Dukat - the Real Star of DS9???

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

While there are many threads devoted to Dukat, his evil and his evolution, can an argument be made that Mark Alaimo's character is the real star of the series. When he is in an episode, he can stand toe-to-toe with every actor in any scene. When not in an ep, his actions hang over most eps like a solar eclipse. I am about halfway through season 7 now and this feeling has been growing since the first episode. I remember how he finally evolves at the end of the series from my first-run watching and I'm curious to see how I will respond this time. I really didn't like it back then.

What do you serious Niners think?

 

[Tosk]

Nah. He's in less than forty episodes of a 170 ep run. They could talk about him in every episode and he still would not be the star of the show. I disagree that he hangs over "most eps" too.

You could make a better case for Jake being the star of the show than you could Dukat.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Was Darth Vader the real star of the first Star Wars trilogy? I would argue no, even though he was an iconic image. Was Ricardo Montalban the real star of STWOK? The villain might seem more compelling because s/he is a catalyst that forces the heroes to act; her/his character and personality must be explored in order to make sense of the chaos he creates. The character development of the star in many action/sci-fi/comic book stories is a reaction to the villain.

That said, Sisko drives the narrative more than the other stars of Star Trek. Even as he must respond to the Dukats, Winns, Weyoung, Damars, and Gowrons, Sisko is making more positive choices that shape the narrative than reactions. This is most true in his role as the Emissary, which itself forces the villains of the show to react to him.

 

[dub]

The thing is, this series was incredibly character-driven. And there were SO many delicious characters with fun actors who portrayed them. The show for me was more about humanity itself than about any one character.

 

[Dobian]

He wasn't the star but he's the most compelling antagonist on the show. And whenever he's on I can't stop from staring at that long reptilian-looking neck of his.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

While there are many threads devoted to Dukat, his evil and his evolution, can an argument be made that Mark Alaimo's character is the real star of the series. When he is in an episode, he can stand toe-to-toe with every actor in any scene. When not in an ep, his actions hang over most eps like a solar eclipse. I am about halfway through season 7 now and this feeling has been growing since the first episode. I remember how he finally evolves at the end of the series from my first-run watching and I'm curious to see how I will respond this time. I really didn't like it back then.

What do you serious Niners think?

He's definitely the one with the most complex resume: Leader of the occupation of Bajor, Military advisor to the Detapa counsil, freedom fighter against the Klingons, secret negotiator between Cardassia and the Dominion, leader of Cardassia under the control of the Dominion, Crazy loon in federation's custody, religious icon of some followers of the Pah Wraiths, and at last, the official emissary of the pah wraiths (they resuscitated him after Winn poisoned him and gave him back his Cardassian appearance) and Sisko's personal nemesis!

 

[JD5000]

That said, Sisko drives the narrative more than the other stars of Star Trek. Even as he must respond to the Dukats, Winns, Weyoung, Damars, and Gowrons, Sisko is making more positive choices that shape the narrative than reactions. This is most true in his role as the Emissary, which itself forces the villains of the show to react to him.

The same could be said of Dukat, just changing a few names and words. Dukat is very much the counterpoint of Sisko, a premise that is enforced in many episodes, the most obvious of which when he retakes his former office and keeps the baseball around, his self-proclamation as essentially the Emissary of the Pagh-Wraiths and the way he perceives his relationship with Sisko in "Waltz". Dukat makes many decisions that affect the story arc, the most important being pushing Cardassia to become aligned with the Dominion. Of course in the end, the villain declines into self-defeating madness, and the hero comes to terms with his place in the universe and saves the day.

That said, I don't think Dukat is THE star of the show, but he is definitely one of the few characters that the main premise of the series couldn't do without. He and Sisko needed each other to create the conflict necessary to build the continuing story arc that the other Trek series didn't have. Neither character would have been as powerful without the other. DS9 would have been fine without Dax, Bashir, Damar, Weyoun, Garak, etc - other characters that play important roles in specific episodes, but not a necessary role in the bigger story.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Dukat is definitely as important to the show as the main cast but there isn't really one 'Main character'. And if there were it'd be Quark or Odo, in the role of observing humanity.

 

[JD5000]

^ That's a really interesting take on the story JP. Is DS9 a story unto itself, or a direct take on modern humanity from a fictional perspective? If the latter were the obvious goal, characters like Quark and Odo, possibly even Kira or Dukat, would have made provocative narrators. I think to consider Odo or Quark a 'main character' in the role of observing humanity, you would have to look at the story from a different angle than presented.

