The Icarus Factor

Riker is sad because his dad is on the Enterprise. Worf is sad because he has no dad to watch him get ritualistically beaten. Troi is sad because Riker is leaving the Enterprise. And Wesley… is just so Wesley. Promotions! Grudges! Old flames! TRON costumes! It’s a family affair when we put The Icarus Factor in the Mission Log. If Contagion is the “have you tried rebooting it?” episode, the this is the “just ignore the check engine light” episode. Tell the truth, do you guys look forward to doing the great episodes more… or the stinkers? This episode is kinda along the lines of my argument that Trek belongs in a 13 ep per year run on HBO, where you get some budget and characters (ex wives, fathers, etc.) who can walk in and out just a few times to flesh out relationships. HBO, not AMC, btw because I’m still hoping for Rand in the sonic shower. And one more thing: for all their goofiness, those martial arts costumes look useless. The helmets are so tight, the impact would seem to be directly transmitted to the brain. No padding. Maybe that explains the ep in the first place. Just a theory… Too bad the gymnasium didn’t have a Kosho ring… I think Number 6’s trampoline fracas was closer to an ultimate evolution of the martial arts than the Rikers’ barbaric ANBO-JITSU! thump-fest… at least Number 6 actually knocked his opponent into the dunk tank rather than hugging him bye-bye. They could have both ended up in the tank and had a special moment when the water mysteriously turned purple. Also the uniforms are better. I think Anbo-Jitsu is a call back to the Vulcan ritual. The stick look very similar to the one that Kirk and Spock used during that fight. 2. The talk with Picard, it can be taken 2 ways. The way you guys were talking OR Picard pretty much telling Riker this choice is a choice that will define you as a person going forward, because it is a choice between having an actually important position that is prestiguous where you have pretty much free reign to do as you please just without the label vs having the label and the absolute control but not being important and doing so on a dangerous mission. He pretty much asking do you want control and pomp or importance and duty… this also goes to Picard’s character because he indicates in that decision the type of person he is is to have the pomp and control… and not the importance and duty. 3. The cheat to “win” thing. It’s perhaps not done the best of ways, but it is a good message. Because the reason he gives is not to win although other aspects of the script say it is. He directly says the reason I did that is to keep you interested. This is the same thing in Dragon Ball that Master Roshi does to his students. He enters the Martial Arts Tournament so that he can ensure that his students lose. This is so that they will learn that no matter how strong they get there is always someone stronger and always have something to reach for and keep their interest. Roshi executes it better, but it is the same concept. 5. The Polaski and Troi scene does a number on the entire episode, converting a episode about family to an episode about how stupid and violent men are. The comments are not just towards the Rikers but also the “violence” of Klingon culture. 6. I think the writer or writers of this episode were largely confused due to many of the elements subverted other elements. For example the Polaski/Troi are all about “can’t we get over violence to solve our issues” where as the Rikers scene shows that no, sometimes putting out there like that is the only way to do it… 7. For all the talk of violence being so retrograde behavior… I find what Troi and Polaski did to Kyle Riker…and what Troi has done to Worf and other in the past to be incredibly “violent” on a mental and emotional level. If I were Picard I’d have shipped her home long ago for such behavior. I agree with everything you said. It’s not right done either way and TOS had a lot of it toward women. And that feeling, m