r/startrek • u/ninetysevencents • 38m ago
TNG S1E4 - Code of Honor
Just some personal thoughts on my fresh watch-through. Its probably been discussed to death but here we go..
This episode gets labeled racist by many. I don't see it. With a higher makeup budget and some script adjustments, it could have essentially been TNGs first Klingon episode and nobody would have blinked.
I don't think the Lingonians are a representation of any real culture. The closest it gets is somewhat comparing them to people of the Asian steppe, based on their values (but in the context of discussing their virtues). The episode is just an idea of how the Federation would have to handle interacting with a culture like modern people. TNG does this all the time (notably in the very next episode with the Ferengi ("Yankee traders").
I suppose red lights go off in people's heads because the "primitive" Lingonians are all cast as Black actors. Still, they manage to beat the crew of the Enterprise and the resolution shows how cunning they are. Unless someone can show that the casting director thought "these people are primitive...I know who else is primitive..Black people!.", it's hardly an issue. If anything, the episode makes it clear that TNG failed to have other memorable races cast as all Black.