{"id":6528,"date":"2016-08-15T02:11:33","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T02:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/617-Birthright-Part-II"},"modified":"2016-08-15T02:11:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T02:11:33","slug":"617-birthright-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/15\/617-birthright-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"6.17 — \u201cBirthright, Part II\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

6.17 — \u201cBirthright, Part II\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plot:<\/strong> Confronted with a prison camp where Klingon prisoners and their Romulan captors peacefully coexist, Worf must figure out how to behave consistently with his sense of honor. This turns out to involve fomenting rebellion among the camp\u2019s children, and romancing a girl half his age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thoughts:<\/strong> I have learned to harbor low hopes for the second half of a two-part TNG episode. Here my hopes were exceeded–there is a lot to dig into! Which is not the same as saying there are not problems (there are).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the premise is fully stated in the teaser, I questioned how the producers would manage to fill an hour of television, as Worf reconciles himself to this unfamiliar but harmless situation, and figures out how to leave. What is the hook to draw us through the hour? Wherefore conflict?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it’s simple enough. Add children, and make it a conversation about their future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Dorn is terrific as Worf, in a part which, this time, includes dancing, singing, and an extended meditation on racial prejudice. Is Worf a bigot? Who can forget Worf letting the Romulan die rather than offering a blood transfusion in \u201cThe Enemy\u201d (TNG 3.7)? Yet no one seems to recall he has already accepted K’Ehleyr, who is half-Klingon, half-human, and is raising their child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of this story to examine race relations works, in part, because we the audience have rarely seen Romulans as anything but \u201ctreacherous, deceitful, [and] without honor,\u201d at least in the TNG era (the original “Balance of Terror” Romulans were honorable). This serves to remind us that the whole science fiction trope, invented by Star Trek, of portraying a whole alien race as villainous is itself racist. To underscore the racial allusion, the whole Klingon cast this time consists of African-American actors, while historically Klingons have been portrayed by a mix of caucasian and black actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the problems. The first problem is an almost technical, bonehead error. The teleplay contains a love story between Ba’el and Worf. The producers cast an actor to play Ba’el who appears to be half of Worf’s age (at the time of filming, Jennifer Gatti was 24 and Dorn was 40), who shares zero chemistry with Dorn. This probably stems from a combination of poor casting and misbegotten premise. The whole setup feels forced and beneath Worf’s dignity. Who decided a love story was even necessary? They should have dropped this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I come to the second problem through my training as an English major, which tells me to look not just at what the writers and producers intended, but to ask how the text they produced is shaped by outside and even unconscious cultural and social forces. It turns out that this episode about racial integration seems to have some blind spots regarding its own implicit assumptions about race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a black character (Worf) who rolls his eyes at the cultural and peaceful attainments of his people. He tells his people they will not be happy unless they discard these attainments, and revert to the \u201ctruth\u201d of their violent, animalistic racial heritage. The true nature of Klingons, according to Worf, includes hunting despite the presence of replicators, condemnation of interracial marriage (miscegenation), and the literal chucking of spears. This could be the manifesto of a segregationist in the 1950s. TOS wouild have never approved this story; its Civil Rights-era stories were filled with tale after tale of cultures overcoming their fear blind prejudice to come together. Remember “Day of the Dove?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I respect the work that Michael Dorn in particular does with the material, I think the writer (Ren\u00e9 Echevarria) and producers should have interrogated their premise more closely, and found a different path to resolution. When Worf instructs the children who escape the colony to never speak of their parents\u2019 dishonor, it is obvious this includes intermingling and mating with Romulans just as much as their failure to die in battle. While I doubt the presence of overt, conscious bad intentions, I could easily defend the case that “Birthright, Part II” is the most racist episode of Star Trek since \u201cCode of Honor\u201d (TNG 1.4). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, it feels like Star Trek was much more conscious and enlightened in the 1960s than it was in the late 80s and early 90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s much more that could be discussed about “Birthright, Part II,” including Worf\u2019s invocation Klingon songs and legends that build on previously laid foundations. Does Worf repent his condemnation of Ba\u2019el\u2019s mother for marrying the Romulan commander? A deleted scene included on the Blu-ray set gives Gi’ral a chance to defend herself, but even there, the matter is unclear. A quick Google search designed to determine whether any other reviewer has complained about the unsavory racist subtext of this particular episode comes up negative. I find myself nodding along, however, with this line in Jamahl Epsicokhan\u2019s review (http:\/\/www.jammersreviews.com\/st-tng\/s6\/birthright2.php<\/a>): “‘Birthright, Part II’ contains interesting issues worth exploring, but is a failure at turning those issues into compelling drama.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s provocative, however. 3 of 5 games of Klingon lawn Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Birthright,_Part_II<\/a>