Chain Of Command, Part I

This first of a two part story finds Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Gates McFadden on detached assignment from the Enterprise. For this occasion Starfleet has sent another captain played by Ronny Cox to relieve Captain Picard of command of the Enterprise.

Good thing Picard took Worf as part of his mission team because Cox really would have had trouble then. As it is the crew is really under a strain with a captain who wants things done yesterday. The one Cox really gets at odds with is Jonathan Frakes.

As for Picard, Worf and Dr. Crusher the mission is a bust and Picard is captured by a nasty Cardassian played by David Warner who must have read up on Dr. Mengele and refined some of his torture experiments.

Cox plays someone who overcomes doubts with bravado and Warner is playing one of his usual patented heavies.

Things are looking tense at the end of Part I.

Captain Picard is relieved of command and sent on a secret mission into Cardassian territory.

This is strong episode with a compelling story and a great guest character.

It reminds me of 'The Best of Both Worlds' as Picard is taken out of the picture and there is an excellent, antagonistic presence in Captain Jellico on board the Enterprise for Riker to contend with, a bit like Shelby. However Jellico, being Captain, obviously impacts everybody in the crew. He is an entertaining character who shakes up the established order of the Enterprise with a no-nonsense approach. All his scenes are excellent and Ronny Cox is a breath of fresh air amongst the established cast.

The plot has a nice level of intrigue and although you may probably see there is some sort of twist coming, it is still good when it comes.

It is slightly comical seeing Picard, Worf and Crusher dressed like the Milk Tray man on a Bond type mission, but this is only a problem if you take television way too seriously. For me it's part of the fun.

All cast are on good form, particularly Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden. The bit where Crusher has to influence a Ferengi with her feminine charms is very amusing. However, it is definitely Cox who is head and shoulders above everyone with all the best material and the most memorable performance.

For me it's an 8.5/10 but I round upwaords.

There is no denying that Star Trek: The Next Generation is a groundbreaking show. After a shaky start, slumbering in the shadows of it's predecessor, Riker "grew the beard" and around the same time, early in season two, the real potential began to show. It became obvious that Gene Roddenberry had picked a cast more than able to perform the skilled illusion - making a set of sound-stages, scripts and special effects a plausible glimpse into a potential future, one where some of humanities problems have been solved but some linger and are perhaps worse for it.

But I digress. This is not a review of the show at large. It is intended merely to point out that it could have been a catastrophe, when in fact this show singlehandedly resurrected the entire franchise by taking the fandom of the original series and challenging them. And this is demonstrated to incredible effect with the epic two-part adventure.

It may at first seem implausible that an ageing captain, a doctor with no combat experience and a chief security officer would be sent on a dangerous espionage mission, but thanks to the script good, justifiable reasons are provided and they set the stage. The Federation is finally revealed to be strained; stretching to meet bigger and more avaricious foes. The Enterprise crew is forced to work harder, faster and better to meet the challenge when Picard is replaced. Riker becomes an intermediary, an emissary for the misgivings of the crew. His stunning ambition and Kirk-esquire attitude send sparks flying when Jellico (played stunningly by Ronny Cox) steamrollers over the comfortable routine.

After an immaculate setup, the second part delivers on the promise. Sweeping narrative is something Star Trek excels at, and it is no wonder that that last three seasons of TNG contain more two-part episodes than the four that precede it. The two main plots have been intertwined well - both the away mission to discover a Cardassian base and the shake-up of the Enterprise mirror each other in intention, but work so well because of such contrasting execution - notice the extensive use of dark and light between the plots. Both share a common factor - they are guessing games.

In the second part, they become cat-and-mouse games. Jellico must negotiate a workable agreement with the Cardassians, Picard must endure torture of the most degrading sort - not just physical pain, but mental manipulation too. In both cases, the tormentor and the tormented change during the course of the episode, masterfully. When one appears to be holding all the cards, external factors are altered and force a radical rethinking of survival tactics. Both Captains are forced to look inward, to reconsider what they think is right and to admit at least a little defeat to achieve an advantageous goal (Jellico must barter with Riker, Picard must hold on to his hope while wearing down Gul Madred).

