Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) Code of Honor (1987) User Reviews

It's bad but it does entertain

[snoozejonc · 5/10 · 14 May 2021]

Tasha Yar is kidnapped and challenged to a fight to the death.

This is a much derided episode for numerous reasons that are justified, however I find it enjoyable in the category of episodes that are so bad they are good.

The story is simple, full of contrivances and random changes in tone. The dialogue is childish and much of the acting is either amateurish or lifeless, but it entertains almost to the point that it resembles a self-parody.

At first glance I would forgive someone for thinking they are watching a particularly camp episode of the original series, with its ridiculous costumes and awful fight choreography. Yareena looks like she's about to present an 80s fitness video as she prepares for battle. The less said about her and Tasha Yar pole dancing their way through their comical death-match the better.

Most of the actors do their best with poor material, however Will Wheaton seems to spend most of the time grinning like he's been offered a box of his favourite candy and Karole Selmon delivers her lines very awkwardly.

This is often referenced as racist and the worst TNG episode of all time. Personally I do not think it is racist, but I can see how it might be interpreted that way given the casting of black actors in the roles of primitive aliens and them acting out a tribal culture. They are definitely not positive roles by today's standards. I found 'The Naked Now', 'Skin of Evil', 'Angel One' and my personal series low point of 'Lonely Among Us' to be much worse. At least 'Code Of Honour' is actually entertaining in its own way.

Really Lacking in Imagination

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 26 July 2014]

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.

Where was the racism?

[davepetri · 4/10 · 14 April 2021]

I have to agree that this episode was not one of the best and perhaps deserves many of the negative critiques it received. What I don't understand is the various trivia notes discussing disappointment about the blatant racism in the episode.

Though the episode does involve African Americans representing an alien culture with primitive undertones. But what specifically was racist in this episode?

An Odd One

[AshCaton · 3/10 · 16 March 2009]

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.

Introducing the Prime Directive, Maturity, and Risk Assessment

[Rizar · 12 September 2009]

"Code of Honor" (Episode 3, Season 1, Air Date 10/12/87, Star-date 41235.25) introduces the prime directive as a recurring theme in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', and it has a mature and rare assessment of the odds of Tasha's success in a fight to the death.

It also has a 'Matrix' style martial arts demonstration in the hologram room. We learn briefly that strikes from holograms cause pain. We also learn that hologram fighters can learn Tasha's fighting tactics and find ways to defeat her at higher levels, so it keeps her constantly striving to improve her skills.

The plot is not very entertaining or complex. But it advances some details about Star Trek and key characters. Picard is a proud Frenchman, Wesley takes ops on the bridge, and Geordi uses an electric razor since the one Data set for him is too efficient. Data tries to learn humor and fails miserably; he keeps striving to achieve the human equation to no avail.

This episode seems a bit more mature since it parts ways with the dare devil and luck against improbable odds episode, 'Encounter at Farpoint'. 'Code of Honor' introduces a risk assessment of the situation for the first time. It openly discuss the odds of Tasha succeeding in a fight to the death. Usually the characters ignore probabilities and just do what is right or sympathetic or fantastic. In this episode they go with the odds; if only Spock was their to calculate the numbers for them!

The whole idea of the prime directive also forces a calming mood on the series. It restricts them from swiftly acting. Picard is not even the leader of away teams up to this episode, but in this episode the customs and emphasis of honor by the Ligonians gives Picard reason to lead the away team.

The Ligonians kidnap Tasha as part of their customs. Picard must play along since he is limited by the prime directive and so he cannot just take Tasha back (Picard also wants the Ligonians to trade a rare vaccine with them and open friendly relations).

Also we get information about the value system of Star Trek. Picard harshly rejects the Ligonian system of honor, but he stops before launching into his reasons.

The prime directive, however, is also an honor code of sorts. I think a better argument is for Picard to attack the unpredictable customs and dangerous taboos of the Ligonians. But this is a very liberal episode and the Ligonians turn out to be quite civilized despite their ways (Star Trek does not define 'civilization' in terms of technology but rather in terms of culture perhaps). Though this is a reasonable concern -- a new species or new civilization may have certain taboos that threaten successful contact with them. So this episode also starts the theme of first contact and its many difficulties.

