Also Starring ... Andrew J. Robinson

[Bad Thoughts]

If I am not mistaken, ISB pushed for Andrew Robinson as Garak to become a series regular, first at the beginning of season 4, last at the beginning of season 7. From what I can tell, Behr was fond of Robinson and a bit protective of Garak, but his attempts to elevate Garak were thwarted by various budget priorities (most notably hiring Dorn). Even so, Garak ended up being one of the most regular recurring characters, sometime being indistinguishable from the regular actors (and outperforming one or two of them), and fit into the "crew" on many occasions.

That said, how does Garak fit into the series as a regular character? What role would he play in the episodes he did not appear in? Would his actions be changed in the episodes Garak did appear in?

Being a recurring character allowed the writers to act a little more treacherously than would be otherwise possible. In Broken Link, Garak is used to remind us how merciless the Dominion could be, but it leads to his attempt to kill the entire race, an attempted act of genocide that received a surprisingly light sentence. The scene allowed for some contrast to be made between him and Worf and to show how Worf had become more disciplined. As a regular, the extended absence would have been problematic, and the light sentence in the story would have becoming a constant nit to pick for Trek fans. "A little genocide in the name of self-defense" would probable become something else.

 

[Khaless the Unforgettable]

I think he was much more interesting as a recurring character. If anything, I'd prefer him to have been on-screen less often. It sort of diluted his role when they had him becoming as close to the rest of the cast as he did.

 

[Heghta]

Being an irregular guest kinda suited his character. The character that was always scheming and plotting in the background whilst seemingly too busy and boring with his tailor-shop to be a real threat.

 

[Terok Nor]

I think this was brought up a while ago. My suggestion was to drop Jake Sisko as a regular and upgrade Garak. Jake's role became less and less important as the seasons went by and he appeared less than Nog by the final season as well as being superfluous to the narrative. Garak, Nog, Dukat, Damar and others moved the narrative along whereas Jake was just along for the ride.

I'm sort of glad Garak stayed recurring. I think he appeared when he needed to appear. Having him show up just for the sake of it would have been a waste of the actor and the character.

 

[Six of Twelve]

Garak and Dukat showed two sides of Cardassians. While Dukat was mostly easy to read and didn't make much effort to hide what he was all about, most of who and what Garak was was like a tip of an iceberg - so much was hidden below the surface. He was full of surprises.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I agree that it's a good thing they didn't have to start shoving Garak into episodes he didn't naturally fit into.

 

[Navaros]

What role would he play in the episodes he did not appear in? Would his actions be changed in the episodes Garak did appear in?

... the light sentence in the story would have becoming a constant nit to pick for Trek fans. "A little genocide in the name of self-defense" would probable become something else.

I don't know what the writers had in mind when they were thinking to bring in Garak as a regular, but what they could have done was to make him into Sisko's own, personal, one-man Section 31. He could perform all of the dirty deeds that Sisko needed to be done off of the books.

Of course, for that to work, they'd have to move the In the Pale Moonlight episode to way earlier in the series, and they'd also have to make Sisko turn to the dark side in most episodes, rather than just once in a while.

In regards to your theory that fans would nitpick on Garak for trying to kill all the changelings if he were a regular, I do not believe that to be so. Sisko has done all kinds of nefarious things for which the fans give him a free pass. As examples, Sisko has: threatened to poison a Maquis planet, endorsed and enabled the genocide against the changelings by ordering Odo not to cure them from Section 31's genocide disease, banged Mirror Dax under the false pretense that he was a completely different man (which one could argue is a form of rape). The free passes that Sisko gets for his crimes leads me to believe that the fans are generally fine with anything (no matter how immoral) that the Federation or its allies do.

 

[publiusr]

He was my favorite character of the series.

 

[Jedman67]

Agreed about Jake, they should have moved him to "special guest" for the last couple of seasons. And Worf should have been brought in as a recurring role, there was too much shoehorning there.

 

[Kegg]

Garak as a regular character would have probably been a bit like, well, Quark - whenever the show was mostly about the Defiant or Starfleet issues, Quark was that guy off to the side who maybe got a scene in the episode and then disappeared.

 

[Jedman67]

^True. That is the problem with having a large cast. Quark should also have been reduced to recurring in the final season. I don't know if it's a contract thing or a union thing that requires every regular star to be in every single episode but it certainly made for some really odd moments...

 

[KirbyHawk]

Being an irregular guest kinda suited his character. The character that was always scheming and plotting in the background whilst seemingly too busy and boring with his tailor-shop to be a real threat.

Agree. The character was a much better recurring character. This saved him from being in some of the more silly story lines Star Trek would sometimes had. I always knew if Andrew Robinson was on the show, then it would be a good show.

 

[mlbach]

Took me awhile, but I came to love Garak as a character. Not only was he morally ambiguous, he was sexually ambiguous as well. I read somewhere that the at one point the writers wanted to make the character gay but changed their minds. I think Andrew Robinson decided to make him poly? pan?sexual. I thought his relationship with Ziyal was very touching.

 

[Six of Twelve]

Took me awhile, but I came to love Garak as a character. Not only was he morally ambiguous, he was sexually ambiguous as well. I read somewhere that the at one point the writers wanted to make the character gay but changed their minds. I think Andrew Robinson decided to make him poly? pan?sexual. I thought his relationship with Ziyal was very touching.

Yeah, it seemed there for awhile that they were trying to match him up with Bashir, as some of the comments that passed between them seemed to suggest.

 

[mlbach]

O'Brian/Bashir is a much better pairing

 

[kkt]

O'Brian/Bashir is a much better pairing

No, O'Brien was married. And Bashir was very obviously heterosexual. Not a very successful heterosexual, to be sure, but showing no inclination toward homosexuality.

 

[mlbach]

Ummmm--that was a joke. (My phone smiley didn't show up. I see now that we have our own smileys.)

 

[Stephen!]

Sisko has: threatened to poison a Maquis planet .

And one of them, he actually did.

 

[MadeIndescribable]

I don't know if it's a contract thing or a union thing that requires every regular star to be in every single episode but it certainly made for some really odd moments..

They don't, over the course of the series each actor (except avery brooks) missed a couple here and there. Cirric Lofton was in less than half the episodes, but still got credited for all of them.

 

[Jedman67]

Pretty sure Lofton was "recurring". Maybe he was full time in the first season.