In this episode, Worf takes the young Klingon Toq on the Ritual Hunt. Sure enough, they return to Tokath and L'Kor carrying a large beast which they put on the table with the words, "Tonight, we eat well!". Tokath responds with "Get that thing off my table!" to which Toq replies, "I intend to Tokath- but not until after it's cooked!"
Cooked? Back in "Sins of the Father" we saw Kurn sampling the buffet on the Enterprise and wondering "how long the bird had been dead" given the unusual appearance of cooked meat. That scene implies (as do several others in Trek) that Klingons eat raw meat. Why then is Toq saying they'll have to cook his kill?
(Obviously just for effect. But this was worth noting...)

Toq: Tonight, we eat well!
Tokath: Get that thing off my table!
Toq: I intend to, Tokath-but not until after it's cooked!
Tokath: Oh yeah? Well you have to take it off the table to cook it. Nyah nyah! (sticks tongue out at Toq)

Toq was raised among Romulans and perhaps was accustomed to eating as they (presumably) do. He probably didn't know of the Klingon preference for eating raw meat.

I just saw this episode again recently. Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that when Toq and the other Klingons stand up for Worf prior to his execution they all stand off to the side, leaving Worf out there front and center still vulnerable to anybody who is a decent shot with a phaser. "A" for effort though. We'll make them young'uns good Klingons one of these days!

I just saw the episode recently as well. It struck me as odd that a prison camp would have a ladder propped up against it's wall that allows simple access to the outside of the complex. OK, so even if the prisoners decided they were happy and didn't want to leave, wouldn't it make sense to take the ladder down when disgruntled Worf arrives? Or after he uses it to escape? But, even as they prepare to execute him, the ladder is still propped up against the wall.

Worf told the Klingon children that Kahless took some of his own hair, stuck it in molten lava, and formed his sword. Having seen the sword in The Sword Of Kahless, it brings up a few questions.
Why did he pick such a weird shape for a sword?
Just how long was his hair? (That's a big sword.) Even though it is rougher and not as good looking as later swords, didn't it appear to be a little too symmetrical and polished? (Of course, maybe this was a later sword of Kahless and not the original, just the only surviving one. All others either lost, or broken in battle. ;-)

How flame retardent is Klingon hair? Take some human hair and put it near a match. It usually shrivels up from the heat. I suppose Kahless could have soaked his in some water, or coated it with a heat resistant substance, but why bother? Perhaps the most important question of them all. What skin conditioning lotion did he use on his charred hands afterwards?

Worf and Tokath beam aboard the Enterprise and Crusher tells him that everyone is being given a checkup in Sick Bay, which implies that they are the last to beam aboard. Also Worf explains to Picard that these kids are survivors of a crashed ship. So, the Enterprise has been beaming aboard Klingons from a Romulan ship without knowing the reason why? (And won't Sick Bay notice that one of the girls has Klingon and Romulan DNA?)

One of the Klingon girls will have a hard time explaining herself to other Klingons, she's half-Romulan!

I thought she stayed behind (for that very reason).

KAM, have you ever heard of legend?

Heh heh. Nitpicking fictional mythology? Isn't that a little too easy? Although technically speaking, it's possible that stuff did happen, say, if a Q was fooling around and assisted him (with or without Kahless's knowledge).

Yeah, really. I mean, I was reading this story about this one yokel who feed a crowd of people with a few fish and some loaves of bread, brought people back from the dead, and came back to life after being tortured and crucified himself.

Phil would have a FIELD DAY with that sorta stuff!

Not funny.

Wasn't intended to be. It was intended to make a point about nitpicking mytho-historical/religious stories.

Maybe I misunderstood the message behind that ep., but what I got I didn't like: There are two people/races who have been enemies for a long time, but when they live together and form a new culture, its not real, its only for the old people, and klingons will always be barbarian warriors, you can only live peaceful with them if you withhold the information about their culture from them?
Just why is worf stirring everything up? Are all klingons on Qonos warriors - no scientists, nobobdy living in peace? Or is it because worf was raised on earth, that he is more catholic than the pope, or more klingon than normal klingons? This is worse than kirks behaviour in this side of paradise, when he didn't want to leave the colonists alone.

More Klingon than Klingons sounds about right for Worf.

Also a later episode states that a Klingon can only be a warrior if they declare themselves to be by a certain age.

Worf wasn't raised on Earth. He was raised on Gault.

For a while at least. Dialogue from various shows would seem to indicate that while originally raised on Gault at some point the Roshenkos moved back to Earth while Worf was young.
In New Ground, I think, his adopted mother makes a comment about Alexander bumping into something & Worf comments that he did the same thing. Now while it's possible this happens in two different houses on two different planets it seems more likely that it was the same house.
IIRC in Family doesn't Guinan say that when Worf looks at the stars for home he looks toward Earth?

Well, he was raised by humans among humans, not among klingons on a klingon world.

I thought it was mentioned that word grew up in russia, where the roshenkows live, until the ep. with his brother, who appeared out of the blue. When was Gault mentioned?

IIRC Heart Of Glory & some episode of DS9.

