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What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

Agreed. Riker just has a shitty attitude from the jump because the Admiral gave the Enterprise to Jellico instead of him.

if the Captain wants a 4 shift rotation, even if it’s inefficient from your perspective, you discreetly point that out then carry on with his wishes.
That is the nature of the chain of command. Even MASH did that better.
 
Some of the rest you mentioned qualifies him, as Severaux calls it, minimally competent for what's expected of a guy in his position (really we're giving him points for talking to Geordi and recognizing Data as sapient? In the 24th century? And for eventually swallowing his ego and working with Riker?), marred by the fact that it was all intermingled with his pathological need to restructure the Enterprise during the worst time to restructure things.

And I agree, that was a big mark against him in my mind. It was a pathological need to micromanage everything instead of doing as Picard did: securing competent people and letting them do their job. On balance, he was not good for the Enterprise, for that reason.

Still, I approved of many of his decisions: ask Troi to dress like an officer while on the bridge? Yes, and Picard should have done the same. With battle coming, increase weapon power and system efficiency, absolutely: that is also why I regard his decision to change the rotation as almost criminally negligent. Refuse to admit that a covert action was done with Starfleet sanction? He said he would need to consult with his superiors, and I agree with that: the decision to "out" a covert operation was not his (or Riker's) to make. And I stand by my statement that promoting Data spoke well of him: he judged Data on his abilities, and was happy to have him as his acting first officer.
 
Both officers come off like dick-measuring assholes in the episode and the most competent member of the senior officers left aboard is Data, who wasn't going to be left in command in the first place and will comply with whatever legal and rational-sounding orders either Jellico or Riker will give.
 
Just as BoBW showed that Riker was ready for the Big Chair, this episode arguably showed that Data was ready to take his place.
 
I mean when Data took over and Worf was a asshole, Data took him aside and set him straight. But there's a problem there, Worf listened because he *likes* Data personally. Riker doesn't like Jellicoe. Jellicoe had to come down and beg him while he lounged around in sleepwear. There's a issue there.

If Worf and Data had no personal relationship, if Data was some new introduction, what would Worf had done then? Begrudingly accepted because maybe Riker and Picard told him to? But not to any love for the chain of command itself or discipline.
 
Yeah, it's possible to view both characters as clowns in this episode and still respect why Jellico was put in command by Starfleet.
 
Yeah, it's possible to view both characters as clowns in this episode and still respect why Jellico was put in command by Starfleet.

Correct/agreed, Jellico was not perfect either. In fact, the scene where Jellico says "let's drop ranks for a minute" and both men come at each other with how they really feel pretty much sums up the truth. They were both being dicks. But, at the end of the day, Jellico was in command and the Enterprise was in a crisis situation. You don't buck the orders of your brand new CO in that situation. You fall in line and get stuff done. That's your job as XO.
 
It's clear that Starfleet Command found him the most qualified man for the assignment and whatever I or anyone else thinks about his dickishness he was clearly an experienced commander who gets the job done.
 
It's clear that Starfleet Command found him the most qualified man for the assignment and whatever I or anyone else thinks about his dickishness he was clearly an experienced commander who gets the job done.

True. But if the Enterprise had been forced to enter combat while Delta shift was on, consisting of people mashed together from other shifts, who hadn't developed the ability to work together smoothly... it might have been blasted out of space. Jellico's penchant for unnecessary micromanagement would have cost over 1000 lives, and possibly forced unknown thousands of colonists to either flee theur homes or live under Cardassian tyranny.

He got the job done, but he still made a mess of it.
 
It's clear that Starfleet Command found him the most qualified man for the assignment and whatever I or anyone else thinks about his dickishness he was clearly an experienced commander who gets the job done.
I’m not so sure about that. I mean, that’s a valid conclusion based on how the episode played out, but at the time I thought the first episode at least suggested that Jellico and Nechayev were in league with the Cardassians. Jellico’s rough handling of his new crew over trivial matters could have been part of a larger plan to sow confusion among the hands of the Flagship of the Federation.™

But, as with most bait-and-switch plotting, Ed there was actually a right gee with the good of the service always foremost in his mind.
JhnlDPc.jpg
 
Still, I approved of many of his decisions: ask Troi to dress like an officer while on the bridge? Yes, and Picard should have done the same.

