Episode #40: The Icarus Factor
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION in TELEVISION :: The Copper Age of TV Sci-Fi
Page 1 of 1
Episode #40: The Icarus Factor
THE ICARUS FACTOR episode #14 of 2nd season / Air Date: 4/24/89
written by David Assael, Robert McCullough; Directed by Robert Iscove
There are two character-building stories in this one: the first introduces Riker's father, a freelance expert who does various pick-up work for the Federation. His current assignment is to brief Riker on a region of space to prep Riker prior to his taking the captaincy on another ship, the Aries. Yep, Riker is offered the captain's chair in this one; we all know he'll refuse and not the first or last time (I think he was already offered a ship previously, just before he elected to become first officer on Enterprise-D). Father & son are estranged, last having spoken 15 years ago. They settle matters by trying to beat each other's brains out in a Japanese-styled combat sport, as Troi and Dr. Pulaski fret on the sidelines.
The 2nd story involves Worf, who is even more short-tempered than usual (at least we get to see him yell at Wesley). Wesley soon deduces that Worf has reached a certain age when he must participate in a special Klingon ceremony; this involves two sets of Klingons sticking Worf with 'pain sticks' as Worf speaks his heart. His closest friends are to witness this; the only way to do this is to set it up on the holodeck. Pulaski & Troi fret over this, too. In all, I guess this was a commentary on the male animal.
There is an interesting conversation between Riker & Picard in this one, where Picard spells out the prestige of being first officer on the flagship of the Federation vs. the perks of being captain of your own ship; it's surprisingly honest for the usual fluff & piffle of the show. And, there's a nice character scene in the pre-titles, when we learn how Riker had to learn to cook at an early age. But, other than that, it's mostly pedestrian stuff. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10
DivX® is a registered trademark of DivX, Inc. http://labs.divx.com/WebPlayer
TNG Trivia: that's John Tesh as one of the Klingons created by the holodeck; Tesh was covering the show for Entertainment Tonight at the time and asked to be included.
Last edited by BoG on Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:20 am; edited 1 time in total
Similar topics
» Episode #57: The Vengeance Factor
» The Alternative Factor - episode #20
» episode #08 - The Human Factor
» #08: Fear Factor
» The Alien Factor (1978)
» The Alternative Factor - episode #20
» episode #08 - The Human Factor
» #08: Fear Factor
» The Alien Factor (1978)
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION in TELEVISION :: The Copper Age of TV Sci-Fi
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum