It's a testament to Andrew Robinson's acting that he turned Garak from a 2-episode one-dimensional bit-part character into one of the stars of the series and a fans favourite.
And a tribute to the writers. I don't think this was a "Doctor Smith/Lost in Space" situation where an actor emoted in a non-Kosher ham-on-wry display of flamboyance, but I think Robinson was inside the character to the point that he would have amended his written lines to retain the meaning and add his personal multi-'layered message, there for the semantically savvy to interpret. .
Garak was never designed to be a "2-episode" character. They made him from the start because they wanted someone to add to the Bashir character (ie someone to play off him and give him depth). He's always meant to be what he was. What Andrew did, was give him personality, and (of course) the entire reason he has claustrophobia is because Andrew himself does, so the writers worked with that.
Bashir: "they're our allies!" This is even funnier when you remember that Garak is one of only two people who know why the Romulans are allies against the Dominion and that he was the architect of that arrangement.
I doubt there are only two people who know that, Sisko did have tacit approval from Starfleet for his actions in bringing the Romulans into the war! Fairly certain Dr Bashir had an idea something nefarious was afoot even if he pretended not to!
@@craithteemeghan5311 Why would The Sisko risk there being an *official* account that might end up getting leaked one way or another? No, I'm sure the cover of "the Senator found a data rod plotting the invasion of the Romulans" combined with "thanks to Sisko using some connections to find it" likely sufficed for Starfleet Intelligence
@@InfernosReaper I did not say there would be an 'Official' account. I have no doubt that many within the Federation would be quite willing to look the other way or pretend not to know and not ask to many questions if it served their interests!
@@craithteemeghan5311 Some might *suspect* how many in Starfleet are going to just outright know that a prominent Starfleet officer was involved in a conspiracy to both fabricate evidence *and* commit murder
I LOVE this episode, that episode and the entire "Romulans are our allies" aspect and that NEVER occurred to me - Garak is the architect of the "alliance" (but no one else but Sisko knows it) and that lies and deception are an intimate part of the Starfleet/Romulan pact. God this show was good. And Garak especially so.
Well, it's not like we humans dress in beige or brown all the time, so you can imagine how tiresome it would be to see another species where their clothes, their buildings, their furniture, their EVERYTHING is the same color as our skin.
Garak: "Did you know that the Romulan heart itself is gray?" Bashir: "Yes, Garak. I had to take an entire course on Romulan cardiology before I graduated from the Starfleet Medical Academy." Garak: "Oh right... you're a doctor."
To be fair, even deep into the TNG Era the Romulans were quite mysterious to Starfleet, very well possible and plausible that they really indeed hadno clue or at least only very little about romulan anatomy.
Garak was everything that Star Trek needed. Always with the utopian values (which I mostly laud and agree with) there was this smug self congratulation to it all on the Federation side, and how could we expect those prim and proper tightly fitted officers of Starfleet to be anything but as up their own asses as real officers are? Garak was the audience, finally represented in the narrative. A sober voice mouthing the quiet reality that even in a future entirely shaped by the better angels of our nature there's a darkness, a bleakness and a hardness that must occasionally be unsheathed, at least if you want to run a military organization that has to find a way to create eternal peace with implacable foes. Garak not only brings a lightness to the federation that was sorely needed by calling them on their idealism but he also posed to them and gave the writers an essential agent who could bring the black and white morality into a grayer and complex puzzle of _needs must_ and how far would one go to do whats needed. That is quite simply why DS9 is the best Trek ever. Garak is simply 50% of the reason, with Quark being the other 50% and those two speaking together on the eve of the war with the Klingons over Root Beer embodies in a single scene why DS9 succeeded better than any other Star Trek, even its great progenitor TNG. Picard never had to deal with a Garak enough to dirty his clean morals even if he was in many ways the best agent of the Federation's values. He never had the sparring partner he needed.
Garak may very well be my favourite character in the Star Trek franchise. He's certainly one of the best written and acted, and I always get a strange sense of satisfaction when I imagine locking Neelix in a room with him.
I rather think I'd enjoy watching that conversation. It's not like Garak is a bloodthirsty psychopath, and like Lux said, there's more to Neelix than you know. Remember, he survived on his own for a long time in the wilds of the Delta Quadrant before joining Voyager as a simple cook. I would think they might actually have a wonderful chat, considering they were both outsiders and loners unwittingly thrust into the Federation family. They've probably got quite a few things to relate about.
+sunnchilde Pretty sure he's just bullshitting on that one, not that he wouldn't gut someone but resorting to vivisection to get what you want out of a person is so... inelegant. Any idiot with a knife can cut someone open. A master of the craft can break a person without ever laying a finger on them.
Vivisection, probably not, but he almost certainly had some sort of course on Romulan physiology, probably involving dissection. After all, Garak's duties did sometimes involve assassination, and knowing exactly what makes the Romulan body tick would be incredibly relevant information.
