The Star Trek TNG Episode Powered By Divorce
A common idea in pop culture is that great trauma creates great art…after all, so many musical artists manage to transfer things like heartbreak and grief into absolutely transcendent songs. While that idea may be common in music, audiences don’t usually think about it in conjunction with TV shows, especially not comfort food programming like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nonetheless, Rob Bowman poured so much energy from his divorce into directing “A Matter of Honor” that it became one of the best early episodes of TNG.
Onboard A Bird Of Prey
Before you can hear about Bowman’s unconventional creative inspiration, you may need a quick recap of the episode itself. “A Matter of Honor” is the episode where Commander Riker serves aboard a Klingon Bird of Prey as part of an officer exchange program. We get some inevitable drama in which a rogue Klingon captain wants to attack the Enterprise, but the real reason to watch this episode is to see Riker as the ultimate fish out of water as he tries to fit in aboard a completely alien starship.
The Director Bonded With Jonathan Frakes
As for director Rob Bowman, “A Matter of Honor” gave him the opportunity to do some serious bonding with Riker actor Jonathan Frakes. According to him, Frakes “was waiting to do something that was rough and had action.” Both actor and director were quite pleased by the script, and each of them kept “doing high-fives and trying to put forth on film all the energy and spirit and adventure that was in that script.”
It’s obviously great that an actor like Frakes got a chance to flex, and considering what a prolific director he became, it’s safe to say the Riker actor learned plenty of tips and tricks from this director. But where does Bowman’s divorce come in? According to Bowman himself, “I was going through my divorce at that time, and was escaping into the world of space for some happiness.”
Channeling Trauma Into Art
In other words, the “A Matter of Honor” director engaged in the tried and true method of escaping his personal stress by throwing himself into his work. Some think such a technique isn’t healthy, but Bowman thought that dealing with his divorce this way “probably helped me to concentrate a little better.” And while he obviously didn’t discuss the personal details of his imploding relationship, some of his other comments on the episode reveal a bit about his personal headspace at the time.
“I know I was very aggressive at that point, so we put that on screen,” the “Matter of Honor” director said. “When we did the fight on the bridge, I wanted to be as rough as I could possibly make it.” Interestingly, he discussed how we almost ended up with an even more intense onscreen battle. “We even had to pare it down a bit, because what we had in mind was too much.”
One Of the Early Season Standouts
The final result was an excellent episode, but this was par for the course for the young director. He eventually left Star Trek: The Next Generation and went on to make an even bigger name for himself as an X-Files producer. Still, he left a profound impact on Trek, both as a director and as the original voice of the Borg collective.
An Iconic Klingon Episode
Obviously, we’re not happy to hear that such a talented Star Trek creator had to deal with such a stressful divorce. However, whether or not that catastrophic event helped in its production or not, we can’t help but be impressed by “A Matter of Honor,” one of the best early TNG episodes. Rob Bowman set out to create a killer sci-fi story with Jonathan Frakes, and along the way, he gave fans our best look yet at Klingon culture.
