It was just so weird that Riker did not lead the Enterprise. It was so weird that Picard with all his classified information that could be used against the Federation if he was caught was sent on a secret mission where he had to rock climb. The Enterprise and Picard are both well known but somehow Starfleet thought that if they put another old white guy in charge of the Enterprise no enemy would figure it out.
In my ConspriacyTheoryLaden Fanfiction, this was one of my character's proofs that the Federation was actively trying to erase Jean-Luc Picard (among other characters); as they were greatly embarrassed by the events leading up to an including the Season 1 episode "Conspiracy".
Then throw in Picard was compromised by the Borg.
In my character's mind, this was one of several perfect opportunities for a corrupt Federation to remove a sordid reminder of past failures from the public.
Between Robocop, Total Recall and TNG he was so good at making you dislike him.
I know right? I kind of like Jellico just because of how much I like not liking him.
Definitely should be Captain though, whatever the situation with his command of the Enterprise (I feel like it's pretty convincing that he was made the actual "Captain of the Enterprise" anyway), he held the rank of Captain, no 'acting', of USS Cairo, so I feel like he'd get the courtesy of being called by his proper rank even if he wasn't there 'officially' (which he totally was). And it's not like there's another Jellico card we need to tell this one apart from, so...
Funny thing of that tng episode is that I watched it again recently and Riker came off as just as much a jerk if not more so than Jellico. Riker refused to even try the different shift rotation Jellico wanted. But then again, why did the writers spend 20 minutes talking about shift schedules. Picard, Worf, and Dr. Crusher are risking their lives on a dangerous mission...meanwhile Riker and Jellico are arguing over a shift schedule change.
I feel like there was a really interesting idea there, but shift rotation was completely the wrong bit of business to hang it on. Like, the Enterprise, as a ship and crew, has been swanning around for years being the Federation's diplomatic taxi and poking its nose into anomalies, but she's not ready to get down in the mud and fight dirty, the ship's not geared towards war and the crew's not trained for war. Jellico knows that, and he also knows there's a good chance that they're going to be up to their eyeballs in murderous totalitarian lizards 24 hours from now, so he doesn't care if the change of command is comfortable, he's going to make the changes that need to be made so it's the Cardies that're hulled and burning in space tomorrow, not his flying hotel/daycare of a starship. I like that, it's kind of a 'perfect is the enemy of good' thing - Riker may want things to be nice and smooth and not ruffle any feathers, but from Jellico's point of view he can kick this stupid ship into gear now, or take it slow and everyone dies because they weren't ready.
But the shift rotation just so clearly seems like Riker's business - like that's what an XO does, manage the details of how the ship and crew runs, so the captain just has to say what he wants the ship to do, and Riker's made sure the ship's ready to do it. It just makes Jellico seem like a micromanager, like he doesn't trust Riker so he's worked out his job for him. And maybe he's right, because Riker then goes and wastes a bunch of time feeling sorry for himself on the eve of a possible war instead of doing what he's been ordered to do, but it's such a bad hill for the story to die on, it makes it kind of tempting to just read the whole thing as 'Jellico's a prick, you can ignore everything he says, even if he's maybe got a point in some regards'. (I mean I was pretty young when I saw all these first time, but still it took me a while to dissect Chain of Command and start thinking about a version where Riker's in the wrong, and I feel like that's because the episode as written didn't want me to come to that conclusion.)
I also think that shift rotations would be standard for all federation ships so that everyone could be the most efficient.
Maybe three-shift is a Galaxy class thing? Like if the basic civilian work model we have now (give or take being increasingly ruthlessly enslaved to corporate overlords and all that) of eight hours work in a day is still the norm on Earth - which isn't a bad assumption, since a lot of 24th Century Earth is basically "Like now, but without bad stuff" - Starfleet may have decided to run Galaxies (and other family ships, like the Saratoga) on three shifts because that means you can put all the crew who are parents on the 8am-4pm shift, so all the kids are going to school during the 'day' and sleeping at 'night' and there's not so much disruption in their routine when a family comes on board or leaves the ship. Whereas for ships without kids like the Cairo you can run four shifts if that's more efficient, because everyone's grown up and can handle changing their routines to suit the job.
I mean I don't think anyone at the Star Trek office had that in mind when they had Riker and Jellico argue about it, but that popped into my head just now.
No he isn't. He was given full command. Riker even says he thinks it's permanent.
LAFORGE: I wonder how permanent this is going to be.
RIKER: I don't know. They don't usually go through the ceremony if it's just a temporary assignment.
Picard was not demoted he was put on a classified mission in which it was necessary to publically make it look like Jellico was permanent captain of thr Enterprise so as not to expose Picard's mission. Jellico came from being captain of the U.S.S. Cairo to temporarily be captain of the Enterprise then he went back to being captain of the Cairo. But this seems to be more a conversation on nomenclature. I think "Acting" works in regards to Captain Jellico being temporary captain of the Enterprise but you are correct in that "Acting Captain" could have two definitions, temporary captain of the Enterprise and not a captain but temporarily raised in rank to captain. What name would you prefer? Just Captain Jellico? I like it when the names have a little more than just rank and name.
