star trek the kardashians

Hi, what are you looking for?

TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion

First Photo from Star Trek: Section 31 revealed, legacy character confirmed

New Star Trek: Discovery posters revealed ahead of final season premiere

Revisiting “The Lost Era: Serpent Among the Ruins” Retro Review

Star Trek: Discovery’s final season begins April 4

Star Trek: Section 31 production begins, cast revealed

Revisiting “Star Trek: Legacies – Captain to Captain” Retro Review

‘U.S.S. Cerritos Crew Handbook’ Review: A must-read Star Trek: Lower Decks fans

‘Making It So’ Review: Patrick Stewart’s journey from stage to starship

The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film Review: A gem for your Star Trek reference collection

Strange New Worlds director Jordan Canning talks “Charades,” the versatility of the series & Star Trek fandom

‘Star Trek Online’ lead designer talks the game’s longevity, honoring the franchise, and seeing his work come to life in ‘Picard’

Gates McFadden talks Star Trek: Picard, reuniting with her TNG castmates, InvestiGates, and the Human Condition

Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating talk ‘Enterprise’, their relationship with Star Trek in 2023 and their first live ‘Shuttlepod Show’

John Billingsley discusses what he’d want in a fifth season of Enterprise, playing Phlox and this weekend’s Trek Talks 2 event

57-Year Mission set to beam 160+ Star Trek guests down to Las Vegas

Veteran Star Trek director David Livingston looks back on his legendary career ahead of Trek Talks 2 event

ReedPop’s Star Trek: Mission Seattle convention has been cancelled

56-Year Mission Preview: More than 130 Star Trek guests set to beam down to Las Vegas convention

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 trailer teases Burnham & crew’s final mission

2023: A banner year for Star Trek — here’s why [Op-Ed]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 to premiere in April + watch a brand new clip from CCXP

54-Disc Picard Legacy Collection, Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Complete Series Blu-ray box sets announced

Star Trek: Picard series finale “The Last Generation” Review: A perfect sendoff to an unforgettable crew

‘The Next Generation’ cast is back on the bridge of the Enterprise-D in new ‘Star Trek: Picard’ photo gallery

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Blu-ray, 4K UHD and DVD this December

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Hegemony” Review: An underwhelming end to the series’ sophomore season

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 finale “Hegemony” preview + new photos

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 209 “Subspace Rhapsody” Review: All systems stable… but why are we singing?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” preview + new photos

Star Trek Day 2021 to Celebrate 55th Anniversary of the Franchise on September 8 with Live Panels and Reveals

Paramount+ Launches with 1-Month Free Trial, Streaming Every Star Trek Episode

Paramount+ to Officially Launch March 4, Taking Place of CBS All Access

STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS Season 2 Now Streaming For Free (in the U.S.)

[REVIEW] STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS “Children of Mars”: All Hands… Battle Stations

New photos from this week’s Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale

Star Trek: Lower Decks “The Inner Fight” Review: Lost stars and hidden battles

New photos from this week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Prodigy begins streaming December 25th on Netflix

Star Trek: Prodigy lands at Netflix, season 2 coming in 2024

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 sneak peek reveals the surprise return of a Voyager castmember

Star Trek: Prodigy canceled, first season to be removed from Paramount+

The events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to continue in new IDW miniseries “Echoes”

Star Trek: The Original Series “Harm’s Way” Book Review

William Shatner’s New Book ‘Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder’ Review: More of a good thing

Star Trek: Infinite release date + details on Lower Decks­-themed pre-order bonuses

‘Star Trek: Infinite’ strategy game revealed, set to be released this fall

Hero Collector Revisits The Classics in New Starfleet Starships Essentials Collection

New Star Trek Docuseries ‘The Center Seat’ Announced, Coming This Fall

Star Trek Designing Starships: Deep Space Nine & Beyond Review: a Deep Dive Into Shuttlecraft of the Gamma Quadrant

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Illustrated Handbook Review: Terok Nor Deconstructed in Amazing Detail

Robert Beltran Is Officially Returning to Star Trek as Chakotay on ‘Prodigy’ + More Casting News

Robert Beltran Says He’s Returning to Star Trek in ‘Prodigy’

John Billingsley Talks Life Since Star Trek: Enterprise, Going to Space and Turning Down Lunch with Shatner and Nimoy

Star Trek: Enterprise Star John Billingsley Talks Charity Work, Upcoming TREK*Talks Event

A Mirror for Humanity: Why the Cardassians are Trek’s Best Alien Race

From their first introduction on The Next Generation to later their central role on Deep Space Nine, the Cardassians were never just “plain and simple”.

In the Season 4 episode of Enterprise titled “The Forge”, there is a wonderfully insightful conversation between the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, Soval and Admiral Maxwell Forrest of Earth’s Starfleet.

Soval: “We don’t know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we’ve made contact with, yours is the only one we can’t define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment you’re as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next you confound us by suddenly embracing logic!” Forrest: “I’m sure those qualities are found in every species.” Soval: “Not in such confusing abundance.”

As much as those qualities define humanity, they also define the Cardassians as well, who are arguably the most compelling alien race in Star Trek because they serve such a striking parallel to much of human history, both past and present. And in doing so, they act as a cautionary tale about the dangers of our own species’ internal demons.

When you consider the other main alien races within the Trek universe, they don’t compare to the type of consistent characterization and development that the Cardassians received. The Andorians and the Tellarites, first seen in The Original Series episode “Journey to Babel”, are not seen again until Enterprise (if we’re not counting The Animated Series ), and even then, we as the audience don’t know that much about them outside of a handful of admittedly wonderful episodes. The Vulcans, surprisingly enough, also fall into this paradigm. Although a Vulcan is the most iconic alien being in all of Trek (in the form of Spock), outside of select scenes from the movies and a handful of episodes from The Original Series and Voyager , the audience doesn’t learn that much about Vulcan culture or society until Enterprise . And although we do learn a lot about Vulcans from that series, particularly how they used to be very much like humans in the past, the fact that they’re in a more evolved and advanced state from humanity takes away from their ability to act as a parallel to our lives now. The Romulans, like their Vulcan cousins, are often referenced in Trek canon, but from what we see of them in terms of characterization and development is often more one-dimensional in nature. The Klingons, probably the most well-known of the Trek races, certainly don’t suffer from a lack of screen time, on television or in the movies. But with a few exceptions, they are also one-note and archetypical in characterization, especially in The Next Generation era. The Bajorans, on the other hand, do not fall into this paradigm.  First introduced in TNG and later in Deep Space Nine , they are admittedly well-drawn both as a culture and as a society, particularly regarding their faith and spirituality. But speaking for myself, the Cardassians are more compelling due to their unique and tragic narrative denouement, something that the Bajorans lack. Cardassia ultimately endures a fate that is akin to the greatest of Greek tragedies and in doing so, truly acts as a cautionary tale for all of humanity.

A Cardassian delegation aboard the Enterprise-D

One of the first things that jump out to long-time fans of the franchise is the fact that the Cardassians didn’t have an origin based upon The Original Series . They were the relative newcomers to the galactic neighborhood, having been introduced in the third season TNG episode “The Wounded”. From their first portrayal here to their eventual role as the primary antagonists in Deep Space Nine , the Cardassians were conceived with the idea that they were going to be more three-dimensional than previous alien races.  The episode’s director, Chip Chalmers  noted  “We introduced a new enemy that’s finally able to speak on the level of Picard. They’re not grunting, they’re not giggling, they’re not mutes or all-knowing entities. Here are the Cardassians who also graduated first in their class and they’re able to carry on highly intelligent conversations with Picard, but they’re sinister as hell. It was fun to introduce a whole new alien race.” In this episode, we see the critical seeds of the more well-known aspects of the Cardassian mindset being planted: their militarism, their inherent suspicion of outsiders, and their penchant for duplicitousness and strategic maneuvering. Indeed, for Cardassia, the only instrument that can ensure order and security is a strong Nation State bound by common purpose, force of arms, and an unwavering sense of right and wrong that can ward off its enemies, both internal and external. In order to ensure the State’s survival, two institutions were key in Cardassian society: the military in the form of the Central Command and the intelligence and internal security apparatus in the form of the Obsidian Order.

