By Joel Croteau on Monday, November 23, 1998 - 04:46 pm:

You're too late. I've already been here. Why did the holodeck fighter keep making that whooshing sound that we've never heard before and never will again?
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By Chris Thomas on Tuesday, November 24, 1998 - 03:49 am:

Maybe Geordi was trying something new, decided it didn't work as well as he thought and then removed it?
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By BrianB on Friday, April 9, 1999 - 05:20 am:

Isn't this the ep where Data says "You're welcome?" One of the earliest examples of Data slipping on contractions. I don't think even the Chief got that one.
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By Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, April 18, 1999 - 07:21 am:

Picard the amateur Archeologist, doesn't know the correct century of the Sung Dynasty? He even had four centuries to choose from and he missed it.

Ligonians claim not to have as advanced a technology as the Federation, but they seem to have more accurate transporters. Lutan beams up after the red carpet is rolled out, in a very small space, whereas Federation transporters sometimes beam people several feet away from where they are supposed to beam to and occasionally objects end up in a different spot then they started at, like Tasha's hand weapon. Also Lutan beams up without being told that the carpet or his entourage are in place.

The floor of the Holodeck is carpeted in this episode.

The Photon Torpedoes are supposed to burst 1,000 meters above the surface of the planet, but it looks like they burst above the planet's atmosphere.

The turbolift doors to the bridge open and Dr. Crusher and Wesley are in it. Dr. Crusher rushes off the turbolift to tell Picard that she can't replicate the vaccine and for him to get as much as possible. Clearly she is very upset by this, but then she tells Picard that she brought Wesley with her and asks that he let Wesley come on the bridge. She's worried sick about the people suffering from the disease on Styris IV, so much so that she chews out Picard for not getting enough vaccine, but she asked Wesley to come with her to the bridge? Was he just hanging around Sick Bay or did she have to get him out of school? Of course the Turbolift doors appear to stay open the whole time.

At the beginning of the episode Picard states that he was sent to negotiate a treaty with the Ligonians, but later Troi and Data say they have just studied the briefing on Ligon II. If you are going to negotiate a treaty with someone, wouldn't it make sense to study the briefing before you go there?

Supposedly Data met Geordi at Farpoint, but here in the 3rd episode he declares Geordi to be his friend and had even given him a gift. Does Data just assume someone is a friend until they do something unfriendly or did they meet before Farpoint? Data did know in Encounter at Farpoint that his eyes were not as good as Geordi's VISOR.

Data says the weapons are light "as if made for a woman." (But I suppose they are strong enough for a man.) In the first place I wouldn't expect the belief that women are weaker than men to exist in the enlightened 24th century and secondly I wouldn't expect Data to be the one to state it. On Earth the majority of female creatures are larger and stronger than the males, it is only in Mammals that this trend is reversed.

Where was Worf?

I don't think we can assume that Picard did not know the correct dates for the Sung Dynasty just because he misstated the century that the vase was from. The Sung Dynasty could be more than one century in length.

Yes. Picard had 4 centuries to choose from and missed all of them. As I stated above!

I can't recall the precise length of the Sung (or Song) Dynasty. It preceded the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, however, which would put its end in the 13th Century. Before the Sung was the Sui Dynasty (I think).

Is it just me or does this episode seem rather... hokey and, well, mediocre now? Interestingly enough, the music was done by Fred Steiner who wrote the scores to many classic eps like Balance of Terror. These early episodes seem much closer to the tone of the original series than later NextGen eps.

This episode was hokey & mediocre then.

Still, there is something about these episodes, the hope for the future, or maybe just the rebirth of Star Trek, that makes these episodes so much easier to watch for the umpteenth time than your average Voyager episode for a second or third time.

Anonymous, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but it erks me that so many people at Nitcentral don't read what's already been posted, and you were yesterday's final straw. Nothing personal.

Yes, these early ones ARE fun. They're just so... earnest, I don't know what to call it. Mediocre is perhaps not a bad description, it's "of moderate to low quality."

A friend has commented that this episode was made when TPTB couldn't decide whether they wanted TNG to be like TOS. "Code of Honor," for me at least, is somewhere between the worst and best Original Series episodes, but understandably seems out of sync with the polished tone of later NextGen eps.

