Was Captain Jellico THAT Bad? | Star Trek the Next Generation Chain of Command Analysis

 

Captain Edward Jellico appeared on the Star Trek the Next Generation Episode Chain of Command Parts 1 and 2. He was given command of the USS Enterprise when Captain Picard was relieved and assigned to a dangerous mission.

Friction between the Cardassians and the Federation was intense and the stakes were high. The secret mission was imperative as well as Jellico's negotiation with the Cardassians.

Many people on the crew had a tough time adjusting to the new captain as well as the whole situation, most of all Commander Riker, the crew's first officer, the next in command under the captain.

I'm going to tell you why the hate Jellico gets is undeserved as well as the label of tyrant because of his allegedly tyrannical style of leadership. One of the reasons, is Commander Riker's failing grade performance during the episode, during the mission, and his failure to adjust to a new captain.

The Starfleet is a military style organization with ranks and similar chain of command to a real world navy in present day, such as the United States Navy, from which the show takes the rank structure, from crewman to chief, from ensign to admiral. The star ships are operated similar to how real ships are operated, with the galaxy class Enterprise being similar to size and ship's company to an aircraft carrier, namely the USS Enterprise. I'm going to be comparing Starfleet to a navy in our timeline because it helps the viewer relate to what is going on.

And that's one reason I love Star Trek because even when they're dealing with aliens, it's always first and foremost about human stories. Later Star Trek shows are lazy and forego the great stories and great dialog and writing and dial the special effects and aliens stuff to 11, which is not what Star Trek should be about at its core, but I digress. While the setting is in outer space in the future, what you're watching is relatable, because the ship may as well be a ship in our time, in our world, a place YOU can actually go, people you can interact with. In the episode A Matter of Honor, one of Commander Riker's best moments as a Starfleet Officer. We see an officer exchange program between the Starfleet and the Klingon aliens. While we're watching aliens, the whole episode may as well have been about the US navy and the Russians. The Cold War was still going on and the tensions between the US and the Russians were similar to the Starfleet and Klingons. It was a relatable human story, and part of the that is the way ships and the ship's officers act how we would expect them to act if the story were set in our time and place.

While the Enterprise is on a mission of peace, it is equipped with a formidable armament of weapons and can go into red-alert, and full battle stations ready, at a moment's notice.

Riker failed as first officer. Similar to the naval organization that I went through, Starfleet has a chain of command (which is the name of the episode), and that chain of command is always respected. Senior officers give junior officers and crew members orders and those offices must follow them. Riker failed to adapt to a new leadership style, he was insubordinate, his attitude plain sucked and he was removed from his position as a result. Captain Picard's secret mission fails, his team entrapped and ambushed, and he is taken hostage to be interrogated. Riker's personal concern for Captain Picard was understandable, but for the mission to succeed, he had to hold off the grieving process and get back to work, as they've done numerous times when they've lost personnel.

It was his job to bring alternative options to the captain but ultimately, it was always the captain's decision on what to do, and the first officer's job to follow the orders and make sure they are carried out. The crew is only human (except for the ones that aren't), so they are expected to have strong emotions to drastic changes. But they are also expected to keep these emotions to themselves and do their jobs. The ship's counselor was there for the crew and officers to let off steam, to make unofficial complaints, and she felt the pulse of the crew's morale. Troi, too, brings up the morale issue to the new captain, but Captain Jellico rejects her concern.

The ship's crew as a whole failed to adjust to the situation, and Jellico was right to be disappointed. When serving on a ship, especially in a time of potential war, chaos, or SNAFU situation normal all BLEEP up, should be the anticipated norm, and every crew member should be expected to do his or her duty. The crew had gotten soft, with far too much shore leave on the vacation getaway planet Risa, and the complacency that comes from long periods of peace, without constant training for war. It should not have been an issue changing from 3 watch shifts to 4. At every moment of the day or night, there is always a watch on duty while other watches sleep and have free time. Consider the enterprise like a giant submarine or any ship at sea. There isn't a minute that each ship doesn't have at least a skeleton crew awake and ready. Riker simply didn't like to be the one to tell a group of crew and officer that their free time was over for that night, and some shifts may have to work late without sleep. But that was his job. The captain gave the order, and the subordinate officers are supposed to make sure it's carried out. Yes, the first officer gets the brunt of the gripes and displeasure of the crew, but again that's his job. The crew should have been used to revolving shifts, and it shouldn't have been an issue at all. Failing to get the shifts changed was a major problem.

