Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Garak
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- In Star Trek, there are those characters you simply don't trust as far as you can throw them.
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He appears in less than a quarter of DS9 episodes, but the impact of his character makes it seem he was in much more.
*curious...it does prove the lingering residual impact of the associated episodes on either side of the ones he did appear in even if not specifically mentioned however obliquely*
That’s actually shocking considering how much he stole the show
I only started ST a few years ago for Patrick Stewart but I stayed for Elim ❤️
As mentioned in this list, he only appeared in 1 episode of the 1st season. That is the point of guest roles. It's amazing he became a cast regular at all.
He's DS9's equivelant of John De Lancie. So few episodes but so much impact.
That's crazy. I almost have to look it up to believe you.
Garek in "in the pale moonlight" is amazing!! And basically saves the whole federation and alpha quadrant in this one episode. Sisko has his agenda but garek is playing his own game. And with a positive outcome bringing the romulans into the war. Probably saving the Alpha quadrant from the dominion.
One of my favourite characters.
Basically: “I did what needed to be done, Captain…what you couldn’t do.”
He knew the Dominion was as bad for Cardassia as it was for every other world in the Alpha and Beta quadrants.
No one may have gotten Sisko to learn so much about himself. Garak knew from the first moment, that for the impossible, Sisko would have asked the prophets. But the thing to ask Garak for, is the unthinkable.
Garek could sink lower and fight dirtier than Sisko. Like Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Marlon Brando ranted how the Vietcong were stronger mentally and could hack off the arms of the village children inoculated against polio.
Between Garak's intrigue in 'in the pale moonlight' and the growth that Kira is made to go through by Aamin Maaritza in 'Duet'........the Alpha Quadrant was saved.
Garak is the most evil, cold blooded, self serving, murderous, brilliant, traitorous, insane, dependable, caring, manipulative, selfless, honorable and loving characters in Star Trek and my favorite. I really don't think anyone other than Andy could have pulled it off in such a way as to be all of those things (sometimes within the same 40 minutes) and to the viewers it seem to all make perfect sense and not be some contrived character change just to suit the writers on a given episode.
Well said!
I can't think of any other actor great enough to make such an insipid and self serving monster so bloody likeable and sympathetic. The nuance. The pathos. His Elim is a masterclass in character acting
It's because he could go from a too friendly tailor to a murderer to those where he is fixing a communication device behind the wall, and being claustrophobic...
So.. 🤔 Is he a really bad guy or?
But Dukat also gave me that feeling. 🤔 😬 Then, after his daughter's death, he went insane, or he was at the edge of madness since much before, since he considered himself the best thing that could happen to Bajor...
Treason.. Dukat switched sides.. 🤔 😬
Garak is great, and I compare all the cardassians like Damar and the above mentioned, were not too different. Of course they were different, but none hesitated when it comes to killing. Like, in the Pale Moonlight..
And it occurred off camera, but we already suspected that was Garak 's hand.
@@misterlau5246 Damar's character arc was sublime. Really nice analysis btw
Garak always told the truth, even when he lied.
Garak is one of my favorite Star Trek characters of all time, and was played masterfully by Robinson. I am ecstatic that he was finally able to get to record an audiobook version of "A Stitch In Time" I can't wait for it to come out!
I purchased Stitch immediately after I learned of its existence, but for some reason have been holding off on reading it in hopes of an audiobook coming out! Glad to hear it's happening... :)
I also have a copy of A Stitch in Time which I have not yet read. I shall keep my eyes open for the audiobook version.
Simonline🏴😀👍
Holy Spock this is awesome news.
the book is fantastic, read it years ago. cannot wait for the audiobook.
It was so fun trying to figure out Garak as the series went on. I think the writers did a superb job with his character
Never tell the same lie twice. Words to live by.
DS9 is still my favorite series. So many great characters.
Great characters, great stories, great action. Trek at its best.
I can't believe it's a whole video about my favorite simple tailor Elim Garak without a single mention to In the Pale Moonlight.
Until you...🤣
My favorite thing about giving Garak a vague Schindler backstory is that it further contrasts him with Ducat's clear Schindler backstory.
Which is to say: Ducat thinks he's Schindler, but her really really _really_ isn't.
@@HermanVonPetri kind of non sequitur there.
Garack is the best character in Deep Space Nine and one of the best characters in all of Star Trek and his performances in episodes like 'Empok Nor' or 'In the Pale MoonLight' really show this. He is a Trek Legend
He wouldn’t have been the only one…? 😤
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@@funfact8660 can I ask whats the big deal about weasley I mean he's a bit annoying but on the whole he's not too bad
@@funfact8660 Oh, nononononoooo- that mind was too useful of a resource to waste. But he would've... trained the boy better.