And yes, all TNG episodes are easier to watch than an average Voyager episode (with the exception of schlock like Tasha's "Just say no" speech in "Symbiosis").

I dunno...this ep strikes me as kinda embarrassing, all told. It seems to be a sophisticated update of the same silly, careless racial attitudes that had the 'natives' in 1950's jungle movies wearing shells and going "ooga-booga". Highly uncharacteristic of Trek. (Then again, given the bizarre collection of Irish cliches that show up later in 'Up the Long Ladder', maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised!)

Besides, one really big plot-exploding nit that I thought the Chief nailed perfectly: Doesn't the whole ep hinge on the fact that when Yareena dies, Lutan gets all her property? So why, when she brings up the whole 'our marriage bond is dissolved' thing, doesn't he simply tell her she can marry whomever she wants, but he's taking the cash?
Anyway, given that Picard & Co. know what Lutan's plotting, why would they think killing her would be a good idea in the first place? (An expository line or two in the script would have helped a LOT, right about here. )

I know; why is it that, on one hand, the marriage bonds are broken when Yareena dies, but she nevertheless keeps all her "lands?"

When Lutan thought she was dead, his lackey told him that he has "all Yareena's wealth and lands."

Does that not stand?

Data uses two contractions and makes a 'slip of the tounge' while speaking to Geordi while the latter is shaving. Odd.

How can Lutan own land? Wouldn't it have to be owned by a woman? Or did I miss something?

Yar states "no physical training anywhere" matches that of starfleet security. I'll leave it to you to decide whether this is true (considering what we've seen of Klingon, Cardassian, Romulan, etc training).

Presumably a widower could hold land temporarily. I would assume that in such a culture a widower could hold land until he remarries, passes it on to a daughter when she comes of age, or, if he's old enough, til he dies.
If it were simply a matter of 'My wife died, now I own her property' there would be a thriving business of assassins.

>> presumably a widower could hold land until he remarries....or, of he's old enough, till he dies

Sure sounds like ownership to me!

I don't actually recall anyone mentioning that only women could hold property - and if that WERE the case, why the land wouldn't simply pass on to Yareena's next female relative rather than detouring through her widower.

Besides, spouses (and everyone else, for that matter) have been killing each other over financial matters for a long time now. Why should this case be any more elaborate?

>>I don't actually recall anyone mentioning that only women could hold property - and if that
WERE the case, why the land wouldn't simply pass on to Yareena's next female relative
rather than detouring through her widower.

Actually, they did say that the purpose of women was to own land and of men to guard it. This basically implies that only women own land. So, it probably should go to Yareena's nearest relative. On the other hand, they were using a rite that had not been used in centuries, perhaps that explains it.

Well, I was thinking (but obviously not typing) that it would be short-term ownership only.
If a man's wife died & she had no female relatives, then he could own it until he remarried within a specified period of time, or it would go on the auction block.
An old widower might be allowed to keep his late wife's land if he was too old to remarry & would probably die soon anyway.
Also a man might be allowed to 'own' the land if the late wife's daughter was too young. (Although I believe that would be called 'holding in trust', not ownership.)

All of this, of course, is simply an assumption of how it might work.

Mmmmmmmm...yeah, that could be part of what they meant by men 'guarding' the land (which line I remembered as soon as I read your post, Spockania - thanx.)

But we also know that Lutan was willing to kill to get his mitts on that property...meaning that if he had no way of getting it permanently, whatever guardianship arrangement existed must have offered lots of opportunities for skimming some off the top. Which sounds sort of unlikely in this honour-ridden society.

(As I said, some script exposition would really have helped!)

Mid-way through the episode, Crusher announces that the epidemic has flared up and they must get the vaccine there ASAP. The finally get it after having to 'be patient', fight, etc, and then what speed do they use to get to the plague-infested planet? Warp 4! What, are they saving Warp 9 for those Really Big Plagues?

A very 'retro' episode; it felt like the new crew was transplanted into the original series. The posts above help to explain why...thanks.