For example, Picard tricks the Ligonians and saves a death thus violating the conditions of the fight to the death. I'm not convinced this coheres with the prime directive, and it shows that it's probably impossible for Star Trek to refrain from imposing its power over lesser technologically advanced civilizations at least to some extent.

This episode demonstrates that Star Trek is not merely concerned with overcoming impossible odds; it also considers rationality important as well. And it's concerned with cultural respect and not just forcing its own views onto others through the prime directive. But this goal is lofty and rare, usually people just universalize their values and attempt to hold others to them, and Star Trek has major problems faithfully sticking to it.

"Honor is everything."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 15 August 2023]

This episode had me recalling the one that opened the second season of the original 'Star Trek" titled 'Amok Time'. That story developed the concept of Pon Farr, the time of mating, and used it to create havoc with Spock's rational side. It eventually became my favorite episode of the series, as it had excellent writing and gave us the first genuine 'Holy ____' moment in the history of Star Trek with the death of Captain Kirk!! I won't give it all away as you owe it to yourself to catch that one if you're a Star Trek fan.

This one on the other hand just felt campy with its costuming and embarrassing acting by some of the principals. Three episodes in and the writers had Lieutenant Natasha Yar (Denise Crosby) in a pivotal role which could have determined the fate of the Enterprise crew. She doesn't strike me at this point to be someone assertive enough to hold such an important position as security chief, and when she admitted that she was attracted to the Ligonian leader Lugon (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson), I simply groaned. To say the fight between her and Yareena (Karole Selmon) was awkwardly staged would be an understatement.

I don't know what it is, but the first episode of Next Generation showed promise with the introduction of the main characters, but the second episode 'The Naked Now', and now this one demonstrates a bit of a reversal in terms of writing and acting. Even the sets looked a little cheesy, especially that goofy battle cage that Yar and Yareena fought in. I would have expected a little more competence in a series coming out twenty years after the original one. I guess I'll have to be patient, as things have to pick up from here.

Horrible episode

[ThunderingTim · 2/10 · 28 February 2017]

I honestly cannot believe that the episode has, as it stands at the time of this review, a 5.2 grade and more positive reviews than negative ones. There seems to be a culture of sugarcoating old TNG episodes, but even though I adore TNG, I will not take part in euphemisms and lies. This episode is a total train wreck, arguably the worst TNG episode. I always re-watch any title I'm going to review because that seems only fair, and it's usually a fun time, but this was just unbearable.

Plot (SPOILERS)

Desperately needing a vaccine the Enterprise travels to the only world (in the vicinity) that has it and is confronted by the leader of the planet, who is love struck by Yar, kidnaps her, and then allows his first wife to battle her to the death in order to see who truly is the first wife. Picard allows this to happen because of the prime Directive and because he likes Yar's chances. Tar is victorious, her opponent saved by the crew, and the leader of the world gets relegated to the status of second husband.

Good Stuff

..........erm.........the concept of the Prime Directive, while horrible inefficient in a whole plethora of possible scenarios is at least cause for discussion and philosophical debate and that's a good thing. There are some small moments with Wesley, Data and LaForge that are pleasant and a first attempt at character development and backstory building. Patrick Stewart is decent as he always is.

Things I despised

Tasha Yar is unlikeable and Denise Crosby plays her over the top and unconvincing. Over the top acting also applies to the entire bunch of guest stars. Yareena, Yar's opponent is uninteresting and the planet's leader is so over the top you wonder where the hell the writers and director were when they shot this. It's clearly a redundant TOS script. The fight to the death is filmed well and scored well but it is between 2 characters you couldn't possibly care any less about. If both were to die you would chug your beer and doze off.

