"The Outcast"

[TroiFan4ever]

Since it's Pride Month, and it just so happens "The Outcast" aired on H&I last night (on 6/26/25), can we talk about how powerful this episode was as it relates to the LGBTQ community?

Watching this episode last night, I could tell its writers wanted to do more with this episode but weren't that brave enough to do so as they were taking big enough risks with this kind of subject matter as is.

Mind you, the original run airing of this episode (and of Star Trek: The Next Generation in general for that matter) was during such a time society was a lot less tolerant and accustomed to homosexuality and transgender people than they are today. So, I think if this episode were being made today (perhaps with the newer Treks) they would've boldly gone (pardon the pun) in the direction of Soren having been born one gender and surgically becoming the other.

I mean... I don't think this is a transgender episode necessarily, but its plot does discuss societal gender roles and Soren later discovering she is female among an alien race that doesn't acknowledge gender. Not only do the J'naii not acknowledge gender in their society but any recognition of gender or feelings of romantic/intimate feelings for another person is also taboo and offensive for them that they use some kind of therapy so that the recipient no longer identifies with either gender or has romantic feelings. Similarly to how in our world some religious people used to try to "pray the gay away" or use conversion therapy to try and turn homosexuals into heterosexuals or make trans people identify with the gender they were born with.

I feel really bad for Riker in the end that his attempt to rescue Soren from her own people so she could stay the way she was failed.

Sorry for making this a long post but I like this episode and I applaud the writers and producers for tackling such a subject matter I'm sure almost no other television series at the time would've dared touched with a 10-foot pole. But then again recognition of non-binary or transgender people and/or homosexuality is the kind of thing that Star Trek stands for and I applaud that. But since this episode was so ahead of its time, does anyone remember if "The Outcast" ever caught any kind of controversy or backlash for its plot? How does it hold up today? With viewers from (or not from) the LGBT community?

 

[DonIago]

Meh. I tend to side with Jammer and KRAD on this one, as well as many others who were dissatisfied by it. I certainly don't think it's aged well, and even at the time I was a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

"The Outcast" | Star Trek: TNG | Jammer's Reviews

In-depth critical reviews of Star Trek and some other sci-fi series. Includes all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds. Also, Star Wars, the new...

www.jammersreviews.com

Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "The Outcast" - Reactor

“The Outcast” Written by Jeri Taylor Directed by Robert ScheererSeason 5, Episode 17 Production episode 40275-217 Original air date: March 16, 1992 Stardate: 45614.6 Captain’s Log: The J’Naii—an androgynous species—have asked for the Enterprise‘s help in finding a missing shuttlecraft. Data...

reactormag.com

 

[Mojochi]

I still think its a miss as a successful social commentary episode. It's certainly a miss as a quality production IMHO. Points for the attempt, but not much else, I'm afraid

 

[Oddish]

I think it works well as a scathing criticism of those who seek to force "normal" cishet behavior on others, especially those who don't want to be "fixed". Conversion therapy may have been debunked as snake oil in this day and age, but it was far more prevalent back then.

 

[DonIago]

I think it works well as a scathing criticism of those who seek to force "normal" cishet behavior on others, especially those who don't want to be "fixed". Conversion therapy may have been debunked as snake oil in this day and age, but it was far more prevalent back then.

It may in theory be an indictment of those who seek to inflict it upon others, but the episode also arguably makes the case that the therapy works. Soren is, after all, 'cured'.

 

[Oddish]

It may in theory be an indictment of those who seek to inflict it upon others, but the episode also arguably makes the case that the therapy works. Soren is, after all, 'cured'.

That's true. It's certainly an indictment of the sickening, smarmy, superior, paternalistic, "we just want to help you" attitude of the powers that be on Soren's world.

 

[DonIago]

That's true. It's certainly an indictment of the sickening, smarmy, superior, paternalistic, "we just want to help you" attitude of the powers that be on Soren's world.

I honestly wonder what the people who actually believed in such therapies made of the episode. Did they even register the horrible attitudes of the people who sentenced Soren to undergo treatment, or was it more important to them that it worked? Ends justify the means, and all...

After all, I'm sure many people who'd like to turn me straight (at best) think they'd be doing me a favor, even if I didn't thank them for it.

 

[Airin]

I saw this episode recently. I understood it as an exploration of homosexuality and the persecution suffered by homosexuals. The way they talk about Riker and Soren's relationship, the accusations they face, etc.
I don't think it really has anything to do with transgender people (or that this would have been a forefront theme for them to discuss in the 80's, unlike homosexuality). And I feel the whole "I'm a sexless alien but, you see, I actually identify as a woman" was little more than a throwaway line to make the relationship seem more heteronormative for the audience. If you pay attention to the accusations, they're not discussing Soren's gender, but rather her "depraved" relationship with Riker. That's the crux of the question.

 

[Mudd]

I remember a lot of gay Trek fans on usenet were angered by the episode.

 

[The Wormhole]

Honestly, I find it something of a meh episode. Granted, I'm not of the LGBTQ+ Community, but from comments I've seen amongst those that are over the years, it's not looked upon too favorably by them either. One issue that has arisen as a result of thus episode which isn't necessarily the fault of the episode itself rather than the Trek franchise in general is that whenever it was pointed out that the franchise wasn't really doing anything with LGBTQ+ those arguing on the other side would always point to this one and say things like "You got The Outcast, what more do you need?" I will agree with the common criticism made about this, in that if they had really wanted to be daring and take chances, they'd have cast a male as Riker's love interest.