  Gul Dukat of the Central Command and Garak, formerly of the Obsidian Order

However, it is important to remember that although a strong militaristic ethos has always infused Cardassian culture, the entire race is not uniformly depicted as such. A number of portrayals do indeed add much needed texture and nuance in this regard.  For example, in the season three DS9 episode titled “Destiny”, there is a marvelous portrayal of Cardassians that have other career paths than ones that aspire to be a glinn, gul, or even legate in the Central Command. As civilian scientists, Ulani Bejor and Gilora Rejal demonstrated that not every Cardassian necessarily desired to join the military or intelligence ranks. Furthermore, as female members of their race, they were able to provide texture and nuance about larger Cardassian gender dynamics, most notably around the idea that since females were perceived to be smarter than their male counterparts, they would naturally gravitate towards the sciences, whereas the males would often be inclined towards “less” intellectually rigorous pursuits such as the military and politics. It’s a shame that the DS9 writers didn’t carry this fascinating idea forward because it serves as a reverse mirror of our own society and how women are still underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields today. It was even shown that consummate career military officers, such as Gul Dukat and Gul Madred, also had interests and passions for art, archaeology, philosophy, history, and other intellectual pursuits. There existed a Cardassian Institute for Art and an entire art movement on the homeworld called “The Valonnan School” that ostensibly emphasized impressionistic art. There were entire genres of diverse Cardassian literature that ranged from serialistic poetry to repetitive epics and enigma tales. And perhaps most telling, there even existed a Cardassian underground dissident movement, comprised of academics, scholars, young people, and other idealists, who opposed the stranglehold that the Central Command and the Obsidian Order had on Cardassian society and sought to restore the power of the civilian-led Detapa Council.

Two female Cardassian scientists, Ulani Bejor and Gilora Rejal

Through nearly all of these unique manifestations of Cardassian culture and thought, there is a singular theme that runs through them: the idea that individual needs are subordinate to the collective good of Cardassia. At the heart of this idea to promote the collective good lies the family. Indeed, in the second season DS9 episode “Cardassians”, Kotan Pa’Dar noted that “We care for our parents and our children with equal devotion. In some households, four generations eat at the same table. Family is everything.” Thus, it should come as no surprise that someone such as Elim Garak would consider “The Never Ending Sacrifice”, a literary epic focusing on seven generations of citizens devoted in service to the State, to be the “finest Cardassian novel ever written”. This creed is in essence a variation on the theme that Spock espoused in “The Wrath of Khan” and would later become an informal ethos for the Federation, and by extension humanity: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. But as evidenced by humanity’s own history, such an ethos can be manipulated and perverted to justify unspeakable crimes and atrocities and Cardassian history is no exception.

A striking example of how this desire for the collective good can be used for terrible ends is witnessing how the Cardassian judicial system operates. In the second season DS9 two-part episode “The Maquis”, Dukat lays out to Commander Sisko its underpinnings:

SISKO: They’ll be tried for their crimes under the Federation Code of Justice. DUKAT: And if they’re found innocent? SISKO: I doubt that they will, but if they are, they’ll be set free. DUKAT: How barbaric. On Cardassia, the verdict is always known before the trial begins. And it’s always the same. SISKO: In that case, why bother with a trial at all? DUKAT: Because the people demand it. They enjoy watching justice triumph over evil every time. They find it comforting. SISKO: Isn’t there ever a chance you might try an innocent man by mistake? DUKAT: Cardassians don’t make mistakes.

A Cardassian trial is publicly broadcast 

Thus, in the view of Cardassian jurisprudence, the individual rights of the accused to face their accuser and the presumption of innocence is completely irrelevant. Their entire concept of justice is precisely inverted from our own in order to vindicate the State, its prosecution, and its methodology in reaching a guilty verdict because it is simply inconceivable that the State, in its effort to promote the collective good, could ever be wrong. In the penultimate episode of that season entitled “The Tribunal”, we see in vivid detail how Cardassian justice is implemented. The following exchange between Miles O’Brien and his state appointed counsel in that episode is particularly revealing.

O’BRIEN: I’ve been told that I’ve already been charged, indicted, convicted, and sentenced. What would I need with a lawyer? KOVAT: Well, Mr. O’Brien, if it sounds immodest of me I apologize, but the role of public conservator is key to the productive functioning of our courts. I’m here to help you concede the wisdom of the state.

Kovat “defending” O’Brien before the Cardassian court

The very title of the state appointed counsel, “public conservator” illustrates the extent to which Cardassian justice is conservative in nature and only seeks to uphold a presumed incorruptible status quo. Such proceedings are then broadcast to the citizenry and to young children in particular in order to strengthen their belief and faith in Cardassian institutions and to provide a cautionary example that criminals in Cardassia are always guilty and should only seek the mercy of the court. This dual imperative of breaking the will of the presumed guilty and showing a younger generation the wisdom of such a process is demonstrated masterfully in TNG’s sixth season two-part episode “Chain of Command” when Madred not only invites his young daughter to the room where he is torturing Captain Picard, but also when it is shown that breaking Picard’s will into recognizing “five lights” is what ultimately mattered to him, instead of any Federation military secrets. Such a portrayal is a vivid and poignant reminder of the show trials, witch hunts, and inquisitions that have marred our own history when governments and regimes have used such dubious tactics in the pursuit of their own definition of “justice”.

Gul Madred bonding with his daughter, with a tortured Picard nearby

The greatest manifestation of how the pursuit of the collective good can be perverted into something terrible is how the Cardassians acted in their dealings with the Bajorans and the Maquis. First introduced in the TNG Season 6 episode titled “Ensign Ro”, the Bajorans were a race that had been subjugated by the Cardassians forty years prior in a grand colonization effort, beginning in 2328 and ending in 2369. During this decades-long period known as “The Occupation”, Cardassians engineered a systematic and coordinated campaign of strip-mining, forced labor, and genocide to control, dominate, and exploit the people and physical resources of Bajor. Those that could escape the devastation being wrought on the surface of Bajor would relocate as refugees throughout the galaxy. And many others would also take part in the Resistance, an organized effort by the Bajorans using whatever tactics (guerrilla, terrorist, or otherwise) to force the Cardassians to withdraw from their homeworld. The Bajorans would eventually succeed in this goal, as seen in “Emissary”, the pilot episode of Deep Space Nine . However, the moral compromises the Bajorans had to make in order to achieve this, when taken into context with the harsh conditions imposed by Cardassia, is a striking and sobering commentary on our own current socio-political issues of displacement, resistance, terrorism, and occupation. And this was achieved because it was always intended to serve such a purpose. Producers Michael Piller and Rick Berman at the time noted that “The Bajorans are the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), but they’re also the Kurds, the Jews, and the American Indians. They are any racially bound group of people who have been deprived of their home by a powerful force”, who in this case was the Cardassian Empire.

  A Cardassian guard closes a gate on Bajoran slave workers

They added, “When you talk about a civilization like the Bajorans who were great architects and builders with enormous artistic skills centuries before humans were even standing erect, you might be thinking a lot more about Indians than Palestinians.” The parallel to the historic plight of Native Americans is especially poignant because it deals directly with another fractious relationship the Cardassians had, this time with the Maquis: Federation colonists who were displaced by the new borders established by the Federation’s peace treaty with Cardassia and refused to leave their homes. They eventually adopted the name “Maquis”, a term dating back to the French underground resistance to the Nazis during the Second World War. The original concept behind the Maquis was conceived of in TNG’s Season 7 episode entitled “Journey’s End”, which featured descendants of Native Americans resettling on a Federation colony near the Cardassian border only to face the threat of forced relocation. The Maquis would eventually come to encompass many other Federation settlers caught behind these new borders, as well as disaffected and disillusioned Starfleet officers who felt that the Federation had sold out its own citizens to appease a duplicitous and aggressive adversary. Consequently, the Maquis would actively engage in insurgent and terrorist actions against both the Federation and the Cardassians in defense of their “independent nation”.