Glad to see that NextGen's keeping up the grand "Lots-of-folks-are-dying-but-that's-no-reason-to-burn-out-the-engines" Trek tradition (see the Classic ep 'Galileo Seven' for another great example.)

What's with the "She died but Dr. Crusher brought her back" thing? She either died or she didn't...and obviously, she didn't.

Rene, Yareena was what doctors call 'clinically dead', meaning all her life functions had stopped.
It's sometimes possible to restart them immediately post-this state (y'know, that 'Clear!' routine) and so there might be room for argument from a medical standpoint...but from a Ligonian code-of-honour standpoint: She wasn't breathing, her heart had stopped - she'd gone to join the choir eternal. She was, in short, an ex-Yareena.

Here are some continuity errors I found while watching this episode. I admit, some are rather minor, but hey, nit is nit. And don't forget, Paramount pays people to take care that errors like these don't happen.

Here it goes:

When Yar begins her fight on the Holodeck, Hagon changes the position of his legs. Furthermore, he is standing closer to Lutan than in the second shot. The same happens again, when the scene shot changes once again.

Then, when Tasha walks closer to the hologram to fight, Hagon is holding his hands close to his hips (Janeway style). In the following shot, his hands are crossed.

During Hagon’s fight with the hologram, in one shot Tasha is standing about one meter apart from Lutan, in the next shot she is standing much closer to him.

When the fight is over and Lutan is talking to Tasha, the position of his hands changes. In one shot he is holding his hands together, close to his chest (like praying), in the following shot, his hands are hanging down. This changes from shot to shot.

The white lamps seen on Ligon II in this episode (in the room, were Tasha is held captive) seem very familiar. They were reused very often, including in Angel One, and were also seen on the Founders’ homeworld in The Search I+II.

During the battle with Yareena, and when Tasha is beamed aboard, she is wearing the poisonous glove on her left arm, but when she materialises on the transporter platform, the glove is suddenly on her right arm. (Love that one)

Here are some continuity errors I found while watching this episode. I admit, some are rather minor, but hey, nit is nit.

Exactly, Jerky. Motto of the firm.

That last one of yours - which I agree is great - also appears under the Chief's 'Favourite Nits' in (I believe) the original Nitpickers' Guide for NextGen.

Yep, kerrien, you're right, that one was already in the first Nitpicker's guide; I forgot. It's been a while since I read the book, the only nit I remembered from that scene was Dr. Crusher "ancient" wrist watch. 2 good nits in one short scene, that was too much for my brain ;-)

Sorry, misspelling, kerriem.

In the book Mr. Farrand claims that Picard didn't think to try and beam Yar back after she was abducted. I'd have to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure he checked and was told that the Ligonian's were blocking the transporter somehow.

Am I remembering wrong? --Mike

That's how I remember it.

You can type your name into the Username slot, Mike. You don't have to post as Anonymous.

Oh dear. Pain. Such a painful episode. Since when is the security chief so suspicious. And Yar attacks a guest. Come on.

And when the senior staff clapped in the observation lounge...I just wanted to cry.

Its been a long time since I watched this episode....and my complaints are, well, just my opinion...

I'm a black guy. So maybe I'm taking this episode too close to heart. But the overlying theme seems to be that a black guy wants a white woman and will be willling to kill his own black woman for the white woman. I'm not implying that the writers intended for this to be felt that way. But it was the impression I got from it. My concern is that someone will take that as a nod to their racist theories of interrracial relationships.

Well, Shadow, you're not alone. Brent Spiner has gone on record as saying that this was his least favorite episode, because he thought it was racist--though inadverdantly so.

I must say I agree with the argument that this episode is unintentionally racist. I doubt it was the producers' intention to insult anyone. I do think they were trying to cast black actors, and portray an admittedly fictional version of an underused culture in science-fiction (one rarely sees African cultures used as a basis for an alien culture). The effort was good, but the execution was weak.
On the subject of nobody beating Starfleet training, it could be so. The races the Federation is called on to fight against (Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, Jem'Hadar, Borg) all seem to have a lot more natural strength and endurance than the races of the Federation. Also, they seem to rely on that advantage in one-on-one fights with Starfleet personnel, instead of on clever tactics. To eliminate that advantage, Starfleet seems to emphasize dodges and throws (the training program Yar showed the Ligonians was to teach Aikido), using the ferocity and directness of the enemy against them.

