K'mpec's Dead Long Live Gowron.

Robert O' Reilly is one of Star Trek's exciting Klingon Characters. He plays Gowron, son of M'rel in Star Trek-TNG episode Reunion who as one of the two bloodthirsty contenders for the leadership of the High Council makes his challenge aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D laying claim to the Klingon Empire with Captain Picard as mediator. The other challenger is the shifty Klingon Duras. Stalling for time is'nt exactly Picard's style but the chancellor of the Klingon Empire and Leader of the High Council, K'mpec has been fighting off the grim reaper's evil grip for days now. Time is short and Sto-vo-kor's warriors are smiling down on K'mpec.

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Abassador K'Ehleyr, K'mpec's aide beams over from the flagship Vorn and tells Picard that the Klingon Empire is on the brink of civil war.. Klingon against klingon. Unless the Enterprise-D handles the "Klingon situation" Kronos will erupt ito whats sure to be a terrifying struggle for power dragging in neighbouring planets and eventually the precious Federation. K'mpec's still alive but has been poisoned with veridium six. He tells Picard aboard the Vorn that theres no cure. The dying Klingon leader wants Jean Luc Picard to Arbitrate the power struggle after hes snuffed it. Picard's trys to worm his way out but no-one else can be trusted! Now its Picard's duty to investigate which candidate murdered K'mpec using this sneaky slow acting poison and desinate a ruler for the glorious Empire!

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Sto-vo-cor forbid should a sneaky, dishonourable Klingon ever be allowed to rule the Empire! Veridium six smacks of Romulans!! Picard was in the deep deep sh--. Up to his neck in it and he could'nt talk his way out of this one. HaHa! This is great science fiction with a mystery and characters gradually unfolding in a wonderful humanistic plot with worf tying them together. This material sets the ground work for Deepspace Nine, the darkest of all the Star Treks giving the spinoff series substance to work from with and an exhilerating, fighting Klingon character, Worf aka Michael Dorn.

Picard initiates the Ja'chuq much to Duras and Gowron's maddening outrage which delays matters long enough to snare K'mpec's murderous pahtk!! Worf springs into action and settles old scores in Reunion. The year is 2367 During this sci-fi year, Gowron's appointed chancellor. In 2368 Gowron's Leadership of the High Council is confirmed when he crushed the rebellion led by the cunning Duras sisters Lursa and B'Etor. The Duras family are powerful but women cannot serve on the council, so the Klingon lovelies present Duras's illegitimate son!!! Toral, who the sisters claim is Duras's rightful heir. Gowron is sickened.

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In a flash the madmans crazed eyes are alight with hatred and a depraved grin appears on his face. Gowron leaps from his council throne with his warriors d'k tahg in his hand.... A boy leader up for the High Council! "Don't make me laugh" sneers Gowron as he breaks up chortling. Toral is defiant but unnerved.

Gowron continues "What harlets lair did you find him in Lursa?" Humiliation is written all over Toral's face. Gowron rejects the insolent klingon boy and the council is split. This Klingon scoundrel Gowron became chancellor of the Empire and managed Kronos during civil war in the face of Dominion and Romulan interference. Gowron is a true Klingon warrior until about 2375 when he begins reckless battle strategies against the Dominion fighting a losing battle at the expense of his own warriors. Deepspace Nine's "Tacking Into The wind" sees an epic battle waged between two adversaries which snuffed out one of my favourite trekkie characters. sob, sniff. I'm still in shock.

Live Long and Prosper, Trekkers!

Commander Data of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D

Commander Data of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D in Star Trek TNG is a sentient android. This synthetic re-creation of an advanced human being was modelled on one of cybernetics greatest minds. Doctor Noonien Soong and built around 2336. The androids collection of sophisticated neural nets and heuristic algorithms elevated him beyond the mere status of a machine.
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Data was the fifth successful android devoid of emotions and cruelty exhibited by his "evil, emotional" brother Lore. Data has superior construction, is stronger, more intelligent and is designed to live an indefinite lifespan.

