Another Look at Star Trek: TNG’s “Code of Honor”

Jessie Lawrence Ferguson as Ligon II ruler Lutan

The Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode “Code of Honor” is perhaps considered by most as one best never filmed, or, at the least, best left to drift down the galactic black hole and be agonizingly split apart atom by atom and molecule by molecule.

However, I have a different take on this (IMO) under-appreciated, and indeed, hated episode than most.  Indeed, I’ve only seen a scant number of reviews to date that even attempt to try and highlight this episode for what it did, or at least tried to do.

No, “Code of Honor” is not one of my favorite episodes, but when I run across it when getting nostalgic for the good ‘ole days of the Enterprise-D, I do remember my first impressions of it as a kid. Admittedly, I’ve always wanted to know what other fans thought of this episode, both older and younger. Thanks to today’s technology, I can both discover and share in that curiosity.

Let me give an angle on CoH that I think most either miss or gloss over in berating this episode with such fiery passion.

Uncharted Ground: The Star Trek Way

I remember watching “Code of Honor” in 1987 in junior high school. I was too young to appreciate all its flavors then, but I’ve had 25 years to think about it.  And, coincidentally, just recently, I was re-watching an old recording of TNG and ran across this episode by chance. My first impression as a kid was: “Wow! Black people are being shown as a species on Star Trek: The Next Generation!”  I really couldn't believe it. “Why?” you might ask. And by today's standards, in today's world, where America now has its first-in-history black American president, one reasonably could wonder why I'd be impressed, especially as a kid for whom skin color and race consciousness was never important.  I accepted universal humanity as my family, had plenty of friends from all groups and races of people, and never had a prejudiced outlook of any kind.

So, those things being said, why the surprise with this episode?

Well let’s ask this: Since when, before or later, have serious SF fans ever seen depicted in Star Trek (on TV or in movies) an all-black alien people? Sure, we know that ST isn't about "racial issues" per se. Sure, we know that the humanity of the 23^rd and 24^th Centuries is waaaay beyond that primitive nonsense. But did we ever see, before or after CoH, a species that wasn't all (or mostly) depicted as “white?”  I'm sure this was not due to the conscious thought of Gene Roddenberry or Rick Berman, but was probably due, quite frankly, to pressure from the Paramount execs “upstairs.”

But also consider this: Never before, or since, has any SF TV or movie series depicted an all-black people(s) of culture and influence in the universe anywhere.

At least not to my knowledge.

And, further, it has only been hinted at in one other SF show I'm aware of.  In the fifth season Stargate SG-1 episode “Menace,” we are introduced to the black female android Reese who destroyed her entire civilization and was ultimately responsible for creating the deadly Replicators.  Did anybody else even stop to think about that but me?  Was she a representation of her people’s actual physical coloration?  Was this the intention of the writer(s) to *hint, hint, wink, wink* that the species who inadvertently created the Replicators were a black people?  I don't know.  One could assume such. One could also assume the opposite – that she was merely of a biologically diverse humanoid (or even non-humanoid) people of some kind.  One could be right or wrong either way.  Nonetheless, that’s how it came out on screen (btw with no hint or indication at all from the SG-1 show that it was meant to be conceived that way by the audience).

TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren"

Still, the fact remains that TNG did by implication showcase an entire race of black people.  Thus you can probably more easily understand my reaction in 1987.  And so I applauded this groundbreaking moment in its history if for no other reason than it was Star Trek: TNG that did it, just as it was Star Trek: TOS that broke ground with the first interracial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura in the 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren." Other programs may have come along and done it later (which, again, I've not seen yet – with any other group of people), but Star Trek: TNG did it first.  My show, the Trek program for my generation, in my time. How exciting!

The Ligonians as Representatives of Interstellar Black Sophistication

In this episode we see a strong, powerful, advanced, culturally and technologically sophisticated black civilization. They are not as advanced as the mighty United Federation of Planets, but they are not stone primitives centuries behind either.  Further, here are blacks capable of governing themselves without the aid or interventions of the advanced, colonial “white man,” his notion of "manifest destiny," or its cousin idea of the “white man’s burden.”  In fact, a strong anti-colonialism theme is subtexted into the program.

The Ligonians do not require the Federation to come along and civilize them for they are already civilized of themselves.  This is a culture ancient in its history, long-rooted in its own traditions, morals and ethics, and outlook upon the universe. 

More, the Ligonians are of sufficient scientific progress that they are deemed evolved enough for Federation contact.  Although this is not depicted in the story, the Ligonians are obviously advanced in the bio-chemical sciences for they have harnessed and cultivated a life-giving vaccine which the Enterprise is requested by Starfleet to negotiate for, and which formidable Federation science cannot at present replicate.  Further – if we follow other Trek logic to conclusion – the Ligonians have obviously developed space travel and more, warp velocities, for we know that Starfleet’s policy of first contact requires a civilization to possess warp-capable vessels.

