Gul Dukat

[the game]

So I'm rewatching DS9 again and I gotta say I didn't give Gul Dukat enough credit the first time I watched through it. He's kind of devious.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Gul'Dukat is Star Trek's greatest villain. He has actual depth to his character beyond "my ideals conflict with the Federation, so I'll kill them!"; his motivations stem from a perfectly understandable, sympathetic life that we get to see slowly warp into twisted ambitions as a result of him getting sucked into the cycle of hate and how war dehumanized his mind. He is a character who steals the show with his presence, and is more than compelling to watch when he's on screen, despite his increasing immorality. You get to see one 'Trek's most intriguing character arcs as he transforms from a genuinely kind-hearted man trying to make the best of what he's been given, to a man ruthlessly fighting for his country to protect his family and what he believed, to a man barely clinging on to the last vestieges of his ideals, and his ultimate descent into a spiteful rage. Good villains like Darth Vader, the Joker, and Khan are cool. Great villains like Griffith and Ramsay are ones you truly hate, and I truly hate Gul'Dukat.

Marc Alaimo stands up there with Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks as the franchise's finest.

[draynay]

Dukat is great, gets a little cartoonish at the very end, but his arc with Ziyal was first rate. I remember watching that stuff when it was first airing and I still enjoy it just as much today.

I managed to get to my first every convention a couple years ago and there was a great panel with Marc Alaimo, Andrew Robinson, and Casey Biggs, all the big cardassians, it was great. Women were still swooning over Dukat

[Fencers]

He's pretty fun. A lot of overacting but it works well in the context of the show and amid a lot of other overacting.

Elim Garak, that was the real snake in the grass.

[the game]

He's pretty fun. A lot of overacting but it works well in the context of the show and amid a lot of other overacting.

Elim Garak, that was the real snake in the grass.

Agreed they did a good job keeping Garak mysterious and never showing his full hand in a situation.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Elim Garak, that was the real snake in the grass.

DS9 gets shit on a lot for being a space soap opera but, as I've said in another thread, it easily has many of the best character in the Trekverse with Garak being my personal favorite. He even made episodes focused on Odo fun.

Pretty amazing feat considering he was originally scheduled for only one episode.

I just wish they stuffed Jake, Nog and Kira in to the nearest airlock and purged the holodeck of Vic Fontaine. God they even brought back Lwaxana Troi which is like welcoming cancer in to your body. Ugh.

[Rumred]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Gul'Dukat is Star Trek's greatest villain. He has actual depth to his character beyond "my ideals conflict with the Federation, so I'll kill them!"; his motivations stem from a perfectly understandable, sympathetic life that we get to see slowly warp into twisted ambitions as a result of him getting sucked into the cycle of hate and how war dehumanized his mind. He is a character who steals the show with his presence, and is more than compelling to watch when he's on screen, despite his increasing immorality. You get to see one 'Trek's most intriguing character arcs as he transforms from a genuinely kind-hearted man trying to make the best of what he's been given, to a man ruthlessly fighting for his country to protect his family and what he believed, to a man barely clinging on to the last vestieges of his ideals, and his ultimate descent into a spiteful rage. Good villains like Darth Vader, the Joker, and Khan are cool. Great villains like Griffith and Ramsay are ones you truly hate, and I truly hate Gul'Dukat.

Marc Alaimo stands up there with Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks as the franchise's finest.

I have to agree with this i view dukat as the best villain in star trek. Not just the best but the most fleshed out as he has a very complex motivation and mindset. Sometimes you agree with him and even after all the bad he has done feel sorry for him only to hate him two episodes later. By the end of the show any remorse or understanding you had for dukat was replaced by hatred. Hatred of how he himself has caused his suffering and he is too arrogant to see it. He wants to blame sisko and is willing to unleash entity's that could destroy the entire galaxy just out of his hate for dukat and bajor.

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He's pretty fun. A lot of overacting but it works well in the context of the show and amid a lot of other overacting.

Elim Garak, that was the real snake in the grass.

Truly the best trek character period in my mind.

[Deleted]

Dukat was amazing. He also seemed pretty realistic. He actually though he was helping Bajor during the occupation and they should show gratitude.
He basically though he was a good guy but he was more like Stalin or Hitler.