Those Garak/Bashir exchanges were pure gold! ... My theory is that Garak first spotted Bashir: a socially awkward, talkative young man with a taste for adventure, and decided to make contact with him. Sure, Bashir didn't have access to any Federation secrets... but he had access to people who DID. So, Garak strung Bashir along: brought him a little excitement by acting like a Cardassian spy, one minute, and like a friendly tailor, the next, keeping the doctor off balance (or trying to). Bringing Bashir along on a little "spying game" against the Klingon twin sisters, was a good example. Garak could've gone to anyone: Odo, Sisco, etc. but he went to Bashir. Then, there were all those lunches, where Garak introduced Bashir to the Cardassian's way of thinking, obviously to make Bashir more sympathetic to them. Garak made an investment: to bring Bashir into his world in hopes of being able to use him, later. Except things didn't go exactly as planned. Bashir proved to have a stronger personality than anticipated and an intellect beyond expectations... This, of course, being due to the fact that the Personality Bashir was displaying was fake, to some extent, and Garak never saw through the deception. (Seriously, he must have been *livid* when he learned that Bashir was a genetically engineered human, both because Bashir didn't tell him his little secret AND that Garak didn't discover it on his own!) So, Garak's intent to pull Bashir closer to him and turn in into some kind of sympathizer or dormant agent turned into a tug-of-war and both got stuck in the middle, with Garak never managing to gain the upper-hand, once Bashir found his footing in their relationship. I think this both rejoiced and disgusted Garak, has he said so himself. He became fond of the doctor and enjoyed his company. He could *ask* things from Bashir but couldn't *make* him do things... a terrible position to be in, for someone like Garak. In retrospect, I really wished the producers had created an Arc, for those two. Unfortunately, decisions were made to separate them, by centering around the Bashir/O'brian friendship and trying out Garak with others (which, to me, didn't work because it couldn't match the chemistry the two actors had on set). Frankly, having Garak NOT notice that Bashir had been replaced by a fake was so out-of-character and could've made for a great story-arc.
Okay but are you aware that in their first scene together, Andrew Robinson was not in fact playing Garak as an operative attempting to make contact, but as someone trying to hit on Bashir.
Amazing chemistry between Garak & Bashir throughout the entire show. They are so different, yet become such good friends. Such a great show, the characters were so well written, multi-faceted & with lots of depth. DS9 was Star Trek at its best! I wish they´ll make a similer show one day.
Remind me again about the left's tolerance and peace, stonem001, the next time a college shuts down free speech from a conservative speaker, while rioting and assaulting people on the right.
@@JustinStrife Funny reading this at a time when the right in Florida is banning any books which don't exactly conform with their worldview lol. Guardians of free speech indeed.
Garak is one of those curious characters whose mask has been on so long that even they forget what their real self actually is, whilst maintaining that they know everything relevant about themselves.
Indeed. He'd have that woman and the Sand Snakes killed the moment they tried their stunt the first time. if only he had listened to plain simple Garak.
+Anna Alu I find that Garak is absolutely right on so many levels, I was once Bashir the eternal optimist but life and truth has taught me otherwise and now treat everything with suspicion finding clouds in silver lining and i dont trust anybody
'The Federation should spend some intelligence operatives along!' Yeah, Garak knows what's up. I get the idea this was Garak's attempt to warn Bashir - or at least put the idea in his head - that there WILL be intelligence operatives, and he ought to keep an eye out.
I neither applaud nor assail Bashir for his idealism. While there are those who work in darker areas, if the ideal is forgotten, if the people who understand why they're fighting the war in the first place are completely silenced then what's to stop the whole thing from crumbling. Bashir seems like the only character to start the series with his ideals intact. While the genetic manipulation comes up later that was a family matter and nothing to do with the federation or galactic socio-politics. The Siskos (Jake and Benjamin) have lost someone, O Brien's a hard working family man former soldier who's seen a lot, Garak, Odo and Kira all lived through the dark days of the occupation (from different angles). It's actually a testament to Bashir's strength of character that even here, in the middle of a war, his ideals are still burning bright. But also it's important that they be checked by the likes of Garak, the realism must never be lost but neither must the idealism.
You know, when Bashir is deadpanning to Garak about becoming more cynical by the day... all of a sudden he reminded me of Peter Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, only taller and more handsome, obviously. The sarcastic tone is just the same.
Garak and Varys would be having LUNCH EVERYDAY, and Little Finger would have been DEAD along time ago! Remember Bashir became the Prince of DORNE!! Dead now from being as clueless as Bashir about plottings around him.
I always admired Garak's use of extensive vocabulary in DS9. For example, the words @ 1:28 "Platitutes" and "Implacable" It would be nice if some Star Trek nerd would keep a list of all of the extended vocab words that Garak has used on DS9.
+Skylinesandsunsets Yeah i agree slang, text Message shortcuts, and dumb fuck kind of words are dominating the youths vocabulary send them all back to literacy classes. My favourite word is phenomena
The most impressive part of it is that he's almost certainly speaking English rather than using a universal translator, and has a vocabulary that extensive in it.
It’s funny because Garak was a spy who basically became a guy who played spy (with Bashir), where Bashir played spy and then actually became one. Spies Reminiscent of Us you might say.
Without spoiling the ending of this episode, Bashir's humorous promise to become more cynical everyday, turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy - he is indeed more cynical at the end of the episode.
0:29...."What was the assignment anyway?" "I'm afraid I can't talk about that." This bit always makes me laugh. Garak might be in exile, but he still wants to keep his mouth shut on past intelligence operations (especially since when he was on Romulans he assassinated Proconsul Merrok and Subcommander Ustard....oh and an Ambassador to boot.)
