Birthright (TNG episode)

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"Birthright (Parts I and II)"

Episode no.	142 and 143
Prod. code	242 and 243
Airdate	March 7, 1993 (Part One) March 14, 1993 (Part Two)
Writer(s)	Ronald D. Moore
Director	Les Landau
Guest star(s)	Siddig El Fadil James Cromwell Cristine Rose Jennifer Gatti Richard Herd Sterling Macer, Jr. Alan Scarfe
Year	2369
Stardate	46578.4 (Part One), 46579.2 (Part Two)
Episode chronology
Previous	"Tapestry"
Next	"Starship Mine"

Birthright is a two-part episode of season six of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[edit] Plot (Birthright Part I)

The Enterprise is docked at Deep Space Nine, providing assistance in repairing the station. Julian Bashir, visiting the ship, meets Data. During the conversation, he notices that Data breathes. Data responds by saying that though he does not need to breathe, he has a ventilation system which also provides the appearance of human breathing. Data then points out most people only care about how capable he is as a computer, contrasting that observation with how no one has ever asked him before whether he breathes, or grows hair (another topic of the conversation). It's an interesting moment of character development for both of them, revealing some facts about Data's life, and demonstrating Julian's eccentric and inquisitive nature, curiously, outside of the series he stars in.

The main focus of the episode is on Worf. In a bar, Worf meets an alien who claims that Worf's father, Mogh, was not killed at Khitomer, but instead was captured by the Romulans. Worf is disbelieving. On the bridge of the Enterprise, Worf snaps at an ensign. Commander Riker expresses concern. Worf returns to his quarters and does Klingon exercises and martial arts. He smashes a table and Deanna Troi enters his quarters, asking "Did the table do something wrong?" Worf tells her about the alien and his father, denying that Mogh would be captured. If a Klingon warrior is captured, it brings shame on his family for three generations.

Meanwhile, Data, Geordi, and Bashir are working in engineering. There is an accident, and Data is zapped. He falls to the floor and has a dream. In his dream, he is wandering the corridors of the ship. He sees a bird and hears the sound of a hammer on an anvil. He finds the person banging the hammer and it is his "father", creator Noonien Soong. Geordi is able to revive him.

Data is puzzled as to what is going on. Bashir suggests that maybe he had a dream. Data approaches Worf, asking about the time Worf had an hallucination during a Klingon ritual. Worf says that it is important for Data to find the dream's meaning. He says that "Your father is the heart of you, always." Worf seems to resolve himself to find his father.

He goes back to the bar on DS9. The alien is there. Worf demands for the alien to take him to the Romulan prison camp. The alien refuses. Worf grabs him and dangles over a high bridge. The alien doesn't wish to go because the camp is on the fringe of Romulan space. If the alien is lying, Worf says, then he will be killed.

Worf and the alien arrive. Worf makes his plans for entering the camp. The alien gives him a not-so-friendly warning about a certain breed of snake and its attack habits. Worf begins questioning the alien about how he knows of the camp and why he hasn't informed the Klingon government of the camp. The alien is an information broker, that is, he sells information to governments and people.

Data visits Picard, who is thankful for the interruption. Data tells Picard that he is investigating the dream, but has reached no conclusion. Data claims he has no culture, so he has turned to others for meaning. Picard tells him he is being ridiculous. Data is a culture of one. He tells the android to turn to within himself to find the meaning of the dream.

Data goes to his quarters to paint. The image is that of a man with a hammer, standing over an anvil, as in his dream.

Worf and the alien delve into the dark jungle. The alien gives Worf a device that will tell him the location of the alien's vessel when it comes back to get Worf and his father. Alone now, Worf moves towards the compound. He spies a figure bathing in the wilderness. It begins to move toward him and he hides. The figure, a female, calls out to Worf, asking who he is. When she sees him, she begins to run, but he catches up to her and asks her to lead him to the camp. She is stunned by the fact that Worf is Klingon. When Worf offers to take her home, she claims that she is already home. A Romulan calls out to her. She runs off, promising not to tell about Worf.

Geordi comes to Data. He is stunned--Data has painted dozens of pictures of images from his dreams. First the blacksmith, then the corridor, then the anvil, hammer, and Soong's face. Then, Data says, the thought occurs to him to paint smoke. Geordi points out that the smoke is coming out of a bucket of water, which blacksmiths used to use to cool metal. Data then says he painted a bird, but he doesn't understand why. He asks Geordi to help him recreate the experiment that caused the dream. Geordi reluctantly agrees, warning Data that it could fuse his brain together.

Bashir and Geordi initiate the experiment. Data is zapped again and has another vision. It begins the same as the first: Corridor, sound of a hammer, Soong (who is played by Brent Spiner, who also plays Data). Soong plunges hot metal into a bucket of water, causing smoke to billow out. When the smoke clears, Soong is gone and a bird is left in his place. Data realizes that the vision is different, saying so out loud. Soong appears to him, saying that of course the dream is different. Data is now on the bridge. Data begins to relate all the things that are different: The bridge is there, his cat Spot, his potted plant, and his paintings. Soong says Data is showing progress. Data doesn't understand. Soong says that that is alright. If he understood, he would spoil the fun.

Soong says he is proud of Data. He wasn't sure that Data would develop far enough to have dreams. He says that now Data has started a new journey. Data is suddenly laying on a bed, as his father tells him to just dream. He sits next to his son and says, "Data, you are the bird!" Data then dreams he is flying through the Enterprise, out of the ship in space, and then back into his own head. He awakens, stunned.

Data believes that the dream was pre-programmed by Soong. He also plans to "sleep" for a brief period every day, to "dream". Bashir asks if he could write a paper on this event. Data says that is fine. Bashir says, "Sweet Dreams," and departs.

Worf breaks in to the prison compound and hears singing. He dodges some Romulan guards and proceeds to the singer. An old Klingon is standing around a fire with several other Klingons listening to him sing. The elder Klingon then leaves and Worf follows him. He catches him in a hallway, startling the old man. Worf tells the old Klingon who he is. The elder Klingon says that Mogh died in battle, and that he was fortunate. The Romulans robbed him of his right to die in battle. The Klingon warns Worf that there are things going on that Worf doesn't understand. The Klingon comes upon Worf, saying how he remembers Worf as a child, and relates a story about how Worf injured himself as a child while on a hunt. Worf says he remembers the old Klingon, who warns him that he should not have come here. The Klingon elders grab Worf, attempting to keep him in the compound. He easily defeats them and begins to run, only to be stopped by two armed Romulans.

[edit] Part Two

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