Putting aside the LGBTQ+ issues, the episode is still rather flawed. Everyone marvels over the existence of an alien race with only one gender, as though the very idea of an alien race with anything other than two genders is unheard of. Depending on how you look at it, it either shines a spotlight on how unimaginative TNG could be when it came to its aliens, or it's just a really clunky way of providing exposition. Though what really rubbed me the wrong way about this episode, was their decision to make Worf a bigot, in that while Deanna and Crusher are discussing Riker's relationship with Soren at the poker game, Worf says the very idea of a human and a J'Naii in a relationship with each other is wrong, then avoids discussing the matter any further when Deanna tries to get him to explain himself. That really struck me as completely out of character for Worf.

And before anyone starts, yes, I am aware Worf's attitude towards the Romulans counts as bigotry, but it is different. Worf feels the way he does towards Romulans due to his own personal experience with them which is completely different than Worf having a negative attitude towards someone just because they're different than what he considers normal. That sort of attitude is not one which should be expressed by a Starfleet officer, and it doesn't really strike me as in line with Klingon honor. I imagine the intent when the scene was written was that Worf is TNG's "tough guy" so therefore he's going to have an issue with an [allegorical] gay person because everyone expected tough guys to hate gay people in the 1990s. But the scene really feels wrong and out of character for Worf, both what we had seen of him prior to then and since.

 

[Mudd]

A lot of the complaints about "The Outcast" underline the ways in which Star Trek had become dated by the time TNG was produced. They started out for the first few years mimicking the original series in their approach to "controversial social issues" - i.e., dressing them up in disguise as "allegory."

But a lot more prime-time TV was tackling this sort of thing head-on by 1992. TNG looked timid and evasive by comparison.

I remember one poster on usenet - Franklin Hummel? - summed the objections up along the lines of "If you're going to do an episode about discrimination against gay folks, why do you not put any gay characters in it?"

 

[Airin]

A lot of the complaints about "The Outcast" underline the ways in which Star Trek had become dated by the time TNG was produced. They started out for the first few years mimicking the original series in their approach to "controversial social issues" - i.e., dressing them up in disguise as "allegory."

But a lot more prime-time TV was tackling this sort of thing head-on by 1992. TNG looked timid and evasive by comparison.

Yeah, in some ways "The Outcast" reminds me of "Metamorphosis". But at least the Companion wasn't played by a woman until the very end, and Kirk and McCoy already suspected the alien was in love with Zephram even before they knew she was feminine. Also the reactionary opinions were only hold by a man from the past, while the heroes didn't see anything wrong or disgusting with it (unlike Worf in The Outcast). So in comparison, the TOS episode seems bolder and less conservative, 20 years before.

And then there's Beverly's rancid statement that "men don't wear make-up". You telling me that in a huge galaxy with thousands of different cultures, not a single one has men wearing make-up, something that isn't even unheard of in our own Earth right now!!? Wow! In fact, men in TOS had visible make-up half the time...

 

[Oddish]

Maybe the moral is "go big or go home", or "don't bother dipping your toesies in, we want to see a cannonball".

Regarding the whole conversion therapy business, maybe the message was that it's wrong to force it on people, even if it does work. Or, even if it works partially, such as eliminating the "wrong" desires but not creating the "right" ones. There are many reasons why a same-sex oriented person might choose not to express their sexuality: religion, laws, culture, family expectations, health, or personal biases to name a few. But the choice shouldn't be made for them.

 

[fireproof78]

The right to self determination seems a much apt discussion if they're going to fail so hard at a poor analogy.

 

[somebuddyX]

I like this episode!

 

[Mojochi]

Did they even register the horrible attitudes of the people who sentenced Soren to undergo treatment, or was it more important to them that it worked? Ends justify the means, and all...

It's hard to say, but I can certainly see people missing the point, given how softballed the pitch was. The whole thing danced around the subject as conservatively as they possibly could. The mere framing of it as a taboo, when it ultimately boiled down to a character, portrayed by a woman, choosing to be heterosexual with Riker, is something of a slap in the face, isn't it?

"But... but get it? Heterosexuality is the ironic sin" Well isn't that cute, how you broached the subject while avoiding your own taboo altogether... at a time in history that was epidemic devastation for gays. It actually seemed a far cry from the guts they had to have an interracial kiss in the 60s. They were namby-pamby about the whole thing & therefore maybe shouldn't have bothered at all really

 

[Oddish]

Remember that anything we say now, we say with the benefit of a decades-long media campaign to facilitate acceptance of LGBTQ people in general and gays in particular. Back then, they were less than a decade past the AIDS crisis, and homophobia had returned with a vengeance. Maybe the producers felt they had to do something, but this was all they could do.

 

[DonIago]

Maybe the producers felt they had to do something, but this was all they could do.

That sounds like the kind of argument Berman would make, but I absolutely don't believe it, and I don't think you should either.

 

[Mojochi]

That sounds like the kind of argument Berman would make, but I absolutely don't believe it, and I don't think you should either.

I don't buy it either. I remember those days. Their handling of the topic definitely felt like a faint hint of cowardice, compared to TOS having an interracial kiss, smack dab in the middle of race riots & lynchings making the news.

And look, I LOVE TNG, & am ardent about defending it, but it had some misses IMHO too & this kind of qualifies

 

[Oddish]

That sounds like the kind of argument Berman would make, but I absolutely don't believe it, and I don't think you should either.

It's fairly simple for me. When I was a kid, due to the AIDS crisis and the culture of the middle school I attended, I was pretty homophobic. This episode, among other experiences, made me rethink that position. Maybe it wasn't what it could have been, but it did get one point across: people of different orientations are as human as anyone else. Given that homophobia is fueled by dehumanization, "The Outcast" definitely worked against it.