Suzie Plakson's Romance With Worf Started A Small Feud Between Star Trek Writers
Romance can be pretty complicated when you're a Starfleet Officer, especially if you're Lieutenant Commander Worf, a Klingon who was raised by humans. Worf, played by Michael Dorn, was a major character on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and "Star Trek: Picard," and over the course of those three series he was given two major, tragic love interests. His romance and marriage with Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) on "Deep Space Nine" has become a favorite pairing of many "Star Trek" fans (myself included), but he had another love affair that ended in despair, with a half-Klingon ambassador named K'ehleyr, played by Suzie Plakson. Originally, however, there were plans for a different character played by Plakson to end up in a romance with Worf, leading to a bit of a spat between the writers on "The Next Generation."
In the book "Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Star Trek Voyages" by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, director Cliff Bole and writer/director Tracy Tormé shared their opinions on Plakson's characters in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and it sounds like things weren't as diplomatic behind-the-scenes as Starfleet might hope for. There also seemed to be some dissent on Plakson's performance as well, but thankfully she was invited back for roles on "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Enterprise," giving "Star Trek" fans four different Plakson-played characters to love.
A half-Klingon in place of a Vulcan caused a minor feud
The book reveals that initially there were plans for Plakson's character, the Vulcan Dr. Selar from Tormé's episode "The Schizoid Man," to become entangled romantically with everyone's favorite grumpy Klingon. Unfortunately, there were already plans in place for the episode "The Emissary," which introduces the half-Klingon ambassador K'Ehleyr, a strong-willed woman who refuses to let Klingon culture dictate anything about her life. Tormé felt that the idea behind "The Emissary" was "obvious," and he declared that "had it been a Vulcan, it would have been a lot more interesting." A Vulcan would have made the potential for Worf's son, Alexander, much less likely, however, and getting to see Worf be the worst dad in the galaxy is an integral part of his character.
Bole, who directed the episode, had his own thoughts on Plakson's role:
"I think I let [Suzie Plakson] get overboard a little bit. She was a little too broad, but she's a talented lady. I think the Klingon shows are fun to do, because you can go a little broad with them. Who the hell knows what a Klingon is anyway? Who knows how Klingons make love? In 'The Emissary' I came up with that thing where she digs into his hand and there's all the blood. I did that on set. I was wondering what these people do, and I had the image of bones breaking and felt that's what they do when they get it on."
Excuse me, Mr. Bole, but is there really any other way to play a Klingon? After playing an extremely restrained Vulcan, who can blame her for going big and bold as a half-Klingon?
K'Ehleyr's impact on Worf
K'Ehleyr first appeared in the season 2 episode "The Emissary," but she returned in season 4 for "Reunion," in which she introduces Worf to his son Alexander, whom he had no idea existed. There's also a pretty serious problem at the head of the Klingon Empire, as K'Mpec (Charles Cooper), the head of the Klingon High Council, has been poisoned. If the villainous Duras (Patrick Massett) takes over the Empire, the Khitomer Accords that led to the alliance between Klingons and the Federation would likely be destroyed. Picard (Patrick Stewart) must help make Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) the new head of the Council or face potential war. Unfortunately, K'Ehleyr gets caught in the middle of the conflict and ends up dead, leaving Worf a single parent. Jonathan Frakes, who starred in the series as Commander Riker and directed "Reunion," felt that Plakson didn't get her proper due from some audiences, saying:
"I've been lucky. Suzie was great. A lot of people are sorry she's dead. It's a character that people really loved or hated because she was so big and shameless in her performance. I loved it."
K'Ehleyr is one of the few women who could really hold their own against Worf, and Plakson's performance made her as powerful and intense as any of the other Klingons. It's a bummer that we didn't get to see Worf have a relationship with Dr. Selar and that K'Ehleyr died to advance the plot, but at least we got to see Plakson give two very different "Star Trek" performances her all.