The Sword of Kahless

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"The Sword of Kahless"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Kor and Worf watch as Jadzia Dax places the Sword of Kahless in the runabout's transporter.
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 8
Directed byLeVar Burton
Story byRichard Danus
Teleplay byHans Beimler
Featured musicDavid Bell
Cinematography byJonathan West
Production code481
Original air dateNovember 20, 1995 (1995-11-20)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Little Green Men" 		Next →
"Our Man Bashir"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4
List of episodes

"The Sword of Kahless" is the 81st

Kor. Colicos had first appeared as Kor in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Errand of Mercy", and had previously appeared in this series in the episode "Blood Oath
".

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on

Duras
, and Worf and Kor come to blows over the future use of the weapon.

The episode was the first in the series to feature the character of Worf, who had previously been a character on The Next Generation, in a central storyline. Due to time restraints in filming, there were edits made to the scripts and the production team were forced to make best use of the cave sets which had been seen on the show previously. The sword itself was created specifically for the episode, and was made to seem more elaborate than the bat'leths previously seen in Star Trek, including hand etchings to make it appear similar to Damascus steel. Composer David Bell sought to bring influences of Richard Wagner into the score, including the use of Wagner tubas. Although producers were disappointed with the initial fan reaction, critics later gave a mostly positive response to the episode and compared it to Indiana Jones and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Plot

Gamma Quadrant
to search for the Sword on the planet where the shroud was found.

On the planet, they discover a secret chamber in an underground vault containing the Sword. They are attacked by Toral (

Duras, who hired the Lethean and wants the Sword for the prestige of finding it. Kor, Worf and Jadzia fight past Toral and his men and after finding that they cannot transport back to their ship, they head into the adjoining cave system in order to try to escape Toral. As they travel through the caves, the Klingons are affected by the prestige of the Sword: Kor begins to talk about how it would allow him to overthrow Chancellor Gowron and Emperor Kahless II
; but Worf believes that he should be the one to lead their people. Suddenly, Kor slips down the side of a cliff but refuses to let go of the Sword. Worf grabs the other end of the Sword, and tries to convince Kor to let go.

Dax helps Worf save Kor, and afterwards takes possession of the Sword because she thinks the two Klingons cannot be trusted with it. The three make camp and Dax tries to sleep, but is awakened by an argument between Kor and Worf. The fight between them stops momentarily when Toral and his men arrive. After Toral is subdued, Kor and Worf again attack each other. Jadzia stuns them both with her

phaser
and then forces Toral to enable the three to return to their ship. After they depart the planet, Kor and Worf realize that if the Sword divided two men as honorable as they, it would do the same to the Klingon Empire, so they beam it into space, leaving it to drift until the Klingon Empire is ready for it.

Production

The episode was directed by Levar Burton, who had previously directed for Star Trek: The Next Generation; overall he would direct 28 Star Trek television episodes.[1][2] Also, LeVar Burton had previously acted in the franchise as Geordi La Forge on Star Trek The Next Generation.[3]

Writing

The episode was the first to feature Michael Dorn's (right) character centrally in this series, and was directed by LeVar Burton (left).

"The Sword of Kahless" was the first Deep Space Nine (DS9) episode to predominantly focus on Worf. Michael Dorn had joined the cast at the beginning of season four, but his character was not featured prominently in the first eight episodes of the season because they had been scripted prior to confirmation that Dorn would be joining the show. "The Sword of Kahless" was the first episode to be written after his arrival, so it was the first time his character was featured centrally. This meant that in each of those episodes, Worf was inserted into the episode, whereas "The Sword of Kahless" was the first episode to be written after his arrival and the production team wanted him to feature centrally for the first time.[4] The story was created by Richard Danus, who had been the executive story editor during the third season of TNG, when Ira Steven Behr joined the production team. Danus had written TNG episodes such as "Deja Q" and co-wrote the teleplay for "Booby Trap". It was Behr who gave Danus the opportunity to write for DS9, after they became friends following Behr's arrival on TNG.[4]

The episode's director, Burton, described the story as something akin to the search for the Holy Grail in Klingon mythology. Hans Beimler, who converted Danus' story into a teleplay, was aware of the mythology of the Grail as he wrote the script and wanted to avoid giving the sword any mystical or magical powers. He said that "It's the concept of the sword that has the power. We could have said that some technology or magic gave the Klingons the feeling of power, but that would have been a cheap way to go."[5] The writing staff was disappointed in the reaction of many fans, who wanted a technological explanation for the effects of the sword.[5]

Filming, casting and music

Because of limited time to film, several edits were made to the script by Beimler. Some of the scenes set in the cave sets were dropped as they would have taken too long to set up. Kor, Worf and Dax were in almost every scene of the episode and so time could not be saved by filming more than one scene at a time.[5][6] The cave sequences were filmed on the cave standing sets on stage 18 of Paramount Studios. The sets were limited, so Burton said that in order to make it look like the characters were moving through a complex labyrinth of caves, he and director of photography Jonathan West used the sets' depth to make them look like different parts of the caves.[6]

The precipice that Kor nearly falls down was created by filming the actors on the second level of the cave sets and then matting the footage onto a 8 feet (2.4 m) long miniature version of the cave that Gary Hutzel created out of aluminium foil. The production staff also spread sand onto the floor of the cave sets in order to make it look different from other episodes in which the sets had been used.[6] Burton advised Farrell on the aggressiveness Dax should show in her interactions with Kor and Worf in the episode, a type of performance which both Burton and Farrell later nicknamed "Action Barbie".[7]

