Star Trek: TNG's Worst Episode Left Michael Dorn Worried About The Show's Future

When it debuted in 1987, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was far from a sure thing. The show would be the first to continue the adventures of Starfleet as they were first depicted in the 1960s "Star Trek" original series, and since 18 years had passed since the finale and people were pretty protective of the original series, the odds were stacked against them. Not only that, but franchise creator Gene Roddenberry had only even agreed to the series in a fit of rage, and that meant the first season of "The Next Generation" could be incredibly rough as the series found its footing. So rough, in fact, that some of the cast weren't convinced the series was going to make it. 

One early episode is pretty well accepted as one of the worst "Next Generation," and it was so bad that Michael Dorn, who played Klingon Lieutenant Worf, was worried the first season of the show would also be its last. On a visit to the podcast "Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum," Dorn shared his feelings about why "The Next Generation" eventually worked out, but said that the fourth episode, the wildly controversial "Code of Honor," seemed to spell the show's doom. 

While speaking with Rosenbaum, Dorn said that he appreciated the fact that the series was telling "morality plays" each week, but that "Code of Honor" was so bad that it made him doubt the series overall:

"...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.'"

There are plenty of examples of times when "Star Trek" writers thought something was a good idea and it ended up aging like milk (be sure to check out "Star Trek" storylines that are downright unwatchable now). However, "Code of Honor" is especially egregious. The episode depicts Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) being abducted by a group called the Ligonians, who are a racist, mashed-up stereotype of various African cultures. The Ligonian leader, Lutan (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson) decides to make Tasha his foremost wife despite already having one, leading to a battle between the women over status. The episode is so deeply misguided that Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander Will Riker on "Next Gen" and has directed a number of "Star Trek" episodes, genuinely wants the episode pulled from streaming. That's pretty harsh, but he's not wrong. 

It's pretty easy to spot just how racist "Code of Honor" is now, but in 1987 maybe the writers behind "The Next Generation" thought they weren't doing any harm by depicting the Ligonians as African tribal stereotypes. They also probably didn't realize just how sexist the episode is, as women are treated as commodities and symbols of power and little more, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) even goes along with some of the sexist ideas put forward by the Ligonians. It's really pretty awful and is the antithesis of the progressive vision of "Star Trek," making it truly one of the worst episodes of the whole franchise. 

In a 2012 interview with StarTrek.com, Dorn said that he has no regrets about his time on "Next Gen" even if some of his fellow castmates found certain storylines annoying. He did bring up "Code of Honor," however, and noted why he didn't have any personal regrets about the episode:

"There wasn't anything, really, that I wish they hadn't done. There was an episode I wish they hadn't done, but luckily I wasn't in it."

"Code of Honor" isn't just a terrible episode, it's also an episode with no Worf, and that's a crime worthy of a Starfleet tribunal.