His extraordinary abilities include mental and physical tasks, governed by an ethical subroutine which has excelled him in Starfleet to Operations Manager aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. Data has a distinguished record of service in Starfleet. His impressive array of medals and awards include decorations for honor, commendations for gallantry, the Star Cross, Starfleet Medal of Honor (with Clusters) and the Legion of Honour.

Captain Picard of the Enterprise-D depended heavily on his immortal androids advice and help in starship operations, however its a hoot to hear Data's precise calculations annoying Picard, who more or less tells him to shut up. Dr Soong is Data's creator and father. Data has a pulse and a circulatory system that distributes biochemical lubricants and regulates microhydraulic power. His respiration system is responsible for thermal regulation.

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Data is brilliant and resembles a real, living, breathing, talking, humanoid, however in Star trek Nemisis he survived the vacuum of space in a successful attempt to rescue his captain Jean Luc Picard from the evil Shinzon.

He is also capable of operating in an environment hazardous to organic carbon life forms such as the one in the movie "First Contact" when a coolant leak snuffed out the Borg Queen and melted all organic life within main engineering. Luckily Captain Picard climbed to safety! Yay! Shame about the Queen.

Our immortal heroes life ended in 2379, when in a bid to save the Enterprise-E from thalaron radiation, the Operations Manager blew the Scimitar and himself to bits. Everyone was saddened by the loss. Our heroic android, Data is sensationally played by Brent Spiner and unequalled in the world of science fiction. Brent Spiner is popular, has a huge fanbase as confirmed by the BBC and is loved by the fans. (Please come back and do another Star Trek movie Brent!)

Data is constructed out of approximately 24.6kg of tripolymer composites and 11.8kg of molybdenum-cobalt alloys, with a polyalloy upper spine support and a skull of cortenide and duranium, all covered by 1.3kg of skin bioplast sheeting. Thats 37.7kg!

Our metal friend is one heavy dude and tough guy who can beat Klingons and Borgs hands-down in combat. He is far faster and stronger than any living being in history. Even Lt Commander Worf is no match for Starfleet's superior being. He is strong enough to lift Worf over his head. Believe it, nor does he require food or need sleep. Data never feels tired or gets angry with people.

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Rust doesnt affect Dr Soong's creation however people do. Starfleets exclusive android strives to be more than what he is, and human relationships are an emotional problem for him. The reason he gives to Geordi is logical.
"I will never exceed the sum of my programming, will you help me Geordi?"

Im 2371, Data has been equipped with an emotion chip which later malfunctions and becomes fused. He experiences a whole host of human emotions from happiness to sadness, remorse, anger, hate and fear. When fear is near data can turn off his emotion . Captain Picard has confessed
"Data, there are times when I envy you" - Picard.

Data can control his body so precisely and has mastered superior mental techniques such as surgery, dancing, sign language, the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, starship operations, isolinear chip replacement, poker, romantic multiple techniques, master painting, superb musical ability, k-lling and superior computational ability.

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Dr Noonien Soong's most impressive feat of engineering is the creation of a stable positronic brain which allows his ethical son the memory capacity of 800 quadrillion bits and a total linear computational speed rate of 60 trillion operations per second. Data has far exceeded his human friends with his superior abilities but he'd gladly give it up to be human.

Once information has been asimilated into the androids mind, he never forgets it. When he played the self important Sirna Kolrami, Master Strategist at his game Strategema, second time round, Data was able to rely on his fast recall and experiences from the first game and logically computed the best course of action to wipe that smug smile off Kolrami's face. Data wiped the floor with Kolrami. Yessss! Yee-ha! You won Data, Yay! everyone was delighted.

His ability to process a large number of thoughts at once is extremely valuable. Kolrami of course had never been defeated (even though it was a stalemate) and felt humiliated. The fact the Master Strategist could'nt beat Data meant he'd lost in his mind.
"You've made a mockery of me" he said and stormed off.

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Data's impressive positronic brain allows him to interface with other computer systems. He is able to connect directly to the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D and control ship systems from main engineering. The Enterprise's android has also interfaced with a partially mechanical Locutus of Borg and learnt how to defeat the Borg by communicating with Picard. He sends a signal telling the collective to go to sleep, saving the Enterprise-D from total destruction with the Borg.