It's clear that Trek in general is rife with commentary on modern society. I bet one could write very compelling essays looking at how this story reflects on the human condition from various character's points of view. In essence, isn't every possible story a human being can tell reflective of humanity in some way? It is in fact our only frame of reference.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think the writers realized very early that Quark was basically a modern human, so after that they used Quark to make their own critique of the idyllic presentation of humanity we see in TNG. Remember the final line of dialog in the show is Quark saying 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'.

 

[bbailey861]

Yah, maybe 'real star' is a bit strong, but Dukat sure did dominate the screen when he was on it. Not just his physical presence, but his voice and cadence of speaking all denoted authority. It was hard not to focus on him when he was on. Hard to think of anyone else being to play the role as well. What I really enjoyed about the part was how it all tied in at the end. It really was a full circle role - much like Sisko.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

I think the writers realized very early that Quark was basically a modern human, so after that they used Quark to make their own critique of the idyllic presentation of humanity we see in TNG. Remember the final line of dialog in the show is Quark saying 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'.

What I found surprising is Quark quoting earth poetry as in Little Green Men when he says: "All I want is a tall ship... with a load of contrabande to fill her with." Why would a Ferengi know about that poem? He also says in that episode that humans from the 20th century are people that he can relate too. Confirming that Quark is much closer to modern day humans than anyone else on the show.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Yah, maybe 'real star' is a bit strong, but Dukat sure did dominate the screen when he was on it. Not just his physical presence, but his voice and cadence of speaking all denoted authority. It was hard not to focus on him when he was on. Hard to think of anyone else being to play the role as well. What I really enjoyed about the part was how it all tied in at the end. It really was a full circle role - much like Sisko.

It's funny that during the occupation of Ds9 by the Dominion, we hear Dukat making the captain's report as Sisko does otherwise. I don't remember Kira telling the report during Sisko's absence though, strange.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think the writers realized very early that Quark was basically a modern human, so after that they used Quark to make their own critique of the idyllic presentation of humanity we see in TNG. Remember the final line of dialog in the show is Quark saying 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'.

What I found surprising is Quark quoting earth poetry as in Little Green Men when he says: "All I want is a tall ship... with a load of contrabande to fill her with." Why would a Ferengi know about that poem? He also says in that episode that humans from the 20th century are people that he can relate too. Confirming that Quark is much closer to modern day humans than anyone else on the show.

Aliens quoting human expressions is, as you Ferengi say, a tube grub in a waterfall.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

I think the writers realized very early that Quark was basically a modern human, so after that they used Quark to make their own critique of the idyllic presentation of humanity we see in TNG. Remember the final line of dialog in the show is Quark saying 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'.

What I found surprising is Quark quoting earth poetry as in Little Green Men when he says: "All I want is a tall ship... with a load of contrabande to fill her with." Why would a Ferengi know about that poem? He also says in that episode that humans from the 20th century are people that he can relate too. Confirming that Quark is much closer to modern day humans than anyone else on the show.

Aliens quoting human expressions is, as you Ferengi say, a tube grub in a waterfall.

It's more than simply "human" expressions. I for one, wouldn't know about John Masefield, if Spock hadn't corrected Leonard McCoy on the subject. I doubt many French people know of him, or American for that matter.
It makes it very surprising that a Ferengi would know him so well that he would use him so casually.

 

[Lance]

He's certainly unique in being the only time Star Trek ever created a truly compelling regular villain character.

The Borg Queen was too sporadic in her appearances to count as in any way "regular", while Q... well, Q is close. But he's no Dukhat (IMO ).

 

[doubleohfive]

At most, Alaimo was considered a regular by the crew of the show, which I think has nothing to do with how often he appeared and everything to do with what a fabulous performance he always gave in the role.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Dukat was a great villain. He was such a sleazebag!

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

There's no doubt about it. The actor who plays Dukat is magnificent.

 

[sonak]

I thought that the writers really sabotaged the character of Dukat, taking him from an enjoyably complex man with layered motivations to a one-note cartoon supervillain around the time of season 5-6. Ziyal's death really accelerated this, and the pah-wraith storyline was just an insult to him.

Dukat started as one of the best Trek villains ever, and ended as a pathetic one.