Remember how small Brian Bonsall was when he first started playing Alexander? Mind you, that maybe because Alexander was first played by Jon Steuer. My, how far we've come since those days.
Why, one wonders, does the future Alexander enquire about his younger self's prowess with the Bat'leth when he'd shortly before been down on the planet watching him having a mock battle with the ersatz Kahless?
This would not seem to be a good time to be a parent on the Enterprise. Remember Beverly's problems with Wesley last show? 'Course you do. Now here's Worf having trouble turning young Alexander into a warrior. There is more to this than writer Ron Moore seems to have considered. Young Alex, as the son of the son of Mogh surely presents a very real target for terrorist activists working on behalf of other Klingon houses. I don't just mean the Duras sisters either; Klingon politics is a quagmire wherein very little seems to be settled by the ballot. His uncle has a place on the Klingon High Council, which some might cynically suggest may only be regarded as a job for life as its incumbents tend towards a shorter than average life. He is therefore extremely vulnerable, and really must, as a matter of necessity, have some idea of how to take care of himself.
There is no Universal Translator in operation on the surface of the planet. How do I know this? Because Beverly asks Worf what the opera Klingons are singing about. It is unlikely, therefore, that the Klingon who has the lead role, when challenged by young Alexander, would say "What is this?" in English yet speak in English he does. I just don't see the point in this. I can grasp that the writers (specifically teleplay writer René Echiavarra) want us to understand that the Klingon is surprised to be challenged by one so young, yet could that not more logically have been accomplished by the actor acting astonished and asking the same question in Klingon? I mean, if we can all understand "Hit the hut!" in Klingon, then I think, given the context, we could have understood "What is this?". A small thing I know, but it's these little inconsistencies that, if ironed out as they easily could be, can turn a good show into a great one. Further inconsistencies occur on the ship, with the Duras sisters switching from English to Klingon. Why doesn't the Universal Translator take care of that?
Speaking of inconsistencies, there is an absolute howler with regard to Ensign Gates. You'll recall that, since she is for reasons unknown not allowed to speak (except just the once in 'The Pegasus'), when she is at helm and helm is addressed another actress's voice is used to dub in the obligatory "Aye sir" while the Ensign herself is kept carefully out of shot. Well, they've surpassed themselves this time. Guess who says "Aye sir" in this show? Yes, you've got it. A man. Like I say, little things, little things.
Something that I don't get about the Trek universe. People deal in stuff. They mine it out of the ground, and then trade it for other stuff. Why don't they just replicate it? Surely, in a universe where you have replicators, you can have anything you want just by replicating it? So how can you have miners and traders and so forth?
Unusually for this season, the show doesn't end with a parting shot of the Enterprise. I suppose they ran out of time.
Descent Part Two Liaisons Interface Gambit Part One Gambit Part Two Phantasms Dark Page Attached Force of Nature Inheritance Parallels The Pegasus Homeward Sub Rosa Lower Decks Thine Own Self Masks Eye of the Beholder Genesis Journey's End Firstborn Bloodlines Emergence Preemptive Strike All Good Things Part One All Good Things Part Two