For an episode that talks about honor all the time, its odd Worf wasn't in it. He could have called Lutan out on his BS, with Lutan using honor as an excuse to act like a jerk.
Why wasn't Worf in Code of Honor?
- Thread starter The Overlord
- Start date
^ SCORCH! 
I think that at that point Worf's position hadn't really been established. He was kind of a secondary character at first, there are even some season 1 cast promo shots that don't include him .
He was the absolute last main cast member added to season one IIRC.
I am happy Micheal Dorn wasn't on the set for filming that episode. Lets face it, That episode was pretty damn racist...I read somewhere that while they were filming it a producer was walking by the set and saw one of the scenes being filmed. according to the story the producer broke into a run toward the executive offices. Shortly thereafter the episodes director was fired by roddenberry himself.
He knew better than to show his face in this stinker.
I guess I'll never fathom what about the episode was racist.
The production team is rumored to have been racist. The audience certainly is racist, for thinking that black people cannot be portrayed on screen, unless they are stereotypes such as police captains, brain surgeons or sexy detectives. But the episode just portrays an alien culture, pseudo-realistically for a rare once - uniquely enough, the planet isn't populated by Californians wearing forehead makeup.
As for Worf's absence, well, the preceding episode in airdate and stardate order alike was "The Naked Now". And Worf was the very last one to succumb to the intoxication there... Perhaps he was also the very last one to recover?
Timo Saloniemi
The production team is rumored to have been racist. The audience certainly is racist, for thinking that black people cannot be portrayed on screen, unless they are stereotypes such as police captains, brain surgeons or sexy detectives. But the episode just portrays an alien culture, pseudo-realistically for a rare once - uniquely enough, the planet isn't populated by Californians wearing forehead makeup.
As for Worf's absence, well, the preceding episode in airdate and stardate order alike was "The Naked Now". And Worf was the very last one to succumb to the intoxication there... Perhaps he was also the very last one to recover?
Timo Saloniemi
Why? Because being savage and kidnapping women is a classic black behavior pattern in reality and thus cannot be mentioned out loud? Or because it isn't? Neither concern makes any sense - savagery or kidnapping aren't dependent on skin color, and any attempt at trying to pry apart what was never joined is only indicative of a fixation amounting to a rather disgusting brand of racism.
How would the episode have been better if the locals were pink or purple in color? I guess "multi-ethnic" would make sense in this particular case, because the culture is shown to have working global transportation (they even have transporters), but it's awfully racist to insist on multi-ethnicity just for the sake of never showcasing any single ethnicity...
Timo Saloniemi
yes but the 'black people as savages' is a stereotype which has existed. it is an offensive stereotype.
pink or purple people do not exist, and do not have a history of being portrayed in this negative manner, therefore that's a stupid hypothetical that you're using to distract from the point i made.
(but as this might be a rare code of honor thread not specifically about racism, we might be getting away from the topic)
pink or purple people do not exist, and do not have a history of being portrayed in this negative manner, therefore that's a stupid hypothetical that you're using to distract from the point i made.
(but as this might be a rare code of honor thread not specifically about racism, we might be getting away from the topic)
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so that's just another way of saying you're not going to address what i said. i'm not talking about what shade of colour a black or white person is and i'm pretty sure you know it.
black people being portrayed as savages = racist stereotype, because it just is a racist stereotype that has existed. and there's not many more ways i can keep saying it.
good luck with saying black people as savages isn't a negative racist stereotype.
black people being portrayed as savages = racist stereotype, because it just is a racist stereotype that has existed. and there's not many more ways i can keep saying it.
good luck with saying black people as savages isn't a negative racist stereotype.
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Well, Worf didn't really have a specific permanent station assignment yet at this point in the series. And we know from "Lonely Among Us" that junior officers spent at least some of their time on non-bridge assignments. So I always just figured that Worf was serving a temporary duty assignment in Engineering or someplace during "Code of Honor".
so you think 'black savages kidnap white woman' isn't racist and is perfectly fine.
yes, i am totally the one in the wrong here.
We may interpret it as racist and the implications of what the final product may look like may not have been thought through. But was the intent of the episode racist?
Russ Mayberry, the director who was fired went on to work on In the Heat of the Night, a show that dealt with racism in the Southern United States.
Lets not forget that the episode casting had to have been approved by Roddenberry as he had the final word during season one.
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