the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG''), seasons four through seven of ''Star Trek: Deep Space ...

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

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

leader of the conventional Klingon

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

power structure In political science, power is the ability to influence or direct the actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force ( coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted thr ...

. This episode aired in

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

the week of May 15, 1993.

Plot

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

Data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

and

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

William Riker 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 that he was attempting to reconnect with his Klingon spiritual beliefs by summoning a vision of Kahless, the messianic warrior who founded the

Klingon Empire The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...

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

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

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 or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

, is like. Klingon

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

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

leap of faith In philosophy, a leap of faith is the act of belief, believing in or accepting something not on the basis of reason. The phrase is commonly associated with Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Idiomatic usage As an idiom, ''leap of faith'' ca ...

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 appoint Kahless to the ceremonial position of

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

; while only a

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a practice of 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 ...

, he might unite the Klingon people. Seeing the wisdom of cooperation, Gowron offers his devotion. Departing for the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS, 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 and 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 ki ...

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

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

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 ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

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 a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...

noted "Rightful Heir" for being one of the "weirdest" ''TNG'' adventures, with Worf helping to install a Kahless clone as Emperor of the Klingons.

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 Television episodes directed by Winrich Kolbe

Plot

Broadcast and releases

Reception

See also

References

External links