Wesley / Wheaton is not universally annoying. But some find him very annoying. I was hoping Wesley would have returned from his wanderings with the Traveler, and still do, but I was turned off by his after the show stuff.
Garak will forever be one of the all time great works of fiction. That we should be so lucky to have this character in our world is a real honor.
Garak was an amazing character!
He was so complicated!
His relationship with everyone was awesome!
He was friends with the doctor, Odo and Sisco,but ticked them all off at on time or another!
Because he knew exactly how far he could go with each one of them.
Even when they would insult him and doubt his motives, he would usually shrug it off with a smile and a quip and never seemed to take it personally.
The thing I love about Ds9 is the side characters. From Garak, Dukat, to Gawron to Martok is how relatively few episodes there in , but that add so much life to the show in there own way.
7:53 They could've simply claimed they always planned Garak to be Tain's son and not paid her anything. It was nice of them to actually acknowledge the idea was based on her idea.
And it's easier to throw $1000 at it than deal with the headaches of lawsuits and bad press after the fact. There have been too many cases of "what you did is similar to what I wrote" in media that a lot of creators refuse to view/hear any ideas outside of channels.
For me, Garak and Dukat are by far the best characters in DS9, mainly because the actors bring them to life so well. Good video!👍
19 Garak is an awesome character and Andrew Robison's portrayal was awesome
What about 11-18?
I loved how Garak represeented the Cardassian ideal while Dukat represeented the reality
Andrew Robinson as Garak was the best thing about a really good show. I met him at a Galaxycon and got him to sign my Defiant model. He seems like such a nice guy, I wish we had been able to sit and talk with him.
My favorite character from DS9. Andrew Robinson did such a phenomenal job portraying Garak.
Garak is my favorite character in all of Star Trek...He had the best lines, a very interesting background, and you never knew who's real side he was on....And when he was featured he killed it.
He was on his own side. I really think it's as simple as that. Despite all of the is he/isn't he, will he/won't he episodes, he always looked out for himself.
I'm not sure you are going to convince me that this plain and simple tailor has any dark secrets. I mean look at him, just charm and sincerity.
Absolutely! Everything he says is true, especially the lies.
The penultimate scene with Garak is with Worf when he argued that he should be recruited into Starfleet and given a commission. The final statement being Garak was so "skilled" with his lies because he practiced continually.
"Lies are a skill like any other and to maintain a level of excellence you must practice constantly."
Thanks Sean, Garak and Sisko were by far the most fleshed out characters in DS9. Both actors really find their characters. Perhaps another reason why "In the Pale Moonlight " was such a stand out episode. Two such complex characters circling around one another, with both of them willing to get their hands dirty.
As long as Andrew Robinson is still among us, I sincerely hope they're gonna do something with Garak. Be it in an animated series. As long as it's exploring on his character and not turning him into some kind of joke in Lower Decks, I'm all for it.
If we got him in Lower Decks, I'd still call that a win; Kira and Quark were handled pretty dang well (except for the Kira/Shaxs running argument; that was a little annoying).
But a Cerritos mission to Cardassia, (I mean, "no one wants to go to Cardassia", and Freeman did learn Cardassian small talk and, if memory serves, "the dance"...), where he's an important member of the government- yeah, I'm all for it.
@@Sephiroth144 Would be funny if Cerritos was escorting Garak, who people are after because he created a "cloaking device", but it's really just a machine that dresses you. Someone dies using it, and everyone assumes Garak assassinated them with his machine, but footage shows the victim tinkering with the machine before using it, so Garak gets away with it. If it was him, of course...
@@tetravega567 "It just makes really nice cloaks; really shouldn't have let Quark handle the marketing..."
Or we just leave Garak alone as he is on DS9 and not be brought into anything that is new Star Trek because it all sucks.
From a Trek lover to others, THANK YOU for your videos.
I was introduced to Robinson's talent in Hellraiser, as far as I'm concerned...
Best character ever. Can’t wait to meet him at the Vegas convention.
I am green with envy!
Simonline🏴😢
Got to meet him at the What We Leave Behind viewing on the Paramount lot- definitely an intriguing bloke.
Garak is in my top 10 favorite characters in the entire ST canon. Andy Robinson plays him with such amazing craft you can't but help be intrigued and attracted. And as other people mention, he's not by any stretch a regular, and yet every single episode he is in is always one of the most memorable. Robinson is one of those actors that deserves so much more credit for their acting than they receive.
