Captain Jellico: Totally Awesome, or Lame?

I just rewatched 'Chain of Command' for the first time since my teenage years, and was surprised by how much I liked him (my younger self didn't). I liked his no-nonsense, snappy style of command.

Though I don't see why he needed to ditch Picard's fish.

Your opinons!

 

I loved watching the character but I would never want to serve under a guy like that.

 

I'd serve under him. He's a good captain, and a solid leader.

 

I don’t think we can really get a fair impression of him based on the episode.

He took temporary command for a pretty specific purpose that more or less required him to be a hardass.

I think some of the stuff may have been excessive – are people really going to be at the top of their game when you are moving their shift schedules all around?

But if he had become captain in a normal fashion, there would have been a lot more time and opportunity for him and the rest of the crew to form a bond and get to know each other.

I wonder what the crew onboard the Cairo thought about him?

 

What got me is how unprofessional the TNG crew was. Instead of getting the work done, they whine and complained and Riker got his butt tossed off duty. Then when he was needed for a critical mission, he refused till the Captain-- more or less-- said "pretty please".

 

I'm glad he made Troi wear a proper uniform. It always annoyed me that she didn't previously.

 

Spoken like a true vulcan princess .


I think it is unfair to Jellico to judge him solely on the basis of one episode. But on the basis of this one episode, I would not serve under Jellico. I do not like micromanagement.

 

They did a good job of making him look like a hard-ass, but that's not the same thing as being a jerk. I always though Riker came off as a bit of a malcontent and a cream puff in this episode. Star Fleet is supposed to be at least partly a military organization and Jellico was preparing the ship for potential war. I don't think in any other episode they would let Riker and the crew seem that unprofessional and that unable to adapt to a crisis situation. Riker constant whining about the Captain didn't help either. Compare that to BOBW where he realized his duty and was prepared to kill Picard over everyones objection to do it. The writers on this episode could have built tension between Riker and Jellico in a more believable way.

 

To Cappy Jelly (as he loves to be called) Riker was a chump who turned down at least two commands.

 

I'd say somewhere in between.

He certainly wasn't a suitable captain for a ship of peaceful exploration -and going under the presumption this Starfleet's primary goals it seems like he'd not have much place in Starfleet- but I guess he was a suitable captain for that paticular mission.

I give the crew a little bit of slack in this episode(s). Jelico was being a bit unreasonable and a hardass and we're "taught" in Trek that Starfleet is far less military than we're led to believe, esp. in the Enterprise's case which was supposed to be far more open and peaceful.

So for Jelico to storm on there, demand all sorts of instant changes -including to duty shifts which would likely effect morale and sleep/downtime cycles- was a bit unreasonable. And if SF is supposed to be fairly lax, one can understand some grousing. Especailly after Data suggested that the engieering crew work extended hours -presumably with little down time for sleep and R&R- and Jelico seemed perfectly happy with the idea.

Granted, again, it was a dire situation (a situation I don't believe the crew were even given full details on) but Jelico could've been a bit less of a hard-ass. The Enterprise, again and afterall, is a ship of peace, exploration, and a bit of open-ness. Not a place for some ball-buster storming around with his trite, hard-ass, phrase of "Get it done!" (compared to Picard's much more diplomatic and easy-going, "Make it so.")

The dire situation aside, Jelico wasn't a good fit for the Enterprise-D, what it was supposed to represent (the best example of what humanity had become to introduce the human race to new species) and what its mission was.

 

You know, I question that sometimes. Look at the backstory to some of the TNG crew and you wonder how they stayed in the service much less retain command ranks.

-- Geordi on more than on occasion has been compromised, and was the reason that led to the destruction of the 1701-D

-- Worf just did pretty much whatever he wanted, and got by with even murder so long as he said "Klingon honor"

-- Data was compromised on several occasions.

-- Picard is damaged goods at the best of definitions. Had his ship taken over on a few occasions. Was subverted and used by the Borg, captured and nearly broken.

-- Riker was party to a massive treaty violation, disobeyed orders more than once.

 

From what I can see, Jellico seems like an AWESOME war captain--

But a terrible "explorer" captain.

He don't take any , and that's both a blessing...and a curse.

 

Under Klingon law, and tradition, that wasn't murder. I susepct that the Federation, and Starfleet, is understanding of the traditions and such of other species in this regard.

Geordi was inept at turning all the Enterprise's weapons (phasers and photo-torps) against a 20-year-old rust bucket a fraction of the Enterprise's size?

Hardly his fault.

 

I liked Jellico. I was on his side the whole time. He was right, and the Ent-D crew were wrong. They simply weren't used to dealing with a real leader. They weren't used to Jellico's style of command.

I'm sure his old crew on the Cairo worked well with him and didn't just stand around griping all day.

In any case, you Jellico-haters might take some comfort in this:

Spoiler: Destiny novels

Jellico had by this point been promoted to Admiral, and was the Commander in Chief. However, after the Borg crisis in Destiny, Jellico quit his position and resigned from Starfleet. Happy now?

 

I don't like the actor and therefore couldn't get into the character. He was even worse on Stargate SG-1.

 

Jellico was fucking awesome. The actor is also awesome ("I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake.")

I agree with Ron Moore when he said that basically Jellico showed up Picard for being such a wuss.

 

Agreed. Or at the very least, he comes off this way in Chain of Command. Maybe in peacetime/more normal circumstances he tones down the SIR, YES SIR! routine a bit. He seems competent, but perhaps a little too controlling. But Edward Jellico, I friggin' love you for making Troi wear a uniform. I swear to god, this scene should've happened at some point before "Chain of Command":

Admiral: Captain, Commander, good to see you. Now let's get-wait, who are you and why do you have a combadge?
Troi: I'm the ship's counselor.
Admiral: Okay, that's cute. But seriously, Jean-Luc, who is she?

 

Except that Starfleet also exists to DEFEND the Federation in a WAR if need be, hence why they were fighting the Dominion War so they can't be too peacful and that is very military like. Also the Enterprise was designated command ship for the sector they were in if the Cardassians tried to invade, hence the tourchering of Picard for defense plans.

He's the captain that means when he gives you an order you don't whine about it you DO IT, unless its illegal and changing duty shifts is pretty leagal, plus 4 shifts actually gives people more time off, so adding delta shift was a pretty nice thing to do

No the Enterprise-D's mission was negotiate with the Cardassians, wich Jelico did before pretty sucsessfully since the war ended with the Cardassians and it that fails to KICK THEIR ASSES.

Wait when did that happen, or is that in Losing the Peace?

 

^ Yep.

 

Jellicoe's probably the only human in TNG I enjoyed as a character, outside of Barclay. He seemed real, and I'd've loved to see a six week run with him as Captain, so we could have seen his strengths AND weaknesses at length, and how he could have improved/altered the dynamics on the ship.

Would've been nice if he'd headed up the Borg repulsion squad in FC, too.