Damn it now I have to go on a bloody DS9 all nighter.....thanks Garak!. Hee, can't complain too much though as he's easily the best character in the series
I agree 100%...DS9 was by far the best in the series. Imo what made DS9 the best was the secondary characters like Gul Dukat, Wayoun, Rom, Nog, Garak, General Martok....etc
It's interesting, Garak was a spy and he managed to become extremely close with all the main characters: Sisko, Bashir, Worf (Infernos Light), O'brien (Empok Nor), Dax (Afterimage), Kira (the last episodes), Odo (The Die is Cast). The DS9 writers were just ridiculously talented.
Bashir “”they’re our allies”” Yes .... for now and let’s hope stays that way but just in case times change it never hurts to have a little more info than your friends think or want you to have, that way if things change and you find yourself at odds with a friend you are the one on top when it comes to seeing were everyone stands.
It would've been awesome if we could've had just 1 episode of Star Trek(or even Babylon 5) that put both Andrew Robinson & Andreas Katsulas together in a scene. Hell, it wouldn't even be a big stretch, since one played Garak & the other played Tomalak.
It's appropriate that the Romulans are patterned after the Roman Empire during the time of the Caesars. A wise saying about the Romans: "You should never be friends with the Romans so much as not be their enemies. Remember this, as their "friends" end up as their enemies: part of their Empire."
If I suffered a brain haemorrhage in my sleep and woke up to find that my only symptom was that I spoke like Elim Garak, I'd thank my good fortune and become a tailor.
+Medalion Yeah, the Romulans seem to ADORE the color grey. Still, I thought that their favorite color was Green? Their ships are green, their blood is green, the symbol of their empire is green and parts of their computer panels are green.
Garak is an interesting look into the social side of the Cardasians. I imagine that while the primary focus of the Klingons is fury and the primary focus of the Farengi is greed, the primary focus of the Cardasians must be paranoia. What we see in Garak is paranoia which has been controlled and adapted to be a functional way of life rather than a crippling condition.
Solidfact42 Yes and no--you have to remember Garak is an intelligence operative. It's his MO to be paranoid. I would say the primary focus of Cardassians is either record-keeping meticulousness or family.
What would have been massively cool would have been to have Garak join the delegation to Romulus, and then have meeting and conversation with Sloan -- even make him a part of the conspiracy in some way,. Putting Andrew Robinson and William Sadler on screen at the same time would have been incredible.
Garak: Gee, I wonder if Starfleet will do any spy missions today during the meeting with the Romulans.... Bashir: No way. Sloan: How would you like to be Starfleets spy during the meeting with the Romulans? Bashir: *rolls eyes* Of course...
Aside from one episode that proves all of Star Trek's humanoids descended from a common ancestor, there have been quite a few that proved that they can interbreed.
The Garak character knew a fundamental truth, no matter how nice or fair or honest you are the universe is out to screw you over. Why is price of Liberty eternal vigilance hmm?
i would be really curious of Bashir's reaction if Garak told him the truth how this 'alliance' started. Combined with deals of Starfleet Admirals with Section 31 and attempted coup on Earth, I think he wouldn't be naive optimist any longer.
What I like about DS9 is not only how well the characters complement each other, but how each have their own counterpoints of personality that don't make them entirely one-dimensional and can even surprise their nominal opposites.
I like how Garek turns the Utopianism of TNG on its head. It's like he's saying "Look around to what is. Not what you want it to be. Let's get back to reality shall we? I am no sooner a tailor than you are a peacemaker." You can't get an Ought from an Is as David Hume would say. Garek should have said that. It's a human philosophical idea after all. That's real politik as it were. Realism. Pragmatism. Actual people.
I am a Trek fan because I know EXACTLY how time Travel works. When you go back in time and change something, the previous timeline gets written over. Nero went back in time, kills Kirk's dad, and TOS gets written over. Remember Edith Keeler? Or future Odo saving Kira by seeing the Defiant never crashes? Star Trek operates on a physical multiverse, not a temporal one where anew timelines are created from every choice. The other universes were already there all along
It's interesting to postulate if Garak and Bashir might've become reflections of one another if their upbringings had been switched: Garak in a loving, supportive household that exposited innovation and optimism and Bashir in a world of paranoia and intrigue where the weak die, trust is a rare commodity, and compassion is rewarded with dire consequences.
I will ALWAYS lament Section 31 Never spoke of knowing Bashir being friends with BIGGEST agent in Cardassian history and Garak Never got to meet Sloan or was part of Bashir's adventures dealing with Section 31.
I am glad they steered away from it. Too cliche-like lines would come about. For instance, Garak would say, "Oh I see Luther paid you a visit last night. You do remind me of him you know, since you both love holodeck adventures"
@@oldtwinsna8347 Um no, the writers doing Garak and Bashir were good professionals unlike you and would have found someway to make it great challenging adversaries like Littlefinger v Varys in Game of Thrones
Garak always feels like he's explaining Sex Ed to a child with Bashir. "Spy on the folks we've been barely staving off catastrophic war with for about 2 centuries, WHAT DO YOU MEAN??????!" Oh dear. So when two civilizations hate each other very much....
