UNCUT - Chain of Command Part I & II (TNG S6E10-11) | Star Trek Journey 244

Riker (and Geordi to a lesser extent) come across like petulant children in part 1. One of the best 2 parter's though. Steward and Warner are amazing

How many fingers do you see, Winston? I saw this episode before I ever saw "1984". That's some disturbing stuff, man.

Wait till they meet Gul Dukat

And David Warner! Warner is villain royalty! Evil from Time Bandits. Jack the Ripper. Butler-dude who handcuffed Jack below deck in Titanic. But beyond that David Warner is a peer of Patrick Stewart. Both alumni of the Royal Shakespeare Company...most of this episode are two master thespians in a 2 man play giving it their all and it shows. Love David Warner! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Warner_(actor)#Personal_life

Patrick Stewart spoke with Amnesty International about how to play this. I think it's one of the best performances in his entire expansive career

Watching TNG and DS9 welcome to 1992 lol

To anyone who doesn't know, there's quite a few references/inspiration from 1984 in the torture scenes. If you liked this episode, I highly recommend 1984.

Just to note if nobody else has said it yet. But it’s been established in previous episodes that Data is third in command after Riker. So Data being promoted to first officer is just following the proper command structure.

David Warner was in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as the Human Ambassador on The Planet of Galactic Peace, and in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country as Klingon Chancellor Gorkon. (The One Kirk and McCoy were accused of Assassinating.)

Rewatching this episode forgot to say - forgot how good Gul Lemec is!

Riker was out of line. He was borderline insubordinate much of the two parter until finally he directly challenges the captain.

I'm surprised Jellico didn't ask for Data as his first officer on his next command. Had Jellico been his commanding officer earlier, Riker would be Captain of the USS Aries. Regarding Picard, this experience, combined with the Borg, makes one ask the question: Just how much can a man take?

With the Ferengi, I think up until now it was established that Ferengi find us as "ugly" as we view them. When the Ferengi on the ship sneer in disgust at Lwaxanna and Deanna, it's when their clothes are off. They can't believe how different they are and are disgusted by their anatomy. There are some, however, like Damon Tog who are attracted to that because it's weird and exotic. Like how some of us might have a weird fetish. I think this is the point though where they decide to retcon that. Now with the Ferengi, when it comes to women, anything goes. Especially if they know how to work the lobes.

David Warner is a fantastic "bad guy" actor; he was in the original Tron and Time Bandits.

Ricker was so unprofessional 😭

Both Jellico and Riker are right, and both make some stumbles. Riker shouldn't have confronted Jellico in front of the crew, or spoke out of line in front of the Cardassians on the bridge. But I completely agree with the scene in Riker's quarters where Riker points out that he doesn't have to throw simple courtesy completely out the window all in the need of speed and efficiency no matter how dangerous the mission is. For example, ALL of the tension on the ship the entire episode could have been completely resolved if he just took 5 mins to make a ship-wide announcement to validate the crew and make it clear what he expected them to do. The people on the Enterprise would have no problem instantly switching to 4 shifts, working round the clock in engineering, or whatever other extreme thing they were asked to do as long as they knew the severity of the situation and that all of this was required. If he just took 5 mins to say something like "This is Captain Jellico. I know all of this is very sudden and there is a lot of uncertainty right now. Unfortunately, this is an absolutely critical highly classified mission that must happen immediately, and we don't have enough time to properly prepare. I am unable to tell you the details, but know that our very lives, and the safety of the entire Federation may be at stake. I'll have to ask you all for a lot of changes and a lot of sacrifices that must happen immediately. But this is a matter where speed is absolutely paramount. We need to push this ship to it's limits in order to be above and beyond battle ready far beyond what this ship was even designed to do, and we only have a few days to do it. Please understand that in the next few days, I will not have time to explain the reasoning behind any orders. Please just follow them at any cost, no matter how difficult or strange they may seem, and understand that everything being asked of you is absolutely necessary for both our survival and the federation. I ask you for your faith and trust during this difficult time. You are all the best that the Federation has to offer. I'm sure you'll all perform exemplory and be up for the hard challenges that lie ahead. Things can go back to normal once the mission is over, but right now we don't have time to breath. Let's get it done. " Of course, then we wouldn't have an episode. Instead he keeps everyone on edge which actually makes the crew less efficient in a time of crisis, and that's what Riker was trying to explain to him. He can still be himself AND validate the crew. He doesn't have to exclude one for the other. He also doesn't have to cut people off mid sentence, and he can treat the people under his command like people instead of pawns. He either doesn't know how to motivate people to get them to want to do their best, or he's pushing that aside right now due to stress over the mission.