The Prime Directive makes its grand entrance and immediately we see how flawed it is. It would hypothetically call for whole civilizations to perish when the Federation could easily prevent it, and it leaves no room for when a Starfleet vessel encounters a species with a less than honorable code of conduct. Which means that when your officer is meant to fight to the death or someone is about to be executed for falling into flowers (don't worry, we'll get to that in a later episode) the Directive orders you to let it happen, but of course you won't. The Directive seems to be in place to prevent Starfleet from using its usually vastly superior technology to stand in the way of other civilizations' culture or development, but every single time this creates the problem that OTHER cultures DON'T have a similar Diretive, making the no.1 rule of the Federation comforting on paper but usually pointless in the real world. In the episode "The Drumhead" a prosecutor is shocked by the amount of times Picard has violated the PD but that just shows how imperfect it is. It seems to imply that if the Borg were to assimilate a species the Federation would just shrug and call it a vital aspect of Borg culture that we shouldn't condemn because that's arrogant. Right...

Conclusion

A seriously flawed episode that wasn't meant for TNG highlighting the least interesting character and introducing Starfleet's golden rule that is so flawed you wonder why they even bother to bring it up. They are not meant to aid, destroy, disrupt or affront the customs of other cultures and Star Trek went on to do little else for the rest of its existence, no matter what series or movie. The PD seems reasonable until you leave the shipyards and venture out into space. The acting is over the top, the story is boring, the ending is unsatisfying. I love TNG but this is not worth your time. 2/10. Next!

Good

[coy_dog0 · 7/10 · 26 June 2008]

Despite the campy reputation of the first two seasons, I sometimes prefer the high melodrama here to the soft-focus light drama of the later seasons.

This episode plays out much better than episode 2: the story contains true suspense as we watch Picard go from one failed solution to another, while sticking to the Prime Directive. There are a few stray ends, some good, some bad. Good: Data's attempt to understand human humour; the bad: Wesley.

One glaring flaw that has stuck with me for years is the first act cliffhanger: *spoiler alert* Tasha is kidnapped right in front of Picard, and his reaction is to calmly turn towards the camera and proclaim 'red alert'. It feels like a dry read through that they accidentally had the cameras on for. Wouldn't a close-up with a helpless reaction have been better? That one moment summed up for years one of the problems I always had with TNG: the lack of 'punch' that the original series had.

In any case, a good episode.

7.5\10

Dishonorable

[Mr-Fusion · 3/10 · 14 November 2017]

Ugh. It's almost sufficient to write off 'Code of Honor' as just an awkward first step for the show's maiden season; the characters are still enough, and it's far more TOS than TNG. People go on about the overtones (both racist and sexist), but it's not like the Enterprise crew is actively promoting these values. Still, they don't fit and really only offer up that most awkward of commentary.

But far worse than any of this is the failure to entertain. This is easily the most lackluster episode I've ever seen from this crew, and that's unacceptable.

3/10

It's Ok

[janaisasocialist · 6/10 · 16 April 2023]

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.

Anti Imperialism

[robert_s01 · 5/10 · 15 September 2008]

In this episode there are first attempts of a character development visible as well as setting the focus not only around the leading cast but also trying to include supportive ones in the plot. Data for example is making his first (of many) attempts to cope with human humor and his relation to LaForge is founded. Furthermore Riker more clearly is used as an equally treated character next to the Captain. This marks the first step on the way of splitting up the action between several places which will become common procedure in later Star Trek.

The episode itself has not much to mention. The script is classically TOS as is the set design and almost everything except the new crew. Lutan is not much of an opponent neither his acting abilities nor his character and Picard and Riker carry the show almost with routine. Troi as usual is the weak spot in the TNG cast and Wesley seems out of place (once again).