Jem'Hadar and Borg are engineered to be this way, but I don't recall any episode indicating that either Cardassians or Romulans were generally stronger than humans.

If the Romulans are like the Vulcan than they are stronger than humans.

As for Cardassians, I guess it depends on whether or not they're inhabited by pah-wraiths.

You may be right. A lot of the enemy species portrayed on Star Trek just look big and nasty, and I don't see a lot of evidence that their militaries spend much effort on training or tactics. Most of them seem to trust natural strength and endurance combined with raw numbers to win a battle, yet Starfleet manages to hold their own enough to have a lot of victories against them. Perhaps this is like the proverbial Kingdom of the Blind, where whatever amount of training Starfleet gives its people is a huge advantage that their neighbors never seem to emulate.
I liked seeing in this episode, that the Federation depends on freedom of movement and using an enemy's strength against them (I think that's what Aikido teaches). Considering how their enemies use little strategy that's more advanced than "gang up on the target and dogpile it," it does make a ton of sense. Though, we don't see that philosophy of combat used by Starfleet very much. Most battles are just ships squaring up and shooting until one side drops, and hand-to-hand fights often resemble bar brawls.

If the Romulans are like the Vulcan than they are stronger than humans.
Luigi Novi: Not necessarily. If the gravity or other conditions on Romulus is different than that of Vulcan, they may have developed different traits.

Has it ever been established whether the reptilian-appearing, warmth-loving Cardassians are warm- or cold-blooded? If the latter, their muscle tissue would, of course, be much stronger pound for pound than that of warm-blooded species.

Luigi Novi: Brent Spiner . . .thought it was racist--though "inadverdantly" so.
:: As in making fun of little green men?

At the end, Riker orders the Helm/ Nav people to go to whopping warp 3.

WARP 3 ?????

HEY! The last report said that the need for the vaccine was urgent and that millions could die if not treated soon!

I guess warp 9 is only used for retreating from Borg vessels & the Q barrier. God forbid it should be used to rush medicine to dying people (sarcasm mode off)

Warp 9 is also good for taking Troi's mother back to Betazed ;)

I realize that, as the show goes on, it becomes clear that Picard must work within the Ligonian code of honor so that he can obtain the vaccine for Styris IV. But right after Yar is kidnapped, Picard is eager to retrieve her, so eager that he fires a display blast of torpedoes. So the question is: why doesn't Picard just beam her up?? There is no mention of a forcefield or transporter inhibitor being used. La Forge does say that the Enterprise's "transporter people" couldn't trace Lutan's beam (I'll leave you to decide if a beam approximating "early Starfleet" transporter beams, presumably from Archer's era, could foil 24th-century sensors), but why can't they lock on to Yar's commbadge? When Yar kills Yareena, she throws herself over the dead woman's body and the Enterprise beams her up. So what is stopping them from trying early on?

Also, about 3/4 of the way through, in the scene where Picard is instructing Data and La Forge to study Ligonian weapons, Picard and Data have a little discussion in which they both agree that the Prime Directive plays a role in the situation with Lutan. But there is plenty of dialog stating that Ligonia and the Federation are going to negotiate a treaty! So how can the Prime Directive have any bearing in this situation?

Nobody's mentioned the weird coincidence created by the writers that had Yar fighting YarEENA. Isn't that just a litle weird? Kinda like Riker fighting someone called Rikerak. What was Yareena's full name? Latasha Yareena?
Yar thinks that nobody trains people better than Starfleet? Not from what I've seen of Riker's limited skills, or Picard's. Picard couldn't even defeat a guy (Soren, from Generations)who was over a century older than him!

But he held his own against two Klingons from in Sins of the Father, knocked Finn flat in The High Ground, took on all of the dilithium thieves in Starship Mine, etc.

When Lutan's party beams onto the Enterprise initially, they beam up in a cargo bay. Is this really the most appropriate place in which to receive a foreign head of state? Why not give them coordinates for the conference room or dining area? The Enterprie looks like it should be replete with decent places to receive VIPs.

