Tomalak

[Mojochi]

The unseen story of Tomalak is pretty interesting if you think about it

In The Enemy he is seemingly behind the two man incursion to the Galordon Core. His communications to the downed ship are intercepted by the Enterprise. He crosses into Federation space, hanging his actions on weak political points, gets caught in a lie about it being only a one man craft, & before he can grandstand himself into a conflict, he is emasculated by a survivor being flaunted before him

The whole thing was an enormous embarrassment for him. He screwed up on pretty much every level, & the Federation came out smelling like a rose. Centurion Bachra almost certainly paid the price with his life

My thought is this... The events that take place very shortly after, in The Defector would seem to suggest that Tomalak immediately cooked up that whole plot, not only to oust a ranking officer with questionable loyalty, but to use him as bait to get back at Picard & the Federation for the embarrassment he suffered

You see, Picard, after we dissect your Enterprise for every precious bit of information, I plan to display its broken hull in the center of the Romulan capitol as a symbol of our victory.

More like as a symbol of his own achievement. It really is a cool plot, and sort of makes those two episodes a broken up two-parter

 

[publiusr]

He was very underused.

 

[SiddFinch1]

A great actor on tng and on Babylon 5. Gone too soon

 

[Hober Mallow]

It's too bad Tomalok's next two appearances were as a hologram and an alternate reality version.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I love Tomalak's line from AGT, after Picard admits that Starfleet hasn't approved what he's about to do:

"I like it already."

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

The unseen story of Tomalak is pretty interesting if you think about it
...My thought is this... The events that take place very shortly after, in The Defector would seem to suggest that Tomalak immediately cooked up that whole plot, not only to oust a ranking officer with questionable loyalty, but to use him as bait to get back at Picard & the Federation for the embarrassment he suffered...
...

I don't know. To me it seems like the deception of the officer took a very long time to be convincing and therefore effective., that is at least a couple of years. It's unlikely that this was related to any events that took place during the time interval in question.

 

[Mojochi]

I don't know. To me it seems like the deception of the officer took a very long time to be convincing and therefore effective., that is at least a couple of years. It's unlikely that this was related to any events that took place during the time interval in question.

I admit... It's thin, & you certainly have a valid perspective on this one, because I'm really basing my whole theory on just a few lines of dialog & some conspicuous turns of chance

Riker: I think he's a plant... to draw us into the Neutral Zone... That way we'd look like the aggressors...

Picard: ... and the Romulans would have a legitimate excuse to respond with force.

Riker: Exactly.

Data: That would also not be an atypical Romulan ploy, sir.

They're already wary of this very possibility at the beginning, & that's exactly what happens. Clearly the plot is not just about Jarok, it's about luring the Federation into the Neutral Zone

Jarok: For months, I tried to persuade the high command that another war would destroy the empire. They grew tired of my arguments, and finally censored me, sent me off to command a distant sector.

Picard: You said you had been censored, reassigned four months ago. They knew of your dissatisfaction... could this have been a test of your loyalty?

He'd only been reassigned for four months, during which time they fed him disinformation, until he acted. I'm suggesting that Tomalak, reeling from his recent embarrassment, knew Jarok had been reassigned & censored, maybe not even a whole four months ago or less, he proposed the idea of testing Jarok, then hand picking a route of escape that would be irresistible to Jarok & also relative to the position of the Enterprise, who had so recently gained his attention. They opened a door and led him right to Picard. It's unbelievably coincidental that it's Tomalak waiting to spring the trap & it's Picard that had fallen into it

It's feasible that the events of The Enemy & The Defector are within 2-4 months apart, even though only 2 episodes separate them. Jarok's dissatisfaction might have gone on for some length of time before that, but the plot may have only unfolded since his reassignment. If he really thought they were staging a front, he'd have to act if he wanted peace, & that made him exploitable, especially to someone desperate to redeem himself like Tomalak

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

It's true that the Romulan regime doesn't allow for mistakes, even small ones and that high ranking people are under pressure to show their abilities, lest they'd be reassigned and lose their privileges.

 

[Mojochi]

They're also opportunistic. If Jarok had left a vacancy at the high end of Romulan command, Tomalak might have been making a play to become an admiral. I'm pretty sure that the wreck of the Enterprise on display in the capital city might have gotten him that

 

[bbailey861]

He was very underused.

I agree wholeheartedly. Tomalak was a great antagonist who should have been used a lot more. Thank God he has appeared in several of the books. Even reading, I could easily think of Andreas Katsulas - who died way, way too young - voicing the words. Loved to hate the character.

 

[USS Firefly]

Too bad they didn't use Tomalak in Nemesis

 

[Richard Baker]

Too bad they didn't use Tomalak in Nemesis

I think Andreas Katsulas was already dead and recasting the role would not have worked- he made it his own.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Too bad they didn't use Tomalak in Nemesis

He couldn't possibly have been worse than "Picard's clone".

 

[jimbotron]

Too bad they didn't use Tomalak in Nemesis

I think Andreas Katsulas was already dead and recasting the role would not have worked- he made it his own.

He died in 2006. No one involved in Nemesis' production was interested in telling a good (or competent) story, so bringing in former characters from TNG wouldn't have mattered.

 

[Last Redshirt]

Definitely an underused character and Tomalak could've been the main foe for Picard, kind of like how Kang/Koloth/Kor were for Kirk, or Dukat was for Sisko. Katsulas was gifted for the roles he played, and I think that's an understatement.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Definitely an underused character and Tomalak could've been the main foe for Picard, kind of like how Kang/Koloth/Kor were for Kirk, or Dukat was for Sisko. Katsulas was gifted for the roles he played, and I think that's an understatement.

He even played a good guy, once in a while. I remember seeing his face quite a few times, although I couldn't name any of the roles, I remember that he always played them fairly well.

 

[RainKing]

I spotted him in the Enterprise episode Cogenitor. He was the one who hung out with Archer while Trip wildly interfered with a first contact species back on board the ship.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

I spotted him in the Enterprise episode Cogenitor. He was the one who hung out with Archer while Trip wildly interfered with a first contact species back on board the ship.

Yeah, good find. He was the guy who read all Shakespeare in one night.

 

[Melakon]

I think Katsulas said he avoided offers from Star Trek while he was working on Babylon 5 to avoid mixing franchises. Maybe he was just being loyal to the show that was helping pay his bills at the time.

In one interview, he had concerns regarding Tomalok when he was to be fully seen, instead of a face on the viewscreen. It meant he had to figure out how the guy moved, walked, gestures, etc., to be consistent with what he'd already done.

 

[Hypaspist]

Too bad they didn't use Tomalak in Nemesis

I think Andreas Katsulas was already dead and recasting the role would not have worked- he made it his own.

He died in 2006. No one involved in Nemesis' production was interested in telling a good (or competent) story, so bringing in former characters from TNG wouldn't have mattered.

Man this is so depressingly true. It makes me want to hate Nemesis as much as I hate Enterprise.

I do think that Tomalak was the perfect villain for the closest to irredeemable race in the Star Trek universe. (I'm not counting the Borg because they aren't even a real species and they don't need a representative character)
Maybe we don't get a good closing act for them, but when you think about it, the Romulans had a really good run as the bad guy:
Balance of Terror is one of the best non humorous/non cerebral episodes in all of TOS. Pretty much the perfect ship vs ship episode.
They were THE enemy through all of TNG.
Even with all of the new species and races of DS9, with their complicated backstories, the Romulans still had an air of menace and uniqueness about them.