Measure of a Man is a very special turning point for Data. His civil rights as a sentient being are called into question but thanks to Captain Picard's defense and the presiding officer Captain Phillipa Louvois' ruling that Data is a sentient being, a precedant is set for all artifical lifeforms entitling them to civil rights granted under the United Federation of Planets.

Live Long and Prosper! Enjoy Your Star Trekking!

Starship Warp Speeds

Helm warp 1 Engage! Captain Picard gave this order in the movie Star Trek Generations. The Enterprise NCC 1701-D escaped the deadly heat of the imploding Amargosa star and subsequent level 12 shockwave. The Enterprise which was in orbit of the Armagosa Observatory had only five minutes to reach safety.

The order "warp 1 Engage!" alerted the navigation officer. The fact Captain Picard said "Engage" meant " Now, on the double." instructing the helm to make it so. Picard usually does'nt stand up to give simple commands, so this only tripple emphasized the hidden meaning - Lets get the hell out of here!

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Warp Factor 1 is a unit of measurement determining warp speeds. Its been used since Kirk left spacedock with his galant crew on the first stardate 2323. On stardate 3045.6 the episode "Arena" TOS established for the first time that warp factor six was the normal maximum cruising speed of the Enterprise NCC 1701 and that its panic stations when you reach a maximum speed of warp 8.

Tv viewers also found out that the transporters don't work when the shields are up. The Enterprises encounters with various alien lifeforms enabled the ship to exceed warp 10 reaching warp 14.1. Scotty's complaining about the engines blowing up always prompted Captain Kirk to take corrective action.

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By the 24th century starships were bigger and faster. The Galaxy Class was luxurious and spacious compared to Kirks 23rd century Constitution Class where they packed the crew in. A new warp scale was introduced in Picards time, while still making warp 1 the equivilent to the speed of light, warp 10 was theoretically impossible.

Until Lt Tom Paris of Voyager NCC- 74556 ran some extraordinary tests in a shuttle craft and succeeded in reaching the Warp 10 speed. This placed him in all points in the universe at the same time. Had he achieved this record in federation space it would have made him famous.

Under the new warp formula Picard's U.S.S. Enterprise Ncc 1701-D cruising speed of warp 6 is equivilent to Kirk's Enterprise Ncc 1701-A of warp 7.3 on the old scale. The maximum normal warp 9.2 velocity is equal to 11.8 under the old warp system. Alot of advances were made in the last 78 years, starship technology being one.

Due to increased space travel, it was discovered that warp fields were wearing away the fabric of the space time continum. A new upper warp speed was established in " Force of Nature - TNG" for all starships. Unmodified warp engines were limited to warp 5.

I guess all they needed was a good catalytic converter. Problem easily solved for Starfleets Core of Engineers. Poor Geordi, stuck in engineering warping around at W5, man he must have been sooo depressed...wheres the fun, if you can't go for a spin anymore?

Live Long and Prosper Trekkers!

Worf's Klingonspeak

The Klingon Language was invented for Star Trek The Motion Picture by James Doohan. He became famous for Scotty's highlands accent and getting the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 out of scrapes.

Except for peoples names the Klingon language was never spoken before Star Trek 1. In the Search for Spock, the linguist Marc Okrand developed James Doohans Klingon Language. The dialogue evolved.


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Worf and Martok in Deep Space 9's Holosuites

Taking half a dozen words Okrand identifed the command form of words. Core words were key. He was able to elaborate and add sounds and grammatical structure. Klingonspeak is a real Language with words and grammar not just sounds.

Sins of the father in Star Trek's TNG was Worfs story and a relaunch of the Klingon Mythos. The Klingon Dictionary is the Official Guide to Klingon words and phrases. It explains how the grammar works for all you aspiring Klingons! The TNG used the dictionary.

Michael Dorn Flies a Military Training Jet F-86!

Michael Dorn has read the book. In an interview given by the actor, "Worf" happily mentions the Klingon Dictionary, its description of Klingons and their behaviour. Michael freely admitted that the book helped him develop his Klingon character and got him the part for the Star Trek's TNG. Marc Okrand can be pleased for his contribution replied Michael Dorn smiling. Its hard to picture, but yes, Worf was smiling!

Live Long and Prosper, Trekkers!