Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review Captain Edward Jellico, who appeared in the iconic two-parter Chain of Command, Parts I and II in TNG, and as requested by frequent show contributor Chris on Twitter.
https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp258
Jellico is the captain of the USS Cairo, after beginning his career as a shuttle pilot. He is given command of the Enterprise when Admiral Alynna Nechayev wants a Cardassian expert to lead the flagship in a critical juncture of conflict between the Federation and the Cardassians. At the same time, Captain Picard is assigned to an undercover mission that leads to his abduction and torture by the Cardassians. You know, this one...
QUOTE (from Chain of Command, Part II):
Picard: "There are Four Lights!"
But this segment isn't about what happened to Picard, but instead, what happened to his ship and crew when Jellico took over. Jellico was a stern authoritarian who demanded peak efficiency from his crews. This led to some pushback from Commander Riker, who did not like many of the changes that Jellico put into place. Indeed, Riker eventually is relieved of duty when his insubordination reaches too high a level for Jellico, following disagreements on what to do about Picard's abduction.
Jellico ends up working things out with Riker when Geordi insists that Riker is the best pilot on board and should be involved in a mission of planting mines on Cardassian ships hiding in a nebula.
QUOTE (from Chain of Command, Part II):
Captain Edward Jellico: Let's drop the ranks for a moment. I don't like you. I think you're insubordinate, arrogant, willful, and I don't think you're a particularly good first officer. But you are also the best pilot on the ship.
Commander William T. Riker: Well... Now that the ranks are dropped, Captain, I don't like you either. *You* are arrogant, and closed-minded. You need to control everything and everyone. You don't provide an atmosphere of trust, and you don't inspire these people to go out of their way for you. You've got everybody wound up so tight, there's no joy in anything. I don't think you're a particularly good captain.
After planting the mines on the Cardassian fleet, Jellico is able to negotiate from a position of absolute power. He convinces the Cardassians to eject their phaser coils and retreat, while also returning Picard to the Federation.
Admiral Nechayev then restores Picard's command, sending Jellico back to the Cairo. Jellico presents a very interesting contrast for what Star Trek TNG could have been like if the same crew has a very different style of captain. One wonders how Riker, Troi, and the others would have made it long term on the Enterprise with the difference in command style, but it helps fuel the fire of great debates like Kirk vs. Picard. Jellico does have the distinction of being one of only 3 people to have a Captain's Log on TNG.
Captain Jellico was played by Ronny Cox, and the character can be found in many Star Trek novels for those who want more authoritarianism. Cox is in the end of a 40 year acting career, with appearances in big movies like Deliverance, RoboCop, and Total Recall. Cox is also an avid musician, playing about 80 gigs per year and having 5 records released in the jazz and folk genres.
INSERT RONNY COX MUSIC (Silver City)
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