The Ladies of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Suzie Plakson as Ambassador K'Ehleyr

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K’Ehleyr, is a half-human, half-Klingon Federation Ambassador at Large.  She arrives on board the USS Enterprise aboard a Class-8 probe (The Emissary).  She enters the briefing room to begin briefing the crew and she recognizes and greets Worf, saying "so this is where you've been hiding.  I told you we'd meet again."  She tells them of a Klingon ship, the T'Ong, that set out on a mission 75 years earlier with the crew in suspended animation; at a time when the Klingon Empire and the Federation were still at war.  They must prevent the crew from awakening before a Klingon escort arrives to accompany them home, or destroy the ship if necessary to prevent it attacking and destroying Federation targets.  Captain Picard orders K'Ehleyr and Worf to work on finding other options.  K'Ehleyr is anxious to discuss with Worf their love affair that ended six years earlier, but Worf is all business.  She later goes to the holodeck and to take out her frustrations, and ends up using Worf's violent calisthenics program.  He enters the holodeck and they end up in a passionate encounter.   Worf then begins to recite the Klingon oath of marriage.  K'Ehleyr refuses to take the oath, and dishonors what to Worf are sacred traditions.  The Enterprise approaches the general location of the T'Ong with no options but to destroy the ship if the crew has already awakened.  The ship fires on them and then cloaks.  Worf suddenly has an idea.  Captain K'Temok of the T'Ong answers the Enterprise’s hail and sees "Captain" Worf of the Enterprise informing him the war is long over.  K'Ehleyr prepares to beam over to the T'Ong to take command and begin reeducating the crew.  She confesses to Worf that she was tempted to take the oath, and tells him that next time, "I won't be so easy to get rid of."  Worf beams her off, saying "I will not be complete without you."  The Enterprise encounters a Klingon attack cruiser while on a routine mission.  Captain Picard answers the hail and is greeted by K'Ehleyr, on an urgent mission (Reunion).  She beams aboard the Enterprise; with her and Worf's son, Alexander.  Worf has accepted discommendation since they last met and he refuses to even discuss the child at first, although K'Ehleyr doesn't care about the discommendation.  K'Ehleyr informs Captain Picard that the Klingon Empire is on the verge of civil war.  Two factions have divided the high council for years, and are now becoming openly hostile.  K'Empec, the leader of the High Council, is dying, and both sides want to fill the void; he's not only dying, he's been slowly poisoned.  Avoiding a civil war is important since, according to K'Ehleyr, Klingon wars have a habit of spreading and could eventually include everybody, including the Federation.  K'Empec maneuvers Captain Picard into arbitrating the dispute over succession just before he dies.  The two factions' ships arrive; the Vorn with Duras; and the Barruc with Gowron.  Duras is contemptuous of Picard's being named to mediate, but has little choice but to agree to it, and demands that the rite of succession be completed immediately.  Captain Picard is cautious and suddenly an explosion kills two Klingons and injures several others.  He then asks K'Ehleyr if there is a way he can delay while the the investigations of the poisoning and the explosion take place.  She mentions the old rites of succession, which take much longer than the modern ones, and he decides to follow them.  K'Ehleyr then asks the Captain about Worf's discommendation since she knows he was present, but he cannot discuss it.   Duras and Gowron are not happy that Captain Picard has taken K'Ehleyr's advice and is honoring the old rites by holding the Zha-Juc, in which both candidates must give verbal evidence about the battles they've served in, awards they've won, and so forth, to qualify for the leadership.  Later, we see K'Ehleyr and Gowron talking; he attempts to bribe her and implies a threat if she refuses.  The investigation into the explosion reveals that the device used a Romulan detonator, and that it had been implanted in the forearm of one of Duras' men.  K'Ehleyr is curious about Worf's discommendation and hooks into the Klingon information net. She finds that all the Council records on the Khitomer massacre were sealed by Duras, and calls up biographical information on him.  An aide on the homeworld advises Duras of this and he confronts her.  K'Ehleyr then accuses his father of treachery and him of covering it up and says, "The son betrays his people to the Romulans, just like his father did!"   Worf and Alexander enter K'Ehleyr's quarters to find her alone, bloodied, and dying.  He urgently summons a medical team, then hears K'Ehleyr say Duras was responsible.  She takes Alexander's hand and places it on Worf's, then her hand slips away and she is dead.  Worf howls in anguish, then goes through the Klingon death ritual. When he sees that Alexander has never seen death before, he tells him "Look upon death, and always remember."

See Some Photos of K'Ehleyr

Suzie Plakson is a native of Buffalo, New York, who grew up in Kingston, Pennsylvania.  She stands 6' 1¹/2", and is probably the tallest woman to guest star in any Star Trek series.  She went to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts at age 15, and "got hooked (on acting) for life."  Suzie then attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for 3 years.  Her television experience includes her voice in the Family Guy episodes, My Son Also Draws and A Hero Sits Next Door (1999); Joan in the Mad About You episode, Fire at Riff's (1998); Doctor Joan in the Mad About You episode, Speed Baby (1997);  Meg Tynan in the Double Rush episode, Comings and Goings (1995); Love and War as The Sportswriter (1992-1995); and the voices of Thighs of Thunder in Dinosaurs episode 33, Sally in Dinosaurs episode 44, and Elder #3 in Dinosaurs episode 54 (1991); in addition to her appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Doctor Selar in the episode, The Schizoid Man and K'Ehleyr in the episodes The Emissary and Reunion and in Star Trek: Voyager as the Female Q in the episode The Q and the Grey.   Suzie was also seen on stage at Theater La Bete as Marquise Therese Du Parc in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off (1991).  Her film credits include Grace in Wag the Dog (1997); Mary Anne Hunter in Disclosure (1994); Ginger in Bingo! (1991); and Tenley in My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988).  She says of her first Star Trek convention, "It was much bigger than I had expected.  I knew nothing about fandom until then.   I've since learned there's this whole society out there with a mythology they're involved in."  Suzie Plakson had never seen an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation before she was hired for her guest appearance as Doctor Selar.  But she had watched many of the original Star Trek episodes with her brother Michael.  Suzie has taught acting to youngsters and also taught English as a second language in Los Angeles.  "I found teaching was a wonderful, transformation experience.  I had my own United Nations, people from all over the world."

See Some Photos of Suzie Plakson

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