Jellico was right, however so was Riker, to a degree. It is Jellico who threw his toys out of the pram, simply because Riker did his job, which is to speak his mind. It is telling that Jellico replaced him with Data, who is compliant by nature. We didn't once see Data act as a good XO after he took on Rikers' role, he acted as a pure yes man.

Since you've now seen the DS9 pilot, I can say that this episode DOES set up DS9, at least in situation. This is also why I said Picard's decision to expose the admiral in "Ensign Ro" was so important. By exposing the plot, Picard delayed a Treaty the Cardassians would have favored. Here, we see them try to get their way through force, only to be rebuffed and sent back to the negotiating table with a weaker hand. This leads to them making consessions on their border, including the Bajoran sector, which is what prompts Starfleet to establish a presence on DS9. Therefore, this episode sets up the basic status quo of what DS9 is.

I think the Beverly-Ferengi scene is great! The looks on the faces of Worf and Picard are priceless...

Some people are pro-Jellico and others are anti-Jellico, but I think most would agree that sometimes good people just don't work well together. In this case Jellico was just in a tough spot and didn't feel he had the time to make things easy for everyone. Personally, I think his only real misstep was the shift change issue. Any reasonable person should know that you can't ask 1000 people to change their daily routine with zero notice and expect them the perform well. Other than that, everything comes down to simple personality mismatches.

I really expected you guys would not like Jelico at all. Mostly because he was such a contrast from Picard's style, which you guys love and respect so much. He has a very abrasive leadership style but I believe he genuinely cared in the cause he was working for. I don't see Riker as undisciplined and insubordinate as you guys do so that perspective still surprises me, too. Fun reaction to watch!

Time to defend Riker. He makes one good point: Jelico sucks all the joy out of the job This is a post scarcity society, and the crew isn't serving out of any necessity. They could literally do anything, or nothing. They wanted to do this - so what happens if you sour that love? If you make the job suck, all the incentive disappears. And promising officers leave to do something else, something more personally rewarding. Jellico is a fine enough commander today, but in a post scarcity society his inability to leave room for personal input and self actualization may actually make him (as Riker argues) a 'bad' Captain.

Actually Stewart had long objected to the fish, saying that it was inconsisent with the show's message that the captain had a captive animal in the ready room, so getting rid of the fish was a nod to that. The fish has a name which I'm sure someone else remembers

I think the core problem with Riker as a character is he was originally supposed to be the Kirk to the more disciplined and conservative Picard, but after the first two seasons that role didnt make sense anymore, and they somewhat struggled with what to do with him, often making him just sort of a first officer whose more aggressive and a clear number 2 to Picard who really got developed into his current form in season 3 though there were hints of it earlier. I remember in the episode with Nagilum, they werent sure if Picard was bluffing, whereas now they would probably be confident that he wasnt.

The face Patrick Stewart is making during the end of the interrogation when he is trying to resist saying there are five lights is so powerful after knowing that when Picard was looking up at those lights that last time he really was seeing a fifth light that he knew wasn't really there. His face is one of confusion and maybe terror

I think hes right about the flagship, these are supposedly the best and brightest of starfleet, so it makes sense to give them more leeway then the average crew, but it seems largely at the captain's discretion and Picard and Jellico have different personalities and command styles.

well if you're looking for an "in universe explanation" the Ro episode established that the degree to which the uniform standards are given cultural based exceptions is really at the discretion of the commanding officers, so originally maybe it was a nod to her betazoid heritage, which Picrad would be more accepting of then Jelico

Ronnie Cox is also in Robocop. He is so good playing for assholes.