I think there is more to Garaks point here. He seized up the situation cotrectly. In fact, Star fleet ( Section 31) managed to take advantage situation and framed a Romulan Senator Friendly to Starfleet (but a loyal Romulan non the less) so they can plant one that they could control and Spy with instead. The big issue here is not that Bashir was naive but how. He simply could not accept that even Statfleet gets its hands dirty. Any great power woukd take advantage of the situation. And mind you, in this episode, he was knowingly doing what he thought was harmless intelligence gathering for Section 31 fully aware at how ruthless they are. The lesson here is that this is a Game of Thrones universe and no matter how nice, egalitarian, and utopian Starfleet is, Starfleet will play dirty.
If only we could get Abrams in a room with Garak for five minutes, perhaps Abrams could be brought to actually consider the science side of science fiction?
Grey is portrayed as the grey area morally. The Romulans have always existed in this area, which is to say they never do anything truly evil, and they rarely do anything truly good. Living in our 21st century world, this might be an ideal our governments should strive for.
It's a testament to Andrew Robinson's acting that he turned Garak from a 2-episode one-dimensional bit-part character into one of the stars of the series and a fans favourite.
And a tribute to the writers. I don't think this was a "Doctor Smith/Lost in Space" situation where an actor emoted in a non-Kosher ham-on-wry display of flamboyance, but I think Robinson was inside the character to the point that he would have amended his written lines to retain the meaning and add his personal multi-'layered message, there for the semantically savvy to interpret. .
Garak was never designed to be a "2-episode" character. They made him from the start because they wanted someone to add to the Bashir character (ie someone to play off him and give him depth). He's always meant to be what he was. What Andrew did, was give him personality, and (of course) the entire reason he has claustrophobia is because Andrew himself does, so the writers worked with that.
Of the series? More like the entire Star Trek Universe!
True ...bit like andreas katsulas as g'kar ...
He ended up being my favorite all-time Star Trek character
Bashir: "they're our allies!"
This is even funnier when you remember that Garak is one of only two people who know why the Romulans are allies against the Dominion and that he was the architect of that arrangement.
I doubt there are only two people who know that, Sisko did have tacit approval from Starfleet for his actions in bringing the Romulans into the war! Fairly certain Dr Bashir had an idea something nefarious was afoot even if he pretended not to!
@@craithteemeghan5311 Why would The Sisko risk there being an *official* account that might end up getting leaked one way or another? No, I'm sure the cover of "the Senator found a data rod plotting the invasion of the Romulans" combined with "thanks to Sisko using some connections to find it" likely sufficed for Starfleet Intelligence
@@InfernosReaper I did not say there would be an 'Official' account. I have no doubt that many within the Federation would be quite willing to look the other way or pretend not to know and not ask to many questions if it served their interests!
@@craithteemeghan5311 Some might *suspect* how many in Starfleet are going to just outright know that a prominent Starfleet officer was involved in a conspiracy to both fabricate evidence *and* commit murder
I LOVE this episode, that episode and the entire "Romulans are our allies" aspect and that NEVER occurred to me - Garak is the architect of the "alliance" (but no one else but Sisko knows it) and that lies and deception are an intimate part of the Starfleet/Romulan pact.
God this show was good. And Garak especially so.
Garak (a grey-skinned Cardassian) complaining about Romulan people for being 'All Grey' is hilarious ))
Well, it's not like we humans dress in beige or brown all the time, so you can imagine how tiresome it would be to see another species where their clothes, their buildings, their furniture, their EVERYTHING is the same color as our skin.
Think about all the beige jokes we make tho
Well, their ships are bright yellow.
The Cardassians are more of a beige color.
And then there is Starfleet, whose ships and and uniforms at that current time were mostly....well, guess what? Gray.
I was taught in life to hope like Bashir but plan like Garek.
atta person
*Garak
@@kefsound Gah Wreck
Garak!
I think thats why Garak likes Julian so much.
"You'll find the predominant color to be gray," began the man dismissively whose very complexion was that of cement.
Garak: "Did you know that the Romulan heart itself is gray?"
Bashir: "Yes, Garak. I had to take an entire course on Romulan cardiology before I graduated from the Starfleet Medical Academy."
Garak: "Oh right... you're a doctor."
To be fair, even deep into the TNG Era the Romulans were quite mysterious to Starfleet, very well possible and plausible that they really indeed hadno clue or at least only very little about romulan anatomy.
Bashir graduated as a multi species Doctor
Garak was everything that Star Trek needed. Always with the utopian values (which I mostly laud and agree with) there was this smug self congratulation to it all on the Federation side, and how could we expect those prim and proper tightly fitted officers of Starfleet to be anything but as up their own asses as real officers are?
Garak was the audience, finally represented in the narrative. A sober voice mouthing the quiet reality that even in a future entirely shaped by the better angels of our nature there's a darkness, a bleakness and a hardness that must occasionally be unsheathed, at least if you want to run a military organization that has to find a way to create eternal peace with implacable foes. Garak not only brings a lightness to the federation that was sorely needed by calling them on their idealism but he also posed to them and gave the writers an essential agent who could bring the black and white morality into a grayer and complex puzzle of _needs must_ and how far would one go to do whats needed.
That is quite simply why DS9 is the best Trek ever. Garak is simply 50% of the reason, with Quark being the other 50% and those two speaking together on the eve of the war with the Klingons over Root Beer embodies in a single scene why DS9 succeeded better than any other Star Trek, even its great progenitor TNG. Picard never had to deal with a Garak enough to dirty his clean morals even if he was in many ways the best agent of the Federation's values. He never had the sparring partner he needed.
