Episode Twenty One: "Chain of Command, Part II"

[Serris]

Sunday, November 29th, 2015 @ 1:00 PM EST / 6:00 PM GMT.

Upon arriving at station K-7, Captain He meets with Admiral Chen. The Phoenix's return appears to have shattered the barrier between universes, as the quantum anomalies are beginning to re-surface throughout the sector. Additionally, their entrance through Tholian space seems to have instigated some hostile action on the Federation-Tholian border, with three ships being attacked.

The situation required an immediate response, resulting in Captain He being officially given command of the Geromino, and the Orion visitor from "Into the Wild Blue Yonder" being assigned to the ship as an expert on Tholian tactics. With the Ariadne and the Magellan in tow, the Geronimo heads to the Tholian border, finding a substantial force. Will they start a war, or will they manage to defuse the situation?

[Telex Ferra]

Going to give my honest opinion here.

I felt this episode was much weaker from the strong episodes I've come to expect from TLE. The plot of this entire episode can be summed up in a concise sentence: we docked, got new orders, and left. Nothing else really happened. We didn't have enough people to turn this into a "crew life", character building episode and so the hour felt very dead. Part of this is due to the mediocre attendance but a larger part IMO has to do with our pacing. Serris and I need to do a better job at pushing the plot along. This isn't the first time this has happened and the two of us need to do better.

[Scott Archer]

The plot of this entire episode can be summed up in a concise sentence: we docked, got new orders, and left. Nothing else really happened.

Just about...
It wasn't awful, but we've definitely had better. I did almost feel we could fit the whole thing into half an hour. It might have been worth using the starbase map again for the docking.


Also I spent a lot of time in the first two seasons, stuck down in engineering, more or less alone, apart from when T'Lona was around.
I think in future, when there's just one person in a department (wether that be medical or engineering or whatever) then it might be worth them working from the bridge sometimes (obviously there'll be times when being in their proper station will be needed still.) Scotty did it and LaForge definitely did. That way, we're not totally cut off from everyone else and can participate in the plot more.


On the plus side, I did make two trips up to the bridge in this episode. I think that's about as many as I've made so far in TLE.