John Colicos had appeared as Kor once before on DS9, in the second-season episode "Blood Oath". In The Original Series first-season episode "Errand of Mercy", Colicos had portrayed Star Trek's first main character Klingon.[8][9]

Rick Pasqualone appeared as Toral, son of Duras, in "The Sword of Kahless". Originally, the character, played by

Lursa and B'Etor.[10][11][12] Worf has history with the House of Duras, dating back to the rivalry between Worf's father, Mogh, and Toral's grandfather, Ja'Rod.[13]

Composer David Bell created music for the episode that had echoes of the operas of 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner. He explained that he used "Wagner opera vocabulary in the orchestrations, and ... actually used Wagner tubas in the score".[6] He used religious tones to accompany appearances of the sword itself, specifically when it is first found by Worf, and said, "If the audience isn't made to understand the spiritual importance of that weapon, then we have no episode".[6][14]

Props

Several replica bat'leths, with a replica sword of Kahless on the top

Dan Curry created the Klingon bat'leth weapon while working on TNG.[15] Its first appearance was in the episode "Reunion" and has appeared in all live action series of Star Trek with the exception of The Original Series.[16] According to Klingon mythology, the Sword of Kahless was the first bat'leth made by Kahless himself, which he used to defeat the tyrant Molor, and to unite the Klingon people for the first time in their history.[17]

It was decided that the sword needed to be different from other bat'leths seen on the show,

targ.[7] "The Sword of Kahless" also featured new prop designs for Starfleet-issued over-the-shoulder bags and the camping equipment used in the cave sequences.[5]

Reception

"The Sword of Kahless" was first broadcast on November 20, 1995, in

Nielsen ratings of 6.9 percent, placing it in tenth place in its timeslot[19] and lower than the episode that aired the previous week, "Little Green Men", which gained a rating of 7.1 percent. "The Sword of Kahless" received a higher rating than the following episode, "Our Man Bashir", seen by 6.8 percent of viewers.[19]

Several reviewers re-watched the episode after the end of the series. Michelle Erica Green, who watched the episode in April 2013 for

Jammer's Reviews compared the episode to an Indiana Jones story and said that it was a "enjoyable fable for a simpler time". He praised the musical score by David Bell and thought that the episode was the perfect vehicle for Worf, saying that Michael Dorn gave a strong performance. He gave the episode a rating of three and a half out of four.[12]

Zack Handlen, writing for

Tor.com rewatched the episode in 2014 and gave it 8 out of 10, and called it "a strong story that understands the power of, well, strong stories, of myth, of legend, and also of the power that they imbue objects with, and how that power can corrupt."[2]

In 2015, Geek.com rated the scene where Worf holds the Kahless artifact as one of the top 35 moments in Star Trek.[22] In 2017, The Daily Dot recommended this as a Star Trek Klingon alien themed episode to prepare for Star Trek: Discovery.[23]

Home media release

The first home media release of "The Sword of Kahless" was as a two-episode VHS cassette alongside "Our Man Bashir" in the United Kingdom on June 13, 1996,[24] followed in the United States and Canada by a single-episode release on October 3, 2000.[25] It was later released on DVD as part of the season four box set on August 5, 2003.[26]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Star Trek: Every Actor Who Also Directed Episodes Or Movies". ScreenRant. April 9, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b DeCandido, Keith R. A. (February 21, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "The Sword of Kahless"". Tor.com. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  3. doi:10.2458/azu_acku_pamphlet_hd1741_a332_r53_1992
    .
  4. ^ a b Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 289
  5. ^ a b c d Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 290
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 291
  7. ^ a b Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 292
  8. ^ Hoffman, Jordan (March 27, 2013). "One Trek Mind: Remembering "Blood Oath"". Star Trek.com. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  9. ^ Gross; Altman (1995): p. 40
  10. ^ "Toral". Star Trek.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  11. ^ "Redemption, Part I". Star Trek.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  12. ^
    Jammer's Reviews
    . Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  13. ^ "Duras". Star Trek.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  14. ^ "David Bell Interview". Rejected Film Scores. November 16, 2010. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012.
  15. ^ "Curry, Dan". Star Trek.com. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "bat'leth". Star Trek.com. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  17. ^ Brooks, James E.; Moore, Ronald D. (May 17, 1993). "Rightful Heir". Star Trek: The Next Generation. Season 6. Episode 23. Broadcast syndication. Rightful Heir transcript. I went into the mountains, all the way to the volcano at Kri'stak. There I cut off a lock of my hair and thrust it into the river of molten rock which poured from the summit. The hair began to burn. Then I plunged it into the lake of Lusor and twisted it into this sword. And after I used it to kill the tyrant Molor I gave it a name. Bat'leth. The sword of honour.
  18. OCLC 79312175
    .
  19. ^ a b "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 Ratings". TrekNation. Archived from the original on October 3, 2000. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  20. ^ a b c Green, Michelle Erica (April 5, 2013). "Retro Review: The Sword of Kahless". TrekNation. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  21. ^ Handlen, Zack (January 17, 2013). ""Little Green Men"/"The Sword Of Kahless"". A.V. Club. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  22. ^ "The top 35 moments in Star Trek history | Geek-Cetera | Geek.com". www.geek.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015.
  23. ^ "9 Klingon episodes to watch on Netflix before 'Star Trek: Discovery'". The Daily Dot. August 20, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  24. ^ "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Volume 4.5 [VHS] [1995]". Amazon UK. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  25. ^ "Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 81: The Sword of Kahless [VHS] (1993)". Amazon. October 3, 2000. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  26. ^ Ordway, Holly E. (August 12, 2003). "Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Season 4". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 17, 2013.

Bibliography

External links

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