Picard was not demoted, but he was given a new assignment. Jellico was then given the assignment of Captain of the Enterprise. There was nothing temporary or acting about it. Jellico was captain of the Enterprise.
When Beverly Crusher left the Enterprise for Starfleet medical, Pulaski wasn't Acting Chief Medical Officer, she was Chief Medical Officer. Then she was reassigned and Crusher returned.
Just because Picard later returned doesn't change that Jellico was Captain, just like Crusher's return did not make Pulaski CMO.
And yes I'd like Jellico to just be Captain Jellico because that's what he was. Just like Captain Sulu, Captain Harriman, Captain Bateson, Captain Garrett and every other captain in the game.
There are 20 captains in the game with the name Captain <name>. Some our the base version of the main captains, but most are one off guest episodes. Why is Captain Harriman not not Inaugural Enterprise B Captain Harriman? Alternate Future Captain Nog? Time Loop Captain Bateson? Why insist that Jellico has to have a modifier while all these others are fine as is.
But that is so boring especially for a Tuesday pack crew member. You got to give it more pizzazz like Cranky Jellico, Cardassian Crushing Jellico, or even an ironic name like Jovial Jellico.
I could be off-base here, but I've always understood acting captain as being more about the assignment being unofficial than about it being temporary. Riker was acting captain when Picard was taken by the Borg, until Admiral Hayden made it official in a briefing with Shelby and the senior staff. Data was acting Captain when Picard was presumed dead and Riker was kidnapped by space pirates. But however temporarily Jellico was intended to act as captain of the Enterprise, there was a formal transfer of command and transfer of assignment for both he and Picard, so I don't think acting captain applies here.
Comments
In my ConspriacyTheoryLaden Fanfiction, this was one of my character's proofs that the Federation was actively trying to erase Jean-Luc Picard (among other characters); as they were greatly embarrassed by the events leading up to an including the Season 1 episode "Conspiracy".
Then throw in Picard was compromised by the Borg.
In my character's mind, this was one of several perfect opportunities for a corrupt Federation to remove a sordid reminder of past failures from the public.
(At least in my part of the multiverse)
The emphasis meaning that it was effectively a temporary battlefield promotion with no official transfer of captaincy.
"I had to kill Bob Morton, because he made a mistake, now it's time to erase that mistake."
But I’ve read he’s really a nice guy in real life ...
I know right? I kind of like Jellico just because of how much I like not liking him.
Definitely should be Captain though, whatever the situation with his command of the Enterprise (I feel like it's pretty convincing that he was made the actual "Captain of the Enterprise" anyway), he held the rank of Captain, no 'acting', of USS Cairo, so I feel like he'd get the courtesy of being called by his proper rank even if he wasn't there 'officially' (which he totally was). And it's not like there's another Jellico card we need to tell this one apart from, so...
That's where else I knew him from. Thanks. I love Stargate.
He was written, directed, and acted magnificently, which is why he was so hate-able.
But the shift rotation just so clearly seems like Riker's business - like that's what an XO does, manage the details of how the ship and crew runs, so the captain just has to say what he wants the ship to do, and Riker's made sure the ship's ready to do it. It just makes Jellico seem like a micromanager, like he doesn't trust Riker so he's worked out his job for him. And maybe he's right, because Riker then goes and wastes a bunch of time feeling sorry for himself on the eve of a possible war instead of doing what he's been ordered to do, but it's such a bad hill for the story to die on, it makes it kind of tempting to just read the whole thing as 'Jellico's a prick, you can ignore everything he says, even if he's maybe got a point in some regards'. (I mean I was pretty young when I saw all these first time, but still it took me a while to dissect Chain of Command and start thinking about a version where Riker's in the wrong, and I feel like that's because the episode as written didn't want me to come to that conclusion.)
Maybe three-shift is a Galaxy class thing? Like if the basic civilian work model we have now (give or take being increasingly ruthlessly enslaved to corporate overlords and all that) of eight hours work in a day is still the norm on Earth - which isn't a bad assumption, since a lot of 24th Century Earth is basically "Like now, but without bad stuff" - Starfleet may have decided to run Galaxies (and other family ships, like the Saratoga) on three shifts because that means you can put all the crew who are parents on the 8am-4pm shift, so all the kids are going to school during the 'day' and sleeping at 'night' and there's not so much disruption in their routine when a family comes on board or leaves the ship. Whereas for ships without kids like the Cairo you can run four shifts if that's more efficient, because everyone's grown up and can handle changing their routines to suit the job.
I mean I don't think anyone at the Star Trek office had that in mind when they had Riker and Jellico argue about it, but that popped into my head just now.
But he is Acting Captain of the Enterprise.
No he isn't. He was given full command. Riker even says he thinks it's permanent.
When Beverly Crusher left the Enterprise for Starfleet medical, Pulaski wasn't Acting Chief Medical Officer, she was Chief Medical Officer. Then she was reassigned and Crusher returned.
Just because Picard later returned doesn't change that Jellico was Captain, just like Crusher's return did not make Pulaski CMO.
And yes I'd like Jellico to just be Captain Jellico because that's what he was. Just like Captain Sulu, Captain Harriman, Captain Bateson, Captain Garrett and every other captain in the game.