The Maquis and the Cardassians, locked in battle

Cardassian actions to stamp out both the Bajoran and Maquis resistance were cruel, brutal and unrelenting. The Empire’s desire to secure its own collective good at the expense of others would lead to the use of harsh and brutal tactics that often precipitated the use of such tactics in return and perpetuated a bitter cycle of violence. The irony is that these tactics were ultimately counter-productive for Cardassia. Bajor won its independence regardless and the Maquis stubbornly refused to be suppressed. As we have witnessed, there is nothing more dangerous than a national ego that has been bruised. It has spawned two world wars in our own recent history, and countless other conflicts in the past. Cardassia, stinging from its own self-perceived weakness in dealing with the Bajorans and the Maquis and only exacerbated by its recent military losses to the Klingons, would eventually make the ultimate deal with the devil. Under the sway of a charismatic leader in the form of Gul Dukat, Cardassia joined the Dominion with grand notions of renewed patriotism and restored glory.  However, none of this would come to pass. Instead, Dukat’s actions would help plunge the entire Alpha Quadrant into a war that would ultimately leave Cardassia completely broken and its people devastated, with over 800 million of its own citizens dead at war’s end.

  Gul Dukat leading Cardassian and Jem’Hadar forces under the banner of the Dominion

Throughout the broad strokes of Cardassian society and culture, it’s evident we can see so many parallels to our own history. As we ourselves have witnessed, the appeal of patriotism, self-pride, the rule of law, the security of order, and the desire for the collective good are all powerful and beneficial motivators. But they can also be corrupted, manipulated, and exploited to justify unspeakable acts in the name of ensuring and preserving those very same things. But the most important aspect of a mirror is how it reflects everything, both the good and the bad. Thus, the most vital component of the Cardassian mirror for humanity is one that actually represents redemption. And in the grand story of Cardassia, there is no other person that better represents redemption than Damar.

A younger Damar as the model Cardassian soldier

Initially only introduced as a tertiary character and one that was little more than a background henchman for Dukat, the character of Damar eventually became the embodiment of the entire Cardassian people. As the ultimate archetype of a true patriot, he believed that everything done in the name of Cardassia was worth doing and he personally relished in the brutal excesses and military conquests of the State. But only near the end, when he realized what a terrible cost such an attitude inflicted, both on his people and to him personally, Damar became the catalyst for the Cardassians to openly rebel against the Dominion. In doing so, he helped his people break free from the centuries-long cycle of aggression that had finally brought their society to ruin. And much like the symbols of our own history who became martyrs in defense of a greater ideal, Damar’s death in defense of the idea that Cardassia could choose its own fate, one that was no longer driven solely by aggression, was not only his attempt at personal redemption, but also redemption for his entire civilization.

Damar leading the rallying cry of rebellion against the Dominion

  The ruins of Cardassia Prime following the war

When everything said is done, I can’t think of a greater example of a more powerful allegory in Star Trek than the ones told about the Cardassian people. It contains every element of humanity’s own ugly past and present, touching everything from torture, terrorism, slavery, genocide, colonialism, and xenophobia, all terrible acts that unfortunately still haunt us today. But it also balances out this portrayal by showing a race that is not solely defined by these actions. The Cardassians weren’t just fierce prideful warriors, they were passionate poets and writers, talented artists, brilliant scientists, and insightful philosophers as well. And they were also fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters.  In providing such a rich milieu of depth and complexity, the Cardassians are in my opinion the best and most compelling alien race in Star Trek. And in the process, they act as the perfect mirror for humanity, reminding us to always be vigilant against our own internal demons, lest they destroy all of us as well.

Addendum : For those that wish to continue the epic tale of the Cardassians, I highly recommend the excellent Star Trek books of Una McCormack, which can be found here . Known around Trek literary circles as “The Queen of Cardassia”, Ms. McCormack uses her background as a sociologist to further build the world of the Cardassians, particularly in chronicling their struggle and triumphs following the devastating Dominion War.

Acknowledgements : I also like to thank Mark Mitchell, Norman Lao, and my wonderful wife Nicole, for their invaluable help in proofreading and editing this article!

Will Nguyen lives in the Boston area. You can tweet him at @Will_Nguyen . He’s also a regular contributor to Warp 5, a weekly Enterprise show on Trek.fm , a dedicated podcast network that talks about every aspect of the Trek universe from television, the movies, literature, and everything in between.

Will Nguyen is an avowed Star Trek cosplayer and fan. You can follow Will on Twitter @boomerniner .

11 Comments

Felipe Franco

April 19, 2015 at 3:25 am

i Love this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHFtjXc5qo

I think all the fans we like the Cardassians, they were complex and with a great history.

I like books in the Cardassian Union at the end was rebuilt into a prosperous democratic state which has good relations with its vecionos and eventually joins the kithomer accords

Jeff O'Connor

April 25, 2015 at 6:27 am

What a beautiful article. Thank you so much for summing up just why I fell in love with the Cardassians. When I was a kid I’m sure most of this stuff flew over my head, but now as an adult whenever I rewatch DS9 I pick up on another layer of depth. It’s great to see it all compiled in a single place!

Ms. McCormack’s novels are indeed terrific continuations, too.

Will Nguyen

April 29, 2015 at 4:19 pm

Thank you so much for the kind words! Thanks for reading.

Adam Hirsch

April 29, 2015 at 1:13 am

“…define humanity, they also define the Cardassians ….a striking parallel to much of human history,” fun fact kardas(cardas) is the word for sibling in turkic languages

Harry Hollins

April 13, 2016 at 1:28 pm

My favorite species. Well written, you understand them well.

Christopher Dalton

November 22, 2016 at 11:00 am

Never liked the Cardassians and I never will. They got what they deserved in the end. The downfall of their entire race and their society ruined.

A clear message of where the state of humanity is going if it does not straighten its act out and for the better.

November 25, 2016 at 11:29 pm

They also goes along with the deterioration of the temperament of Star Trek which Mr. Roddenberry himself created and enforced while he was alive. After his passing, the canon of Star Trek deteriorated away from his nearly-ideal utopia and a goal to strive for and turned into the cliché and proverbial lion’s den where peace and utopia and righteousness are mere plot pawns. Star Trek is dead.

Winnie the GRIZZ

May 31, 2017 at 11:00 pm

While the Federation was presented as a Utopian society, there were others that were still a dystopia allegory. The first episode I can think of is the white blacks vs. the black whites eventually killing each other TOS. That is also part of what made Star Trek good science fiction. Aren’t the Romulans also a xenophobic echo of the Roman empire, and the Ferengi unrestrained capitalism, etc.etc.?The Cardassian story arc was much longer than one episode, and the Enterprise/Voyager couldn’t waltz away from the problem (which was never resolved or even returned to except for Kahn in Star Trek 2). Watching through DS9 again, I see myself watching Bajor, the Federation, the Klingons, the Cardassians, and even the Romulans striving to achieve their nearly-ideal utopia. Maybe this is a better Star Trek than Captain Kirk taking a heavy battleship into the heart of the Dominion and using his libido on a Changeling woman in a bikini to solve the problem. End of episode; now onto romancing the Borg queen.

May 31, 2017 at 11:15 pm

Mrs. Grizz here (AKA Free the Birds) Recently, it occurred to me that all of the worst Star Trek enemies have something in common: they are all, to some degree, Statists. The Borg and the Founders were the ultimate Collectivists. The Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans were all large empires ruled by a very small ruling class. Average citizens are not given much, if any, say in the governance of their respective empires. This goes against the American ideal of individualism and self-government. Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future was very much like this, and even the Prime Directive allowed cultures not in the Federation to be self-governing, rather than imposing our culture, ideals, religion, economic and political system on them.