Lastly – though this too is not fully explored or expounded upon in the show – we should assume that the Ligonians are a united people.  That is, that their entire planet (and/or multi-planetary civilization) is united in its socio-political disposition, and that the harnessing of planetary/interplanetary resources has been achieved.  The reason we should believe this is that it is stated in CoH that the Federation is requesting the Enterprise to negotiate a treaty for the Ligonian vaccine.  And we know from subsequent TNG programs (and older TOS ones) that before the Federation makes contact with a world, a certain level of global civilization is examined and expected prior to initial first contact.

It would be interesting to have seen CoH conceived and done in a more mature TNG environment (say in the third, fourth, or fifth years) where TNG had found its footing as distinct from TOS and had better writers and directors.  It would also have been quite revealing, I believe, to have revisited Ligon II to discover more about Ligonian culture.

Personally, this writer would have liked to see CoH approached in a different, and perhaps more sophisticated way.  But not by changing the Ligonians’ skin color or fundamental culture!  Instead, a cleverer CoH may have portrayed the Ligonians as a silent but important strategic partner outside of the Federation, yet needful in galactic affairs.  This could have been done whether by political, military, or scientific means (such as the medicinal storyline already used in the episode). 

Also, by ridding the Ligonians of some of their more antiquated cultural expressions - the “counting coup” idea (which this writer found ridiculous even then); the ancient (but not continent-wide) African tradition of ritual scarring; and lastly, the presentment of the Ligonians in what amounts to  13^th Century Indo-Persian clothing (and Lutan as some kind of quasi mani sultan or "honored monarch") - I believe this culture would have been viewed as much closer to the Federation than they were portrayed.  Your commentator also suggests that such angle would have made the Ligonians much more endearing to the audience as well, and would have provided endless fertile ground for philosophical discussion thereafter.  It would have also perhaps made this one of the more memorable first year episodes still talked about today, especially because the featured non-Federation species turned out to be an all-black people.

Instead we got what I believe from a more mature perspective to be an ill-approached and poorly-executed episode that indeed did make use of an 1860s-1950s European and American colonialist view of blacks (and other peoples) the world over – as primitive, backward, and in need of the white man’s shepherding to survive and advance.  It was as though someone at Star Trek: The Next Generation could not use their imagination and project historical and fictional lines to come up with a black people that would in fact have been worthy of a space opera.  Whether this was the fault of former director Russ Mayberry alone or not is a question for historical debate, though several TNG actors seem to share this notion.  And yet, even with the above criticisms, I still ask if CoH was attempting some actually quite radical themes.

The Greater Real-World Implications of Ligonian Sophistication

Brown children must be able to participate in contemporary mythology.

-- Avery Brooks, 2008

It would not be until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine some six years later that the Ligonian phenomenon was replicated, on a far less grand scale and by far less number, in the person of Commander Benjamin Sisko.

Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space 9

Acknowledging the power of myth to reshape reality, it was Rick Berman who personally stated on a QVC telemarketing program of the 1990s that his decision to place an African-American at the top of the DS9 command structure was to do another Star Trek “first,” and to provide inspiration for what he termed “a generation [of black American youth] in trouble.”  Unfortunately your commentator can no longer find direct substantiation for this Rick Berman decision.  But perhaps by asking him, if ever given the chance, I’ll get it.

But Ben Sisko did represent another opportunity for Star Trek to express a racial ideal just as CoH, on a more subtle but grander scale, could have represented in TNG’s time.  Obviously their first attempt was not as successful as the seven-year portrayal of Benjamin Lafayette Sisko by actor Avery Brooks.

While it is regrettable that TNG never tried again (with any other group of people not white) the implications of CoH – intended or not intended – shouldn’t be ignored.  Here, as Rick Berman purposely did with Sisko, was a group of mythological blacks who were announcing, “This is what real-world blacks are capable of – sophistication, advancement, evolution.  This is how they should be seen and perceived.  Not as backward, cannibalistic, naked savages with no history, no presence on the world stage, no philosophy, and no heroes or heritage to look back upon, but as players, actors in human destiny and achievement.” 

And let us ponder these questions:  Was CoH by allusion shining light on African history as not some shadowy insubstantial notion that began with European man’s arrival on the “Dark Continent,” but as one steeped in antiquity and long preceding that of Europe?  Was it trying to suggest that African history could be rediscovered and reapplied by its descendants in the modern world once unburied from out of the deep sands of time and space?  Was CoH trying to shed light on a long lost path that could light a way for the entire Planet Earth by allowing the black peoples of the real world to take their place at the table of cultures and human evolution?  Indeed, such rich heritage is already known to many worldwide scholars and historians.  Why should it not be known to the actual descendants of that heritage so that they may reproduce it?