8:33 I never realized Andrew Robinson played the Scorpio killer in “Dirty Harry”. He was spectacular in that film, and thanks to you Sean I’ll add “DH” to my rewatch list. 😎
Same! That's as far from sci-fi as you can possibly get!
He also had a small role in the Stallone film “Cobra”, playing a “by the book superior” type that butts heads with Stallone’s Lt. Cobretti.
He was amazing in Hellraiser, too
Good list, for once i didn't know any of it, and very surprisingly, i had in fact no idea that Ziyal was played by 3 different actors.
Me neither.🤯
What was also fascinating, were the changes in two relationships. Garak grew closer to Odo after both had seen each other's true face. And Garak and Bashir grew apart from each other, when Garak experienced on the holodeck how much Bashir perceived the one thing, Garak took very seriously, as a game. I guess, this was also neccessary to not get Garak too deep involved into the Section 31 storyline, because otherwise it would have changed from a chance for Bashir to grow into a battle of the secret service giants.
I really hope that we get some follow up on Garak, but only of it's done by good writers. I think a story about the Federation helping to rebuild Cardassia could be really interesting and maybe change Garak's cynical attitude a bit.
After all, the Federation has a habit of turning enemies into friends. Three of the founding members of the Federation were enemies, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites. The Vulcans and Andorians were about to go to war just a few years before they helped create the Federation.
That was Garak's lament near the end of the series: that the Cardassia he fought for, killed for, and that so many had died for, was *gone.* That while the planet, the cities, and the people will rebuild and recover, they will be so disgusted and ashamed by what happened, that they will abandon the culture responsible for it all, and seek out alternatives. That his ideals, his 'Cardassia', was dead.
And the worst part of it is, he can't say they're wrong for wanting that.
This is one of my favorite TrekCulture episodes. Thank you for doing Andrew Robinson's work and character justice in your 10 things list.
For every fellow Elim Garak's fan, I strongly recommend Star trek novels: Enigma tales and Second self, both by d-r Una McCormack
One of the main reasons why DS9 was the best Trek series of all, the secondary characters were so solid.
For those who haven't watched DS9 as of yet, seeing it is a must!
This show had some of the best/ most fleshed out alien characters in all of trek. Most of the other trek shows focus primarily on a human crew with one or two near humans tossed in.
Garak is an AMAZING character, played expertly by Andrew Robinson. I loved every minute of him on screen. And I believe Bashir and Ziyal were his only true friends, although everyone else respected him, even though they didn’t fully trust him. This is my favorite Star Trek series, for so many reasons, characters like Garak are not the least of them.
Probably the best character on all Star Trek series. Andrew Robinson is a master.
Andrew Robinson has been an amazing person, both times i have met him. And he seems genuinely pleased that Garak has become something of a "mascot" for the LGBT community. My partner often. tells people that Garak is almost proof that queer people have a place in the universe, even in a society that might not be particularly welcoming.
They have ended up curiously crucial.
Andrew Robinson was the perfect casting for Garak, as you don't know if to trust him or not, as a character actor he has a look of controlled chaos and you never quite know what is happening behind his eyes. Perfect casting! (As there was a lot of on DS9)
One the best characters in all Star Trek!
one of my absolute favorite star trek characters of all time ❤
Best star trek character ever❤, but i wished they had gone further with him 😊
I’d really recommend the book Enigma Tales by Una McCormack- it’s a really really great book that heavily features Garak, and Dr Polaski if I remember correctly!
Garak is great. He's smug and sneaky and he does it all with style.
If any of you like Garak then you absolutely should read the book "A Stitch in Time" it's exceptional, it adds much more detail to his life and character. Andrew Robinson was the perfect actor for this character.
You should have mentioned the episode In the Pale Moonlight. The interaction between Garak and Sisko is awesome. That is one of my favorite DS9 episodes if not my favorite.
I love Garak and Andrew Robinson. That Shuttlepod Show podcast he was in was great.
My favorite character
Garak was just a very exciting character. You have to remember that he contributed a lot to the liberation of the Alpha Quadrant. Very good acting !
I thought the "Man from Uncle" tailor shop tie-in was superb! I really enjoyed that homage to another great spy series.
I appreciate(d) how Garak has his own particular sense of justice and fairness and does what he can to achieve it. It seems to line up with the federation more often than not but it differs enough to keep us interested.
For Garak, that final scene with Weyoun simply could not have been more perfect. These two characters were, on screen, two of the most silver-tongued in the show, if not the franchise. However, Weyoun was a toad to whom there was little more than his eloquence, while Garak's loquaciousness was one of many tools in service to his ends.