August 22, 2019 at 8:31 pm

So they made a more “three-dimensional” race of aliens by basically just making them NAZIS? Great writing guys.

Simon Foston

Excellent article. It makes me want a lot more Cardassian stories in Star Trek.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending Articles

An article celebrating the longevity of the Star Trek franchise has given us our first look at Michelle Yeoh’s upcoming Star Trek: Section 31...

With the launch of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery right around the corner, Paramount+ has released an official trailer for the series’...

Back to the Stars: Rediscovering Star Trek’s Legacy with Captain to Captain – A Retro-Review There are near-countless Star Trek novels out there. Unlike...

Production has begun on Star Trek: Section 31 The 14th Star Trek film has now begun production, as Paramount+ announced the start of production...

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Jan 22, 2017

Designing The First Cardassian Warship

Rick Sternbach established the Cardassians’ design lineage with his design of the Galor class cruiser that first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘s season four episode “ The Wounded .”

The reptilian appearance of the Cardassian species was already established and Sternbach built on that. “We knew the Cardassian makeup involved that sort of little elongated oval on the forehead, so I thought maybe that was an interesting shape to play with,” he told Star Trek: The Magazine in October 2001.

Sternbach recalled in 2010 that early designs had the Galor looking like a scorpion, “with a few dorsal tail pods and some forward cannons looking like pincers” but it felt too contrived. “The pods disappeared along with the cannons but a flat disruptor forked tail thing remained.” The green pyramids on the “wings” were designed as smaller disruptors comparable to phaser strips on Starfleet vessels.

Galor model construction

The Galor model under construction (Ed Miarecki)

The ship ended up looking more like an Egyptian ankh, which Sternbach found appropriate, given how the Cardassians “were like the pharaohs to the Bajoran slaves,” as he put it in an interview with Forgotten Trek in 2007. “I’m a big fan of iconic shapes or more correctly shapes that somehow remind you of something without beating you over the head with it.” In the Star Trek: The Magazine interview, he added, “We even spec’d the ship out as being a desert yellow color with some cobalt blue accents and dark Chinese red, very much like the Tutankhamen sarcophagus.”

The model was built by Ed Miarecki and Tom Hudson. The latter writes on his website that it was “one of the most complex things” either of them had worked on until then.

Lighting was set up in several circuits: impulse engines, collectors, windows, navigational deflector, navigational beacons. Windows and the navigational deflector were lit with custom neon tubes; other lights were incandescent bulbs.

Ed Miarecki and Tom Hudson pose for a photo with the Galor model (Tom Hudson)

Tony Meininger later added fins to the aft section of the hull for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , as well as a superstructure to the upper middle part of the ship to create the Keldon class. These additions weren’t permanently affixed so the model could be reverted back to its original configuration and used for both starship classes.

The Keldon only appeared in two episodes. The Galor appeared in 29, including Star Trek: Voyager ‘s pilot “ Caretaker ” and season six's “ The Voyager Conspiracy .”

The Galor was “digitalized” for the final two episodes of Deep Space Nine by Brandon MacDougall at Foundation Imaging.

Get Updates By Email

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Cardassians

• Episode aired Oct 24, 1993

Political tensions rise on DS9 when Bajorans board the station with a supposedly orphaned Cardassian whom they have adopted. Political tensions rise on DS9 when Bajorans board the station with a supposedly orphaned Cardassian whom they have adopted. Political tensions rise on DS9 when Bajorans board the station with a supposedly orphaned Cardassian whom they have adopted.

• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Michael Piller
• Avery Brooks
• Rene Auberjonois
• Alexander Siddig
• 17 User reviews
• 3 Critic reviews

• Commander Benjamin 'Ben' Sisko

• Constable Odo

• Doctor Julian Bashir
• (as Siddig El Fadil)

• Lt. Jadzia Dax

• (credit only)

• Chief Miles O'Brien

• Major Kira Nerys

• Keiko O'Brien

• See all cast & crew
• Michael Piller (showrunner)
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia This is the first reference to the Cardassian name for the station Deep Space 9: "Terok Nor".
• Goofs Garak mispronounces the Cardassian father's name as "Pu'Dur" rather than Pa'Dar.

Elim Garak : I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences.

• Connections Featured in What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2018)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title (uncredited) Written by Dennis McCarthy Performed by Dennis McCarthy

User reviews 17

• Nov 21, 2019
• October 24, 1993 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Screen Rant

Star trek confirms new destiny for the cardassians with a brutal massacre.

In Star Trek's far future, the Cardassians are members of the Federation, but to reach that point, a terrible massacre had to take place.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #10! Star Trek just kicked off a new destiny for the Cardassians, beginning with a brutal massacre. The Cardassians are one of the Star Trek franchise’s primary antagonists, but they suffered horribly during the Dominion War. The second arc of IDW’s Star Trek title has shown the aftermath of the War, and in issue 10, a new day dawns for the Cardassians - but it begins with bloodshed.

Star Trek #10 is written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, drawn by Mike Feehan, inked by Manuel Bracchi, colored by Lee Loughridge and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In previous issues, Captain Sisko was brought to Cardassia Prime to stand trial for his crimes during the Dominion War. Numerous Cardassians, all with grudges against Sisko, were invited to testify. Finally, it looked as if Sisko was going to be killed by a Cardassian firing squad - but suddenly they turn and open fire on the Cardassians who testified; a move Legate Damar calls "justice."

The Cardassians Have a Brutal History

Once the dust settles, Damar reveals to Sisko that it was indeed a trial - but of the Cardassian people , not Sisko. Damar’s reformation efforts were being hampered by the ghosts of old Cardassia, and he wished to purge them - thus the trial, which gathered all his political enemies in one place. Damar goes on to tell Sisko that while the Cardassians will never be the utopian Federation, they will go into the future with "heads held high." Garak, a former agent of the Obsidian Order, is impressed with the young Damar's plan, expressing happiness that " Cardassian blood still runs cold."

Related: Star Trek Puts a Jaw-Dropping Body Count on Sisko's Dominion War Tactics

The Cardassians' Greatest Foe Is Not the Federation, But Themselves

For nearly a century, the Cardassians occupied Bajor, stripping it of nearly all its resources and leaving the people broken and depleted. Later, the Cardassians allied themselves with the Dominion , which sealed their fate as an empire. In the wake of the war, the Cardassians were just as broken as the Bajorans before them, and there have been several unsuccessful attempts to rebuild. But First Speaker Damar knew that before the Cardassians could rise again, their society's old ideals needed to die - and, in his view, their holders with them. Yet Damar finished his opponents off in a very Cardassian fashion, leaving it ambiguous if they will truly shed their old ways.

There Is Hope for the Cardassians

There is a glimmer of hope. In an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise , Crewman Daniels, from the 29th century, revealed that by the 26th century, the Cardassians will have joined the Federation. Furthermore, in Star Trek: Discovery’s 32nd century, the Federation president is half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran, implying that 1,000 years into the future, not only have the Cardassians become peaceful, but they have resolved their issues with the Bajorans. It would seem there are brighter days ahead for the Cardassians, but fans don't yet know if they began with this slaughter, or if this presages an even darker era ahead of Star Trek 's distant future.

Star Trek #10 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!

Star Trek: The Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, Explained

The Bajorans of Star Trek earned their reputation as resilient fighters under the brutal Cardassian occupation. But what exactly were they up against?

Star Trek proved early on that it was unafraid of tackling serious issues. It later took that boldness a step further to address issues of occupation, oppression, and one alien race’s fight for freedom. For centuries, the Bajorans were a peaceful race of beings, cultivating a way of life that included being good to each other and the land on which they lived. They believed they prospered because of the celestial beings they called the Prophets, and that they should honor their blessings by sharing that goodness with their galactic neighbors in the Alpha Quadrant.