Yeah. Her original costume was all Roddenberry and the showrunner had been looking for a reason to get her back in a standard uniform, and this provided the perfect opportunity

Riker is a full commander, Data is a lieutenant commander. Spock was the second in command in TOS but had the rank of Lt Commander. Data was not promotoed in rank, so he had the same pips, which indicate rank, but he was promoted in role, to first officer (second in command) after Riker was relieved.

I think most people have come around on Jellico these days. I think if he was like that all the time, I could understand the crew getting their back up, but it's what the situation called for. Although the "you sort out the morale, Troi" was a little out of hand I thought. This was my first uncut episode after joining the Patreon. Damn, quite the one to start on! Great job guys!

You know, I never knew Ronnie Cox was in Total Recall. I have never seen it. Lately, I have be getting really deep into cyberpunk (Thank you, Cyberpunk 2077!) Now I absolutely MUST watch it. Tonight! If he is half as good in it, as he is playing Jellico, I'm sure I'm in for a treat.

I see a lot of support for Jellico here, and its all subjective, just opinions and I think there's valid points people are making in his favor. But I'm still mostly against him. I know a lot of people like to defend him as a military style leader who just wants to push the crew. There are good stern military leaders, but a lot of what Jellico does doesn't fit that. Now part of that might be them forcing it a bit to make the audience not like him so we can come around later, that might not be the characters fault. But I'm just not a fan. The best officers push their subordinates, but also give them an understanding of the goals, what they are working towards, and encouragement. I'm not talking about "atta boys" and "good jobs" but more, for the senior leadership, of explaining your vision and making them feel a part of what you are trying to, rather than coming in acting like you have a superior method they just can't understand and need to simply trust in your orders without explanation. These aren't a bunch of 19 year olds, some of whom need extra structure and rules to get their best. These older, experienced officers, who know their strengths and the capabilities of the ship. Push them, but also listen to them. Share your vision and what you think these changes will gain. Either they will see the possibility in that and be open to it, now that they understand, or they can tell him the flaws he might not anticipate. The way Jellico goes about it, instead of having his best people on board and operating at their best, read for that fight he wants, he's putting them in positions to be tired, misunderstanding what his goals are, and questioning his decisions. He's actually setting himself up for breakdowns and issues that could come in those high stress moments of battle. In short, by behaving this way with the senior officers, he's actually hindering being prepared for war, not helping.

you like Cardies..Just Wait

Also this episode was comeended by Amnesty International and Stewart was heavily involved with it at the time. This episode and Family stand as the Disrace that Stewart did not win an emmy for the performance

I HATE Jellico! I have hated that character from the first time I've watched this series as a kid and still do. Between him and the torture scenes, I've only watched this 2 parter a few times

It's so funny how most of the discussions about Jellico on other YouTube channels seem to sway more towards him being an asshole but most people here seem to approve of his management style. He is such a well-written and acted character, the shouting matches between him and Riker are on par with Picard and Madred. I must have watched this two-parter 20 times now and I swear it gets better each time...

In the first edit, Gul Madred wasn’t in the script; the interrogation scenes were conducted by Samuel Clemens.

Yes, the Cardis are the Nazis .... but in spaaaaace

Jellico WAS quite hated in the fanbase at the time of first airing. I think just because he was an outsider who messed with our beloved crew and 'replaced' Picard. That attitude clearly changed over the times and he is seen much more complex today. In many ways just how you guys discribed him.

I’ll say it. Fuck Jellico, but Ronny Cox is awesome. Coming in and changing the duty shifts with no notice and putting everyone on edge is not what a good leader does. Dude needs to take some management classes or something.