So when these two characters finally meet, the illusion of similarity between them is shattered by the stark shift as Garak chooses to execute a prisoner of war in cold blood.
Garak had never been one to waste the opportunity to use words to impart grievous psychological wounds in his enemies, but this time he chose to dispense with all the barbed wit. Not because words had failed him, but simply because they were not the best tool for dealing with a genocidal leech.
Because the best tool was a disrupter.
Garack was the most interesting character. He told the grestestvstories snd comments. Robison was outstanding
I always liked Garak, but with an asterisk. Years before, I had come up with an assassin character for a DnD game who also happened to be a tailor. He had a cursed weapon that he couldn't get rid of, that kept him alive longer than a normal life span, blah blah blah.
What's this got to do with a sci fi show? The world I built for the game also had a future, cyberpunk-ish future version. And the cursed assassin was still around. And still a tailor.
I should have sued somebody.
Good video. Thanks.
Elam Garak, my all time favorite recurring character. He is one of the reasons why DS9 is the best installment in the Star Trek verse.
My favourite side character in trek without question, plain and simple. His constant rivalry with Dukat is very well done.
Excellently played and written.
And also key to probably one of the best episodes of DS9 and trek, in the pale moonlight.
Singularly ruthless with his words and hands, and a handy gardener also😂😂
Garak had such a great character arc. He went from a man longing for home to a man who longed for a better home for all his people. About the only character with a better arc was Damar.
I always thought that Garak did something during the occupation to help the Bajorans, possibly saving lives like Schindler did. This would explain why he would be allowed to live on a space station controlled by Bajorans. My guess is that only a few Bajorans actually know what Garak did to help them and as such, he was granted special immunity. At least, that's my theory.
Now that you said it, this does not only make sense but also I can imagine Garak saying something along the lines of "a helping hand makes a new ally; an open mouth makes a thousand new foes" to justify why it was crucial almost no one new he had helped the Bajorans. Shiiiiit, I need that scene now.
He's definitely one of my favorite characters and probably one of the most interesting and deep personalities ever seen on television. A true mystery and enigma, thanks to some great writing as ambiguous as it was about his sexuality. Perhaps the genius was in not giving him a label to live by, thereby freeing him up for open interpretation and identification to the audience however they wanted to see him.
Need help deciding which episode is more perfect Garak-ness: "In the pale moonlight", "Purgatory shadow" or "Our man Bashir". A perfect character.
There should be plenty more things we will never know about Garak. 😂😅 🖖
I never took it as Garak and Ziyal had an affair and more that Ziyal had a crush on him and she… well, wasn’t Garak’s glass of canar, but he very much liked her and, in traditional Garak fashion, found it useful to have a way to hurt Dukat on hand if the need arose.
@@funfact8660 I’m sure we could ask Andrew Robinson
I always assumed it was more of a sort of trauma bonding; both are outsiders to Cardassian society for different reasons, both are stort of exiled to the station, and because of the Dominion war going on both are facing racism/discrimination. Also he did have to deal with Kira's rage too, which I would not want to be on the receiving end of anymore than Dukat's.
They were both lonely and the closest each other had to home.
@@nicholassmith7984 that was how I saw it.
Never knew about the Cry of the Onlies link to Garek. I remember finding that book particularly disturbing, a revisit to Miri's world.
Awesome video trekculture 😎
Garak: *creepy Garak smile*
Everyone: *swoons*
There are so many characters in star trek to love. Garak happens to be my favorite
Garak and Guinan are tied for my top two favorite Star Trek characters of all time (followed closely by Worf, Dr. M’Benga, La’an Noonien Singh, D’Vana Tendi, and Saru). I love those not in the federation but closely affected by it the most. Also, both characters deeply cared but remain mysterious.
by far my favourite.
by a long way.
great dialogue.
In case anyone missed it, Andrew Robinson is doing the audio book for a stitch in Time on 8/1/23. It's hard to get physical copies now but either way from his lips to our ears sounds wonderful
Garak is my favorite DS9 character. I'm glad to have seen this excellent video about him.
DS9 is my favourite Star Trek series next to OS and Garek is definitely one of the best characters on DS9. He’s all things that make up everything that we love to hate and love about ourselves but in concentration. Above all he’s loyal, to himself and his friends in the end. We see the best and worst of him, but we still love him and that’s because of how he’s been played by Andrew, a superb actor.