The conflict between the prime directive and the need for a vaccine to cure Federation colonists (one of the many Star Trek McGuffins) seems much too artificial, which robs it of the potential of carrying a message. The prime directive of the Federation is a principle quite similar to German philosopher Immanuel Kant's (1724 - 1804) "Kategorischer Imperativ" which in my opinion is characterized by a tremendous lack of flexibility to be applicable. Its intention clearly is to avoid a new colonial age of suppression of other cultures but as to be seen in this episode (rather involuntarily one might guess) its strictness is its greatest weakness. It downright invites other cultures with different moral standards to trick the Federation into a conflict situation to weaken their position. Surely the Federation stresses the importance of diplomacy but diplomacy is a rather uneven ground and every strictly taken principle would ruin it because creativity is the most important point to it. The Prime Directive taken literally would destroy any diplomatic attempts by the Federation because it would make their actions predictable. Whatever Gene Roddenberry may be he is not a philosopher for his concepts aren't thought-ought and with every attempt of making man better he earns so many problems... I mean, what situation is this? Saving hundreds of lives or respecting an archaic culture's code of honor? Would anyone have been harmed if the crew of the Enterprise would have taken the vaccine by force? How many people died which could have been saved, while Picard's hands were bound and the silly fight took place (exposing a crew member to a great risk)? All that doesn't make any sense to me... Conflicts between cultures and different moral systems cannot be solved by one culture always giving in to the other. This would lead to an endless circle of dominance and submission. Tolerance and respect are high values and should be protected whenever possible... But they can't weigh out responsibility for one's own people. Respect has to be earned and should not be mistaken for accepting other people's ways of living. Conflicts only can be solved with decisions which can't always be made by the book. Acceptance and respect, responsibility and tolerance must be weighed out against each other thoroughly but finally the decision has to be made. On a Starfleet vessel it is the Captain's prerogative. He has his staff (all Starfleet academy graduates, trained in Starfleet procedures what includes a set of ethical values) to advise him and his own experience to guide him. That doesn't provide him from making mistakes but that's a different story. If Picard had to be judged on his decisions during this mission his hesitant way of acting surely would not have been highly appreciated. A Captain's responsibility is first of all to his ship and its crew. All other things come second.

The final solution of cheating Lutan could not be called examplary, could it? This would be a much greater sign of disrespect than (for example) having challenged him to fight or threatening him by a demonstration of power. If someone has such a strict and highly regarded code of honor, why not use it against him? In archaic cultures challenge always was an honorable thing to do...

But don't get me wrong, I'm a great fan of Star Trek. Not because I agree with all of its points but because it almost exemplary (and not always voluntarily) shows how complex life, politics and ethics really are. A model society always will be a model society and nothing more. TNG will go on with its naive and often clumsy dealings with highly complex conflict situations for a while and Star Trek in a whole will never really get rid of that. But one thing's clear. You always can learn something from it, even if it means learning how you shouldn't do it. It creates conflicts but the solutions it comes up with were, are and will ever be only few of nearly infinite possibilities. That's my point of Star Trek. It makes people sensitive to philosophical issues and the more Roddenberry got away from responsibility of its execution the more interesting and sometimes even ambivalent it got...

Careful Yareena!

[gritfrombray-1 · 9/10 · 26 June 2007]

When the Enterprise arrives at Ligon to collect a necessary vaccine for a virulent disease the Ligonian leader is welcomed aboard and in a flash of madness and ambition he abducts Lieutenant Natasha Yar. Captain Picard must gracefully ask for her return. The codes of honor and legal systems of ownership and sexual discrimination on this planet are interesting. Lutan's wife challenges Lutan's right of succession when Lutan declares he wants Tasha as his first one. Tasha is opposed to the challenge as it means a fight with Lutan's wife to the death. But, the vaccine is absolutely necessary and the fight is allowed. Tasha eventually defeats Yareena and she's quickly transported to the Enterprise. After giving the vaccine, Lutan is transported to the Enterprise suddenly by Picard and is infuriated to find Yareena alive and well. Doctor Crusher tells Lutan of Yareena's death and of how she brought her back. Yareena asks for Hagon to be her first one, who had cried out during the battle for her safety! Lutan is left without a wife and land. It was good to see Tasha standing up for what was right

Unfairly Maligned

[anarchistica · 6/10 · 13 March 2020]

Ironically the first TNG episode i liked is considered one of the worst. While casting all of the aliens as black was a bad choice, i think their representation isn't racist per se.

Misuse of honour is something we would mostly associate with Muslims (due to honour killings) and kidnapping someone to marry them is actually done in a handful of Muslim cultures. But really the episode shows that sometimes you have to fight someone on their own terms.

