Worf’s Star Trek Greatness Was Set Up By TNG’s First Klingon Episode

The great Klingon warrior Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) would become was glimpsed in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s first Kliingon-centric episode. TNG may have gotten off to a somewhat shaky start, but it introduced some of Star Trek’s most beloved and iconic characters. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his USS Enterprise-D crew are now as legendary as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his Enterprise crew. While it may not have been apparent from TNG season 1, Worf would eventually become one of Star Trek’s most enduring and popular characters who made more Star Trek appearances than anyone else.

Worf truly came into his own after he transferred from TNG to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but his journey began long before that. In his earliest TNG episodes, Worf mostly stuck to the background, occasionally delivering quick quips when the situation called for it. It wasn’t until the later episodes of TNG season 1 that Worf really began to develop as a character. Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first season, Worf’s position on the Enterprise-D was not always clear, and the Klingon was mostly a background presence until TNG season 1, episode 20, “Heart of Glory.”

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TNG’s First Worf Episode Sets Up The Klingon Warrior’s Star Trek Future

One of Worf’s best Star Trek episodes, in TNG‘s “Heart of Glory,” the Enterprise answers a distress call from a Talarian freighter, and they are surprised to find three Klingons aboard. After one of the Klingons dies from his injuries, Worf joins the other Klingons in a death ritual, roaring to the dead to let them know a Klingon is about to cross over. By his own admission, Worf has spent very little time among other Klingons, and he looks to Korris (Vaughn Armstrong) and Konmel (Charles Hyman) to connect with his heritage. Worf soon discovers that the Klingons lied to Captain Picard, and they press him to join them. Although Worf feels a connection to the Klingons, he soon realizes that they have no honor.

As he demonstrates throughout TNG and DS9, Worf places a high value on honor and loyalty, and this is apparent from his very first episode. Korris urges Worf to join him, believing that true Klingons would never accept peace with the Federation. Worf however, responds: “Yet in all you say, where are the words duty, honor, loyalty? Without which a warrior is nothing.” Worf may have been raised by humans, but he understands the heart of what it means to be Klingon better than Korris. Throughout TNG and DS9, Worf grows tremendously as a character but he maintains the core philosophy he stated back in TNG season 1.

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How Worf Helped The Klingons Change From TOS to TNG

Worf was instrumental in changing the Klingons from the villains they were in Star Trek: The Original Series to the Federation allies they became. Many of the Klingons presented in TOS lacked the honor and sense of duty that would come to define their species. However, the Klingons of TNG do feel reminiscent of one Klingon in particular from the TOS era. In TOS season 1, episode 26, “Errand of Mercy,” Captain Kirk encounters Kor (John Colicos), a Klingon captain who behaves more like his TNG counterparts than many of the other TOS Klingons.

Kor goes toe to toe with Captain Kirk, appearing by all accounts to value the same honor, duty, and loyalty Worf speaks of in TNG. By establishing Worf as an honorable Klingon and Starfleet officer, TNG helped acclimate viewers to see the Klingons as allies rather than foes. “Heart of Glory” not only helps establish the ways Klingons have changed since TOS, but also offers the first hints of Worf’s inner struggle. Throughout his Star Trek journey, Worf often feels torn between his loyalty to Starfleet and his Klingon roots. Worf does not betray Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he does do Korris the honor of giving him a good death.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+.