Star Trek

Watching Chain of Command, and I can't help but think that it was unnecessary to make it a two-parter.  The second part is the one people remember, with the five lights not four (or whatever) and Picard nabbed by the Cardies.  The whole first episode just seems like filler, totally unnecessary.  Yes, it sets up the premise, but the premise didn't really need setting up as they could have simply started the episode en media res w/ Picard in the Cardie's prison and backfilled the backstory. 

Anyone else think it was unnecessary to make it two episodes?

It's hard to say.  A regular episode is approximately 40 minutes after credits & commercials.  Maybe they could have gotten it down to about 50 minutes without jumping over too much, then decided it needed to be 2 parts and stretched it out.

It was going to be a single episode, but the writers made it a two-parter for budgetary reasons.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Chain_of_Command,_Part_I_%28episode%29#Background_Information

I didn't get that feeling that it was too long or too boring or something.. I think it was a pretty good idea to make it a two parter. Holds attention. And I find it a very, very good episode!

I think it would have been very difficult to set up what Picard was going through without it being in 2-parts. Also, one of the very nice elements of this episode was that it served as an excellent leadership case study comparing and contrasting the styles of Jellico and Picard. I think it made sense to have Picard away for an extended period (two full episodes) to allow for:

1. The Jellico change in leadership to take effect on the crew etc.

2. The ordeal that Picard went through at the hands of the Cardassians.

So, I think it's good that it was a two parter. It allowed for a much more rich exploration of the things that were going on. I actually think it's one of TNG's best-executed two-parters.