The Ligonians have strange customs and are quite casual about an audience member dying, but they aren't stupid or "savage". Lutan quickly hatches a plan, the Ligonians can produce a unique cure and Yareena cleverly uses the phrase "till death do us part". The Ligonian cast manages to be dignified throughout, dismissing their performances and this effort simply because of a (likely) racist director does them a disservice.

No! No! I want BAD actors, damnit!

[lynnwengland · 1/10 · 8 September 2015]

Wow! Could this episode really have been THAT awful? I watched this series in real time back in the 80's but that was during my heavy drinking days when shows were filtered by a lovely alcohol haze. Watching this now (sober) was shocking. Where did Rodenberry get all of those awful, over-the-top Black actors? I've seen better (believable) acting in commercials. Reading the trivia and goofs, I found that the cast of TNG and other series agree. The racist overtones were embarrassing and very inappropriate. The script was just terrible. The story line stupid and the direction was even worse. So bad that the director was fired before completing the filming. Rightly so. Many of the cast called this the "worst" Star Trek ever filmed. I agree. Gene, what the hell were you thinking?

Like the original series

[russem31 · 7 April 2006]

ST:TNG:04 - "Code Of Honor" (Stardate: 41235.25) - this episode of The Next Generation is very much in the spirit of the original series in its feel. This includes the score by Fred Steiner (who was one of the prolific composers on the original series), to the cinematography of the planet, to the natives of that planet (the costume design and the production design), to the storyline - all in all, an okay episode showing that this new series is still trying to find its direction, still relying heavily on the original Star Trek series for guidance. This episode also introduces Wesley Crusher as he begins his training on the bridge of the Enterprise, though in this episode not in a professional capacity (but as a favor of sorts).

Amok Time (revisited)

[Wes54 · 1/10 · 8 June 2019]

Lutan: "We are not technologically advanced as you, yet we possess something you do not. A vaccine you need to save your people. If you respect our customs, and we see that respect, we will be friends. And we will make the antidote available to all who need it."

Enterprise crew applauds.

He just announced that he's holding you all hostage until you meet his many outrageous demands. If you don't, millions of your people will die, and he will try to kill you! Even if you do, he will sell his vaccine at an exorbitant price!

Why are you clapping?!?

Definitely not great but definitely not racist!

[iblack-23610 · 6/10 · 31 August 2022]

Wow sometimes people are just so easily offended it's actually quite embarrassing and sad. The Star Trek universe is filled to the brim with every conceivable race and culture, with there own unique laws and morality!

The Ligonians are simply just one of those unique cultures! The fact they are an African looking group I can't see how anyone finds this awkward. They arnt portrayed as backward or dumb. They have transporter technology for heaven's sake! There has been plenty of races and peoples in Star Trek that have tech but still prefer upholding there ancient ways!

Enjoyable episode overall but some people unfortunately see racism whenever they simply walk into a room or turn on the TV.

Shallow and stereotypical

[tma-02111 · 1/10 · 6 February 2019]

I first watched the entire ST TOS and absolutely enjoyed it. I especially adore the PD concept. At the first glance, it seems that the concept of PM as portrayed in this episode is the same as the original one. However, it is actually too simplified and fails to capture its true meaning. The key issue is that everything is so stereotypical and there is no real depth to the understanding of the PM. Lutan is so obviously evil. His culture is so obviously backwards, inferior, barbarian, and our captain is so honorable to sacrifice his advantages for the sake of the PM. In TOS, each alien culture has its own moral complexity. The Enterprise's mission is to seek out new understanding these complexities, to help the alien culture grow, and expand our own world view. Instead this episode feels like a criminal case solving. The captain accuses Lutan for "abducting". Then the captain interacts with the suspect to find out his motives. A-ha! Just as the captain suspects, Lutan honorably did the abducting entirely for his own interests. Such a selfish and pompous man!