Indeed, torture is effective at breaking people, even those as strong as Picard. Part of this was covered in "Family", after Picard recovers physically from being taken by the Borg. But mentally, having to return home, talk with his brother, only achieving some form of catharsis after admitting to his brother but, more to himself, he wasn't strong enough... That isn't a failing of Picard, it's the human condition. We all strive to do the best that we can, but as Picard once said, it's possible to make no mistakes and yet still lose. So, Picard saw 5 lights. Does that diminish him? Hell no. The fact he could be open about it with Troi suggests tremendous character development since his return home to the muddy Vineyard. Picard is indeed the GOAT.

Jellico is a character that they made into a bad guy by the music but seems like an excellent captain. He is preparing the enterprise for war and the crew acted like babies not basically military officers.

Jellico is an interesting character and Im impressed how well they threaded the needle with him- it'd be so easy to just make him an antagonistic guy, but they fleshed him out with sympathetic elements that make it hard to fall into that thinking. I forget where I read it, but someone once described Cardassian design as "The alien species that lives in 1984-world" and I cannot unsee it every time its shown now.

You guys mentioned about having no set up for DS9, but there was meant to have been in this episode, the part with the Ferengi was meant to have been on DS9 but it was changed for scheduling reasons.

💡💡💡💡

It's not so much that other ships are neccaasilly more strict like Jellico....the thing about the Enterprise being Galaxy class was more that those ships are less common and are the top of the line most powerful ships in the fleet.

The seeing 5 lights was proof that you cant trust the accuracy of information you get from torture...you can break someone but it's not a good way of getting intelligence.....and this was also clearly well before 9/11

David Warner the Cartesian was not only Chancellor Gorkin in ST6 but he was also St. John Talbot in ST5 the drunk washed up Federation ambassador on the galactic planet of peace.

Like you i also know Ronny Cox from Total Recall, but i best know him from Beverly Hills Cop (1 and 2), and from Robocop. Aside from his other appearances in Star Trek, i know David Warner from many films such as The Omen, In The Mouth Of Madness, Waxwork... He even had a short cameo in Scream 2 as Sidney's drama teacher. My favourite story involving him is about the prop of his prosthetic head from The Omen. He kept it for years, until he had to give it to his ex-wife as part of the divorce settlement, which i find hilarious. Now you understand why I love the Cardassians best, i think even slightly more than the Romulans. Obviously I couldn't tell you that sooner until you saw them a bit more. When you watched The Wounded i think you wondered if we'd ever see Cardassians again i just smiled knowingly.

Something interesting about David Warner's performance: He only had 3 days notice for this role...all of those amazing lines he delivered were read off of cue cards. He didn't have time to memorize and rehearse...he was straight up reading off cue cards while playing opposite Patrick Stewart in those scenes! David Warner could sit there and read the wikipedia entry on the chemical properties of canola oil and I would be fascinated.

