Posted on 06/17/2023 11:37:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
SNIP
"Code of Honor" (October 12, 1987) follows the Enterprise-D to the planet of Ligon II, where the inhabitants, audiences are told, abide by a strict [insert episode title]. In an unwise creative choice, the Ligonians were dressed to resemble, essentially, "African tribesmen" stereotypes straight out of a 1940s theatrical serial. The Ligonian king Lutan (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson) would kidnap Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) and force her to fight his wife Yareena (Karole Selmon) in a duel to the death. In addition to the stereotypes, there is a lot of sexist language in "Code of Honor" wherein Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) plays along with Lutan's misogyny. It's one of the low points of the series.
The cast even felt that way at the time. In a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stewart noted that the series didn't get good until its second season, and cited "Code of Honor" as evidence. Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander Riker on "Next Generation" has remained negative about the episode as well, telling Trek Nation in 2007 that he wanted to see the episode struck from reruns and from home video.
SNIP
According to Larry Nemecek's indispensable sourcebook "The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion," the original conception for the episode was to feature a species of reptiles whose code of honor was modeled after that of samurai. According to well-communicated production notes, it was the episode's first director, a man named Russ Mayberry, who cast Black actors as the Ligonians and wanted to dress them in their unusual outfits. Word on the street was Gene Roddenberry fired Mayberry during production. Actor Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on "The Next Generation," heard that the director treated the Black actors poorly.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
And since Frakes was in it, shouldn't he be canceled? This says the whole cast knew it was racist, but did it anyway. They should be blacklisted.
Forget about the 1960’s vibe to the episode. It is simply a terrible script.
Frakes is right. If it exists, it should be played.
TOS Star Trek wasn’t woke.
Never watched the other new ones more than a few episodes.
Don't those two sentences contradict?
Why would it be contradictory?
I have the impression that Frakes is ome of the secret Hollywood conservatives. He’s also not afraid of having people view this terrible episode.
It is a terrible episode. It may have been the episode that got Roddenberry sidelined.
How did Roddenberry get sidelined?
I thought Roddenberry made a point of not being racist?
Yeah; the first two seasons of TNG were pretty poor.
I agree, what’s so bad about African tribesman?
I never liked Commander Riker. Wesley Crusher was more of man than he was.
Read his quote in the article.
And the should also cancel "Spock's Brain" while they're at it!
"Brain and brain! What is brain?!"
Episode depicts women ("Eymorg") as infantile simpletons and dolts. Sexist!
Regards,
It was a combination of his health declining and the first two seasons of TNG being mostly forgettable.
I did read his quote and I like him even less now.
He wants it removed from streaming, according to the headline.
Racist or not, it was just a badly written episode, stupid storyline, etc. I always skip it, that and all the Q and Borg episodes.
If they took off all the badly written episodes, there would be seven episodes left across all TV.
The portrayal of the Ligonians was enough to Shaka Zulu.
(Wesley Crusher was more of man than he was.)
You’re kidding, right?
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