From: ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Saturday Night Review - "Chain of Command Part I" SPOILERS!
Date: 20 Dec 92 00:44:00 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls


And now, not at all live, from Ellsworth and River Falls, Wisconsin
IT'S THE SATURDAY NIGHT REVIEW!!!!


SPOILERS AHEAD FOR "CHAIN OF COMMAND" PART ONE






Step over this line and you will be reassigned to a dangerous mission..





My initial reaction to this one is somewhat mixed.  
I say it is mixed because I think I can see where Part II is going to head,
and it's so obvious that I hope it won't be so and that there is some sort
of surprise waiting in store, but I don't think so.  Yes, the more I think
about it, the more I begin to dislike this story because of where it is
obviously heading.

Obviously, Jellicoe and the Admiral are in league with the Cardassians and
plotted to get Picard captured.  The big road signs (too big) of this are
how they keep saying "our friends" in their sub-space communication, 
how Jellicoe is turning the ship upside-down in order to lessen her
effectiveness in the battle they have coming, and how Troi says he is
unsure of himself: it isn't his little "diplomacy" ploy, it's the fact
that he's on the other side.  
It also seems far too coincidental that of all the officers in Starfleet
who might know something about these emissions, they choose to send the
Captain of the flagship.  Right.  I KNOW that at least the Admiral is in
on this and I'm 90% sure Jellicoe is too, although he just *might* have
some sort of double bluff planned (i.e. he's pretending to go along with
her to expose the plot.).  

What of the episode itself?  Let's play categories:
Acting:
	solid, but nothing outstanding.  Ronny Cox did surprise me.  From
what we've heard about this episode I was expecting a stereotypical
blowhard idiot, and that wasn't the case at all.  Jellicoe is certainly
intelligent, and he seems to have little foibles that make him more real
(I say seems to have because I think it's all an act.).
	I am, however, again surprised by the consistency of the Cardassian
acting and design.  They are fast becoming a very effective alien race
and will make a good continuing adversary for Deep Space Nine.  
Now if only they had a more exciting name... :)
	Against this is a surprisingly subdued performance from both
Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes.  This may be deliberate coaching from
the director if the "chain of command" starts to fray in part two and they
need to get angry and authoritarian (i.e. the contrast between this and
their later anger will be more marked and hopefully more effective)
If my prediction is the case, then it's a good move.  If it isn't then 
they both need a kick from their bosses.
	
Story:
	As I said, if Part II goes the way I'm predicting, then this one
really disappoints.  

Script(Dialog): 
	Again, solid, but nothing outstanding.  The only line that really
sticks out in my mind is "Get rid of that fish in the ready room."

Set Design:
	Ah...this brought back memories of some really good "Doctor Who"
episodes.  Typically "Doctor Who"  strolls into a cave at least once a 
season, and the cave walls (in the Seventies anyway) never quite looked
like rock, more like styrofoam with lots of ninety-degree angles between
the walls and the floors.  That's what this looked like, only tinted in
harsh blue as though that hides the shoddy construction.
	Now don't get me wrong...if the story's excellent (and I haven't
made my mind up yet on that) then this and anything else in production
is forgiven, but if it isn't, then it's up to production to pick up
some of the slack, and this didn't do it.
	Why didn't the set designer look at "Earthshock" or "The Caves
of Androzani?"  Those were convincing cave sets on "Doctor Who"'s 
microscopic budget.  One would think the Production Designer could pick
up some tips from that.

Special and Visual Effects:
	The phaser battles were the new "fast" and "clean" phasers where
we can't see the beam move nor can we see the particles in the beam.
Makes the battle more realistic (and probably cheaper for the Paintbox
people), and thus that's a plus.
	A minus is the model footage of the Cardassian ship.  There is
a very detectable fault in the lighting and contrast of their ship
in comparison with the Enterprise and the starfield.  One would think
it had been pasted on... (which I suppose it was, in a way).
	Again though, if the story turns around, this is forgiven.

Incidental Music:
	Another totally uninteresting score.   COME ON PARAMOUNT!  WE AREN'T
GOING TO BE OFFENDED BY GOOD MUSIC OR EXCITING OR INTERESTING MUSIC!
WAKE UP AND LET THE COMPOSER ACTUALLY COMPOSE SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Direction (Cinematography):
	It took until the end of the episode for this to start to be of
note.  Until then the camerawork wasn't very inspired.  Come to think of
it, even the "circling the victim" bit in the office at the end was more
than a little cliched, but that's a cliche I don't really get tired of.
David Warner being in it doesn't hurt any either.  :)
	There was one little bit I did like before this: the changing
backgrounds in the Ready Room in every scene as we see Jellicoe having
changed things around yet again.  
(Other Areas):
	This could be very strong in the acting department if my previous
prediction about Frakes and Stewart comes true (see the Acting section)
and thus I'll reserve some judgement on that point.  
	However, again, most of the other areas really weren't that
exciting or inspiring...

What this whole episode seemed to lack was a "spark."  An inner fire to
give the story a life of its own.  As I said before, this may be intentional
in order to contrast against Part Two, and if this is so, then this is
a very good episode and it fills its function perfectly: to set up the
really good stuff in Part Two but not to overshadow Part Two.
However, there is some past history working against this idea, like
"Unification" and "Time's Arrow."  I can easily see this story falling
like a rock into a pit of mediocrity, and even when I try to think of
what kind of weird twists could wait in store, I can't think of much
going on what we have so far.  And those I can think of (like Jellicoe
doing a double act) aren't such wild ideas.  
I have a terrible feeling this two-parter will go the way of its
predecessors, but until then, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt
and hope they've learned some lessons and are saving the best for last.

Scale of one to ten: 6
(subject to amendment after Part Two)



Steven.K.Manfred
 

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