Then Cardassia showed up, and reminded them why being good to their neighbors doesn’t mean they can’t protect themselves. For all that the Cardassian government preached independence and self-sustainment, it was quite parasitic in the way it pushed itself forward. Many planets rich in resources yet lacking in defense strategies fell victim to Cardassian greed, and struggled to free themselves from its militaristic stranglehold. It replenished its own riches by essentially stealing them from planets unable to protect themselves, like Bajor.

RELATED: Star Trek : How Did Odo Keep His Job After The Occupation Of DS9?

Bajor was one of the oldest planets in the Alpha Quadrant when it found itself caught in the dangerous web of Cardassian interest around 2319. By 2328, Cardassia had further isolated Bajor so that it could continue to take advantage of its natural wonders and, later on, the labor of its native inhabitants. It took a little over forty years for the Federation to figure out a way to help Bajor without compromising the Prime Directive, which demands that Starfleet mind its own business when it comes to non-Federation political affairs.

Manifest Destiny in Space

Let Star Trek ’s Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) tell it, and one would think that the Cardassian Occupation was the best thing to happen to Bajor. As far as he’s concerned, the Bajorans were merely faced with a set of challenges that forced them to mature into a Federation powerhouse of influence. In Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 4, “Indiscretion,” Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) has the misfortune of traveling with Dukat on a quest to recover lost Bajoran prisoners. The Gul gets under the Major’s skin by claiming that “the Occupation actually helped Bajor.”

He then proceeds to call Cardassians “a little harsh in [their] methods” but that “the Bajoran people [were] stronger. . . [than they’d] been in centuries” as a result. Yet, anyone paying attention to Deep Space Nine understands just how inaccurate and simplistic this perspective is, and how delusional Dukat is to have it. Fortunately, Major Kira reminds him of the Bajorans forced into strip mining and those who were massacred in the process. Dukat was certainly not alone in how he saw the occupation, as proven by Garak’s (Andrew Robinson) own sugarcoating of Cardassian savagery pretending to be diplomatic kindness.

Cardassian Officers Abusing Bajoran Workers

Forced labor was a well-known cruelty of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, and it often resulted in exhaustion and heatstroke. Deep Space Nine never shied away from portraying the degrading conditions of workers made to inhabit labor camps and mine for ore. This involuntary servitude even led to the establishment of the Cardassian space station Terok Nor, which later became known as Deep Space Nine. Like any superpower brutalizing another society, Cardassia made Bajorans work for them while individual Cardassian officers took a sexual interest in Bajoran women.

In season 6, episode 17, “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night,” Major Kira’s mother, Kira Meru (Leslie Hope), became a "comfort woman" for Gul Dukat in exchange for being able to provide her family with housing, food, and medical supplies. There were also many Cardassian officers known to physically assault Bajoran workers behind a variety of allegations – from displays of disrespect to working with the resistance. Considering that different factions of Bajorans eventually started fighting back, maybe Cardassia was right to be afraid.

The Bajoran Resistance Fights Back

Bajorans faced overcrowding from their living quarters to holding cells they’d been placed in by Cardassian officers. For the most part, this was to remind them of how they were seen as managed resources than sentient beings with rights. However, it made it easier for Bajorans to spread the word about the resistance efforts to take back Bajor. In the Star Trek year of 2357, 29 years after the occupation began, the Shakaar resistance cell was one of many freeing workers from labor camps all over Bajor as fans saw in season 1, episode 19, “Duet.”

Gul Dukat described Bajorans as a “weak, contemplative race” that needed the occupation to develop “new confidence” and “new purpose.” Major Kira responded by telling him that Bajor “accomplished [its freedom] in spite of the Cardassians, not because of them.” Even spiritual leaders like the controversial Kai Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher) bravely faced imprisonment to spread the teachings of the Prophets. By 2369, the resistance had evolved into the Bajoran Militia, and Bajorans could finally start working through their collective trauma.

The End of the Cardassian Occupation

By the time the Federation saw fit to intervene, the Bajoran resistance was already bringing the Cardassian Occupation to an end. Cardassia tried to claim that its withdrawal was a military decision made despite Bajoran resistance efforts. But the undeniable truth was that the Resistance effectively fought back in ways both stealthy and deadly, just like the Horta fought to protect its young from further genocide at the hands of Starfleet officers.

The Bajorans of Star Trek earned their freedom, even though they never should have been stripped of it in the first place. It showed in the gigantic tantrum that the Cardassian officers threw after they’d been expelled. They tampered with Deep Space Nine, poisoned several water sources directly on the planet, destroyed a religious site, and carried out multiple massacres, all as if to say that no one could have Bajor if the Cardassians couldn’t. They made a lot of noise on their way out, but it did nothing to stop them from being forced to leave in the first place. The Bajorans took back their planet and their sovereignty as a people.

MORE: Star Trek : How Fast Is Warp 1?

• VisualEditor
• View history

Tanora Zuval , a Cardassian female

Cardassians are the dominant species of the Cardassian Union . Their home world is Cardassia in the Alpha Quadrant . After the Dominion War the Cardassians have struggled to reform their society.

• 1 Physical appearance
• 5.2 Duty officers
• 6 External links

Physical appearance [ | ]

Cardassians are gray skinned humanoids. They are easily identified by their unusually wide necks and a spoon-shaped bone on their foreheads. Cardassians favor heat and aridity, conditions also found on Cardassia.

History [ | ]

In ancient history, the First Hebitian civilization on Cardassia was renowned for its art and beauty. It collapsed due to a lack of resources, leading the surviving Cardassians to turn to the military and imperialistic expansion. Their occupation of Bajor saw Bajorans used as a slave caste as their world was stripped of resources to feed Cardassia.

Following the fall of the Obsidian Order (one half of the Cardassian government) in the 2370s, Cardassians established their first civilian government in centuries with the Detapa Council . However, the Klingon Empire believed this government was infiltrated by Changelings and began an invasion of Cardassia.

Losing a war to the Klingons, the military re-took control and Cardassia joined the Dominion ; who helped Cardassia rid itself of both the Klingons and the Maquis. However as the war turned for the worse, the Cardassians bore the brunt of the Dominion's war and eventually the two sides turned on one another. In the final days of the war, much of the Cardassian population was murdered.

The survivors chose to rebuild as a de-militarized, democratic power, supported by the Federation.

Culture [ | ]

Cardassian society is extremely hierarchical and values family and loyalty to the government. Their culture and literature, which was once held in the highest esteem, reflected this with novels such as The Great Sacrifice , detailing a generational history of service to the state. For much of its life, the state represented a union of the military and secret service; these two ran a kafkaesque government where sentences are determined in advance of trials, with proceedings merely there to show the viewing Cardassians that justice is carried out. How Cardassian society has shifted in response to its trauma and post-war democratisation is as yet unclear.

Traits [ | ]

• +2 Accuracy Rating per stack (5 stacks max)
• +2 Defense Rating per stack (5 stacks max)
• +2% Weapon Damage per stack (5 stacks max)
• excluding Stubborn and Sure Footed

People [ | ]

Duty officers [ | ], external links [ | ].

• Cardassian at Memory Alpha , the Star Trek Wiki.
• 2 Playable starship
• 3 Atlas Prototype Dreadnought Cruiser

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Credit card rates
• Balance transfer credit cards
• Business credit cards
• Cash back credit cards
• Rewards credit cards
• Travel credit cards
• Checking accounts
• Online checking accounts
• High-yield savings accounts
• Money market accounts
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Car insurance
• Home buying
• Options pit
• Investment ideas
• Research reports
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

What to watch on Paramount+ in April 2024 from Star Trek: Discovery to Knuckles

Adam deacon's new comedy sumotherhood will also be streaming in april.

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Paramount+ is set to have a busy month ahead in April, with new TV series and films coming to the platform for subscribers to knuckle down and enjoy.

April will mark a new chapter in the iconic Star Trek franchise , while other highlights of the month include a brand new action flick from Nicholas Cage . Elsewhere, Adam Deacon 's British comedy Sumotherhood will also land on the streamer, alongside a new instalment in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Here is everything you need to know about what is coming to Paramount+ in April.

