Tomolok

[indolover]

As we saw a lot of him in the early seasons, could he have been a Commander assigned to head a Neutral Zone fleet? Maybe the Romulans had a specifically designated fleet to ensure that Starfleet couldn't penetrate the Neutral Zone.

Just seems odd that of many ship commanders we see him (I know the real reason is that as an enemy, the writers simply wanted to give the Romulans a face).

[trekker670]

I wouldn't really consider 4 appearances across 7 season "a lot."

[Timo]

Especially when the appearance in "Future Imperfect" was merely the result of Riker remembering the face and therefore including it in his fantasy...

That Tomalak would be involved in three separate confrontations with the E-D might speak of a special assignment. Or then simply of the fact that, just like the Galaxy class was Starfleet's most potent weapon, the D'deridex class was the biggest thing in the Romulan arsenal - and relatively few of these expensive units existed, so the odds of the same two facing each other were in fact pretty high.

Add to this that Romulans often operated in pairs to make sure they overpowered their Starfleet counterpart, and you increase the odds of Tomalak being in one of those warbirds. It would then be rather natural for him rather than his wingman to be the one to contact the old opponent Picard, for psychological advantage.

In contrast, it seemed that Gul Evek always popped up specifically when the Maquis were involved.

Timo Saloniemi

[R. Star]

trekker670 wrote:

---

I wouldn't really consider 4 appearances across 7 season "a lot."

For TNG it was.

[bbailey861]

I really enjoyed Andreas Katsulas' portrayal of Tomalak. Without a doubt, despite not really being on the show a lot of times, he left a mark. Everyone knew who Tomalak was. I would have been more than happy to have seen that antagonist appear a few more times.

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Katsulas' role as G'Kar in Babylon 5 was fantastic. He was a master of the SF universe.

[Mojochi]

R. Star wrote:

---

For TNG it was.

It's as many appearances as Nechayev got, & she was the most prevalent admiral on the entire show

Over all, it's a fair assumption, given the 3 actual encounters they had with him, two of which involved Romulans crossing into Federation space & the 3rd involving the Devron system in the Neutral Zone itself

I often ponder the scheme they had laid out for Jarok, & consider that as much as it was a test of a potential traitor's loyalty, it was more likely that they knew he was soft already, & played him not as a test, but as a way to use him to provoke conflict

It could also have been tailored by Tamalok himself, to specifically draw Starfleet (& hopefully the Ent-D) into the Neutral Zone, in an attempt to level the political playing field, for the embarrassment of having been caught by Picard at Galorndon Core, only months or maybe weeks before

I totally got the impression that because Picard had diplomatically maneuvered himself out of conflict after letting a Romulan die aboard his ship, caught Tomalak in a lie & then returned the surviving Romulan, in good faith, the whole thing was like a giant slap in Tomalak's face, that he was powerless to combat rightfully

He would have had a lot of finagling to do to regain some of that credibility he'd lost in that encounter, (As it might have even been a mission sanctioned by him) like probably executing that poor SOB that Geordi saved, after a long imprisonment & interrogation,

But more importantly, he'd have to restore his reputation somehow, & a plot that got Starfleet to breach the Neutral Zone would definitely level the playing field, & also make the failed mission to the Galorndon Core somewhat excusable, because it could make the mission's intent look necessary ("We have to send in ships & spies, because they are too")


These were the kinds of things that really made me sit up & take notice of the show's improved quality in season 3