But again, as long as it is Starfleet regulation for a counselor to have the option to dress in civilian attire, which it must have been, there is no inherent need for her to be in uniform instead and it was just another "my way or the highway" moment for Jellico. Whether you prefer the change is irrelevant to that.
Of course I myself have pointed out that parts of Troi's attire (the flowing skirts, the high heels, the free flowing hair) could be a hazard in certain situations, but that's not how Jellico justifies it, he just tells her that he wants it that way.
And I stand by my statement that promoting Data spoke well of him: he judged Data on his abilities, and was happy to have him as his acting first officer.

But again that shouldn't bring him brownie points. It's the 24th century were people are supposed to judge Data by his abilities. Only because the Queen of the Screech Harpies (Polaski) treated him like a machine at first doesn't mean that it's normal for people to do so, I had the impression that her mindset was deliberately shown as antiquated.
 
Maybe antiquated, but widely shared. It's interesting that despite Data being the second officer on the flagship and with undoubtedly stellar fitness reports, no one in Starfleet ever offers him either a first officer slot or other commander's berth.
 
Starfleet might have uniform codes, but a captain might choose not to enforce some of them. Or, they might get looser over time (again at the captain's discretion), which is why Worf's hair got longer as the series progressed, and why Bajorans were allowed to wear their earrings.

It is rather interesting, btw, that male officers were expected to wear short hair... surely there are some cultures (human and alien alike) in which male hair is worn long.
 
I always figured uniform regulation was set by the CO.

There most be a starfleet-wide regulation that decides what is permissible and what is not and, at least for the timeframe of TNG this must have included that counselors are allowed to wear civilian clothing (at least at the CO's discretion)
And I'm just saying that Jellico shouldn't be commended for enforcing his own preferences. And even in the wider story-arc of TNG find him telling Troi to wear the uniform problematic, since the change stuck. A major change in her character happened because some man told her to change it. No bueno.
I think Troi should have decided for herself that she wants to wear the uniform (in season 2 or 3 preferably)

Of course it was all just a flimsy excuse to give Marina Sirtis' breasts more screentime (about which she wasn't happy anyway)

It is rather interesting, btw, that male officers were expected to wear short hair... surely there are some cultures (human and alien alike) in which male hair is worn long.

See I don't think there was any such regulation. We do occasionally see male extras with mullets, so I think Worf's shorter hair in the early seasons was a personal choice, which would fit with him being the overly-correct type.
We do see a couple of Klingons with short hair similar to Worfs's in DS9.
 
The Klingon exchange officer in "The Drumhead(TNG)" also had shorter-than-usual hair for the time period.
 
There most be a starfleet-wide regulation that decides what is permissible and what is not and, at least for the timeframe of TNG this must have included that counselors are allowed to wear civilian clothing (at least at the CO's discretion)
And I'm just saying that Jellico shouldn't be commended for enforcing his own preferences. And even in the wider story-arc of TNG find him telling Troi to wear the uniform problematic, since the change stuck. A major change in her character happened because some man told her to change it. No bueno.
I think Troi should have decided for herself that she wants to wear the uniform (in season 2 or 3 preferably)

Of course it was all just a flimsy excuse to give Marina Sirtis' breasts more screentime (about which she wasn't happy anyway)



See I don't think there was any such regulation. We do occasionally see male extras with mullets, so I think Worf's shorter hair in the early seasons was a personal choice, which would fit with him being the overly-correct type.
We do see a couple of Klingons with short hair similar to Worfs's in DS9.
I was not commending so much as stating he was not as unreasonable as often portrayed.
 
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