Jellico was acting as any captain should in that situation. He was tough and stern, and didn't accept insubordination. He didn't want his officers wearing pajama on the bridge and he didn't like pet fish. But he wasn't there to make friends, he wasn't there to be liked. If he had been given permanent command of the Enterprise, and it was not an important mission, things may have been different. He may have tried to get ot know his officers and see which of their strengths and weaknesses were and to assign them accordingly. But in this case, in this episode, there was no time. He didn't care if anyone hated him, except that if that hatred got in the way of the job, they were fired and replaced post haste.

He preferred to call his subordinated by their first names. In the show, you often see higher ranks calling lower ranks Mister, as in Mister Worf, Mister Data. This is actually acceptable in the officer ranks of the real military, for instance the US Marine Corps for a higher ranking officer to call a Second Liuetenant mister. But you'd never have a rank call a higher rank Mister. So calling by their first names is not that out of the ordinary for the crew. Jellico' style was also a bit more micro managing than Picard, who had a laissez-faire attitude, trusting his officer's to get the job done how they know how. Jellico was brand new to the crew and little time to get acquainted with the crew, so it should have been expected for him to micromanage. Again if this was a permanent assignment, he could have backed off from the micro-managing as the months went by as the crew gradually earned the trust of their captain.

The show got the perfect actor for this role, played by Ronny Cox. You may have recognized Cox as the main antagonist Vilos Cohaagen in the movie Total Recall, the brutal leader of a Martian Colony who also really doesn't like fish.

In this episode, he's not only intimidating with the crew, but also with his negotiation tactics, which was quite a change to how the previous captain would have handled things. But would a softer approach work? Jellico was chosen for this assignment and this command for his experience dealing with the Cardassians.

His tactics are right out of the book 48 laws of power, :

• 17 Keep others in suspended terror, cultivate an air of unpredictability

• 28 Enter action with boldness

• 31 Control the options. Get others to play the cards you deal. Jellico makes them wait, and only enters when he's ready, after making the Cardassians wait an hour

• 33 Discover each man's thumbscrew- Jellico knew how to deal with the Cardassians, knew their weaknesses.

• 34 Be royal in your own fashion. Act like a king to be treated like one.

• 35 Master the art of time. Never appear to be in a rush. -Jellico waits, waltzes in after an hour.

• 44 Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect. Jellico flips out at the Cardassians to throw them off.

He has an effect style of negotiating, and effect style of leadership. Riker eventually is asked to pilot a ship to save the day and he performs this duty well. As I've said earlier, in many other situations Riker shines. He failed in this episode as an effective first officer, but overall is one of the finest Starfleet had to offer, though I doubt he'd ever like to serve with Captain Jellico again.

The episode is one the best, and is typically ranked very high in top lists. Aside from Ronny Cox, it features another great performance by David Warner as the Cardassian who psychologically and physically tortures Captain Picard [there are 4 lights]. You may have seen David Warner as an antagonist in movies such as Time Bandits, or as Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI. Similar to the scene in 1984 when the tortured protagonist is shown 4 fingers but is told there are 5 and told to say there are 4, Picard is shown 4 lights but is TOLD to proclaim that there are 5 lights. It's a scene you really have to see and have to go through the whole struggle Picard goes through to really feel it's power, and I won't spoil the ending. Patrick Stewart shows the full range of his acting skills conveying the humanity of the character we see from torture to triumph. It's the kind of episode and kind of scene that would never get made today in any form of Star Trek.

As for Jellico, he served with honor and doesn't deserve any hate whatsoever.