Agreed. Throughout the ages, and behind every army (and every diplomat), behind the scenes there is....
the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
well said and I agree.
He had Q - he just didn't have him often enough.
I highly recommend you read The Culture Series of books and then revisit star trek and Garak.
The man SCREAMS Special Circumstances agent.
BollocksUtwat I have to say the adventures of nog were also enjoyable.
"If only you meant it!"
Awesome scene!
+Arvid Shirasb Bashir does mean it. See what he does to Sloan eventually.
Garak may very well be my favourite character in the Star Trek franchise. He's certainly one of the best written and acted, and I always get a strange sense of satisfaction when I imagine locking Neelix in a room with him.
Haha true. Neelix can consider himself lucky he never met Garak (and maybe vice versa, too).
DarkNova50 Haha. Yaaaaas!
its making me think of the psycho tuvok scene in the holdeck, where he kills neelix
Poor Garak, why would you inflict such pain on such a great character? ^oo^
I rather think I'd enjoy watching that conversation. It's not like Garak is a bloodthirsty psychopath, and like Lux said, there's more to Neelix than you know. Remember, he survived on his own for a long time in the wilds of the Delta Quadrant before joining Voyager as a simple cook. I would think they might actually have a wonderful chat, considering they were both outsiders and loners unwittingly thrust into the Federation family. They've probably got quite a few things to relate about.
Ever wonder how Garak knows exactly what color Romulan hearts are? I think maybe he'd cut one out personally.
+sunnchilde Pretty sure he's just bullshitting on that one, not that he wouldn't gut someone but resorting to vivisection to get what you want out of a person is so... inelegant. Any idiot with a knife can cut someone open. A master of the craft can break a person without ever laying a finger on them.
+Andrew Singleton Well said. Like Garak once said "I never even TOUCHED him!"
Vivisection, probably not, but he almost certainly had some sort of course on Romulan physiology, probably involving dissection. After all, Garak's duties did sometimes involve assassination, and knowing exactly what makes the Romulan body tick would be incredibly relevant information.
One?
@@singletona082 Oh, its not like we don't know what our own hearts look like. Nahhh, that's just way to simple of an explanation...
Those Garak/Bashir exchanges were pure gold!
... My theory is that Garak first spotted Bashir: a socially awkward, talkative young man with a taste for adventure, and decided to make contact with him. Sure, Bashir didn't have access to any Federation secrets... but he had access to people who DID.
So, Garak strung Bashir along: brought him a little excitement by acting like a Cardassian spy, one minute, and like a friendly tailor, the next, keeping the doctor off balance (or trying to). Bringing Bashir along on a little "spying game" against the Klingon twin sisters, was a good example. Garak could've gone to anyone: Odo, Sisco, etc. but he went to Bashir.
Then, there were all those lunches, where Garak introduced Bashir to the Cardassian's way of thinking, obviously to make Bashir more sympathetic to them.
Garak made an investment: to bring Bashir into his world in hopes of being able to use him, later.
Except things didn't go exactly as planned. Bashir proved to have a stronger personality than anticipated and an intellect beyond expectations... This, of course, being due to the fact that the Personality Bashir was displaying was fake, to some extent, and Garak never saw through the deception. (Seriously, he must have been *livid* when he learned that Bashir was a genetically engineered human, both because Bashir didn't tell him his little secret AND that Garak didn't discover it on his own!)
So, Garak's intent to pull Bashir closer to him and turn in into some kind of sympathizer or dormant agent turned into a tug-of-war and both got stuck in the middle, with Garak never managing to gain the upper-hand, once Bashir found his footing in their relationship.
I think this both rejoiced and disgusted Garak, has he said so himself. He became fond of the doctor and enjoyed his company. He could *ask* things from Bashir but couldn't *make* him do things... a terrible position to be in, for someone like Garak.
In retrospect, I really wished the producers had created an Arc, for those two. Unfortunately, decisions were made to separate them, by centering around the Bashir/O'brian friendship and trying out Garak with others (which, to me, didn't work because it couldn't match the chemistry the two actors had on set).
Frankly, having Garak NOT notice that Bashir had been replaced by a fake was so out-of-character and could've made for a great story-arc.
Okay but are you aware that in their first scene together, Andrew Robinson was not in fact playing Garak as an operative attempting to make contact, but as someone trying to hit on Bashir.
A man can have more than one motive.
"there is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist"
Amazing chemistry between Garak & Bashir throughout the entire show. They are so different, yet become such good friends.
Such a great show, the characters were so well written, multi-faceted & with lots of depth.
DS9 was Star Trek at its best! I wish they´ll make a similer show one day.
+stonem001 Except in the end both parties are the same behind the scenes and they have nothing to do with Stat Trek.
I think your comment is a little irrelevant.
Garak would rather die than admit it, but he did exhibit genuine signs of actual faith in humanity as the series went on too.
Remind me again about the left's tolerance and peace, stonem001, the next time a college shuts down free speech from a conservative speaker, while rioting and assaulting people on the right.
@@JustinStrife Funny reading this at a time when the right in Florida is banning any books which don't exactly conform with their worldview lol. Guardians of free speech indeed.
Garak is one of those curious characters whose mask has been on so long that even they forget what their real self actually is, whilst maintaining that they know everything relevant about themselves.
Oh Prince Doran! if only you had listened to your dear friend's advice.