I figured that Garak was immediately fascinated with Dr Bashir because he believed from the start that there was much more to him than any one else suspected. Their friendship just evolved from there as they were likely the two most intelligent people on DS9 and Garak took every opportunity to glean hints/information from Bashir. You can leave the Obsidian Order (or end up expelled from it) but old habits die hard.
Garak is my absolute favorite Star Trek Character of all time!
Garak: I am sure Dr. T'ana would LOVE a Cardassian vole as a house pet, Ms. Tendi.
Absolutely loved this list
Garek was the BEST character arc in DS9. You never knew what he was thinking or what he would do next. modern star trek could use a character like this.
I've always thought that DS9 was the best and most complex version of Star Trek in it's era. Some of the new Trek is getting there though.
Garak - the best side character in all of Star Trek. Fight me.
A Stitch in time is a wonderful novel, and really adds depth to the character. Worth it if you can find a physical copy, even more worth it is the audio book where Robinson narrates it as Garak himself.
Garak, Quark, Rom and Nog are my favorite non-federation characters from DS9.
This is magnificent. I saw it all, but this pulls it all together.
Well that was bloody marvellous. Splendid work Tom and Seán
Thanks for adding to Garak and Schindler's List. I have a new view of both.
Garak was one of my top five favorite ST:DS9 characters!!
"Plain, simple Garak" is almost my favorite character in DS9 -- and given that's a cast that includes characters portrayed by Armin Shimmerman, Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois, that's really saying something.
Best channel on youtube. Need that Paramount+ update and don't trust anyone but you guys!!
I made Andrew laugh out loud at a Trek convention - his assistant saw the t-shirt I was wearing and invited me to show it to Andrew - It was a cartoon of a dinosaur protecting mammals from an asteroid with the slogan "LEST WE FORGET 1/25/65,000,000 BC" Andrew took one look and burst out laughing, saying "Oh, that is wonderful!"
My favorite scene in any Star Trek TV series was the confrontation between Sisko and Garak in The Pale Moonlight. Where Garak flat out tells Sisko that the whole reason he came to him was because Sisko knew he'd do the things that were necessary but that a Federation captain couldn't. I think that one scene perfectly encapsulates Garak. He's not human, he doesn't believe in the Federation and it's high ideals. He's a Cardassian to the core and a cold blooded pragmatist who is fine doing whatever it takes to get the job done. I loved his character one of the best ever created in fiction not just in Star Trek.
Oh. The Wire. What a great episode!
One year at my local pop culture con, the guy who played Garak was of the guest, he also played the main bad guy in the first dirty Harry movie too
Garak was just awesome, where as Kyra provided the Bajoran main perspective, Garak was geat as he gave us a constant look at the Cardassians, but he was a fun twist in that he was basically an outcast from his people, thus why he lived on the station, and ultimatly became a trusted friend to the station's crew. He was suave, manipulative, willing to lie, gave hints at a deeper backstory, and sometimes betrayed the station crew, but in the end he always had their back, which is why I assume they never kicked hi off the station, though he was a civilian and tailor, being a former Cardassion operative of some kind he was often helpful and brought along on missions involving insight into the Cardassians, his rivalry and banter with Gul Dukat was especially fun. SImply put he wa an outcast fom his people with a dark backstory, but found family and friends with the DS9 crew eventually helping to free his people from the DOminion, and according to Star Trek Online became a counciler and at one point says to the player how he missed the simpler life of being a tailor.
I do love Garak and A Stick in Time is probably my favorite Trek book.
The one thing that I really liked about his character is that even decades later we still don’t know how many of his stories were lies and how many were true, he is still a man of mystery.
The novel “ a stitch in time “ is a very good expansion to the future and exposition from the past which truly fleshes out the character of Elim Garak.
7:06
Given that Garak and Bashir were discussing Shakespearean tragedies at the beginning of the two parter, that was probably on purpose.
Garak has always been on my favorite character list at #1
My favourite Star Trek Character.. I love Empok nor.. he goes proper evil in that 😃
Garak and Quark, I think, are what makes DS9 edge out TNG as my favourite Trek series. The sum of their parts is greater than the whole, because of how much world-building and depth they add to the Trek universe. DS9 did much the same with the Klingons.
GARAK... is my favorite character in DS9. Lando was my fav for B5.
Garak is my favorite character in all of Star Trek.
I'd have to say Garak is one of my favorite Grey characters, and not just because of the Cardassian make up. 😉
I liked his Mirror universe version too. 😂
I thought Empok Nor was a great episode, it reminded us that not only is Garak still lethal, but also a victim of the Cardassian ways.
Such a wonderful and compelling character.
“Stitch in Time” is one of the best books I’ve read, and not just Star Trek novels.