Star Trek Discovery Series 5 | 4 April

Trekkies get ready because there's a new adventure in space coming to Paramount+, with Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery heading into the final frontier for the last time.

Streaming in April

What to watch on Netflix in April 2024

What to watch on Prime Video in April 2024

What to watch on Sky/NOW in April 2024

What to watch on Disney+ in April 2024

What to watch on Paramount+ in April 2024

What to watch on Apple TV+

Series 5 will see the crew try and uncover a mystery that sends them across the galaxy in search of an ancient power that has been hidden for centuries. However, the Discovery is not the only one to seek this power, and the crew will have to face some dangerous foes along the way.

The Retirement Plan | 26 April

Nicholas Cage stars in this action thriller about a retired hitman who is called upon by his daughter in order to help her and her daughter when she crosses the wrong people. Matt (Cage) has been living as a beach bum in the Cayman Islands, and he must dust off his skills to bring these people to heel.

Knuckles | 27 April

The Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise is going strong, so strong that it now has its own TV spin-off for Knuckles. The character, voiced by Idris Elba, is setting off on his own journey of self-discovery as he helps train protégé Wade in the ways of the Echidna warrior.

Knuckles is set in between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3, making it the next chapter in the franchise that will no doubt have some impact on the forthcoming movie.

The Challenge: All Stars series 4 | 11 April

Paramount+ is adding to its reality TV back catalogue with a new series of The Challenges: All Stars, which sees stars from previous series reunite in Cape Town, South Africa to take part in new games to compete for a $300k grand prize and the title of champion.

Every TV shows and films premiering on Paramount+ in April 2024:

Star Trek Discovery series 5

Sumotherhood

The Challenge All Stars series 4

The Retirement Plan

Watch the trailer for Knuckles:

Recommended Stories

Alex rodriguez, marc lore not giving up after timberwolves sale falls through: ‘it is now personal’.

“It feels very much like a slap in the face and much more personal than even just about the money.”

March Madness: Refs make Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo remove her nose stud midgame

Hidalgo had to miss four minutes in the second quarter as Notre Dame staffers removed the stud.

When will ‘Renaissance’ be streaming? How to watch every Beyoncé documentary and concert film

The box office hit film 'Renaissance' wasn't Beyoncé's first on-screen rodeo.

Is juice having an identity crisis? Why your guava, lychee or kiwi juices might be suffering from 'applejuiceification.'

An X user went viral after showing just how much apple juice is included in popular drinks.

Caitlin Clark mania in full swing as Iowa readies for Sweet 16 showdown with Colorado

Clark is a natural in the spotlight, but coach Lisa Bluder's deference to the superstar makes Iowa's situation more unique than most as the women's game grows bigger than ever.

2024 New York International Auto Show kicks off | Tickets, dates and how to attend

Here's how to attend the 2024 NY Auto Show, including where, when and how much it costs. Can't go in person? Follow it all live on Autoblog.

Benches clear in Mets-Brewers game after Jeff McNeil objects to Rhys Hoskins' hard slide

Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil took exception to a hard slide by the Brewers' Rhys Hoskins to break up a double-play, causing both dugouts to run onto the field.

Oprah's favorite double-sided iron makes a fabulous Mother's Day gift for jet setting moms

The ingenious gizmo tackles both sides of a garment at the same time — you'd be hard-pressed to find a better travel partner.

NFL minicamps, OTAs and workout dates: When is your team holding them?

Here's when you can see players back on the field this spring.

Coach Outlet just dropped these unbelievable deals on spring's most popular bags — save up to 70%

We're talking a stunning tote for over $350 off and a popular shoulder bag for just $89.

2024 New York International Auto Show Editors' Top 5 Picks

Though not the biggest New York International Auto Show, there were still some exciting reveals and even a surprise or two. We pick the best of show.

'Hands down the best skin product': This bestselling serum hydrates and softens — and it's just $11

Nearly 31,000 five-star reviewers are raving about this face oil that smooths and brightens skin.

Junkyard Gem: 2012 Fiat 500

A 2012 Fiat 500 in a Colorado wrecking yard.

Catherine Zeta-Jones says she keeps this candle in 'almost every room' of her house

The luxurious, long-lasting scent from Jo Malone candle 'smells divine,' fans say.

X is working on NSFW Communities for adult content

X is working on features that will allow admins of “Communities,” the platform’s tool for subreddit-like groups, to designate the spaces as containing “adult content.”

Who knew you could grab a No. 1 bestselling Bissell vacuum for just $34 at Amazon?

'Incredibly powerful ... and it weighs less than my chihuahuas!' wrote one of over 71,000 impressed shoppers.

This No. 1 bestselling electric toothbrush loved by 83,000+ Amazon shoppers is down to just $30

The AquaSonic is just as effective as pricier brands, happy users say — plus, it comes with two years worth of brush heads.

We Yahoo shopping editors take spring cleaning seriously — here are our 13 favorite products for getting the dirty work done

There's an electric scrubber that 'does the majority of the work,' along with a bestselling Bissell carpet steamer and more.

Brandon Aiyuk wants 49ers to show how valuable he is with new contract

San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk is frustrated going into the final year of his contract: "I'm trying to get what I deserve," he said.

Nine crypto VCs on why Q1 investments were so hot and how it compares to previous bull market

If the 2023 crypto venture landscape was an ice-cold pot of water, the first quarter of 2024 is the part where the bubbles start to form right before water boils, Tom Schmidt, a partner at Dragonfly Capital, said to TechCrunch. Nage said his firm has tracked over 690 deals across stages that have transpired during Q1, about 30 to 40% more than the lows in 2023. “In Q1, the crypto venture capital funding landscape was cautiously optimistic, rebounding from a challenging two-year period of fundraising difficulties for both companies and managers,” said Alex Felix, co-founder and chief investment officer at CoinFund.

Recommended

Thousands make silent journey across brooklyn bridge for annual ‘way of the cross’ tradition.

• View Author Archive
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

A stream of Catholics trickled over the Brooklyn Bridge in this year’s “Way of the Cross” procession on Good Friday — led by a convert who’s watched the stunning annual display of devotion grow from 40 people to thousands.

Jonathan Fields hoisted the 5-pound wooden cross, guiding as many as 1,400 people for the two-mile journey that started at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Downtown Brooklyn and ended at Zuccotti Park in the Financial District.

“Crossing the [East] river reminded me of Moses crossing the Red Sea, I think of that sometimes when we begin to cross over and I see the water. It’s very symbolic I think,” Fields, 67, who converted from Judaism at 24, told The Post.

Hosted by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, Friday marked the 29th silent journey which is meant to celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Fields, a church music composer, has been part of the trek every year since its inception in 1996, except in 2020 when it was nixed because of the pandemic.

“I started going to the gym to prepare for this,” the Brooklyn native said with a laugh. “So it was a little bit easier, but the wind was hard.”

Fields remembers when the crowd was as small as 40 people and has watched it grow up to thousands over the decades, especially after 9/11, where a firefighter carried the cross from City Hall to Ground Zero.

“The cross that we use was made by a friend of ours in CL. He just found two pieces of wood and put them together, put stain on them,” Fields said. “And that’s been the cross used for the last 29 years.

“I think he went to a lumber yard and put it together and it looks very beautiful. It’s the right size to carry that far,” he continued. “It used to be one person who carried it, now it’s more than one person. We hand it like a relay now.”

The cross was also carried Friday by Luca Lupi, Giancarlo Diaz and Stephen Adubato.

Fields also recalled how it was a hard cross to bear converting from Judaism two and half decades ago.

“At first it was tough, the first couple of years actually was very tough and I had very bad depression. I was very alone in the conversion,” he told The Post. “Actually, when I met this movement it was the first time I found young friends who were very alive with the faith and it basically saved my life.”

His parents eventually accepted his conversion and he met his wife through CL.

