"Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" is the two-part backdoor pilot for the American crime drama television series NCIS.
Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Robyn Lively, Pauley Perrette, Alan Dale, Zoe McLellan, Faran Tahir, and David McCallum guest-starred in both episodes as Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo, Vivian Blackadder, Abby Sciuto, Thomas Morrow, Jennifer Coates, Amad Bin Atwa, and Donald Mallard, respectively.
"Ice Queen" follows the NCIS team, led by Special Agent Gibbs, as they investigate the murder of Lieutenant Loren Singer and ultimately arrest Commander Harmon Rabb as their prime suspect.
"Meltdown" shows Rabb's trial and the continued investigation by the NCIS team to find the real culprit.
At the JAG headquarters, Admiral A. J. Chegwidden informs his team that the NCIS has found the body of a Navy Lieutenant, who is believed to be five months pregnant.
Dr. Mallard determines that Singer has been dead for three months, Sciuto learns that she called Zhukov before she died, and Special Agent Don Dobbs finds a Navy Commander's hat near the crime scene.
Using information from restaurant employees and the JAG security logs, they determine that the man was Commander Ted Lindsey, who Rabb recalls stole his hat.
[1] JAG creator Donald P. Bellisario had been considering a series about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for a few years before pitching it to the CBS Television president at the time, Les Moonves, in 2002.
[5] Bellisario was initially hesitant about the casting, but changed his mind after seeing Harmon as Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan on The West Wing.
Lively was not retained when NCIS premiered due to the producers feeling that she was too soft for the type of role and would be replaced by Sasha Alexander, who played a new character, Caitlin Todd.
[9] Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times said "The episodes ... are lighter in tone, sprinkled with black humor and a grisly quality that recalls CSI.