Product Details

• Actors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden
• Directors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792147405
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,175 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Talk about your visions! Suffering from a spiritual crisis, Worf heads out on a religious pilgrimage to reconnect with his faith and his Klingon heritage and witnesses the return of the empire's first and greatest hero, Kahless the Unforgettable (guest star Kevin Conway), from the dead. Rationalist Worf is dubious of his claims and Gowron (the general that Worf helped make his people's leader) fears his influence. "Did you ever fight an idea?" he hisses. "There's no body to destroy!" The appearance of Kahless threatens to split the Klingon Empire with a holy war, especially when DNA tests prove him to be the real thing, but just how real is real? Conway makes a ferociously hearty Klingon with a booming laugh and a love of life: "Have you no joy in your heart?" he challenges his humorless followers. The story takes an easy way out, the kind of diplomatic concessions that's par for Gene Roddenberry's utopian future, but Kahless's passion and Worf's spiritual doubts lend the drama enough heft to make up for it. --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover

Worf (Michael Dorn) makes a religious pilgrimage to the planet Boreth, where the followers of Kahless the Unforgettable (Kevin Conway), the great Klingon warrior who united the Empire some 1,500 years ago, wait for their leader's return. During a ritual ceremony, Kahless does appear, though Worf is skeptical of his authenticity.

Back on the Enterprise, Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) arrives and insists that Kahless is an impostor sent to discredit him, but a genetic test proves him wrong. And when Gowron is able to defeat the once mighty Kahless in battle, Worf discovers a shocking secret about the greatest warrior of all!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Return of Kahless, July 3, 2000

By 

Joe White (Layton, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 149: Rightful Heir [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Star Trek: The Next Generation frequently explored the Klingon species, their government and their history. Many of TNG's best episodes revolved around Klingon political intrigue and Klingon culture. Season six's "Rightful Heir" continues this tradition of stories that focus on one of Trek's most interesting species. But, this time, it isn't wholly satisfying.

The story is this: A group of fanatical Klingon monks, in an attempt to fulfill the prophetic return of the "father" of Klingon honor and religion, clone Kahless and succeed in making this prophecy come true. At first, they hide the fact that this Kahless is, in fact, a clone. The Enterprise soon uncovers this scandal but even though Kahless the Clone may not be the "real" Kahless, at the least, he is Kahless's heir. Chancellor Gowron, the current leader of the Klingon Empire, takes exception to this clone of the Klingons' spiritual leader and first emperor and civil war is threatened because this Kahless figures that HE should be leader. The Federation does not want civil war to break out so a compromise is reached between Gowron, Kahless and the Federation. Lt. Worf, the Enterprise's Klingon security chief, plays a key role in this good but somehow unsatisfying episode.

I'm not sure why this episode left me wanting. Maybe I was hoping that this would be the real Kahless and not a clone. But that would have been too gutsy for Star Trek: The Next Generation, a series which arrogantly denounces religion as superstitious and foolish. As if the creators/writers/producers of TNG know it all.

Oh, well. A good episode nonetheless.

1.0 out of 5 stars Primitive superstition in the 24th century, January 20, 2011

By 

Tx "Tx" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 149: Rightful Heir [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This episode was boring and stupid.
Gene Roddenberry died towards the beginning of airing season 5. In Season 6 you can start to notice that.
In Season 6 I've noticed at least a few episodes having some religious tone to them and you will notice it throughout this entire episode.
If Gene was alive at the time he would not allow this type of writing for Star Trek.
Gene clearly did not like religion and was basically an Atheist.
This episode gives a pro-religion and pro-faith message and Gene did not want that for Star Trek.
It was ridiculous and absurd at the end where Data has a discussion with Worf about spirituality and leap of faith.
Not exactly a conversation you would expect from an android in the 24th century. More like an ignorant man from the 20th century or prior.

4.0 out of 5 stars Worf comes face to face with the Great Kahless!, April 3, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 149: Rightful Heir [VHS] (VHS Tape)

STNG certainly made every effort to explore Worf's Klingon heritage to the point that we became convinced the only true Klingon in the universe was the one serving in Starfleet. In "Rightful Heir" they finally go over the top involving this recurring subplot. Worf is having a severe crisis of faith and so he undertakes a pilgrimage to Borath, the sacred planet prophesized as the place when the great Kahless will return. After ten days of intense meditation without any results, Worf is ready to go back to the Enterprise, but the priests convince him to stay. During his next meditation Kahless actually returns to life! The Klingon High Council has the Enterprise bring Kahless to a meeting with Gowron, the Head of the Council. Gowron, skeptical of the miraculous return of the greatest Klingon of them all, presents a sacred knife stained with the actual blood of Kahless. However, everyone is stunned when Dr. Crusher reports there is an exact DNA match between the two. Gowron challenges Kahless to a fight, and when the current leader wins, Worf becomes convinced something is not quite right here. After all, who could ever hope to defeat Kahless?

Once again it is clear that Worf is probably not a true Klingon because the inevitable conclusion is that he is so much better than Gowron and the rest of the boys on the High Council. "The Rightful Heir" is really scrapping the barrel for new ideas to explore Worf's inherent sense of alienation. What is appreciable in this episode is the idea of the wavering line between a real man and his enduring myth. No one, not even the invincible Kahless, could live up to the legend that is created after their death.