I also have a few thoughts about the part where Yar first impresses the Ligonians. First of all, she really could have been more tactful when she approached Hagon. She could have politely requested he hand over the case to her, instead of cutting in front of Picard. This is a diplomatic mission, and they do have information about their culture, so she should know how to deal with them. Second, when she gets the case, Yar opens it to check it for anything dangerous. It might have been a better idea to take the case to a more secure location and examine it, in case there was a bomb or poison or something in it. The Ligonians didn't seem all that offended that she was examining the case for security reasons, since it is a sensible precaution. Had there been a bomb, opening the case a few feet from Picard and Lutan would be very bad. Finally, once the case was determined to be safe, they should have taken it to Sickbay or a lab so the medical personnel aboard can make sure it's genuine. Again, it's a sensible precaution, and a discreet examination would not offend them.

I also had a thought about why they couldn't just beam up Yar. Lutan's "center place" appears to be in or near a major city, and the Ligonians appear to be very close biologically to humans. They might not be able to pick out her life signs from the crowd. Also, the Ligonians might not only be blocking transporter signals, but her communicator. Never once does she call the Enterprise during her stay on the planet, so maybe they can't locate her from her communicator signal. Another consideration is the vaccine; if they beam her up, they still don't have nearly enough to help Styris, and taking her back so easily would embarrass and dishonor Lutan, so he'd withhold the vaccine. It's crappy, but he has them over a barrel.

They couldn't beam Yar up because

1)It would have been a short show and
2) they needed the Ligonins cure for a plague.

Its that cut and dry.

As to the "combat will not be interrupted"....

Perhaps there is no honor in defeating an opponent who is accidentally disarmed. Hence Lutan's interruption of the combat to restore Yarina's weapon.

The thing that annoys me about this episode is, that even after Picard is explained in complete detail the "rules of Lutan's society", He still addresses Lutan in a rude, harsh tone of voice and attitude.

Did Picard flunk "First Contact 101"?

Where was it ever established that there is a course called "First Contact 101"?

And if there is such a course and he flunked it, I very much doubt he would be Captain of the Enterprise.

It was a rhetorical question.

sorry, i never learned to speak rhetorical.

Why does Picard think it's such a big deal to say, "Please" and "Thank you" during an alien encounter?

Yes, they kidnapped Yar...but you can still be polite in asking her safe return.

Re: Picard not knowing the date of the Sung Dynasty.
He could well be a xeno-archeologist first, as earth history is probably mostly tapped out as a field for new research by his era.

The holodeck fight sequence - did Tasha have the robe created, or was it there waiting for her? And why was the training mat restricted to a corner of the holodeck, why not have it across the entire floor to allow for more people to train at the same time, or even generate a proper dojo?

good 1215402196806

Perhaps the holo-judo was designed to make noise as it moved as a training tool- sort of a beginner setting (activated since Yar was just demoing it and wanted something simple) to give audible cues to the location of one's assailant?

Without meaning to sound sexist women are weaker than men, I'm far from the strongest man in the world but I'm considerably stronger than all my female friends, in fact the strongest female friend I have is about as strong as I am.

I know there are women who are stronger than men out there but how much training do they have to do to achieve that and if you put a man through the same training regime he'd likely be stronger than a woman who went through it.

Rant over lol aliens appear to follow human rules in Star Trek with few exceptions ie male aliens are bigger and stronger, Data probably knew how strong Ligonian women were so he'd know they were weaker than the men and would use lighter weapons.

This episode was not designed to be racist but the director insisted on casting only black actors to play the Ligonians in fact he got himself fired half way through for racist and bad behaviour to the actors.

This is one of the episodes of Trek I really don't like, along with "The Outreagous Okona" and "Shades Of Gray". I mean, this one was really bad. Just...bad!

However, regarding the subject of gender inequality, there are two incredibly strong and muscular women I know of that have been involved in both pro wrestling and bodybuilding, and they are Joanie "Chyna" Laurer and Nicole Bass. And they are both not what I would consider attractive.