Heart of Glory(TNG) and Let He Who Is Without Sin(DS9).

Because of this, I would've considered Guinan's comment in Family to be a nit, O'Brien mentioning that he and Worf talked about him growing up in Russia in Image in the Sand(DS9) to be a result of the bloodwine they shared, and Worf's promotion of Minsk as a new home for the O'Brien's at the end of What You Leave Behind(DS9) to be an indication that Worf merely visited there and loved it.

I don't see why the lamp that Alexander knocked over couldn't have simply been moved to Earth when the Rozhenkos moved, but now that I think about, Worf mentioned to Alexander in New Ground(TNG) that Alexander lived in Worf's old room, so it would appear that you're right, Keith.

In fact, perhaps it was the tragedy mentioned in Let He Who Is Without Sin... that caused them to immigrate to Earth. Perhaps they moved to Minsk?

GREAT LINE: "I understand" Picard after Worf indicates that there were no survivors from the Khitomer Masacre....Picard KNOWS that there were, but the Klingons there want to protect their honor.

Was it ever stated on screen that Worf's family lived in Minsk? If so, there is a small possibility of a nit: Minsk is in Belarus (or Byelorussia, or 'White Russia') but Worf's parents are described as 'Russian', i.e. 'Great Russian'.

Unless they don't actually come from Minsk and/or Russia decides to go do some invading again between now and the 20th century (which might also explain Leningrad in "The Trouble With Tribbles" and ST4...)

It was never stated where in Russia they lived, but Worf recommended Minsk as a new home for the O'Brien's near the end of What You Leave Behind(DS9).

Fair enough, then.

Presumably by the 24th century Belarus has ceased to be the only remaining dictatorship in Europe...

Well, hopefully, all dictatorships on Earth were wiped out by the 22nd.

I tend to agree with Constantze's post (of two years ago, but better late than never) that this episode's message is a bit iffy. At this camp we have mortal enemies-Klingons and Romulans-living together in peace. Then along comes Worf and disrupts their peaceful cohabitation for the sake of strengthening their cultural identity. Knowledge and appreciation of one's people is not a bad thing by any means, of course. But that would be like finding a city where Israelies and Palestinians are peacefully coexisting, then having someone come in and remind one side that they're "supposed" to hate the other. I know the Klingons are a warrior race, so naturally seeing weapons used as garden tools would upset them. But the writers of the episode seem almost to support Worf's virtual hatemongering. What does everyone else think?

My thoughts exactly. I mean, Worf acts against everything I value Star Trek for. I couldn't understand the message behind all this.

Amadeus: But that would be like finding a city where Israelies and Palestinians are peacefully coexisting, then having someone come in and remind one side that they're "supposed" to hate the other.
Luigi Novi: Except that Worf never does this. He merely wants the young Klingon to know that they're warriors. He never mentions anything about hating Romulans, nor does he say anything at all about them. Granted, there is a nit in that these Klingons, if integrated into Klingon society, may have to contend with Klingon hatred towards Romulans, and how these repatriated Klingons will deal with that, given that they grew up with Romulans, is something that Worf may not have thought through, but he never taught hatred toward them.

Amadeus: But the writers of the episode seem almost to support Worf's virtual hatemongering.
Luigi Novi: Where in the episode does Worf promote hatred?

Where in the episode does Worf promote hatred?

So, he promotes the Klingons' warrior culture, granted.

Still, Tokath clearly explains their ideas to him and he doesn't seem to care. All he cares about is the lost heredity of the young Klingons.

For me, it at least is dubious. I see Worf disrupting a peaceful colony and not much more.

It may well be just me and the fact that I do not particularly like Klingons...

Worf felt that this was a prison, and that the children, who should not bear the punishment for their parents' crimes, were being denied knowledge of who they were, and the choice of leaving and learning it.

Worf calls mating with a Romulan an obcenity; he proceeds to voice additional predjudices. The point is definitely made, and his predjudices are called into question very soon afterward, so the writers aren't exactly supporting his bigotry.

Human hybrids, Trills and Betazoids are fine, but Romulans? Obscenity!

By BrianA on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 9:36 pm:
Human hybrids, Trills and Betazoids are fine, but Romulans? Obscenity!


Unless your Tasha/Sela/Alt Tasha, then the fans love you.

====

Nits

1. Toq has a romulan emblem on his belt, but the rest of his clothes are the Klingon type.

2. Tokath asks if klingons and romulan have ever lived in peace other than in the camp, well what about the peace that allowed the romulans to get klingon ships? During the "enteprise incident?"

This isn't Klingon blood...
3. I love the look on Toq's face when he's beamed aboard the enterprise. you could almost hear/see him get ready to kill Worf for lying to him about being a Klingon. I get the feeling that Worf probably neglected to mention that he's not with the Klingons at the moment, or that Klingon high command is corrupt etc.

4. Ba'el actually could have lived with Worf on the Enterprise in the Federation.

2. Tokath asks if klingons and romulan have ever lived in peace other than in the camp, well what about the peace that allowed the romulans to get klingon ships? During the "enteprise incident?"

It was a cold war. It was more a case of "The enemy of my enemy ..." rather than a true peace.