[Rumred]

Dukat was amazing. He also seemed pretty realistic. He actually though he was helping Bajor during the occupation and they should show gratitude.
He basically though he was a good guy but he was more like Stalin or Hitler.

He kinda reminded me of a roman military governor. He thought he was being a stern father helping elevate the backward bajorins and if they had only not resisted their lives would have been much better.

[SavoirFaire]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Gul'Dukat is Star Trek's greatest villain.

Let me give a hearty amen to that. I've been re-watching DS9 recently when I get the chance, and appreciate the series even more now, and daresay it may be becoming my favorite. I think being unique in that the series occurred in the same place (for the most part) allowed the writers to do a lot more interesting character building with adversaries, than, say, flying all over the place episode to episode.

[the game]

Let me give a hearty amen to that. I've been re-watching DS9 recently when I get the chance, and appreciate the series even more now, and daresay it may be becoming my favorite. I think being unique in that the series occurred in the same place (for the most part) allowed the writers to do a lot more interesting character building with adversaries, than, say, flying all over the place episode to episode.

I enjoy DS9. However my favorite series is Enterprise. I dont' care what people say, Enterprise was really underrated.

[Revik]

Does everyone forget his use of Bajoran comfort women during the occupation? Sure he treated them better than slaves but conniving them into submission it so wrong on many levels. Maybe he actually had feelings for them but doing it during that time cannot be seen as anything other than exploitation.

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I enjoy DS9. However my favorite series is Enterprise. I dont' care what people say, Enterprise was really underrated.

I liked Enterprise. First season was a little boring but it picked up nicely. Definitely better than Voyager.

[Tradewind]

DS9 had the Spoon-head triple threat with Dukat, Damar and Garak. All 3 of them are probably the best Trek characters ever created.

[Zoldor]

Dukat is fantastic, until the very end. Then it was a little corny, but still my favorite Trek villain. Cardassians might be the best anti-federation group of all time as well. They showed a logical opposition and no need for the federation. I think DS9 is my second favorite, just because I love Next Gen so much, but DS9 is right up there.

Especially with Garak being the best Trek character of all time. It was really the side characters that made DS9 great, the guys who's parts could have ended up nothing, but transformed the series. They did really well integrating other species as well, giving them varying ideals from the Feds and showing decent reasoning. In most the other shows it felt more like the Federation was this bastion everyone was dying to be part of, where DS9 has a lot more opposition, that last outpost in a free space kind of feel.

But, OT, Dukat is great, good development, well done with his arcs, truly devious, almost comes over and then gets blasted back into the land of hatred, but really mostly his own fault. great depiction of a war time leader who left the land they conquered and deals with the war crimes of the time.

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Does everyone forget his use of Bajoran comfort women during the occupation? Sure he treated them better than slaves but conniving them into submission it so wrong on many levels. Maybe he actually had feelings for them but doing it during that time cannot be seen as anything other than exploitation.

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I liked Enterprise. First season was a little boring but it picked up nicely. Definitely better than Voyager.

Oh yeah the dude is fucking terrible. That is kind of what makes him a great villain. There is no sugar coating him as really a good guy. He likes to dabble in that to play on people's emotions to get what he wants, but rarely was it ever real or true and even when it was he always sided with the easy way.

[the game]

DS9 had the Spoon-head triple threat with Dukat, Damar and Garak. All 3 of them are probably the best Trek characters ever created.

Commander Shran should be on that list.

[draynay]

Can't peg Jeffrey Combs with just one character, they were all great.

[the game]

Can't peg Jeffrey Combs with just one character, they were all great.

I agree. I just find Shran to be my favorite.

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Can't peg Jeffrey Combs with just one character, they were all great.

I loved the Andorians in general. I wish they would've had more of a presence in TNG, Voyager, and DS9.

[Atrea]

I loved the Andorians in general. I wish they would've had more of a presence in TNG, Voyager, and DS9.

The technology didn't exist to portray them without making them look cheesy until the Enterprise era.

There was an example of an Andorian in the TNG era and it looked like shit.

[Baium]

If you love Gul Dukat, this is great. It also starts off with a great scene with Jeffery Combs. who is also amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHS2CCXVmeU

[draynay]

This is probably a good time to link this as well

http://the-guls-itch.tumblr.com/