“They saw how the church had helped me and they became fans of the church even if they didn’t convert,” he said. “They saw what a positive effect it had on my life and became close friends with all my Catholic friends.”

Fields enjoys the event so much he’s even taken his three kids, who did not attend this year as they are “out of the house.”

The entire walk is done in complete silence, CL spokesperson Louis Giovino said. And much like Fields’ conversion to Catholicism, “a lot of people” have a “really hard” time remaining silent throughout the two-mile journey.

“But that’s one of the most striking things about it is the silence,” Giovino said. “It’s solemn with all the noise. And that’s one of the reasons to do it in the middle of the day on a Friday afternoon.”

The procession was led by Bishop Robert Brennan and each year the event is “sustained” by a blessing from the popes and local pastors.

Share this article:

Advertisement

Chain Of Command, Part II (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Story and production
• 3.3 Continuity
• 3.4 Reception
• 3.5 Apocrypha
• 3.6 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Co-stars
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7.1 Library computer references
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Jean-Luc Picard is drugged and questioned by Gul Madred . He sits in the middle of a dark room answering in a monotone. Picard reveals details about his mission to Celtris III and the personnel involved. Madred then asks his prisoner about the defense plans for Minos Korva . Picard truthfully states that he has no knowledge of such plans. Madred has his Cardassian subordinate increase the dosage and has Picard answer the same questions again.

Act One [ ]

Captain Edward Jellico , Commander William T. Riker , Counselor Deanna Troi , Gul Lemec , and his aides are seated in the observation lounge . Despite Jellico's assurances to the contrary, Lemec divulges that he knows that Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Worf , and Doctor Beverly Crusher have gone into Cardassian territory and killed fifty-five men, women, and children in what he calls a brutal assault on one of their outposts. When asked for proof, Lemec reveals they have Picard held prisoner. Riker asks Lemec if Picard is still alive, but Lemec merely smiles and returns to his end of the table with his aides. Lemec tells Jellico, Riker, and Troi that the Cardassian Union has yet to respond to this latest provocation from the Federation. However, he assures them, they will respond. The Cardassians exit, leaving the officers stunned.

Jellico then reveals the mission plans to his first officer and counselor and reveals that the USS Enterprise -D is supposed to rendezvous with the away team at the Lyshan system in eight hours. Since the negotiations have taken longer than expected, he will send Riker in a shuttlecraft to head for the rendezvous point.

In the interrogation chamber, Madred unshackles Picard. They briefly discuss the ruins of the First Hebitian civilization of Cardassia Prime . The ancient tombs contained artifacts made of a rare, breathtaking stone called jevonite , but were plundered by impoverished Cardassians. When Picard requests to be returned to his ship, Madred informs him that he is considered to be a criminal because he was captured attempting to invade a secret Cardassian facility. Madred offers Picard the chance to make his trial and eventual punishment civilized, provided he agrees to divulge information about the Federation 's defense plans for Minos Korva. Picard reiterates that he has no knowledge of any such defense plans. Surely, Picard states to Madred, he must know this, as they have injected him with enough drugs to make him tell the truth about that. Madred rejects Picard's denials, informing him that he was lured into a trap, precisely because the Cardassians believe that, as captain of the Enterprise , he would have full knowledge of the Federation's defense plans.

Picard left for the night

Madred's guards promptly enter and drag a struggling Picard to the center of the room. His captor warns him, " Wasted energy, Captain. You might come to wish you hadn't expended it in such a futile effort. " Picard protests that torture is expressly forbidden under the terms of the Seldonis IV Convention , governing the treatment of prisoners of war. His pleas are ignored, however, as Madred uses a PADD to lower a steel suspension rack from the ceiling above him. Before continuing, Madred asks Picard, " Do you have any physical ailments I should know about? " He then approaches the captain with a knife which he says is made of jevonite. As he uses the knife to cut Picard's jumpsuit, Madred tells him he will no longer have the privilege of rank or individuality. From now on, Picard will be referred to only as "Human." The guards pull Picard's clothes down to his ankles and restrain his wrists in manacles which connect to the steel rack above. The captain is left naked and suspended, by his wrists, above the floor.

Act Two [ ]

Worf is healed using a dermal regenerator

In sickbay , the away team is treated for minor injuries. Crusher tells Jellico that she and Worf were unable to go back for Picard and were lucky to have escaped. After telling Crusher to get some rest and leaving sickbay, Jellico orders Riker to have La Forge analyze the team's tricorder readings, but the first officer wants to begin planning a rescue mission for Picard. Captain Jellico believes such an attempt would be foolhardy. Riker says that they cannot just abandon him and Jellico tells Riker bluntly that Picard is gone and he is just going to have to accept that.

" Good morning, I trust you slept well ", Madred says when he enters the interrogation room. Picard has spent the entire night hanging by his arms, naked. After releasing him from his restraints, Madred sits at his desk and turns on four lights shining behind him and begins questioning Picard again, and informs him that while he was drugged, a small device was implanted in his chest. Madred demonstrates the device, causing Picard to fall to his knees in pain on even the lowest setting. He asks Picard how many lights there are behind him, wanting him to respond with "five." He says there are four and receives another painful shock.

Gul Lemec shows Captain Jellico, Commander Riker, and Counselor Troi a PADD showing Captain Picard's original, more civilized interrogation. Jellico denies Picard was acting under his orders, and Lemec suggests they will execute him. Riker reminds Lemec about the Seldonis IV Convention, but Lemec notes that the Seldonis IV Convention applies to prisoners of war , which means they would have to acknowledge that Picard was captured during a mission authorized by the Federation. Jellico does not admit to this, so Lemic says Picard will be treat as a terrorist , which Jellico says isn't his concern. However, Lemec offers an alternative: they will release Picard and forget about this incident if the Federation agrees to a complete and immediate withdrawal from the sector. Jellico agrees to discuss the proposal with his superiors and Lemec tells he has seven hours to decide. He and his aides then leave, and Jellico tells Riker and Troi that he's going send a message to Admiral Nechayev recommending against agreeing to Lemec's proposal, essentially abandoning Picard. Riker becomes upset at this, demanding that Jellico acknowledge that the mission was under Federation orders, thus Picard would be protected under the Seldonis IV Convention. Jellico sharply rebukes him stating it would show weakness on the Federation's part by playing right into Lemec's hands. Riker sharply objects to the captain's plan stating that one of the roles of a first officer is to point out mistakes by his or her commanding officer. Jellico will not have any of it and relieves Riker of duty, with an added threat of confinement to quarters.

Act Three [ ]

Data becomes first officer

With Commander Riker's position open, Captain Jellico temporarily promotes Lieutenant Commander Data to the position of first officer . Data (wearing a command red duty uniform ), Jellico, and Lieutenant Commander La Forge try to determine why the Cardassians would want to capture Picard. They decide that the Cardassians may have been interested in the defense plans for Minos Korva, knowing that the Enterprise would be assigned as command ship for the sector. Jellico orders La Forge to conduct a discreet scan of Lemec's ship to determine where they may have been recently.

Meanwhile on Celtris III, Madred is speaking with his daughter while feeding her wompat and having a discussion about whether Humans have parents. Picard is sitting in a spotlight in a red robe-like gown. Picard tries to get under Madred's skin by questioning his motives for bringing his daughter to such an installation, let alone allow her to see her father interrogating a prisoner. They banter back and forth about military power and its role in their civilizations. Madred tells his prisoner that because of the Cardassian military , his daughter will never go hungry. Picard turns this on him by saying, " Her belly may be full, but her spirit will be empty. " Madred smacks Picard across the face for his comment.

Madred continues with his questioning about the lights. Picard replies, " What lights? " This infuriates Madred; he shocks Picard for his obstinacy.

Later, Madred awakens Picard from his dream of his family in France . Madred compliments Picard on his strong will and informs him that he is free to go. Picard stands slowly and heads toward the door. Madred claims he will just have to get the information from Dr. Crusher. Unaware that Dr. Crusher is not also a prisoner, Picard chooses to remain as a prisoner to spare Dr. Crusher, as among other reasons she would have no knowledge of any operations.

