2.14 The Icarus Factor

Rating: 2

While Riker considers whether or not to take command of his own ship, he also has to deal with the return of his father, with whom he has been estranged for 15 years. Meanwhile, Worf is dealing with an important moment of his own.

Comments

Commander Flaherty, the first officer on the Aries, speaks 40 languages, and sounds a lot like the character of Hoshi Sato from the new Star Trek series for 2001, Enterprise.

Riker and his father all dressed up in their Ambu-Jitsu armor look a lot like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Nits

It’s nice that Wes wants to help the troubled Worf, but wouldn’t Counselor Troi be much more highly qualified to fill this role?

Riker tells Troi, "Our feelings are what make us all human." Human? His choices of words is strange, since he is talking to a being that is half-betazoid!

Why wouldn’t Riker have figured out a long time ago that his father had been cheating at Ambu-Jitsu all those years? Riker should have realized this when he found out the proper rules for the game. And it’s worth mentioning too that if Riker and his father were both playing by the same warped rules that allowed the cheat, there wouldn’t really be an advantage for the father anyway, since Riker could also use the cheat move.

In the last scene, Riker orders Warp 5, Picard says, "Engage", and we cut to an exterior shot of the ship – and it doesn’t go to Warp!

Memorable Moments

•    Worf being tortured during the anniversary ‘celebration’ of his Rite of Ascension

•    Troi showing strong emotion about Riker leaving

Quotable Quotes

"With…all due respect…BE GONE…sir"
– Worf’s delivery of this line to Data is classic – he slips back and forth from polite to angry to polite again

"If I were not a consummate professional, and an android, I would find this whole procedure insulting."
- Data, trying to sympathize with Geordi about the engine inspection