I don't know why, but I like women to be feminine, but that does not mean I want them to be weak in either mind OR body. Does that make sense? I prefer women with beauty as well as intelligence. I don't like it when I talk to a good-looking woman who doesn't have a brain in her head!

I also wonder why it is that the Ligonians, who have customs similar to the various tribal cultures of Earth, are the only ones who possess the vaccine for the Anchilles fever/plague. They do not possess warp technology, but they do have transporters. I found that interesting.

Anyway, I pointed this out once before, and I still wonder why Worf was absent from this episode. I don't really want to think that is was because the plot did not require him because he was a black male and would have been overshadowed by the others involved in the show's plot. I also heard that some of the TNG actor's thought that the director of this episode was racist. Well, I might have thought the same thing, as well as for the writer(s), because the plot of Lutan lusting after Yar while wanting to kill his wife for her lands and wealth was something I did not think I would see as the plot of a Trek episode that aired in the 80s!

But of course, we also had the "Just Say No To Drugs" PSA episode in the first season as well, and I already said what I thought of that one.

I also wonder why Data referred to the French language as "obscure". Is it because people on Earth and in the Federation all speak the Standard English Language in the 24th century and have not been using any of Earth's many other languages for at least a few centuries? When was the Universal Translator invented, anyway? Also, Phil mentioned that because of the UT, no one needs to speak multiple languages anymore. Which refers to the dialogue in "The Icarus Factor" where the first officer of the Aries can speak 40 of them. So perhaps that is why Data, who was assembled and activated in the 2300's, would think that any Earth language no longer spoken by people in the Federation would be "obscure"!

kerriem - "It seems to be a sophisticated update of the same silly, careless racial attitudes that had the 'natives' in 1950's jungle movies wearing shells and going "ooga-booga"."

It's almost as if black people aren't allowed to be pictured as technogically advanced civilizations, dressed in futuristic clothing like those of Eminiar VII, Scalos, or just plain 21st century Earth. Instead, we had to get them as cliche space Africans.

As Picard leaves the bridge, he tells Data that he has 'the helm'. Isn't that supposed to be 'the conn'?

Rene - "Since when is the security chief so suspicious. And Yar attacks a guest. Come on."

Exactly! Yar assaults an alien dignitary and Picard doesn't berate her or flinch, or even blurt out so much as a, "Tasha! Bad girl!". Can you say 'interstellar incident'? Imagine what would happen if a member of President Obama's Secret Service men did the same to someone from the German, or French, or Russian delegation visiting Washington?

Deanna says, "Yar is physically very attractive", and later Picard calls Yar a 'rather lovely female'.

HUHHHHHHHHHHH??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!
Are you frickin' kidding me???????!!!!! She wasn't the least bit attractive to me in 1987, let alone 1994, 1999, 2004 or 2014! With a that boyish blonde mop of hair with the buzz-cut in the back and the grimacing, frowny face? No, thanks!

Data mentions that French is an obscure language. Pretty hard to believe, and rather American-centric that our language survives, but French doesn't. I once heard that French is one of the languages most used in diplomacy amongst ambassadors, even if they're Japanese interacting with Brazilians, for example. Supposedly it was easier to learn the French language than others, which seems to me would ensure that French survives the next 400 years.
Of course I heard that years ago, so I might be wrong.

Strange. The plague planet is called 'Styris', which is almost an anagram of Marina Sirtis's last name. S - I- R - T - I - S could be spelt S - I - R - T - Y - S using the letters in 'Styris'.

I always rolled my eyes when the writers gave Geordi something to do with his VISOR, when all anyone ever needed was a simple tricorder. That's all Picard needed to analyze the Ligonian weapons.

In this piece from Screen Rant, Jonathan Frakes has said this episode should be withdrawn from distribution, due to its perceived racial insensitivity. (Scroll down to item three.) Sorry Number One, not yet.

---

quote:

This ep strikes me as kinda embarrassing..It seems to be a sophisticated update of the same silly, careless racial attitudes that had the 'natives' in 1950's jungle movies wearing shells and going "ooga-booga".

---

If this was the best script they had that week, I'd hate to see the worst.