UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S2E8 - Matter of Honor
Comments (43)
This is the first time O'Brian is mentioned by name.
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One of the first real classic episodes that hold up throughout the whole run of the show. We learn a lot about Klingons, we get the best Riker story to this point, there's some good humor, and Brian Thompson was great as Klag. The quality of writing and dialogue went up a lot as well. It's just great. I get the question about how the alliance could last with hotheads like Kargan, but I don't think all Klingons are like that. The captain in Heart of Glory was pretty level headed. Kargan I got a vibe of getting his position through a degree of nepotism, and maybe knew he didn't really earn his place and constantly felt like he had to prove himself, especially given how Klingons remove incompetent captains. The scene in the mess hall was very memorable. Very fun scene at first with the crew roasting Riker a bit and the women hitting on him. "One or both" was hilarious. Klag's story about his father is pretty sad, how he's basically disowned his father for losing his honor by being captured, or perhaps for not trying to regain said honor. I think Klag shows up in some of the novels, but I like to think Klag listened to Riker and eventually reconnected with his father and helped him find some way to regain his honor. Mendon is definitely harder to like than Mordock. I feel kind of bad for him when people start ragging on him constantly, but he was kind of asking for it coming in with that level of arrogance right away. At least he cleaned up his mess in the end. The whole confrontation at the end was great, how Riker tricked Kargan into removing himself from command, playing it up ordering the Enterprise to surrender, and with how he let Kargan reassert dominance once he returned. But the scene when Kargan is beamed to the bridge is just masterful. The way as soon as Kargan starts to turn Worf sees where it's going and starts reaching for his phaser, and how Data steps in front of Picard to shield the captain. Beautiful teamwork by the bridge crew. Fantastic episode.
The strongest overall episode of TNG up to this point. Even the exchange officer who was annoying was placed in a believable way. And even Wesley's attempt to reassure him felt more natural (another example of his improvement so far this season). Standout scene is the Klingon mess hall scene. Also seriously love for Colm. And in two very quick moments we see a huge amount of natural charm. Its very clear why production latched on to this actor and expanded his role through the years.
About to start but had to comment.. "I just want Riker to do something..." 😂🤣
Not really about this episode or series, but I posted a long time ago that I had only seen pretty much the first two seasons of DS9 before I completely lost interest, and the only episode of Voyager I have ever seen is almost universally considered to be the the absolutely worst of the series. As a result I wasn't sure if I would be watching the reactions to either series when the time came. Well, I have bitten the bullet. I was able to get a great deal on both full series DVD sets from Target, pretty much getting one of them for free with various discounts and free shipping, and they are supposed to arrive on Monday. As a result I had to get a bigger album for storing 94 more discs in addition to my sets of TOS, TAS, TNG, and all the movies except for the reboots (which I refuse to acknowledge as anything more than a money grab), so we'll see how much I end up liking them. I won't be committing to anything else for the time being but these should do for a few years at least.
The first 2 seasons of DS9 follow the familiar pattern (like Voyager) of the producers and writing team finding their way slowly towards the basis on which the shows will be grounded. I do think DS9 had more engaging characterisation than TNG in S1 & 2, even if TNG was too much of an influence on the approach.
In reference to Star Trek Continues - This is something best served as nostalgia. Most of the episodes are actually pretty good, and could easily have been season 4 or 5 ST:TOS episodes, but the fact that it isn't the same actors (even though they do a really good job) leaves it a little hollow. I fully enjoyed Continues, but I think it's because it was decades since I first saw TOS.
I knew you would love this episode it’s the best written of the season and bodes of what’s to come. You’ll get your wish re romulans and klingons
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I know you think it's funny to mock Star Trek Continues but trust me, by the time you get into Discovery, you're going to BEG for more than one season of Continues. ;)
They won't do STD. It's not canon.
Nice move pretending you could see his colouring differences. Good save ;)
A taste of things to come.
I really like Mendon as a character. Yes, he's a bit overly ambitious and thinks he's smarter than everyone else, but somehow he's still likeable. I really liked the scene with Wesley and him, too.
I knew you guys would love this one.
The scene with the Klingon Captain on the Enterprise bridge is so hilarious when he says Riker has no honor, then grabs his disrupter and swirls around, screaming comically "HE TRICKED MEEEEE!" and attempts to fire xD
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A small detail I love: when Kargan is beamed onto the Enterprise bridge and then quickly needs to be neutralized.. simultaneously, Worf fires his phaser and Data side-steps in front of Picard. Perfect syncronization to lock shit down
I love that moment! The crew is starting to truly gel now.
Frakes' back pain is the most noticable it's ever been up to this point. In the scenes with Worf walking the Enterprise corridors, it's really obvious in his posture. I'm sure it's awful for Frakes but for us it kind of gives Riker a bit of a "John Wayne" saunter
Of course, in the final scene Riker himself is in pain after that punch from Kargan.