This is not to say that blacks by some mythical divine right should be on top of this new world outlook.  Not either does your commentator believe such idea was present in CoH.  But that the episode was attempting to say, however imperfectly, that blacks have achieved in the past, do so in our modern time, and are capable of greater achievement in the future.

However, not everyone agrees with this appraisal of “Code of Honor."

That “Racist Piece of Shit”

Jonathan Frakes at VegasCon 2011

Jonathan Frakes has made probably the most colorful comment for CoH calling it "a racist piece of shit."  He further called it the "most embarrassing," (see his comments at FanExpo 2007 from time index 3:37-3:52) and further stated that Gene Roddenberry himself would have been embarrassed by it.  In fact, Frakes has stated elsewhere that the Great Bird of the Galaxy was humiliated by this episode and even went on to fire then-director Russ Mayberry for his mishandling of the story concept and the guest cast.  It was Frakes who claimed that Mayberry decided to put an all-black cast in the Ligonian role and then proceeded to berate and insult the actors when he did not get what he wanted.

The Jainist does not know anything of Mr. Mayberry's actions or motivations other than what has been spoken of them.  Indeed, to this day, I do not believe Mayberry has even chosen to speak his side of events in this early TNG drama.


Other TNG actors have felt similarly to Frakes. 

The ever lovely Marina Sirtis

Marina Sirtis concurred as quoted from an April 12, 2003 interview with BBC Wiltshire: “Someone asked her if there is any episode she felt was really “bad” and shouldn't have aired. The answer was easy. ‘The second episode we ever made, and it was called ‘Code of Honor,’ and I thought basically, not to put too fine a point on it, that it was racist.’”

Brent Spiner went on Trekmovie.com March 23, 2012 to agree, saying: "There is that one episode that we all knew was bad very early on. The one where Denise [Crosby] was captured by the tribe of space Africans [laughs]. It ['Code of Honor'] was just a racist episode. Maybe not intentionally, but it felt that way and looked that way. It was the third episode so it was fortuitous that we did our worst that early on and it never got quite that bad again."

Wil Wheaton has called it racist.  LeVar Burton chimed in at DragonCon2010 by joining with Star Trek: Voyager’s Garrett Wang in agreeing that CoH was, “Without question,” one of the worst TNG episodes of all time, adding that, "Yeah, ‘Code of Honor’ sucked.” (See those comments at 3:32-6:08).

And former consultant Tracy Tormé had this to say about the episode: “I felt like it was a ‘40s tribal African view of blacks. I think it was kind of embarrassing. Not only was the ending like ‘Amok Time,’ but it came dangerously close to Amos 'n' Andy.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(TNG_episode).)

Denise Crosby

Interestingly, the one person we’d all expect to have a comment on CoH’s alleged racist depictions – Denise Crosby  – has been virtually silent on that perceived aspect of the show, focusing instead on her role in the episode and her belief that Tasha Yar was continually being pushed into the background and given more of an “Uhura-like” status.  In her opinion, Natasha Yar was always present but not allowed to change and grow as a character.

Though I find no statements from Michael Dorn (who was not in the episode), Gates McFadden, or the heralded Patrick “Captain Baldy” Stewart, there is universal condemnation for CoH by the near-entire TNG cast!  And almost all of these criticisms fall along the lines of CoH being a racist Star Trek presentment of black Africans, and maybe of blacks globally.  Perhaps, having actually been on the set and worked with both Russ Mayberry, the guest actors, and Gene Roddenberry himself at the time, they know things we may never know?  But such is mere speculation and cannot, at this time, be confirmed.

En Masse, Fans Seem to Agree

Most of the online reviews – whether from younger fans seeing the episode for the first time, fans who grew up with Captain Picard’s Enterprise like myself, or were already mature when TNG came out 25 years ago – are also universal in their condemnation of CoH.  Very few take a positive position, and even fewer take a positive position for anywhere near the reasons The Jainist has articulated above.

In the end, I leave “Code of Honor” for to you to judge. I found it a unique episode because of its demonstration that, in the entire universe, there's at least one group of all-black people out there who are not stone savages, primitive, and backward with respect to their “Caucasian” counterparts in the galactic far reaches.  At least in terms of 20th Century Earth televised SF anyway. And, had the show been executed with a better feel and outlook, I dare say this episode could (and would) have been remembered for that quite overlooked aspect.  Otherwise, from a fiction enthusiast’s point of view, CoH isn’t really particularly memorable!  It's an episode that was well-acted (I dare say) by all involved, but not anywhere on my all-time favs list.

This is my opinion of the episode. What’s yours?

To the upward reach of man.