Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 40: The Icarus Factor [VHS]

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Star Trek is never better when non-human cultures are being examined and it is sometimes at its' worst when emotions are involved. Star Fleet officers are subjected to the most rigorous training and psychological screening. They are clearly the best people, selected from billions of creatures in the Federation. The Enterprise is also the best ship in Star Fleet, so only the best of the best could possibly command her. Any person who commands a star ship will have enormous power, both military and economic. They possess enough power to destroy civilizations and at any time could engage in actions that could expand the Federation or plunge it into interstellar war
While human nature will remain human nature, no matter where the species goes, there are some things that just will not follow, and that is emotional pettiness. In this episode, Riker is offered the command of a Starship, where the mission is to go to a very remote place to investigate the possibility of another culture. It will take months at maximum warp to get to the location, so he will be completely autonomous. A civilian consultant to Star Fleet beams aboard to brief Riker about the mission, and it turns out to be Riker's father, from whom he is estranged. This is where the story breaks down. Riker reacts like a hurt child, at first refusing to talk with his father, and when he does, is very curt. Since Riker is being offered the command of a mission with the potential for great consequences for the Federation, an officer would not engage in such pettiness.
A secondary story concerns Worf. He is testy, even for Worf and Wesley discovers that Worf is suffering from cultural isolation. It is the tenth anniversary of his Age of Ascension, and he should engage in a ritual to mark the date. With the aid of the holodeck, Worf's friends engage in the ceremony, which involves him walking a gauntlet of Klingons armed with pain sticks. This story line improves the episode, as it gives us further insight into the Klingon culture.
While the emotional pettiness of Riker and his father drag this episode down, the events describing Klingon culture bring it back up into a good, but not great episode.

Anbo-Jyutsu and Worf's Age of Ascension

Spoiler Alert for those of you who want to see the episode..

In this one we get to see Worf's coming of age ceremony with the Klingon Pain Sticks in the holodeck. While Wes, O'Brien and Dr. Pulaski look on.. also this one has Riker's father. He's been absent pretty much all of the time. He tells Riker he's hurting his career and has to move on. It would have been a variation of the formula if Will Riker did take command temporarily and returned to the Enterprise. I can't understand as to how he did keep turning down promotions and Starfleet still offered him the chair. Oh well, that's going to change with the new film "Nemesis."

"The Icarus Factor" is the first Next Generation episode to deal explicitly with the idea that the crew of the Enterprise has become a family. There are two plot lines in the episode, both dealing with how Riker and Worf are alienated from their families and both establishing that the spair has found a home on the Enterprise. The episode begins with a threat to our happy little family. Commander Riker has been offered command of the Aries along with a sensitive mission. Just to make things interesting the person sent to brief Riker is his father, Kyle, and it becomes very clear that these two would have to work really hard just to have a strained relationship (which involves martial arts fought blindfolded with large sticks). Meanwhile, Worf is about to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his age of ascension, but as the only Klingon in Starfleet he has no one with whom he can share the moment (which involves a ritual that uses pain sticks).

It is always interesting to me how enlightened Starfleet is by giving Riker a choice to accept a new command or not. You have to admire any sort of military structure that allows such freedom of choice, unless, of course, the episode is written so that Starfleet actually issues orders or something like that. The relationship between Riker and his father is a bit overblown: Apparently they have not seen each other for fifteen years and they can not have a civil conversation unless they are beating each other up on the holodeck. The situation with Worf offers a nice counterpoint, because his situation is more understated. Certainly the resolution to that plotline is more in keeping with the idea of family.