TNG - Reunion

[Durandal_1707]

But this is set in the Star Trek future where none of the old Earth nations are independent, and Chuck is reviewing it in 2021. So yeah, Russian's just wrong.

[Marveryn]

I am surprise no one has comment that the fact that worf kill both candidates .. of course one lasted past the next generation run but one could name worf as the King Maker

[Beelzquill]

I am surprise no one has comment that the fact that worf kill both candidates .. of course one lasted past the next generation run but one could name worf as the King Maker

That is an interesting point. I wouldn't be surprised if say a hundred years after his death, Worf is one of those figures that has an extremely polarized legacy among the Klingon people. Some claiming he was the pinnacle of Klingon honor and others that he was a cuthroat Federation lapdog who destabilized the Klingon Empire and weakened it during the Dominion war.

[Captain Crimson]

I am surprise no one has comment that the fact that worf kill both candidates .. of course one lasted past the next generation run but one could name worf as the King Maker

Yes, but the other candidate he killed eleven years later.

That is an interesting point. I wouldn't be surprised if say a hundred years after his death, Worf is one of those figures that has an extremely polarized legacy among the Klingon people. Some claiming he was the pinnacle of Klingon honor and others that he was a cuthroat Federation lapdog who destabilized the Klingon Empire and weakened it during the Dominion war.

Given the Klingon propensity for rewriting history, I'd say that... is certainly not possible, because STP is gonna bring back the Klingons and do something fan-divisive with them, just you wait. Because we gotta write ST to offend people, don't you know? Oh but don't fret, the next show is totally gonna be capital-O optimistic, yessiree bob, we promise, no more running about over creation to stop giant threats, and sure no chance it's gonna be grimbleak yet again, hahaha. Just don't pay any notice to the crossed fingers behind our backs!

However, if we removed Mr. Kurtzman's Star Trek by way of Game of Thrones entries from the canon (just say they took place in an alternate timeline), then what I see is the Klingon Empire is built to inevitably lead to civil war. If they are to abandon their old expansionist ways, then what they need to do is start up something like garland wars for peacetime, to rack up huge kills, the most glory, the most honor, the most trophies taken, and then spend the next two weeks cajoling and singing and drinking and carousing around, as Klingon tradition demands.

BTW, is anyone else having flashbacks to the William Tell Overture from the Generations review?

[Linkara]

I also personally doubt that a Bat'leth could take on an actual sword. The effective reach on this weapon is so shitty, and the thing is so heavy and unwieldy that well... there is a reason why literally every culture in human history has developed some version of the sword whereas none as ever developed the Bat'leth. Or at least, not that lived long enough to write it down. And what's funny is that later on we learn that Kahless used a much smaller version with a huge spike on it that looks as if it actually worked - opening up the plot hole as to why anyone would use the new Bat'leth when it isn't what their greatest warrior used.

Eh, don't be so quick to discard the bat'leth on weight. My replica bat'leth is only about 5-10 pounds or so and they have futuristic smelting and metalmaking for lightweight materials even less than that but still stronger.

As for its effectiveness against swords, one could argue why carry around daggers or a bo staff or a katar or the like when swords have more reach or deadly effectiveness. The bat'leth is kind of ingenious in that it is both a blunt-force weapon AND a stabbing weapon. Like with swords, they most likely have different sizes and styles of bat'leths for different tasks or type of combat. People brought up that Kahless' bat'leth had another stabbing implement in the center, but that means you lose the blunt force option and there are probably fighting techniques that require the full curved blade as opposed to having something jabbing out of it. We see the same kind of bat'leth on the show because it's a good general purpose one (and in turn TV show budgets limiting what you can do with new props), but clearly it has its uses and I could even see them using the double blade on one edge to trap a sword and snap it in half if they pulled off a successful maneuver.

And hell, it's not like the bat'leth is their ONLY weapon when they've also got D'k tahg and mek'leths.

[RobbyB1982]

We've seen older bat'leths, including Kahless's and one from the 2200's, and they were a lot bigger, spikier and had central blades. I think its fair to assume they're mostly ceremonial at this point, given the advent of phasers. They can be used in duels. Most combat with the version we see protects the hands very well, and is used in sweeping motions to try and disarm. They generally aren't going to kill or maim someone unless you *intend* to get them with the pointy end. They CAN be deadly weapons, but not by accident. You have to actively change your grip to make it deadly.

It's similar to the way the longsword morphed into a fencing rapier. The rapier can absolutely be deadly in a one on one honor duel, but you weren't going to take it into a battlefield to try and kill armored men with. Similarly, we never see batleths fighting any other handheld weapons... just other batleths.


When they want to kill someone they take the mek'leth instead. The one handed dagger version. Smaller and quicker, less reach.

[clearspira]

But this is set in the Star Trek future where none of the old Earth nations are independent, and Chuck is reviewing it in 2021. So yeah, Russian's just wrong.

I mean, yeah, that is true. But Star Trek is really inconsistent on this. I think originally, ''United Earth'' was meant to be more like the EU in that you have a group of countries who have a joint government AND a sovereign government at the same time. That's why Kirk can wax lyrical about the US Constitution or Picard can brag about French history. By DS9 ''Homefront'' and ST:First Contact it is cemented that no, nation states absolutely no longer exist. We have the Federation President and that is that.

This has two knock on effects:
1) Being born in North America is no longer the same thing as being born in the US, any more than being born in Italy makes you a Roman or being born in Greece makes you a Spartan warrior. It makes people like Kirk look an absolute nostalgic dinosaur.
2) It makes Chuck's Parody Fascist Federation where all free thought is stamped out far closer to being the reality then was ever intended. There is one way of doing things. There is one set of laws. There is one set of agreed upon morals. And don't think about leaving and setting up home somewhere else or we will get military on your ass if you get in the way (maquis). This world is ripe for a Palpatine to come along it really is.

[Madner Kami]

2) [...] There is one way of doing things. There is one set of laws. There is one set of agreed upon morals. And don't think about leaving and setting up home somewhere else or we will get military on your ass if you get in the way (maquis). This world is ripe for a Palpatine to come along it really is.

BrExiter spotted.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

The consistency within these batches of reviews (X-files serial killer, Alexander's mom, etc.) recently is a nice touch.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Also, wasn't Minsk (the city Worf grew up in) in Belarus, not Russia? Then again Belarus means something like "white Russians" so saying he's going to live in a Russian winter is probably still accurate.

The episode came out in 1990 according to IMDB. Belarus had just become independent a few months beforehand.

So they just wrote/shot it beforehand and left it in? lol