Jellico is one of my top favorite Starfleet captains. Even though it was a single appearance, I would hope that the actor goes to conventions and would be sad if he didn’t. Jellico comes from an Excelsior class vessel that does not have the comforts and amenities of a Galaxy class, not to mention the lack of families and civilians for the most part. He is used to having officers and crew who are highly disciplined and follows his orders without hesitation, in a more military style. While the Enterprise crew does follow a military chain of command, they function a lot more like a family and follow orders more out of trust than out of duty. And they have such a broad mission profile being a Galaxy class ship that can explore deep space unsupported for months, if not years. Planetary surveys, archeological and anthropological research, astrophysics labs, biology labs, etc. Jellico simply did not anticipate that they require a lot more of a trusting flow of command and orders and was expecting them all to answer with “how high” when he said “jump.” And while I see that as a bit of a weakness on Jellico’s part, I see that as a sign of high complacency on the part of Riker and his command leadership, which reflects down the chain of command. I think maybe Riker was afraid of having his subordinates just as pissed off at him as he was at Jellico, if he were to stand firm on relaying Jellico’s orders and expecting them to be carried out. Jellico IMO was Commander Kurn Part II. Being at the very top though, and not giving Picard the time of day to advise him on the crew Picard built, gave him a more powerful leverage over the situation than a Klingon who was used to killing insubordinate officers. And his use of Data was brilliant. Data was objective, logical, and informative in his support of Jellico’s directives. Nobody could argue that, even though it was clear that this caused tension with people like Geordie who was close friends with Data. I absolutely LOVE that he ordered Diana to wear standard uniforms, and I also LOVE that Sirtis asked for this to be in the script. Even as a young teenage boy, I found Diana’s outfits to be unprofessional and needlessly flattering of her form. I do understand though that as ships counsellor she prefers to wear civilian clothing when working in a counseling role with the crew and even civilians. She wouldn’t want to be there as a symbol of authority (since she outranks 99% of them,) and would rather set them at ease with more approachable attire. But I agree with Jellico that when she is on the bridge she needs to look like a Starfleet Officer. I also think Riker, although his concerns were warranted, was out of line with Jellico on several occasions. He would never question Picard putting another crew member at risk in the line of duty, so he understands the risks involved in wearing the uniform. He also has the ability to understand the broader stellar-political/diplomatic stakes at play, and how saving one man by weakening the Federation’s stance is really the worst play they could make. I think at the end he came to respect Jellico for getting the job done, and being willing to take the necessary risks. Jellico would be an excellent and most challenging poker opponent to Riker. Forcing Jellico to almost BEG Riker to fly the mission was a bit of a dick move, but Jellico was the bigger man for not letting his ego here get in the way of a successful operation. And I think at the end, with Jellico’s statement “it has been an honor serving with you,” shows his true character and that he came away with a different perspective on the role of a captain and first officer. Stewart’s acting was Oscar worthy in these episodes. Brilliant. What more can I say. And Picard – always finding a way to keep his hopes up, or to humanize his captor to avoid being completely dominated and to shake up his confidence. I think you were right though, how at the end he knew he broke Picard even though Picard never admitted to it. He’s broken people before and he knows what that looks like. Nothing in these two episodes makes me think that the admiral was a bad player in this. She knew what she was doing, and she rightfully understood that Jellico was the better option for dealing with the Cardassians than Riker, and maybe even Picard. I’m sure Picard would have gotten the job done, but he was needed elsewhere. Riker being in command while Jellico negotiated was not the right play either and the admiral knew it. Riker really got put in his place in this episode. He’s been offered a command of his own many times. But that command was never the Flagship. I dare say that if Picard was killed, Jellico would have been the permanent captain on the Enterprise. Riker is ready for a command, but not even close to ready to be captain of the flagship. Pretty much everyone else filled their roles, although Deanna and obviously Data were about the only ones not moping about the change of command style (and Worf, although he wasn’t involved much in Part II.) Geordie exhibited poor leadership at times by showing frustration directly to Jellico, which was partly influenced by Riker sharing his frustrations down the chain of command. I think the reason we didn’t hear much from Worf is that Jellico was exactly the type of captain that he thrives under. Jellico was so quick to demonstrate their terms with that “baby” mine, and Worf was all over that. When Jellico was starting to order one of the main mines to go off, I could almost see a glint in Worf’s eyes. This is a top tier episode(s) for me. Brilliant writing and acting. I love that it shows all of the complacency and character flaws of the crew being comfortable under Picard and shaken up by the change in command. I love that it unabashedly goes into the dark subject of torture and shows Picard going through it all. I love that it has consequences that every character has to face. S Tier 5/4 lights for me.

Riker should have taken command when Jellico refused to try to save Picard. (It would have been interesting to see whether or not Data would have gone along with it. Doctor Crusher sure as hell would have.) I know Jellico's plan ultimately worked, but he really wasn't a good captain--if you can't get the best out of your people and everyone is miserable all the time, then as a captain you're lousy at about 80% of the job.

