Star Trek: 10 Ways The Klingons Have Developed Since The 1960s
6. Michael Dorn Partly Inspired The Bat'Leth - Which Was Designed On Post-It Notes
The bat'leth, or 'sword of honor', sliced its way into Star Trek canon in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Reunion, when Worf used his to kill Duras as revenge for Duras's murder of K'Ehler. According to Klingon mythology, Kahless forged the first bat'leth from a lock of his own hair dipped in lava.
According to Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore was inspired by comments from Michael Dorn that he wanted Worf's fighting style rooted in the martial arts. This aligned with Moore who compared the Klingons to samurai. Moore shared his idea with Dan Curry, a member of both the special and visual effects teams and a martial arts expert.
As Curry recalled in Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission, the designs created in the effects department were overly familiar, so Curry began sketching out his own ideas on Post-It Notes. He was inspired by Nepal's iconic kukri and Chinese swords. He sketched something close to the final design on the back of a phone message.
Once Curry was satisfied, he showed executive producer Rick Berman a rough model. Although it was just foam-core, Berman approved it.