Episode 6.10: “Chain of Command, Part I”

Scene 16A: Jellico continues to use intimidation to dominate Picard’s crew, but he also uses a combination of folksy charm and sheer technical expertise to keep them off-balance.

While Jellico recounts the time he played rugby with one of La Forge’s former commanding officers, he also mixes in repair orders to retain the upper-hand in his conversation with Geordi, claiming to hear some sort of issue with the ship’s engines — Geordi hears nothing, but reluctantly complies with Jellico’s order to look into it.

It’s kind of an odd conversation. Jellico comes across as such a stern authority figure in all of his other scenes that this bit of dialogue really cuts into his “all-business” persona that has been established thus far in the episode by watching him try to make small talk with La Forge.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II”

Scene 6: Troi knows how urgent it is to rescue Picard, but Jellico’s single-minded focus on the mission reveals an even darker side of her new captain.

When Deanna tells Jellico that the Cardassians will likely torture Captain Picard for information on Starfleet operations, Jellico agrees — but then asks Troi to contact Starfleet and have them change out any sensitive codes or other material that Picard had access to, just in case. The counselor is not pleased.

This scene, while presenting a logical request to protect Starfleet’s secure operations, probably pushes Jellico too far into the ‘bad guy’ category. He’s not asking something improper, but it’s just a little too much.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 7: Gul Madred feigns concern for his captive, even as he hints at far more aggressive means of getting information from Picard.

This short deletion features Madred telling Picard he doesn’t care for using drugs as part of his interrogation process, and it’s certainly no big loss to the episode. Clearly, this twenty-second removal was just cut for time.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 7: Madred has his captive exactly where he wants him, yet Picard still manages to keep the torturer on the defensive.

When Madred describes how Cardassia struggles with famine in the civilian population, Picard throws the “well-fed military” back at him and tells Madred that the Federation would be more than happy to assist Cardassia with their food shortage issues — only to have Madred refuse the charitable offer.

It’s a nice little conversation showing that Picard is still able to stand by Federation ethics as a way to defuse a potential military engagement.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 20: Jellico’s proud of his choice for replacement first officer, while Geordi further fuels the mystery of the Cardassian’s plans.

Data thanks his new captain for the promotion to first officer, but tells Jellico that he does not feel more qualified than Commander Riker, who was recently relieved of his post. Meanwhile, La Forge arrives with an analysis of Beverly’s tricorder scans from her clandestine mission to Celtris III, showing nothing out of the ordinary — meaning Picard may have been directly targeted.

Now here is one that would have been nice to keep in the final cut. The broadcast version of this episode shows Data as a bit of a “yes man,” following Jellico’s requests without the same reluctance shown by his fellow officers — this moment of hesitation about taking over the first officer role from Riker allows the android a bit of humanity during the ongoing crisis.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 20: The grim reality of Picard’s capture and torture begins to sink in, even to the iron-willed Jellico.

Jellico reveals to Data that he only received updated defense plans regarding the Minos Korva system earlier that day — meaning that the Cardassians will be torturing Picard for information he can’t possibly know.

This reveal puts an even darker spin on Picard’s sessions with Gul Madred, knowing that he’ll never be able to supply the information he’s being tortured for. Leaving it out of the episode allows viewers to focus on Picard’s will to resist the Cardassian interrogation.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 32: Jellico relishes playing the ‘tough guy’ against the Cardassians, but Gul Lemec has the upper hand — and the Cardassian knows it.

A brief conversation with Lemec on the viewscreen has Jellico standing firm in his resolve to not leave the Minos Korva system, but Lemec doesn’t take his stance very seriously and he heads back to join the rest of the Cardassian fleet.

This cut adds nothing to the story, and was an easy choice for deletion.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 37B: The senior staff offers resistance to Jellico’s battle plans, but the captain’s mind is made up.

Beverly raises her concerns about Jellico’s plan to stage a preemptive strike against the Cardassian fleet hidden in the McAllister Nebula — something that would clearly be taken as an act of war, gambling hundreds of lives in the process. Surprisingly, Troi is the one to speak up in defense of the plan, describing the two million inhabitants of Minos Korva currently under threat of a Cardassian attack.

This one would have fit well into the episode, allowing the different officers to debate the issue ahead of them, even though Jellico’s plans had already been approved by Starfleet Command.

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Episode 6.11: “Chain of Command, Part II“

Scene 43A: Jellico meets with Worf in the shuttlebay to inspect the antimatter mines set to be secretly attached to the Cardassian ships hiding in the nebula.

Worf describes each container as being filled with ‘one hundred antimatter mines,’ and the two discuss some of the technical issues with getting them into place in the nebula. Ronny Cox gives some pretty stilted deliveries on some of these lines of dialogue, which kind of helps this scene’s removal seem appropriate.

Additionally, the shuttlecraft “Feynman” behind the pair is named after scientist Richard Feynman — but the set piece is misspelled as FEYMAN!