The orginal series episodes tells what happens between the Enterprise personnel and alien cultures. It tells facts, without tagging judgement towards the culture's innate merits. Sure, specific, temporary actions taken by a culture could be bad, but explicit moral criticism towards a culture as a whole has very rarely been made. (It has been made several times in this episode though, for example, "by our standards, the custom here...their code of honor, is the same kind of pompous, strutting charades that endangered our species a few centuries ago") The Enterprise from TOS, even when its own life is at stake because of the alien culture, would always try to maintain a fair and positive attitude towards the culture. The prime directive is there to remind them to maintain this attitude when they are having a hard time. The PD in this episode seems more like some unreasonable rule made by stupid authorities.

Not as bad as the current ratings, though I am sure a few folks might be offended by this one.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 9 November 2014]

The Enterprise finds itself at Ligon II--a planet with an honor- based culture and a look that is very similar to tribal Africans. Picard is actually amazingly inept dealing with these folks, and when the Lionese kidnap Lt. Yar, he thinks like a human--not like these people. Eventually, when he begins to think more like them, relations go much better--which is important since these people have a cure for a space plague and the Federation needs it.

This isn't as bad an episode as the dismal current score of 5.2 would imply. It's actually pretty good. However, I do think that some people might be a bit offended by this one, as the tribal folks are all black people and the tone seems a tad patronizing.

UPDATE: By the way, it isn't just me who hated this episode. At the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, this was voted as one of the 10 worst of all episodes from every Trek franchise! That is some ignoble designation! So, perhaps I was too charitable towards this one!

What is this baffling episode trying to say?

[thevacinstaller · 3/10 · 28 February 2021]

Well, this one manages to achieve a level of bad on the same level as 'The Alternative Factor' from TOS.

This is a completely joyless episode with no substance of any type to chew on.

A black dude dressed up as an Indian Sikh kidnaps Tasha Yar because he wants her to be his wife ---- I swear I didn't fall asleep during this episode ---- I think his ultimate goal was for his current wife to die in battle so he could get her land and having Tasha as a wife would just be the strawberry on top.

What's the message here?

Don't try to get your wife killed because she will kick you to the curb?

Starfleet Kungfu will help you win American Gladiator contests?

If I was President of Starfleet I would be adding a stipulation that kidnapping starfleet officers is a deal breaker.

The good stuff:

• Beverly Crushers bouncing flowing beautiful mane of hair is as full and rich as ever in this episode.
• We get a BFF scene for Data and LaForge. It was a nice diversion from the non sensical main plot.
• Denise Crobsy was truly putting in some effort into her performance in this ridiculous episode. I ponder if this episode broke her will to perform on this show?

This was bad. I am such a star trek homer that I can almost always find something to love about any episode ---- This one was just a slog from start to finish.

Yikes!

[Samuel-Shovel · 1/10 · 4 June 2019]

In "Code of Honor", the Enterprise is tasked with visiting a planet that has developed a cure for a deadly disease that is currently behind an epidemic killing scores of people on Federation planets. Picard is in charge of diplomacy and trade negotiations for the cure. The Ligonians are a more primitive race with customs foreign to Federation mores. Men are dominant over women, yet women are the only ones allowed to own land. Their mates rule over said land and properties.

The crew negotiates with Lutan, a powerful Ligonian who is impressed with Yar's physical prowess. He kidnaps Yar via transporter and declares her as his potential wife. Yar must battle Lutan's current mate Yareena to the death so she can be "his first".

Picard doesn't intervene since the disease's cure means too much to the Federation and they have no way of replicating it. He allows the fight to occur which Yar wins. They transport Yareena back to the Enterprise and reverse the effects of the poison she took. She survives and Lutan is stripped of his title by Yareena. The crew take the antidote and leave Ligon II.

I hope that this episode isn't intentionally racist. I don't think the writers meant anything by making this primitive race as an all-black race but it is extremely problematic. Star Trek has typically been pretty progressive with their takes on race and gender and sexual orientation but this episode is far from it. Even if we put aside the uncomfortable racial relations here and pretend that that's all fine (which it obviously isn't), this episode would still be a flop.