The requests that Jellicoe makes—like getting rid of the fish and making Troi wear a standard uniform—were actually requests make by the actors. Stewart didn’t think we would be imprisoning exotic fish in small tanks in the future. And Sirtis wanted to be dressed the same way as the rest of the staff.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't particularly like Jellico. As a captain, that is. As a character he's great. Most of what he does is fine, but he makes at least one unforgivably stupid decision, and it's his very first one: changing from a three shift crew schedule to a four shift schedule. What was he thinking? "I'm going to be working this crew around the clock to get wartime-ready, what else can I do to stress them even more? I know! I'll completely disrupt their entire staffing structure and sleep schedules for no reason just as they're already being pushed to their limits!" And it evidently isn't a one-time dumb decision either. Judging by Geordi's complaints to Riker, it's a pattern with him. He micromanages changes to the duty roster (which is Riker's job, not his) and disrupts the way the crew gets things done while simultaneously demanding that they be more efficient than ever. It's like he takes a Cardassian attitude of wanting to take a dominant social position - making big changes just to assert his authority to do so - but ignores the fact that in these circumstances it's more important to not 'fix' what isn't broken. He needs the crew at their best, and there's no time to overhaul the way that they operate, so making all these unnecessary changes is just shooting himself in the foot. Everything Riker says about him is true.

This my favorite episode of TNG hands down. Of course, Patrick Stewart and David Warner sharing scenes plus Ronnie Cox is the reason. There are four lights!

As for Troi's uniform, she is allowed to wear civvies for the sake of putting people more at ease to talk to her in therapy sessions. Less intimidating to talk to a nice lady in casual clothes than a commissioned officer with Lieutenant Commander pips. More realistically...the showrunners needed Marina Sirtis to the show's "babe" and wanted to get her boobs out for the thirsty audience.

Jellico has a different style, but he is effective. He's a widely hated character in the fandom...but that doesn't mean he's wrong. He does it differently...but he does it. The clash of personalities between him and Riker is well written. Have to say, I'm not really on Riker's side, here. Riker is simply too comfortable, and resents being taken outside of that comfort zone by someone with a completely different vibe. I think the writing here is excellent.

In the weeks leading up to DS9 coming out, I remember Rick Berman and Michael Piller going on QVC to hawk Star Trek merch and promote the new show. There was a LOT about the show that we the audience knew going in that you two have decided you do not want to know, and I will respect that I was at my cousin's house and he came in the room and changed the channel on me, thinking I didn't want to watch QVC and couldn't find the remote. I had to yell at him, "Noooo! They were talking about Star Trek!"

Great Two-part episode maybe the best in TNG. I watched this when it came out i didn't like Jellico but later in life, I love him he rattled people in the right way. I think we can all see this character in our work lives from time to time and even take on some of his attributes.

I was 24 when this two-parter first aired in 1992. I really didn’t like Captain Jellico. I’m 56 now and I find that I really like him and identify with quite a bit of his command style. I spent 20 years of my career in charge of an operation and having employees that I led. I learned how to effectively communicate expectations and then let my employees carry those out. I was always open to input from them but in the end I made the decision and expected them to get it done.

Why the hell am just now getting this notification 24 hrs after this was posted??? I would have loved to watch this last night.

The shift change was the worst most unnecessary thing the new captain ordered. Imagine someone telling you that you had to go from what you watch now to pumping out three more episodes of something a week starting today.

Ooooh. I will have to look into that. Thank you!

Great episode other than the absurdity of sending the crew they did with the exception of Worf. Imagine there being a mission to infiltrate a facility in Iran and the US using The Commander of the USS Nimitz and its Doctor rather than Navy SEALS.

Well I joined hoping to get uncut reactions, but it seems that only happens if you've got your own copy of the episodes. Unfortunate. Thanks anyways guys.

The best of Trek and more relevant than ever now.

I liked when they put Donald Trump here in charge of the Enterprise. Jellico obviously read The Art of the Deal

Get it done!

