A Matter Of Honor 

Under an Officers Exchange Program, Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship, whose aging captain seeks an unwarranted bloody retaliation for suspected Enterprise treachery.

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Burton Armus (teleplay by)

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Stewart	...	Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Cmdr. William Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Geordi La Forge (credit only)
Michael Dorn	...	Lt. Worf
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi (credit only)
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Cmdr. Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher
Diana Muldaur	...	Doctor Pulaski
John Putch	...	Ensign Mendon
Christopher Collins	...	Capt. Kargan
Brian Thompson	...	Second Officer Klag
Colm Meaney	...	Chief Miles O'Brien
Peter Parros	...	Tactics Officer
Laura Drake	...	Vekma

Storyline

When the Federation promotes an officer exchange program, Commander Riker decides to accept an assignment aboard a Klingon war ship. As the first Federation officer to serve aboard a Klingon vessel, Riker has to gain the trust of his new shipmates and particularly that of his irascible captain. As part of the same exchange program, the Enterprise welcomes aboard Ensign Mendon from a culture that is forever seeking to improve operational efficiency. When he discovers a bacteria attacking the integrity of the ship's hull, he searches for a solution on his own rather than reporting it. When the same bacteria affects the Klingon ship, its Captain believes the Enterprise is responsible and orders an attack.

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Plot Keywords:

benzite | alien food | human eating alien food | klingon starship | officer exchange program | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

First Star Trek guest appearance of actor Christopher Collins as the Klingon Captain Kargan. He would guest-appear again later in the season as the Pakled Captain Grebnedlog in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Samaritan Snare (1989), as well as make several guest appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).

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Goofs

Riker's insistence that a father should always be honored are at odds with Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Icarus Factor, where it is shown that he is on bad terms with his own father.

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Quotes

Commander William T. Riker: It is different.
Lieutenant Worf: Many things will be different.

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Connections

Referenced in After Trek: The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (2017)

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Soundtracks

Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User Reviews

One Or Both?

This is a fun episode with a memorable line. The Klingons are given several centimeters of depth, but at least they're not as stiff as Worf. This episode is also memorable for having Riker meet a female alien and not have sex with her.

Despite Mordock being called the first Benzite in Starfleet, another one has apparently entered the Academy before him and graduated. He's also really eager to impress the Captain, but for some reason not capable of reading the manual on procedure and etiquette. Surely the writers could have come up with some plausible reason for this.

Still, a nice change of pace and entertaining throughout.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Klingon

Release Date:

4 February 1989 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1