The writer of this is female and I guess she wanted to show off Yar as a strong female character capable of handling things as the ship's security officer but it comes off looking so much worse. Kidnapping women and then comparing it to Native American tribalism is cringeworthy. Allowing this race of people to get away with it because of the Prime Directive also doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me in this context.

The fight scene during this is also just plain awful and boring if we place it in a vacuum away from the actual plot.

I really can't think of one redeeming quality to this episode. I didn't even talk about how much it angered me seeing Wes wander around the bridge. It's all just bad!

Magic Cloak!

[randreww · 9/10 · 31 August 2020]

It is very clear to anyone who watched the Original series, that TNG steps into the footsteps of it's predecessor for the first few stories. And this is no exception! It feels very familiar of the originals. Particularly of the Duel between Kirk & Spock. However, it begins making its own trail by demonstrating a keen desire to understand other cultures, values, traditions, & reveal how the Prim Directive is deliberately ambiguous once on another planet; in order to be as flexible as diplomacy requires.

This is still the most socially advanced series of Gene Roddenberry's future, & this episode in particular - sets the stage for "Brains Over Brawn" that was followed throughout the series as a standard of Universal Value System. They resort to violence, but even then they have a plan to save the victims' life. Because that is the rational & sensible thing to do!

Many seem to overlook this title because of its visual shortcomings & half baked performances. What you have to remember is that this is still, to date, the most positively perspicacious future of human evolution ever committed to film.

A manifestation of human form where they avoid conflict after an abduction, learn about another race instead of judge it, & then not only assimilate to foreign law.. but make it work in their favour.

It's still way ahead of its' time. The new stuff is exactly what Gene wanted to avoid.

Oh dear what a disaster

[whatch-17931 · 3/10 · 22 April 2021]

This is definitely a train wreck that's rather awkward to watch. Perhaps it was a good thing they did a very TOS style episode early, and figured out quick that was the wrong path. After the great success TNG ultimately became, it's hard to really understand the difficulties of reviving a 20 year old show. It's not unreasonable to expect fans want more of what they clamored for.

There are some good regular cast moments.

There are tantalizing ideas brought up then dropped on the floor, like Lutan's alarm that the holodeck can create people "without souls" and even his statement to his lieutenant that the humans are very strange. Those ideas had far more promise than a remake of "Amok Time".

S1E3 - Code of Honor

[iarbo · 6 April 2020]

Star Trek TNG S1E3 Discussion

S1E3 - Code of Honor

Overall, I thought this was a pretty weak episode. Lutan was so obviously a bad guy and the Star Fleet crew just came across as weak the whole time. My commentary below.

So their first mistake was letting Yar go to the matrix room alone. Like yeah they all agreed she could go but I don't remember them saying it had to be only her. And oh look, she got taken. Surprise.

Weird that Wesley got a spot on the deck. Riker called it temporary, but we'll see. Wanted him to earn it longer.

Wow this fight to the death is straight out of Black Panther. I'm assuming the comics are older? Not sure.

Oh and the fight is professional tag to the death. Gotta be some inspiration there. Lol

I was really intrigued by Picard's rant about what happened to Earth! But then he cut it off in a nod to old fans saying "everyone knows that story". Will I learn this story from the show or should I look up other source material??

Also Geordi trying to run out of the room because he's heard 661 of Data's jokes and can't take another was fantastic.

An episode I'll happily skip over.

[thruxley · 2/10 · 29 September 2022]

Just why? This episode just makes me want to stop watching season one and move to later seasons. I never liked Lieutenant Yar. This is just a sad attempt of character development for a dislikable and obnoxious character.

You can skip this episode and not think twice. It introduces the prime directive for the first time, but only shows how flawed and ridiculous it can be. Also, the crew need to find a vaccine for Yar, and the only man that has it is Lutan. Seriously? That is lazy writing, and could be miles better if he could summon super intelligent dolphins that interfere with the enterprise's systems. That would be ridiculous but at least creative.

This review may be bias because of my hate for Yar, but I can't forgive the bad acting and unrealistic story. Seriously? Women fighting to the death for a man in the 24 century? Anyway, watch at your own dismay, unless you like cat fights.