Code of Honor

This is largely considered to be one of the worst episodes of Star Trek. I probably would have skipped it based on the rating but my partner and I are trying to make our way through the entire show without skipping any episodes.

I will say, the story is fairly weak and the casting of all black actors for the highly misogynistic race is problematic at best. However, it does have some great character moments that are hard to skip.

It's the first episode where Wesley is allowed to work on the bridge, it's the first time Data tries telling a joke, and first time Picard takes pride in being French.

If you're here for character development you should watch it, but otherwise feel free to skip.

Picard must once again exercise his skills at diplomacy when dealing with a people called the Ligonians. They possess a vaccine that would be vital in curing a disease affecting a different species on another planet. However, the Ligonians' leader, Lutan (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, "Darkman"), takes a romantic interest in Tasha, and abducts her, intending to make her his "first one". This doesn't sit well with Lutans' other companion, Yareena (Karole Selmon, "A Piece of the Action") who challenges Tasha in a fight to the death.

I *was* warned ahead of time that this was a widely disliked episode, maybe even the most disliked of all TNG episodes. While I *can* see how people would have misgivings with some of the plot aspects, my only real concern was that the script wasn't that great: neither very original nor well thought-out. Certainly the regular cast members and the guest stars play this as well as they can; the late Ferguson, in particular, has a solid screen presence.

All in all, this episode wasn't particularly good, no, but I did get some enjoyment out of it.

Five out of 10.

It's funny to see anyone call this racist, because it's not written well enough to even be that. Code of Honor suffers mainly in the same way that so many TNG episodes do, by not seeming to really understand the subject being tackled. Which -- again -- isn't racism, but making the primitive culture all black actors? Looks just like racism, lightened up just enough for deniability. Which might have meant something if anyone cared to put any effort into their acting, but it's just 40 minutes of people trotting out their lines ... sometimes with some dignity, but rarely with anything that could be called conviction. Hard pass.

Tasha Yar is kidnapped by a race who resemble tribal Africans. The leader of this race wants her as his wife and subsequently she is forced to fight it out with his old wife. Quite a bizarre episode,which has far more in common with the original series than Next Gen, a move probably entirely deliberate given that this only the third episode. I have to say as a Star Trek fan, I can put up with a lot of shoddy acting, but something about Tasha Yar always made me grind my teeth. Perhaps it was the haircut, or the tone of voice but I never liked her much and this is a perfect example of why. To be honest I was pleased when she left the series and actually enjoyed her performances in her subsequent and inevitable comebacks. Not essential.

Once again, I feared that such a poor episode might sink the starship Enterprise. Some have called this racist but I think it's just a weak story about a male dominated world. Good heavens, about half our planet acts this way toward women. Tasha is kidnapped and put in a position where she must fight an alien woman for her life. How many times has this tired plot played out. Yar is an interesting character. She is rather masculine in appearance and has a kind of take-no-prisoners mentality. Of course, there is some complexity to this piece. There are negotiations with the indigenous beings in an attempt to solve the issue. The kicker is that these beings control a substance that is of dire importance to another interplanetary culture. The deus ex machina foolishness that eventually comes is quite unsatisfying. The culture seems set up for just such a result.