I have really been looking forward to seeing your reaction to this! I love this!

Jeri Taylor - the unsung hero of this two parter. She extensively rewrote part 2 but doesn’t get a credit. And David Warner for that matter who read his lines on a cue card because he came in so late he couldn’t learn his lines.

Great reaction in tune with the great episode. I thought it was just a fun choice of a thumbnail, but Josh really does have that bowled over "I can't believe they did this amazing thing" expression for just about the entire video! 😲

You wanted more Cardassians, well HERE THEY SIT!

So, that was just a small insight into what the Cardassians are capable of.

Oops on the uniform spoiler. I assumed the other comments about Marina wanting the change gave it away. This definitely feels like the 2 parter that had the smallest gap in quality between part 1 and 2. Part 1 is a little more typical, and part 2 is the one that really pushed boundaries for a Trek show, but overall it's another reason I consider season 6 to be TNG's best. As for Jellico, I neither love nor hate him as much as most people seem to. He was the man they needed to deal with this situation with the Cardassians, and he did in fact "get it done". I'm sure were he taking command at a less critical time he'd be a bit less overbearing, but I get that urgency demanded it. That said, while I respect the guy's competence, he's still a bit of an ass, and somewhat short tempered. Given Troi's comment, perhaps a lot of that stems from an insecurity on his part. For all we know he suffers from a bit of imposter syndrome he keeps well hidden. I don't think he's a bad captain by any means, but for the kinds of situations the Enterprise usually finds itself in, I think Picard's command style generally works better. I do agree however that Riker wasn't at his best here. I know his loyalty is to Picard, but a first officer is supposed to be an extension of the captain's will(pardon the pun). Generally, Riker does an exemplary job being Picard's right hand, but here he does something that I'd say is a big red flag, and that's questioning the captain in front of the crew. That needs to be done privately, and when the decision is made, it's his job to enforce it. Also when the cardassian said they captured Picard and Riker says "is he alive". The way Jellico looks over at him like "way to admit we knew about it". Anyway, glad you enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to DS9.

Fantastic reaction, top-tier episode and one of the three best two-parters for ST:TNG in my opinion. You've seen one of them, the next is yet to come. I knew you guys would love this one! P.S. Jelico did nothing wrong!

As luck would have it timing wise, Nacelle Company just put up their first wave of new Trek figures for pre order and Captain Jellico is in the wave! Sure he'd look great on your shelves

I believe that I read that the idea behind Troi's non-uniform outfits was that it would make her more approachable to the crew when they need counseling. But like you said, I'm sure there are other,uh, reasons for the low necklines.

Ronald Moore took the opportunity to address a couple of issues the cast were having. He finally gave Marina Sirtis the Starfleet uniform she had long been wanting. And he got rid of the Lion fish in the ready room, which Patrick Stewart had long protested — feeling that enlightened humanity wouldn’t keep an animal in captivity.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Is Part I or Part II of chain of command better? Once you're in the high country where the air thins how can you even think about comparing? But I will, because part 2 broke all the rules for what we expected of TNG and 90's Trek. Amazing performances from Patrick Stewart and David Warner giving us intense gut wrenching emotions in a stripped down minimalistic setting, two actors reflecting off each other's performances. All the while the action back on the Enterprise maintained its high standards set from part I. What an episode!

One little detail I love about part 1 is, when Picard is captured, Warf did not choose to go and leave him behind. He was holding the door open and got shot with a phaser. That sent him flying back and causes the door to close. It's perfect because we all know Warf wouldnt have left the captain. I suppose not getting killed by it is a small inconsistency from what we know about the Cardassians, but still. Fantastic writing that keeps the characters true to themselves.

Afraid Of Heights Gang represent

The lion fish was named Livingston.