Indeed. He'd have that woman and the Sand Snakes killed the moment they tried their stunt the first time. if only he had listened to plain simple Garak.
Now I'm imagining Garak as a Dornish bannerman, counseling Prince Doran. The Lannisters and Daenerys wouldn't stand a chance.
A cup of afternoon raktajino, and kingdoms will fall.
@@maidros85 When I first saw Siddig playing Doran Martell my first thought was "Well Dr Bashir is larping in the holodeck again".
@@TheAtkey he has a vast supply of stories, wouldn't be surprised if julian started liking fantasy in his later years
"..mouth the usual platitude of peace and friendship". Great line
Garak has the chutzpah to say charmingly what everybody is too mealy-mouthed to allow themselves to think.
I know I just finished my latest DS9 marathon but boy do I want to binge this series again.
Best part is the eyeroll at 1:20. You can see he wants to tell Bashir exactly how this alliance started xD
+Anna Alu Nice catch. My favorite of the the Star Trek Shows. Garak was such a great character, my favorite right along side Worf.
+Anna Alu
I find that Garak is absolutely right on so many levels,
I was once Bashir the eternal optimist but life and truth has taught me otherwise and now treat everything with suspicion finding clouds in silver lining and i dont trust anybody
+Darth Sidious These days we call that "common sense".
+Darth Sidious With a name like Darth Sidious...I am not surprised.
garak was the best written character on the trek show with the best writing crew
'The Federation should spend some intelligence operatives along!' Yeah, Garak knows what's up. I get the idea this was Garak's attempt to warn Bashir - or at least put the idea in his head - that there WILL be intelligence operatives, and he ought to keep an eye out.
And Section 31 send Bashir on a mission!! XD😂🤣😜😉😊😁😎😅😄😆😝
spoken like a true Machiavellist.
Garak quotes him almost literally.
Andy Robinson did a great job as Garak.....he really played him,to the hilt!!!
To Garak, "unimaginative" must be code for "treacherous like me."
LOL. I never realized how much Garak was my spirit animal. Awesome. 😁
I neither applaud nor assail Bashir for his idealism.
While there are those who work in darker areas, if the ideal is forgotten, if the people who understand why they're fighting the war in the first place are completely silenced then what's to stop the whole thing from crumbling.
Bashir seems like the only character to start the series with his ideals intact. While the genetic manipulation comes up later that was a family matter and nothing to do with the federation or galactic socio-politics. The Siskos (Jake and Benjamin) have lost someone, O Brien's a hard working family man former soldier who's seen a lot, Garak, Odo and Kira all lived through the dark days of the occupation (from different angles).
It's actually a testament to Bashir's strength of character that even here, in the middle of a war, his ideals are still burning bright.
But also it's important that they be checked by the likes of Garak, the realism must never be lost but neither must the idealism.
I could watch Garak all day
Lucky for you he does the same to you.
You know, when Bashir is deadpanning to Garak about becoming more cynical by the day... all of a sudden he reminded me of Peter Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, only taller and more handsome, obviously. The sarcastic tone is just the same.
Garak and Tyrion would have gotten along so well. Then again, Varys strikes me as a distant cousin to Garak.
Garak and Varys would be having LUNCH EVERYDAY, and Little Finger would have been DEAD along time ago!
Remember Bashir became the Prince of DORNE!! Dead now from being as clueless as Bashir about plottings around him.
Garak and DS9 were some of the very best character/show in Star Trek. Exquisite.
I always admired Garak's use of extensive vocabulary in DS9. For example, the words @ 1:28
"Platitutes" and "Implacable"
It would be nice if some Star Trek nerd would keep a list of all of the extended vocab words that Garak has used on DS9.
Skylinesandsunsets Ooh! Me! Me! Pick me! I can do that! :D (I think provided my ADHD doesn't get in my way.)
vantarinitel ADHD is perfect for this kind of task...
Up until analyzing sentences word for word becomes tedious...
Been there, done that.
+Skylinesandsunsets
Yeah i agree slang, text Message shortcuts, and dumb fuck kind of words are dominating the youths vocabulary send them all back to literacy classes. My favourite word is phenomena
+Darth Sidious ur pretentious
The most impressive part of it is that he's almost certainly speaking English rather than using a universal translator, and has a vocabulary that extensive in it.
This is one of those conversations in which they are both speaking to each other as spies.
It’s funny because Garak was a spy who basically became a guy who played spy (with Bashir), where Bashir played spy and then actually became one. Spies Reminiscent of Us you might say.
Oh, I truly miss those weekly DS9 episodes on the telly. Such exquisite banter between Garak and Basheer. Love(d) it!
Without spoiling the ending of this episode, Bashir's humorous promise to become more cynical everyday, turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy - he is indeed more cynical at the end of the episode.
Come now Garak. Your lunches with Bashir wouldn't' be nearly as much fun if he was as cynical as you want him to be.
Let's just say because of watching DS9 and by extension, Garak, that I've expanded my vocabulary early in my teens.. :
Garak the realist.
Gotta say I agree with Garak 100% about the trustworthiness of the Romulans, they got what was coming.
I always loved the interactions between Bashir and Garak.
Wow.. I think I just learned a valuable life lesson there. Thanks Garak!
1:08 It is a great opportunity which the romulans would take without hesitation
Those two together were a lot of fun.
0:29...."What was the assignment anyway?"
"I'm afraid I can't talk about that."
