The son of Mogh has come to Star Trek Fleet Command. Worf is a rare command officer in the TNG crew. His stats are attack and defense-weighted.
Captain’s Maneuver
Headlong Into Battle – After winning a battle, Worf increases the Warp Speed of the ship by 70%. This bonus does not stack and is removed when returning to your station. Full synergy can get this up to 100%.
So this isn’t going to be a flashy one. Increasing your warp speed is great, but in terms of winning single battles, or grinding up events, it’s not great.
Where I’m thinking this will be the most useful is in doing your monthly arc missions, where there’s usually a lot of running around involved. It could also be helpful in multiple armada events, but only if you’re completely outclassing the armada targets involved.
It can also be useful in getting a ship to Dark Space to move your station. Okay, I’m grasping at straws. It is a bit of a letdown as far as captain’s maneuvers go.
Frankly, the character of Worf deserves better.
Officer Ability
Only Fools Have No Fear – Worf increases all Mitigation stats against non-player targets by (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%.)
Mitigation is the amount of damage reduction you get from your armor, shields, and impulse engines. So anything that reduces damage will help you stay in battles longer, and can be useful in grinding hostiles. And if you’re looking to get a second hostile grinding crew together, other than PMC, this is an extremely useful ability to have.
So combining him with Picard, and maxing him out is your best bet for long-term use. The other really nice feature is that this ability will work not just against regular hostiles, but against armadas and mission bosses as well.
The line, “only fools have no fear” comes from the better TNG season one episodes, Coming of Age. I scoured YouTube for a video clip of the scene, to no avail. But if you look up the episode on Amazon Prime, (here’s a direct link) the scene starts at the 15:00 mark of the episode.
Michael Dorn Trivia
Michael Dorn was born in 1952 in the small Texas town of Luling, outside of Austin. He was raised in Pasadena, California, and attended Pasadena City College. Which also counts among its alumni Jackie Robinson, Eddie and Alex Van Halen, George Reeves (the original TV Superman in the 50s,) singer Kenny Loggins, and … erm… Charles Manson.
After graduation, he played in a touring rock band, and eventually made his acting debut, playing Apollo Creed’s bodyguard in the original Rocky. I’ll forgive you if you missed him.
After an uncredited bit part in the 1977 horror movie, Demon Seed, he made a guest appearance on the short-lived NBC series W.E.B. in 1978.
Dorn got his first regular TV role, playing Officer Jebediah Turner in 31 episodes of CHiPs. Here’s a scene, where Ponch and John are chasing a hijacked bus, and where Dorn’s Turner is following in his police cruiser. In the most 70s thing imaginable, they wind up driving the car on two wheels, with the glorious 70s guitar in the background.
By the way, his Seargent on CHiPs was Robert Pine, father of reboot Kirk actor Chris Pine. The elder Pine, by the way, made guest appearances on both Voyager and Enterprise.
Casting Worf
When it came to the start of season one of TNG, Worf wasn’t considered a main character. He’s completely absent from the Star Trek Writer’s Guide from March of 1987. Roddenberry did have the idea that in the decades since TOS, the Klingons and the Federation would have set aside their differences, and that become allies. It was Bob Justman who proposed the idea of a “Klingon Marine” serving on the Enterprise, though he wasn’t in the first draft of the pilot. By the time the pilot was in development, the idea was that Worf would be a recurring character in the show’s first 13 episodes.
But it was Dorn’s presence on screen starting with Encounter at Farpoint that led Rick Berman and the other producers to give him a greater role, and the character became a regular.
Michael Dorn describes his audition thusly, “I did not wear makeup, but I took on the psychological guise of a Klingon. I walked into Paramount in character. No jokes. No laughing with the other actors. I sat by myself waiting for my interview. When my turn came, I walked in, didn’t smile, did the reading, thanked them, and walked right out.“
It worked, as he got the role.
Apart from Dorn, one of the other two finalists for the role was Julian Christopher, who later played Hagon in the awful TNG first season episode Code of Honor, and the pretty good DS9 second season episode, Tribunal. Here’s a picture of him as Hagon, to maybe give you an “oh, that guy” moment.
But the other actor who almost got the role of Worf was James Avery. We could have had Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince as Worf. We did later get Avery as Klingon General K’Vagh in the Enterprise episodes Augment and Divergence.
It’s interesting to think what would have happened with Avery as Worf instead of Dorn. It’s like replacing one great actor with another. But maybe things happen for a reason, as James Avery’s performance on Fresh Prince was outstanding.
And since I had Dorn being at the height of the 70s, in Rocky and CHiPS, I’ll leave you with Dorn (as Worf) in one of the most quintessential 80s shows imaginable.
Webster. Enjoy.