One early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation was so bad, it had Michael Dorn worried that the show was doomed. TNG struggled to find its footing in its first season as it worked to figure out what kind of show it wanted to be. Several early TNG episodes would not have been out of place on Star Trek: The Original Series, and some, like "The Naked Now" even directly retell stories from TOS. Still, TNG season 1 did some things right, establishing a beloved cast of characters led by Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Michael Dorn not only portrayed Lt. Worf throughout all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but also continued playing the Klingon warrior for the last four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Between these two shows, the TNG films, and Star Trek: Picard, Michael Dorn has made 285 appearances as Worf, more than any other Star Trek character. With such a central role in the franchise, Dorn clearly has some expertise on what constitutes a successful Star Trek story. As such, his concerns about one particular TNG episode were more than valid.
Why Michael Dorn Was Worried Star Trek: TNG Would Fail After "Code Of Honor"
Thankfully, TNG Had Already Been Optioned For A Full 26-Episode Season
Michael Dorn recently appeared as a guest on Michael Rosenbaum's podcast, Inside of You, where he discussed his time playing Star Trek's Worf. As Dorn speaks about why so many people love Star Trek, himself included, he mentions how both Star Trek: The Original Series and TNG offered "a morality play every week." Dorn then pauses for a second before adding, "Except for one episode," which leads into a discussion about one of Star Trek's most infamous episodes, "Code of Honor." As Dorn explained, the episode deviated from the show's formula and subverted what Star Trek was supposed to be about, commenting:
Code of Honor'… I actually thought… it was maybe the third or fourth episode… I actually thought that we weren’t gonna make it from that episode… It’s not that I can’t tell you. You gotta watch it… It was one of the worst episodes. And I don’t think they did it to make a bad episode.
I think that they actually, when they went through the whole process, they went, ‘This is a good idea. This is a really good idea.’ Oh my god, you know… And I think they were watching the show put together with everything, and they went, ‘Oh my god! Oh my god!’ Because I tell you, they aired it, and they took it out of rotation. It wasn’t in any of the reruns.
Several Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members have cited "Code of Honor" as one of the worst episodes of the series, and with good reason. Jonathan Frakes has made his distaste for the episode clear, going so far as to call it a "racist piece of s***" at Star Trek Las Vegas Con in 2011. Denise Crosby and Brent Spiner have also referenced the episode as being one of TNG's worst, and Michael Dorn once called it "the worst episode of Star Trek ever filmed."
Why “Code Of Honor” Was Star Trek: TNG’s Worst Episode
"Code Of Honor" Employs Every Bad Star Trek Cliche
"Code of Honor" follows the Enterprise-D crew as they visit a planet called Ligon II to retrieve a vaccine. The leader of Ligon II, Lutan (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson), becomes infatuated with Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) and kidnaps her to be his bride. While there could have been an interesting storyline in here somewhere, casting only Black actors to portray the primitive Ligonians makes the whole story feel distinctly racist. Plus, none of the Ligonian characters get much development and their culture feels very one-note.
The plot itself also feels like something left over from the worst kind of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes. The female characters have very little agency and are forced into an unnecessary fight to the death. And on top of all that, the episode is simply boring. It's doubly unfortunate for Denise Crosby's Tasha Yar, as "Code of Honor" remains one of the few episodes in which she's heavily featured. Thankfully, Star Trek: The Next Generation continued to improve throughout its first season and had enough of a fan base to get renewed for a second season and beyond.
