How A Forgotten Star Trek Episode Turned A Minor Character Into An Icon

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 35 seconds ago

While Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek show, the ambitious spinoff needed some time to really find its identity. As such, many of the earlier episodes aren’t all that memorable, including “Cardassians,” which increased our understanding of the titular aliens. The episode has a solid enough rating (currently 7.5 on IMDB), but let’s face it: nobody is putting “Cardassians” down as one of their favorite episodes of the franchise.

However, this largely forgotten tale is actually one of the most important episodes of Deep Space Nine because it fleshed out the character of Garak, who makes only his second appearance on the show. Garak actor Andy Robinson did a killer job, impressing both the fans and the staff. He also impressed future DS9 showrunner Ira Steven Behr, who confirmed this was the episode that convinced producers to keep bringing Garak back to the show.

Plain, Simple Garak

To put it mildly, Garak is a character absolutely beloved by Star Trek fans, and for good reason. As a former spy turned tailor, he has one of the coolest backstories of anyone in the franchise. He also plays an increasingly prominent role in Deep Space Nine, like when he helps Sisko convince the Romulans to start fighting the Dominion. In this way, he might have helped to save billions of lives. Because he is so important to the show, many DS9 fans are shocked to discover that he only appears in 37 episodes. However, he would have appeared in far fewer episodes if not for the forgotten episode “Cardassians.”

In case you need a refresher, “Cardassians” is a Season 2 episode where the DS9 crew must deal with the strange case of a Cardassian boy who has been raised by Bajoran parents. Gul Dukat shows up to try to reunite the boy with his biological father, resulting in a tribunal to determine who should get custody. Garak quietly investigates the case and eventually uncovers evidence that Dukat himself had the boy abandoned on Bajor years ago in a ploy to eventually humiliate his father, a political rival.

A Performance That Snuck Up On Everyone

“Cardassians” was only Garak’s second appearance on the show. Previously, he appeared in the Season 1 episode “Past Prologue.” Played by Hellraiser icon Andrew Robinson, Garak was a popular character with Deep Space Nine’s writers, but he didn’t become a mainstay until “Cardassians.” That’s largely because, according to The Deep Space Nine Log Book: A First Season Companion, his appearance in this episode really impressed future showrunner Ira Steven Behr. 

Behr admitted that “I didn’t have a lot of faith in this show at first. It was such an issue-oriented show that I thought it would oversimplify a complicated issue.” However, he eventually realized that “Cardassians” was “not only a chance to bring back Garak but to do this whole weird little number with what is going on between him and Dukat.” He thought this helped Deep Space Nine finally “[nail] the character” of Garak. Furthermore, Behr claimed, “I knew after that happened we were going to see a lot of Andy Robinson, who’s become quite popular on staff.”

Back By Popular Demand

In Season 1, Garak was a one-off DS9 character who it seemed like we would never see again. However, Andrew Robinson was so good in his second appearance that he impressed the entirety of the show’s staff, including future showrunner Ira Steven Behr. Because of that, he began appearing more and more throughout the rest of the show, eventually becoming pivotal to the development of several characters and the show’s popular Dominion War arc.

Did Andrew Robinson secretly plan to woo the staff with his second appearance, securing himself years of episode appearances and a lifetime of fame as one of Star Trek’s best characters? Of course not. After all, my dear doctor, he’s just a plain, simple actor!