Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 81: The Sword of Kahless [VHS]

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In this episode, Worf, Dax and a klingon warrior from the orginal series named Kang, try to find the mystical Klingon figure named Kahless's sword. But there is trouble when rival Klingons try to take it. This episode was fun and action packed. I definatly recommend it to Trekkies everywhere!

Although some reviewers of this episode have compared the Klingon "Sword of Kahless" to Excalibur (probably because they are both swords), I had a different reaction. As a Jewish Trekker, the Sword brought to mind the biblical Ark of the Covenant -- also lost for many centuries. What would happen, I found myself asking, if the real Ark were actually found today? Like the Sword of Kahless, the Ark would give tremendous religio-political power to whomever controled it. It would also bring about the total upheaval of Israeli politics. Whether or not this was a subtext that the Trek creators actually intended, it was one which stayed with me for days. (We do, after all, tend to read our own agendas into these stories.) In the end, I found myself agreeing with Worf's decision to "lose" the Sword again in the vastness of space. Perhaps such power objects are better for questing than actually finding --- at least until a time when people would be mature enough to handle the power without becoming corrupted by it. Be it the Sword or the Ark, we are not yet ready (or worthy?) to have it. A truly thought-provoking episode!

The late John Colicos, one of the few actors to span the "Trek" generations, having appeared in the original and this incarnation, is magnificent as the elder "Kang". The actor's stage training is obvious in this most Shakespearean role of obsession mixed with reverential pride for a treasured part of the Klingon mythology.

He plays well off of Michael Dorn's "Worf" and it is obvious that the younger actor learned much about assaying the part of a warrior.

This is a great example of how DS9 had writers that really understood the characters and the loyal fan base of Roddenberry's creation.

"The Sword of Kahless" had everything going for it: Potential upheavel in Klingon politics, the return of Kor (from the Original Series and an earlier episode of DS9), the return of Toral (a son of one of Worf's biggest enemies, Duras) and, of course, Klingons!

When Worf, Jadzia Dax and Kor find the location of the Sword of Kahless (the Klingons' version of Excalibur), they must race to find the sword before renegade Klingon Toral can. Whomever holds the Sword of Kahless will be able to wield considerable influence in Klingon politics, you see (it's as if Kahless, the "father" of all Klingons, has chosen his heir), and Worf and Kor want to make sure that that isn't Toral. Good premise but the story is poorly executed and, in the end, the status quo remains unchanged. Klinogn political upheavel would have been fun!

This episode could've been a lot better.