Captain picard how many lights

Turns out they weren't always the ruthless warriors TNG fans came to know. In fact they were at one time a planet of poets and philosophers. All that's changed now as Patrick Stewart learns that the tip about Cardassians building biological weapons is a hoax. It was all to lure Jean Luc Picard into hands that would deliver him to the Cardassians.

They want information on Starfleet defenses and aren't to squeamish on how they get it. As for the Enterprise the crew grumbles under Ronny Cox but in the end he proves to be a wily adversary for the Cardassians. One of the better TNG stories out there.

Hitchcoc 25 September In the conclusion of this episode, we are toggled between the Enterprise and the imprisoned Picard, kept by Cardassian torturers on the surface. Picard is first drugged and then stripped and subjected to horrors.

I came to realize that this was not unlike Winston Smith in Orwell's The Cardassian commander is seeking information from Picard and he uses every bit of subterfuge he can, including a torture device implanted in the Captain which sends him into agony. He continually asks Picard how many lights are above him. There are four and Picard continues to affirm this.

But the commander wants him to change his mind true brainwashing. Patrick Stewart gives the performance of a lifetime and he has been good in lots of performances. Meanwhile, the crew is trying to figure out how to outfox the evil Cardassians. Picard begins to sense little bits of weakness in the commander and his race and plays on that.

While it just results in more pain, he is making inroads into his psyche. The conclusion is excellent and sets up future encounters. There is also a great scene between Commander Riker and Captain Jellico. Tweekums 6 August Following on from the events of the previous episode Capt. Picard is in the custody of Cardassian interrogator Gul Madred.

Madred starts asking him questions. That is just the start; stripped, physically tortured by a 'pain implant' and exhausted he continues be questioned. Back on the Enterprise the Cardassians claim to have captured Picard but his actions are disavowed leaving him with no legal protection. Riker confronts Capt. Jellico, suggesting that a rescue mission be planned, their discussion gets heated and Riker is relieved of duty.

Jellico orders the deployment of mines in the nebula; something sure to get the Cardassians attention. This is a great conclusion to this two part story. These scenes are effective because the way Madred is portrayed as a man going about his work; calmly and professionally rather than as a ranting psychopath.

Another fine guest performance comes from Ronny Cox who plays the somewhat ambiguous Jellico; it is hard to tell if he is a martinet or merely somebody with different ways but who is still a good officer who gets results. The outcome of the episode won't come as much of a surprise as we all know Picard will ultimately be okay but there is a chilling epilogue where he talks to Counsellor Troi and tells her that not only was he ready to say he saw five lights but more disturbingly that he believed he was seeing that many.

Overall one of the best episodes in the series. Mr-Fusion 27 July Now this is exactly the reason people remember "Chain of Command"; the superior second part. And right from minute one, it's hard to watch because of the subject matter: Captain Picard being tortured by a Cardassian officer David Warner while Jellico Ronny Cox is gumming up the works on the Enterprise.

But it's not the physical abuse that's so effective here, rather the psychological results. It's miserable to see Picard's systematic dehumanization and just as hard to see him in such a weakened state.

It's the acting here that really sells this' Warner offers up one of the great TNG villains in a performance that varies from affectionate to sheer menace. And Stewart is his equal, no question. Even Ronny Cox turns the one-note Jellico into someone interesting. I've seen this before several times and it never once fails to suck me right in. It's cold, vicious and undeniably powerful.

As drama, this episode of Star Trek approaches a level of excellence that is rarely even remotely achieved in a television series. It is apparent that the producers of this show actually made the effort to produce something that was worthy of the term drama. Npw, the problem with this episode is that it does not further develop the Jellico-Riker conflict, which revealed a lot about Commander Riker.

Coddled by Captain Picard, Riker reveals a nastier side of his personality when placed under the supervision of another captain who wants results, fast, and has no time or interest in trying to elicit cooperation.

Riker's fundamental failings are revealed when he has to be relieved of his duties, for cause, rendering himself useless and sabotaging the captain's efforts to prepare the ship for possible war. Captain Jellico did nothing to warrant Riker's antagonism. Riker was argumentative, surly, resistant to supervision, and failed to discharge his duties, proving that he was not fit for higher command. As for Captain Picard, he is tortured by an alien who is trying to extract information.

Here, Picard's moral position is not completely tenable. First, he was captured after having infiltrated an alien space ship while negotiations were in progress; a hostile act. Second, it was the Federation that was acting aggressively, not the the aliens, thus, Picard could not claim the moral high ground.

Also, the alien is not a human and therefore may have a completely different set of values governing his conduct. Nevertheless, this episode deserves praise for its attempt to examine a number of questions relating to personal conduct and integrity and as such is worth watching.

