Star Trek: The Next Generation: Code of Honor Review (S1E04)
★☆☆☆☆ TNG’s early struggles continue with this throwback stinker
An urgent mission of mercy is complicated when Lutan, the ruler of the only world capable of producing a vital vaccine, kidnaps the Enterprise’s head of security, Tasha Yar, hoping to take her as his new wife.
Long and vociferously decried by many as Star Trek’s single worst episode, Code of Honor is undoubtedly a terrible episode of The Next Generation, but not for the same reasons many believe it to be.
Described by Jonathan Frakes as “a racist piece of shit”, the original plans for the episode looked very different and far more promising, with Lutan and the Ligonians initially written as a race of reptilian-like bushido warriors. “if the cast wasn’t arbitrarily decided to be African-American” Wil Wheaton once said of the episode “the idea of it being racist or non-racist wouldn’t have been an issue.” I hate that I find myself in agreement with the god-child Wesley Crusher himself.
The Ligonians are an obvious metaphor, a blunt tool for our new future human heroes to be measured against. Much of the script, a mostly dull affair delivered with rigidity and a lack of enthusiasm from its clearly unimpressed cast, makes repeated attempts to hammer home just how far we’ve come as a civilisation by the 24th century.
But the execution is appalling. The decision to cast all black actors as the backward aliens looks awful, just one of many baffling creative decisions that, when combined, results in the episode appearing more like something from the original series. And not one of the good ones either.
Particularly grating is Fred Steiner’s score which goes a long way in giving the episode its antiquated feel. At one point, Steiner appears to simultaneously use every instrument known to man to stir up the drama, an unintentionally hilarious moment that I have laughed at with friends for years.
There’s no denying Code of Honor’s status as one of Trek’s all-time stinkers. It’s boring and lethargic and appears reprehensible without the benefit of behind-the-scenes canon. Its treatment of women is careless, with Yar, previously depicted as a survivor of institutionalised oppression, weak and struggling to resist the charms of her captor, before being forced to fight in his name in one of the worst combat scenes you’ll ever see.
My recommendation? Give Ligon II a wide berth as you warp past. Everyone else does.