I could single out and extrapolate on so many great nuances of performance in many of the cast, but I would no doubt run out of words to do so. As someone who has a huge amount of respect for Patrick Stewart - not just an actor, but the highest class of the art, a true thespian - I will concentrate on that.

Patrick Stewart has often been responsible for the best moments of any work he happens to be in. Even the more mediocre works can be raised by one of his grandstanding, completely compelling speeches. He had always been a strong lead character and Star Trek gave him the exposure he needed to really capitalise on his skills. Here he is given a sparring partner so evenly matched the tension of his scenes - with David Warner as Gul Madred - are a sight to behold. The facial expressions, the subtle vocal inflections and the haunted look one man demonstrates when the other manages a riposte he could not have anticipated - this raises the medium of the television show to the heights of classical theatre.

Both run the gamete of emotions - anger, passion, love, hatred, despair and many more - and it makes for compelling viewing. The tension between the scenes with Jonathan Frakes and Ronny Cox comes very close to matching these heights too: with both plots seamlessly edited together and topped off with an exceptional musical score, the end result is mesmerising.

I remember seeing these episodes as a child and being completely captivated by the moral questions raised, wondering what I might make of the work the next time I saw it. This has been one of the rare cases where age and experience have barely dented my reactions and enjoyment, still forcing me to turn inwards after viewing and consider what my own passions and commitments might be worth in the grand scheme of things. If that isn't what great works of art are supposed to do, then I suppose I'll never know. Bravo. Hats off to everyone involved.

As soon as I saw that David Warner was in the cast, I knew that there would be great acting based on a profound script in these episodes (parts I & II). Not that Warner did all of the good acting exuding malevolent gravitas with a touch of ironic and perverse bonhomie; it just seemed that his presence inspired the others to even better acting. Stewart as Picard was at his Shakespearean best. There was also the redoubtable Ronny Cox, whose acting talent has allowed us to suspend disbelief in so many movies. His portrayal of a harsh, by-the-book, unfeeling officer in command undoubtedly made audiences hate him at first. That is, until the end when his actions revealed that he cared for the welfare of Captain Picard after all.

Although broadcast in 1992, I couldn't help but be struck by the immediate currency today (2011) of the moral, legal and psychological issues put forth in the story - torture sanctioned by government, the reliability of information obtained under torture, the psychology of the torturer and the tortured.

In relating his experience under torture to Counselor Troi, Picard brought to light one of the effects of torture that had been in the peripheral vision of my mind but had never articulated: It is often said that the tortured would confess or reveal anything his handlers would like to hear just to stop his torment. But Picard shows that the victim himself would get to believe the lie that he is forced to confess. In other words, he would not be lying but telling the truth as he believes it as a form of psychological defense. In essence, therefore, brainwashing is a consequence of torture. And that is exactly, how some misguided authorities use it - to brainwash.

So in the story, it became obvious, that the purpose of David Warner's character was not to get any kind of truth from Picard, but to brainwash him to get him to confess to some kind of Federation transgression of its treaty with the Cardassian Empire. In that way, the Cardassians may be able to intimidate the Federation into ceding territory to them.

For more about brainwashing in movies, see John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (1962) with Laurence Harvey in the anti-hero role and also the Ipcress File.

Picard, Dr. Crusher and Worf as a strike team? Even though the mission is eventually justified, I've always thought these were unlikely candidates for a stealth job. What it really does is sideline the captain of the Enterprise for an abrasive replacement (Ronny Cox), someone who runs counter to everything that makes the ship run smoothly (almost an affirmation of the writers' need to shake things up on an long-running show), and that just makes for good drama; we want this guy to take a hike and get the ship back on a smooth course.

But this episode exists almost purely as setup for Part II, and to that end, the best scene is saved for last. David Warner is that classic psychotic interrogator, one who deals in mental warfare more than anything.

He is ideal for the dark hour that's to come.

7/10