TNG Flashback: The Icarus Factor

If you were to ask the average fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation to name some of the series' landmark episodes, I believe there's absolutely no chance that anyone would name "The Icarus Factor." But in watching it again, I was struck by how different the episode really was for the show. For the first time, there really isn't an "external science fiction problem" to be overcome. Instead, the two significant story lines of the episode are both personal dramas for two of the main characters; there's no alien menace, no mysterious virus, no interplanetary dispute, just an examination of some of the characters we've been growing ever closer to.

Commander Riker is offered a promotion to captain, and command of his own ship. He must weigh whether to keep his more prestigious position aboard Starfleet's flagship, or to take a rather obscure assignment that would at least put him in charge. But complicating his decision process is the arrival of his father, with whom he's had a long and bitter estrangement. Meanwhile, Worf has come to the tenth anniversary of his Age of Ascension, and is despondent because he has no one around him who understands Klingon culture to celebrate the occasion with him.

In story construction terms, Riker's story here is the "A plot," and Worf's the "B plot." In terms of actual effectiveness, however, I think the two are reversed. The conflict between Riker and his father Kyle stands on a believable back story, but is resolved far too easily and neatly. Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry stepped in to mandate his belief that humans of the 24th century are too evolved for any serious personal conflict, and that led to the rather wishy-washy conclusion here. The director of the episode, Robert Iscove, was said to have done his best to give the story more emotional honesty, but was shot down at every turn; as a result, despite apparently being a life-long Star Trek fan, he declined to ever work on the series again. I think I have to side with him. Sure, it's Roddenberry's vision to tell as he wants to tell it -- but if no true emotional conflict is going to be allowed, then why even bother trying to tell a story like this when it's only going to come off half-hearted?

That said, there are definitely some good moments within the Riker story, mostly having to do with tying into past continuity. Picard mentions meeting Riker in "Encounter at Farpoint," and makes up for being "miserly" in his praise on that occasion. And there are some marvelous scenes that rekindle the dormant romance between Troi and Riker. They have a touching "until next time" (not "goodbye") scene when it seems Riker will be leaving the Enterprise. There's also a nice scene where Troi goes to confront Kyle Riker in a quite standoffish manner; though the past relationship between Troi and Will isn't mentioned there, the behavior is quite consistent with that of a person stepping in unasked to defend someone she still has feelings for.

This episode is probably also the best one for Katherine Pulaski in her single season on the show. (From my perspective, I might even cattily say "the only good one," in fact.) She's given an intriguing past relationship with Kyle Riker, and actually gets to show some tender sentiment in the episode. She almost gets through the entire episode without insulting anyone -- though even the brief jabs she throws at Kyle feel appropriate for a relationship that almost-but-didn't-quite lead to marriage. In short, Pulaski is a real person in this episode, defined neither by her personality conflicts with Data and Picard, nor by any copying huge chunks of McCoy's behavior. I wish we had seen more of this Pulaski in her mercifully brief stint in on the show.

But Worf's story is still the more successful one in the episode. It has a moment of comedy gold, when Data tries to approach him in Ten Forward to find out what's wrong with him. It has a nice crossover with the Riker plot when Worf asks to transfer with him if he leaves. (That's also nice in that it speaks to the growing bond between Riker and Worf over the course of this season.) And it all culminates in the Ascension ceremony, which is a truly fine moment for Michael Dorn. When you think about it objectively, what he's being ask to perform is ridiculous and nearly impossible to make look credible: he has to walk through a gauntlet of people, shouting wild declarations of his own feelings of self-worth (half the time in a made up foreign language), and pretending to writhe in agony... all without going over the top. I honestly do not know how Dorn pulls it off, but the scene feels very real when it easily could have been the silliest thing ever presented on the show.

While the episode focuses most on Riker and Worf, nearly all of the characters to get a moment or two to shine. I've already noted the strong material for Troi and Pulaski. Picard also plays a nice role, even though it's largely on the periphery, giving unwavering support and advice to Riker. And it's another breakout episode for O'Brien; he gets some wonderfully funny dialogue in a scene with Riker, and then shifts over to participate in the Worf plot as well.

Other observations:

• I said there isn't really a "sci fi problem" in this episode, but okay, that's not 100% true. The episode includes a subplot about a glitch in engineering that is being checked out by a starbase team, but it would be overly generous to elevate it even as high as a "C plot." It feels tacked on, as though the writers couldn't quite trust themselves to really do an episode where absolutely everything was character driven.

• The drama of whether Riker will accept this promotion is non-existent. Of course, we know Jonathan Frakes won't leave the show. But also, we learned in "The Arsenal of Freedom" that Riker already turned down his own minor command for the prestigious first officer position on the Enterprise. He's being asked to make the exact same choice again here. Since nothing has really changed for him, there's no reason to think he'd choose differently this time.

• Original series fans can geek out over the brief mention of the Tholians in this episode.

• Speaking of fans, Entertainment Tonight anchor John Tesh had a walk-on role in this episode as one of the holographic painstik-wielding Klingons.

• I noted the good material in this episode rekindling the Troi-Riker relationship. But if you're a fan who preferred the Troi-Worf relationship introduced late in the series, you get a little hint of something here too, in the scene where she leads him to the holodeck for his "surprise party." She manages to be fun and playful with a very angry Klingon without getting into serious trouble.

• The conflict between Riker and his father culminates in a contest in an "anbo-jyutsu" ring. Kudos to the writers for trying to come up with something wild and different that still feels somewhat authentically connected to real-world culture. That said, the outfits are just a touch too silly to take the whole thing seriously, and I also have my doubts about the Japanese spoken in this episode. (I'll have to ask one of my friends for a translation some time.)

• Ron Jones does a great job with the music in this episode. His fine take on Klingons, established in earlier episodes, continues here for Worf's ceremony. He also invents some half-futuristic, half-tribal music that really works for the anbo-jyutsu match.

• The Blu-ray remaster includes a deleted scene from this episode, in which Wesley fobs off his investigation into Worf's problems onto Geordi and Data. It was probably cut for time, but might conceivably have been cut because Gene Roddenberry didn't want to show Wesley lying. At least, that's what it looks like to me (and to Geordi): that Wesley is outright lying to get out of an awkward situation.

I think what the writers were trying to go for here was better than the actual finished results. Still, this isn't a bad little episode, even if Riker's feud with his father isn't quite compelling. I give the episode a B.