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 ...
The episode in question was about lust for power. If the aliens were white and reflected an old clannish European culture, the racists would have complained that it was racist because it was Euro-centric. Ya just can't win - IMHO!
Great point.
(Wesley Crusher was more of man than he was.)
You’re kidding, right?
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That was my thought as well.
If a bad script situation is declared...lets be honest, from Next Generation....I can think of at least twenty-five episodes which should be deleted. Same issue with Deep Space Nine....there’s probably forty of their episodes which were crappy.
It is not a stereotype if it is true.
There is a good reason to keep bad books, bad art, and bad TV about but strongly criticized as examples of what not to do. Otherwise, memory fades, and old errors creep back in and get repeated.
Well, we know their women should be depicted as Cleopatra.
Thirty posts and no mention of how this would violate the prime directive
I hope Blacks appreciate this White savior who is protecting them.
Yeah, right, and “Song of the South” is racist too!
I stopped watching that episode. I don't remember if I ever saw a complete episode.
It was for its time. It had that heavy-handed episode about two races who hated each other. Both were half white on one side and half black on the other. But some were white on the right side, some visa versa. And for this, they hated each other.
There were some other heavy-handed "message" episodes.
I could not stand Frakes’ character.
Whenever Q showed up I changed the channel. He was such a dumb character with no limits that made no sense.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0PDVINCNWD4AT5F9C2E7P549FN
Why not post the article instead of sending everyone to your MSN site?
https://www.slashfilm.com/1313225/star-trek-tng-episode-jonathan-frakes-wants-removed-streaming/
The portrayal of the Ligonians was enough to Shaka Zulu.
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In see what you did there. Clever.
It is a beautiful thing to watch libs trying hard to out-lib each other, and sometimes out-lib themselves.
Adopting Frakes concern, I respectfully suggest that "Porgy and Bess" be stricken from our culture because is the music and lyrics are "Jewish" and, with Dubose Heyward, a trio of white people (probably supremacists) guilty of cultural appropriation.
Besides Bess? Really? What is a woman? And Porgy parodies those leg-challenged who might otherwise be happy, except that Porgy rides in a goat cart all night long! The horror! The horror!
That was from Star Trek? I thought it was from a recent Biden speech.
Well, it is a known fact they wear 3 piece business suits to their human sacrifice ceremonies.
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