This bit always makes me laugh. Garak might be in exile, but he still wants to keep his mouth shut on past intelligence operations (especially since when he was on Romulans he assassinated Proconsul Merrok and Subcommander Ustard....oh and an Ambassador to boot.)
Damn it now I have to go on a bloody DS9 all nighter.....thanks Garak!. Hee, can't complain too much though as he's easily the best character in the series
Matthew Sykes I bet it was a great night. Lol
Garak and Quark are the best two characters in all of Trek
DS9 is the best of all Star Trek series. The plotting and characterization are much better.
I agree 100%...DS9 was by far the best in the series. Imo what made DS9 the best was the secondary characters like Gul Dukat, Wayoun, Rom, Nog, Garak, General Martok....etc
Unforgettable characters, right?
David Govett Yes. My favorite character was without a doubt Quark ::)))
From what we saw of Cardassia their predominant colour was beige
It's interesting, Garak was a spy and he managed to become extremely close with all the main characters: Sisko, Bashir, Worf (Infernos Light), O'brien (Empok Nor), Dax (Afterimage), Kira (the last episodes), Odo (The Die is Cast). The DS9 writers were just ridiculously talented.
Bashir “”they’re our allies””
Yes .... for now and let’s hope stays that way but just in case times change it never hurts to have a little more info than your friends think or want you to have, that way if things change and you find yourself at odds with a friend you are the one on top when it comes to seeing were everyone stands.
Garak, the last NSA operative...
The irony being, he was talking to a guy who'd wind up as quite an accomplished field agent.
It would've been awesome if we could've had just 1 episode of Star Trek(or even Babylon 5) that put both Andrew Robinson & Andreas Katsulas together in a scene.
Hell, it wouldn't even be a big stretch, since one played Garak & the other played Tomalak.
It's appropriate that the Romulans are patterned after the Roman Empire during the time of the Caesars.
A wise saying about the Romans: "You should never be friends with the Romans so much as not be their enemies. Remember this, as their "friends" end up as their enemies: part of their Empire."
I also kind of saw a hint of World War II in the show......Federation were the Allies, Romulan's were the Germans and Klingons like the Japanese.
@@uncletaylorify Cardassians were Fascist Italy...
Kirk/Trelane < Kirk/Khan < Picard/Tomalak < Sisko/Dukat < Picard/Q < Garak/Bashir.
Garak/Bashir surpases Picard/Q by _just this much_
I like how the only thing their not better than is Kirk/Spock.
Spock/McCoy is even better.
If I suffered a brain haemorrhage in my sleep and woke up to find that my only symptom was that I spoke like Elim Garak, I'd thank my good fortune and become a tailor.
I would argue Cardassians love a lot of Grey as well... Terok Nor is full of greys
probably because it's a former slave camp. Excuse me, mining facility.
+Medalion Yeah, the Romulans seem to ADORE the color grey. Still, I thought that their favorite color was Green? Their ships are green, their blood is green, the symbol of their empire is green and parts of their computer panels are green.
***** Oops, typo, I meant the Romulans like grey, hang on, I'll fix it.
+Medalion Eeeh more a study in Brown and Rust colors really.
Garak is an interesting look into the social side of the Cardasians. I imagine that while the primary focus of the Klingons is fury and the primary focus of the Farengi is greed, the primary focus of the Cardasians must be paranoia. What we see in Garak is paranoia which has been controlled and adapted to be a functional way of life rather than a crippling condition.
Solidfact42 Yes and no--you have to remember Garak is an intelligence operative. It's his MO to be paranoid.
I would say the primary focus of Cardassians is either record-keeping meticulousness or family.
Man Faldo I enjoy the dialogue between these two. Banter at its finest & we all know they are brothers at heart
What would have been massively cool would have been to have Garak join the delegation to Romulus, and then have meeting and conversation with Sloan -- even make him a part of the conspiracy in some way,. Putting Andrew Robinson and William Sadler on screen at the same time would have been incredible.
Garak: Gee, I wonder if Starfleet will do any spy missions today during the meeting with the Romulans....
Bashir: No way.
Sloan: How would you like to be Starfleets spy during the meeting with the Romulans?
Bashir: *rolls eyes* Of course...
The absolute foreshadowing of this scene was amazing.
Garak deserves his own series
Oh, those two! I love them so much.
Aside from one episode that proves all of Star Trek's humanoids descended from a common ancestor, there have been quite a few that proved that they can interbreed.
Ironic that Garak is talking about hoping the Federation sends operatives to Romulus and section 31 gives Bashir an assignment that night.
+scottythegreat1 Who's to say Garek didn't give them the idea?
scottythegreat1 Mission Log Podcast is starting DS9 now!!!! Feb 25, 2018. Join us!!! Pensky Podcast too!!!!!! Let’s go back to Terok Nor!!!!
The Garak character knew a fundamental truth, no matter how nice or fair or honest you are the universe is out to screw you over. Why is price of Liberty eternal vigilance hmm?
david rubio Mission Log Podcast is starting DS9 now!!!! Feb 25, 2018. Join us!!! Pensky Podcast too!!!!!! Let’s go back to Terok Nor!!!!
Garak is such a well imagined character!
i would be really curious of Bashir's reaction if Garak told him the truth how this 'alliance' started. Combined with deals of Starfleet Admirals with Section 31 and attempted coup on Earth, I think he wouldn't be naive optimist any longer.