Part of growing older, I think, is learning to appreciate Riker in this two-parter less and coming to understand how useful and on-point Jellico was. As a kid, I bought into the show's emotional appeal; the TONE of it makes us want to hate Jellico. But, thankfully, the writers didn't fall into the usual hole of making the character a traitor or a sociopath or someone else essentially "guilty" or nefarious. Still, even today, I feel that all of the Enterprise drama pales in comparison to what Picard goes through. Talk about an installment that wants to do two things at once. Still, it's a dayum good episode: perhaps TNG's best two-parter. I think it's more enjoyable on re-watches than Best of Both Worlds, although BoBW has its own pulp-y brand of magnificence. What's best about Chain of Command 1-2 is that it establishes what is essentially the "new" "normal" aesthetic for Cardassians. The timing couldn't be any better, too.

Jellico did nothing wrong. Also, fun fact , Patrick Stewart requested they remove the fish. He didn’t like the idea of an advanced civilization keeping pets.

My crew, the USS Trepang, fucking LOVED Jellicho. We wanted him to permanently replace Picard. This episode also kinda made me hate Riker. We're meant to side with him, but us Navy boys were like "Jellicho is the MAN."

I believe the original intention of the terrible Ferengi scene was to have it cross over with DS9. Someone on the production crew pointed out the show would air prior to the premiere of DS9 so they rewrote it.

One of my all time favorite episodes of any Trek, and somehow I enjoyed it even more watching with y'all. You guys rock.

I hate Jellico. I assumed the fish was a hologram

Oh no Beverly! The rocks "Crusher" ...

great ep guys. See yall next week. DS freakin 9 .. lets go

People will see the boys loving this wildly popular two-parter and still convince themselves that they're contrarians who hate all good Trek. Great reaction and discussion. Can't wait for the DS9 pilot!

Pausing after part one here. So happy to see what you guys think of Jellico so far. I think maybe there's a bit of a fan split on his character. But I like seeing the crew have to deal with a more military attitude.

Haha!! "He's supposed to be a big name. He looks and sounds familiar". I can hear all the Star Trek fans screaming at the screen. LMAO!!!

I don't know why you keep saying there are 4 likes, because I see 15..........thus far. =P

IIRC Marina Sirtis really wanted to have Troi wearing a uniform, for exactly the reasons you mention - the costume sexualised her. This was them writing a reason to get her into a Uniform .

Watched this episode with subtitles turned on. After "You are 6 years old/You cannot hurt me", they then read [SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY], when he was actually singing a French song... nice call-back to when he'd been talking about singing at Sunday dinner back at home

Rewatching this with you guys is actually the first time I've rewatched this episode in the 25 years or so since I first saw it when I was 12 or so - I've always skipped it in rewatches because the whole Picard being tortured thing is distinctly uncomfortable, and TNG has alway been a comfy show for me. I'm hugely impressed by the episode though and I think it definitely deserves to be in the top 3 episodes of TNG. Now that it's over though, I'm really looking forward to you guys watching DS9, it's always been my favourite trek.

So not only does David Warner play a real slimy piece of work here and in Titanic, he's also incredibly sweet and good as Bob Cratchit in the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. Really shows what kind of range he had. I know he played lots of other roles, but those are the ones I have seen the most.

To this day, if I'm in a setting where there are a couple of ceiling spotlights and there's at least four of them, I'll call out "THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!"

Someone needs to put Robo Cop on the to do list.

Tell me, how many likes do you see?

Wait, does this mean we get DS9 this weekend?

Here we gooooooooo!

OMG are we finally here?... Stewart really on his game in this one! Got my death wish coffee and ready to power through this one!! 20 min in chompin at the bit..love this episode

Unbelievable acting of the highest order in this episode. I'll be surprised if you guys do anything other than watch open mouthed during the torture sequences, forgetting you're on camera lol. Jellico gets a lot of hate, coming on OUR ship and changing things up so much but one thing he does is get Troi finally into uniform, which I always felt suited her better than those costumes she wore anyway lol.

BOTH? AT ONCE? AS GOD INTENDED? THANK THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER

LETS FUCKING GOOO!!!