Brian Thompson great as always! The Klingon commander Christopher Collins was the original voice of Moe and Mr. Burns before he was replaced by Hank Azaria and Harry shearer respectively..
I never got where Mendon was an exchange student from? I guess Benzite Benzanar? 😆 but he has the Star Fleet uniform so he would seem to be Starfleet. Unless they are just bigger sticklers than the Klingons about dress code. Wesley’s sweaters not withstanding. 😝
Yees! This episode gives an early taste of the higher quality episodes coming in future seasons.
“I just want Riker to DO something.” HMMMMMMMM. What timing. 😆
Josh's timing is digital. :-)
BTW I didn't even know Riker's chair on the Enterprise bridge can turn around 180 degrees like Data did with it xD
I honestly think this is the episode where spiner had a cold and I relate it to the chair turning around
34:40 I admit I'm impressed seeing how disheartened you are seeing the Klingon captain assume the worst. This episode would have been better without that stupid Klingon posturing.
You have to give it to Frakes. He's in a role that could so easily be... Boring. He's a young Kirk on paper, but Frakes has this great way of pouring in his own charisma into Riker that just makes him incredible to watch. Dorn has the Klingon backstory to angst through, Spiner changes personalities based on situational circumstances and has all the little ticks of being Data. Riker doesn't really have any meat like that. It's all on Frakes to deliver... and when the writers give him stuff, he does deliver. This is hands down one of my favorites, but its neck and neck with what comes next. The next episode. There's actually a couple of really strong ones coming up that have some incredible writing.
The best moment of the episode in my opinion is when Ryker orders Picard to surrender It’s just a subtle nice touch
Riker and Picard have that fun relationship where they are genuinely impressed by each other. And I feel there are a lot of moments where Picard is amused by Rikerwhen he could as easily get upset. Like his little smile in Where Silence Has Lease when Riker starts losing his temper after he and Worf came back from that ship.
The Klingon commanders scrunched face, is most likely due to the way he is constricting his vocal cords often facial expression is part of vocal output.
Oh I thought he always looked like that
This appears to be the first episode that really grabs your guys' attentions. You got pretty quiet almost every time there was dialogue.
14:32 The look of puzzlement on Picard's face is hilarious, and I've never noticed it before.
In my neighborhood we called Klingon Gach, Little wrigglers
7:35 That vape has gone to his head.
I mentioned in my comment on “Elementary, Dear Data” that I thought it was the best TNG episode the Target Audience had yet seen, but not one of the top three episodes of Season 2. “A Matter of Honor” displaces “Elementary, Dear Data” as the best episode in the series so far and is my third-favorite Season 2 episode. With the special exception of “Encounter at Farpoint,” which gains unforgettable and iconic status from being the origin story, “A Matter of Honor” is arguably the first time we are seeing the “real” TNG that viewers remember. This episode was one of only five Star Trek stories to be adapted into View-Master reels, following “The Omega Glory,” “Yesteryear” (retitled “Mr. Spock’s Time Trek”), and the first two movies. Kids Alex and Josh’s age may not know what a View-Master is: a modernized stereoscope, resembling a pair of binoculars, into which one inserts cardboard discs containing pairs of miniature color images printed on film, with the image pairs depicting the same scene from slightly different viewpoints. When you look through the eyepieces, you see one of each image pair through each eye, and therefore see the images in 3D. A lever turns the disc to move from one image to the next. Media critic L.I. Underhill’s essay about “A Matter of Honor” on the Eruditorum Press website extensively discusses their fond memories of the View-Master reels, saying little about the episode itself. Actor John Putch, who played the Benzite, Mordock, in “Coming of Age,” reappears here as the identical Benzite Mendon so that the show could reuse the species’ expensive facial mold, customized for Putch. Although Mendon is less likeable than Mordock, I find him a more memorable character. Troi and Geordi are absent from this episode (although, bizarrely, Troi appears in the View-Master version). This is the first episode of the entire series in which LeVar Burton does not appear as Geordi. Fans have commented on the irony that this episode provides our first detailed look at Klingon culture and yet centers on Riker rather than Worf. Ever since I first saw the episode as a kid, however, I have felt that, although Riker is the protagonist, the story is really about Worf. Although Worf spent his childhood in the company of humans, his deepest instincts and emotions are still Klingon. Therefore, what Riker experiences in this episode is what Worf’s life is like every day: navigating through an alien world which does not work the way his instincts tell him it should. It seems to me that life is also like that for Data; it certainly was for Spock; and, in the real world, those of us who are neurodiverse share the same experience.
I did not reply to the audience takes last weekend . My mother fell and shattered her left shoulder My primary comment would have been I predict you guys will love this episode.
I hope your mother recovers well
Riker: O N E O R B O T H Klingons: 👁️🗨️👄👁️🗨️