.... cut to Garak's last scene, where he's standing on the ruins of what is left of Cardassia.
I love Star Trek banter
Funny he said everything was grey considering that when we see inside of Romulan Warbirds they're usually quite colourful.
Garak throws a lot of shade at the Romulans but pretty sure Cardassians are grey and their clothes too.
HA HA I WAS THINKING THAT! Pot calling the kettle black Elim.
In their off-hours, Cardassians wear blues, greens, greys and yellows. It seems to depend on what caste or class they end up in.
1:34 Implacable foe? Strong words for a man whose people enslaved Bajor and joined the Dominion in a galactic conquest.
Austin Boylan Mission Log Podcast is starting DS9 now!!!! Feb 25, 2018. Join us!!! Pensky Podcast too!!!!!! Let’s go back to Terok Nor!!!!
Great show.
What I like about DS9 is not only how well the characters complement each other, but how each have their own counterpoints of personality that don't make them entirely one-dimensional and can even surprise their nominal opposites.
Elim Garak is a monster.
And I'm proud to call him my friend.
" We don't have allies my love. We only have ...interests. "
I like how Garek turns the Utopianism of TNG on its head. It's like he's saying "Look around to what is. Not what you want it to be. Let's get back to reality shall we? I am no sooner a tailor than you are a peacemaker."
You can't get an Ought from an Is as David Hume would say. Garek should have said that. It's a human philosophical idea after all.
That's real politik as it were. Realism. Pragmatism. Actual people.
Garak is the embodiment of the station itself: a shady history, not what it seems to me, corrupt yet integral to the future.
Goddamnit the interactions on this series were peerless.
I am a Trek fan because I know EXACTLY how time Travel works. When you go back in time and change something, the previous timeline gets written over. Nero went back in time, kills Kirk's dad, and TOS gets written over. Remember Edith Keeler? Or future Odo saving Kira by seeing the Defiant never crashes?
Star Trek operates on a physical multiverse, not a temporal one where anew timelines are created from every choice. The other universes were already there all along
Garak is simply EPIC!
I love Garak.
man imagine how khitomer would've gone down if Garak was there
I know right, a world where every human has or has access to a replicator would be amazing. Given the proper mindset as well.
"You'll find the predominant colour to be grey" who's gonna tell him
It's interesting to postulate if Garak and Bashir might've become reflections of one another if their upbringings had been switched: Garak in a loving, supportive household that exposited innovation and optimism and Bashir in a world of paranoia and intrigue where the weak die, trust is a rare commodity, and compassion is rewarded with dire consequences.
Garak. Best character ever.
I will ALWAYS lament Section 31 Never spoke of knowing Bashir being friends with BIGGEST agent in Cardassian history and Garak Never got to meet Sloan or was part of Bashir's adventures dealing with Section 31.
yes an episode where Garak and Bashir had to thwart a plan of Sloans! that could have been such a great story
I am glad they steered away from it. Too cliche-like lines would come about. For instance, Garak would say, "Oh I see Luther paid you a visit last night. You do remind me of him you know, since you both love holodeck adventures"
@@oldtwinsna8347 Um no, the writers doing Garak and Bashir were good professionals unlike you and would have found someway to make it great challenging adversaries like Littlefinger v Varys in Game of Thrones
'implacable' - I had to look that up, but it's a useful word
"there is hope for you yet, doctor"
l like Garak. He is way too reasonable for this show.
Garrak, gave the doctor good advise. It's a shame the doctor was so nieve. Much like many people in this day and time. Unfortunately.
russell5078084 Mission Log Podcast is starting DS9 now!!!! Feb 25, 2018. Join us!!! Pensky Podcast too!!!!!! Let’s go back to Terok Nor!!!!
Put Alex Sidik and Andrew Robinson in the same scene with good writing and you have something way better then the entire STD series.....
man i gotta read those books!
Garak always feels like he's explaining Sex Ed to a child with Bashir.
"Spy on the folks we've been barely staving off catastrophic war with for about 2 centuries, WHAT DO YOU MEAN??????!"
Oh dear. So when two civilizations hate each other very much....
I think there is more to Garaks point here. He seized up the situation cotrectly. In fact, Star fleet ( Section 31) managed to take advantage situation and framed a Romulan Senator Friendly to Starfleet (but a loyal Romulan non the less) so they can plant one that they could control and Spy with instead.
The big issue here is not that Bashir was naive but how. He simply could not accept that even Statfleet gets its hands dirty. Any great power woukd take advantage of the situation. And mind you, in this episode, he was knowingly doing what he thought was harmless intelligence gathering for Section 31 fully aware at how ruthless they are.
The lesson here is that this is a Game of Thrones universe and no matter how nice, egalitarian, and utopian Starfleet is, Starfleet will play dirty.
If only we could get Abrams in a room with Garak for five minutes, perhaps Abrams could be brought to actually consider the science side of science fiction?
Gods above, not the only one by far.
Grey is portrayed as the grey area morally. The Romulans have always existed in this area, which is to say they never do anything truly evil, and they rarely do anything truly good. Living in our 21st century world, this might be an ideal our governments should strive for.
LOL Garak was one of my favorite characters.
The scenes with Garak were my favourite Bashir scenes. I wasn't particularly fussed of him otherwise personally.
If only you meant it! Go Garak!