Samuel-Shovel 26 June Meanwhile, Picard resists torture and interrogation techniques with the purpose of him spilling Star Fleet secrets.

Madred chides him rather gently for this, citing that he has many more. Madred then wrongfully informs his prisoner that the Cardassians have invaded Minos Korva and the Enterprise is burning in space. Madred reminds Picard that the Federation will not look for him since the word will be that he died with his crew on the Enterprise. He then offers Picard the opportunity to live a life of comfort and scholarly reflection, but at a price.

All he has to do is admit that he sees five lights. Looking blankly at the lights before him, Picard contemplates a long moment as Madred implores him to answer. Lemec enters the room with two other officers and as he is crossing the floor, Madred quietly tells Picard that they will take him away as a prisoner for life and Madred's offer will be null and void if Picard doesn't answer before they get to them.

Having reached the two, Lemec however complains that Picard should have been ready to transfer already. Lemec disgustedly orders Madred to get Picard cleaned up as a ship awaits him to return him to the Enterprise. Realizing that Madred had been lying to him, Picard continues to contemplate the lights as Lemec offers to take Picard back to his ship.

Back on board the Enterprise , Data has been restored to the ops position and Riker to the role of first officer as Picard is welcomed back aboard by Jellico. Transferring the command codes back to his predecessor, Jellico offers to the bridge crew that he was honored to serve with them before departing back to the USS Cairo. Counselor Troi and Picard step into the ready room where Picard is at a loss for words to explain his ordeal. Troi explains she's already read his report, but Picard offers that what he didn't put in the report was that Madred offered him the choice of a life of comfort or more torture at the price of admitting seeing five lights.

Although he did not say it, the captain admits he was going to — he would have told his tormentor anything, but even more troubling to Picard was that in the end he could actually see five lights. From now on, I will refer to you only as Human.

You have no other identity! There are five. I didn't ask you about Minos Korva. I asked how many lights you see. You are relieved! Don't make me confine you to quarters, as well. They're not the same as we are. What an arrogant man you are. How many lights are there? One wonders why it is still practiced. You called me 'Picard'! How many do you see now?! I don't like you. I think you're insubordinate, arrogant, willful, and I don't think you're a particularly good first officer.

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. Jellico goes to leave You're welcome. Every one of your ships has a mine on its belly, my finger's on the button, and you're in a very bad position. I expect him returned… immediately!

All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights when, in fact, there were only four. But I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all! But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights. Memory Alpha Explore.

Christopher Pike Number One. James T. Generations First Contact Insurrection Nemesis. Memory Alpha. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Chain of Command, Part II episode. View source. History Talk Do you like this video? Play Sound. Real World article written from a Production point of view. Mario Villani was 38 years old when he was held in up to four detention and torture centres for four years.

He arrived with his captors at the first illegal prison without being able to communicate with his wife, whom he would not see again for years. He was transferred to at least two more "concentration camps" until he ended up in the ESMA, the Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy, in Buenos Aires, which was converted into what is now known as the largest illegal prison of the last Argentine dictatorship. Apart from the blows from the fall, I was getting the blows I was getting from falling.

And if I didn't fall, the guards who passed by would have fun hitting me. He and all his companions, who could only remove their hoods to eat or relieve themselves".

Every totalitarian regime is, by its very nature, paranoid. There's always an enemy lurking. In the case of the Cardassians, their paranoia concerned the Federation and its plans for Minos Korva. The same thing happened in Argentina: the guerrillas were followed by the British, which led to the War for the Malvinas Islands called Falklands by the UK and the loss of power after a humiliating defeat. But there were others. During his captivity, as he told in Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number , he suffered the most varied humiliations and also had the sad opportunity to hear how others were suffering.

What was he accused of? Simply being Jewish. Anti-Semitism ran deep within some factions of the Argentine military. Star Trek producer Rick Berman defined it perfectly in the book Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future : "Science fiction, to me, by definition, is the ability to take something that is very human Letting people, in not a very abstract fashion, watch a show and think about it, and think what it means and discuss it with your family.

That impact, that kick in the gut, didn't just happen to me. She ultimately wasn't able to see the episode because it still affects her emotionally. The dictatorship also left a mark on Argentine narrative and, more specifically, on its science fiction. Science-fiction author Alejandro Alonso often finds himself exploring the theme. Inevitably, what I write bears a mark, or many of them. Although I write genre literature, it is not difficult to find in certain texts the evocation or invocation of themes related to the Dictatorship.

It is something that exceeds me, that I do not seek. He is not very impressed by the Klingons and their warlike impulses, or by the Cardassians and their bureaucratic barbarism.