A Matter of Honor
| "A Matter of Honor" |
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"A Matter of Honor" is the eighth episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on February 6, 1989. It is episode #34, production #134. The teleplay was written by Burton Armus, based on a story by Wanda M. Haight, Gregory W. Amos and Burton Armus. It was directed by Rob Bowman.
Overview: Commander Riker is assigned to a Klingon vessel during an officer exchange program.
Plot
As part of an officer exchange program, Commander Riker is to be temporarily assigned to the Klingon ship, the Pagh, while the Benzite Ensign Mendon is brought aboard the Enterprise. As the Enterprise rendezvous with the Pagh, Wesley mistakes Mendon for Mordock, another Benzite who took the Starfleet entrance examine with him. Wesley is quick to apologize and makes friends with Mendon. Riker, who has learned some of Klingon tradition from Worf, readily accepts his role as the Klingon First Officer, using a show of force when his authority is challenged, pleasing the Pagh captain, Kargan. Before the ships move away, Mendon discovers a patch of strange material on the Klingon ship, but does not bring it to Captain Picard's attention.
Worf soon discovers a similar patch on the Enterprise hull, identifying it as a lifeform reacting with the hull. Mendon reveals that he knew of the same material on the Klingon ship; Picard chastises him for withholding the information, and orders the Enterprise to find the Pagh, as the organism will be more damaging to the older ship. Mendon, Wesley, and the rest of the crew discover the means to dislodge the organism safely while en route.
Aboard the Pagh, Kargan's crew discovers the patch, and Kargan accuses Riker of it resulting from a Federation weapon, noting that the Enterprise had heavily scanned the area during their rendezvous. The Pagh cloaks and remains in communication silence as the Enterprise nears. Even when the Enterprise sends a message with how to remove the organism, Riker is unable to convince Kargan to disengage, leading to a power struggle aboard the Pagh, and a standoff between the Enterprise and the Pagh. Riker prepares to use a transponder he got from Worf before being brought aboard, but Kargan takes it from him, believing it to be a weapon. When Kargan activates it, he finds himself transported aboard the Enterprise's bridge and held at bay by Worf. The Pagh, now under Riker's command, decloaks and demands for the Enterprise to surrender, which Picard agrees to and serving to disgrace Kargan further. The Enterprise cleans the organism from the Klingon ship, and Kargan is returned. Riker allows Kargan to hit him and order him off the ship to allow the Klingon to regain some of his dignity before the Pagh departs.
Production Notes
Writer (though not of this episode) Maurice Hurley: "One of the things that the old Star Trek did that the new Star Trek can't do as well, was make comments on issues. Back then, opinions were changing, times were changing and it was very volatile and dynamic. Now we're into a period where it's stagnant; there's no dynamic change happening. People have settled into opinions on problems that have no clear cut solution. What's the solution to AIDS? How do you encapsulate the solution?"
Hurley continues: "We explore what it must be like to be the only black face in a room of 40 white people. That must be kind of tough. That's what Worf, in a sense, is doing. He's the only Klingon on a basically human ship. So we said, 'Let's spin it. Let's put somebody on an all Klingon vessel and see how that works.' What's it like to be a fish out of water? What's it like to be the only white face in a meeting in Harlem? That's got to be a little funny, a little different, a little tense. That's how this show started, it was a way to look at a contemporary social problem and give it a spin."[1]
References
- ^ Captains' Logs (Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman) 1995