La Forge discovers that Lemec's ship has some minor hull degradation along their warp nacelles , which indicates recent exposure to a molecular dispersion field , most likely from traveling through the McAllister C-5 Nebula . Guessing that the rest of the Cardassian fleet is hiding in the nebula , Jellico orders Data to take the ship there immediately.

Act Four [ ]

In the observation lounge, Jellico informs the senior staff that Starfleet has approved a plan to hit the fleet inside the nebula before they can leave. The crew is almost visibly disapproving of the plan. La Forge supposes it could be a scientific mission, but Jellico states he would need hard evidence of that. Crusher points out this is gambling hundreds of lives. He stops the conversation and orders Worf to prepare antimatter mines with magnetic targeting capabilities and for La Forge to prepare a shuttle to deploy them. Finally, Crusher will need to prepare for casualties. In her deep bass-like voice, she finishes his sentence and shakes her head as she is dismissed with the rest.

Some time later, Picard awakens to find Madred having, as he explains, a small meal of boiled taspar eggs . He has one set aside just for Picard, but Picard finds that it is a raw, fertilized egg . Picard is disgusted at first, but since he is virtually starving, chooses to eat it to survive to Madred's amusement. As he has more food from a plate and drink pushed in his direction, the captor tells the prisoner a story of his childhood on the streets of Lakat at the age of six. He had found a nest of three taspar eggs in a burned-out building – a treasure trove for a starving child – and ate one on the spot " very much as you just did. " He planned to save the other eggs as the food would keep him alive for another week, but they were taken by an older boy, who had to break the tenacious Madred's arm just to accomplish it. Picard uses this to his advantage by thinking of Madred as that child who couldn't protect himself, and that in spite of all Madred has done to him, he finds him a pitiable man. Madred, angry, asks Picard by name about the plans for Minos Korva. Picard points this out and adds, " There are four lights. " Madred shocks Picard, and repeats " There are five lights. How many do you see now? " and shocks Picard again. Picard jerks with the shock and starts shaking, but points at Madred and says " You are six years old, weak and helpless. You cannot hurt me. " Picard is crying , but he begins singing in French in response when Madred demands an answer.

While the shuttle is being prepared, Captain Jellico heads down to the shuttlebay and discusses the mission with La Forge. Sitting down at the controls, Jellico is reminded of starting his career in Starfleet by piloting the Jovian Run , a shuttle route between Jupiter and Saturn done once a day, daily. La Forge tells him that he also piloted that route for a while, and they share a laugh over having performed Titan's Turn , a dangerous maneuver one is not supposed to do (or at least not get caught doing). La Forge claims that he could complete the mission successfully, but that the best person for the job is Commander Riker, who could do Titan's Turn in his sleep. This does not sit well with Jellico, but he nods.

Act Five [ ]

Jellico reluctantly goes to Riker's quarters and talks to him about his piloting skills, and that every shuttle pilot on the ship labels Riker as the best. Jellico and Riker drop their ranks and exchange their active dislikes for one another and expressing their disapproval for each other's roles. Jellico will not order Riker to pilot the shuttle, to which Riker smugly replies " Then ask me, " after which the captain does, and Riker accepts. Jellico begins to leave in a hurry, and Riker adds " You're welcome, " which leaves a disgusted look on Jellico's face.

"Enterprise to shuttle. Were you successful, Commander? " " Aye, sir. The mines are laid. "

Navigating through the nebula is a daunting task, with one near collision. When La Forge asks if he wants to know how close they came to disaster, Riker simply replies with " No, " and continues the flight. After Riker and La Forge lay the mines , Captain Jellico initiates red alert and begins negotiations with Gul Lemec. The furious Lemec demands that the Enterprise withdraw, but Jellico interjects saying that he has mined his ships, his finger is on the button, and Lemec is in a very bad position. Lemec believes Jellico is bluffing , but the captain orders Worf to show Lemec that he is not by detonating a smaller mine. The room Lemec is in on the Reklar shakes as if it had been hit with a low-yield phaser discharge. Jellico reveals to Lemec that there's much larger ones sitting on his hull that will destroy his ship. Lemec then asks Jellico what his terms are, and Jellico tells him that the Cardassian fleet is to leave the nebula one by one only with each ship ejecting their primary phaser coils – thereby leaving them at the mercy of the Federation for the return trip home. Lemec objects, but agrees just before Jellico orders Worf to detonate the bigger mines. Jellico then gives the Cardassians one final demand… the immediate return of Picard.

Gul Lemec on board the Reklar

Meanwhile, on Celtris III, Picard awakens and tries to smash the control device used in his torture. Madred chides him rather gently for this, citing that he has many more. Madred then wrongfully informs his prisoner that the Cardassians have invaded Minos Korva and the Enterprise is burning in space. Madred reminds Picard that the Federation will not look for him since the word will be that he died with his crew on the Enterprise . He then offers Picard the opportunity to live a life of comfort and scholarly reflection, but at a price. All he has to do is admit that he sees five lights. Looking blankly at the lights before him, Picard contemplates a long moment as Madred implores him to answer. Lemec enters the room with two other officers and as he is crossing the floor, Madred quietly tells Picard that they will take him away as a prisoner for life and Madred's offer will be null and void if Picard doesn't answer before they get to them. Having reached the two, Lemec however complains that Picard should have been ready to transfer already. Lemec disgustedly orders Madred to get Picard cleaned up as a ship awaits him to return him to the Enterprise . Realizing that Madred had been lying to him, Picard continues to contemplate the lights as Lemec offers to take Picard back to his ship. Defiantly, and mustering all his remaining strength, Picard spits at Madred "THERE… ARE… FOUR LIGHTS!" On Madred, the hint of a smile plays across his lips as Picard leaves; respect for a man that would not be broken.

Picard gets the final word

Back on board the Enterprise , Data has been restored to the ops position and Riker to the role of first officer as Picard is welcomed back aboard by Jellico. Transferring the command codes back to his predecessor, Jellico offers to the bridge crew that he was honored to serve with them before departing back to the USS Cairo . Counselor Troi and Picard step into the ready room where Picard is at a loss for words to explain his ordeal. Troi explains she's already read his report, but Picard offers that what he didn't put in the report was that Madred offered him the choice of a life of comfort or more torture at the price of admitting seeing five lights. Although he did not say it, the captain admits he was going to – he would have told his tormentor anything, but even more troubling to Picard was that in the end he could actually see five lights.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" From this point on, you will enjoy no privilege of rank, no privileges of person. From now on, I will refer to you only as Human. You have no other identity! "

" Good morning. I trust you slept well. "

" How many lights do you see there? " " I see four lights. " " No. There are five . "

" I know nothing about Minos Korva. " " But I've told you that I believe you. I didn't ask you about Minos Korva. I asked how many lights you see. " (Picard stares at the lights intensely, then pauses and glares at Madred) " There are four lights. " " I don't understand how you can be so mistaken. " (Madred shocks Picard)

" I can't believe you're willing to sacrifice Captain Picard's life as a negotiation tactic! "

" Then maybe it's time you found other responsibilities! You are relieved! Don't make me confine you to quarters, as well. "

" Do Humans have mothers and fathers? " " Yes… but Human mothers and fathers don't love their children as we do. They're not the same as we are. "

" When children learn to devalue others, they can devalue anyone, including their parents. " " What a blind, narrow view you have. What an arrogant man you are. "

" Shall we begin again? How many lights are there? " " … What lights? "

" Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information; it is ultimately self-defeating as a means of gaining control. One wonders why it is still practiced. "

" In spite of all you've done to me, I find you a pitiable man! "

" Picard, stop it… or I will turn this on and leave you in agony all night! " " Ahaa! You called me 'Picard'! " " What are the Federation's defense plans for Minos Korva? " " There are four lights! " " There are five lights!! How many do you see now?! " " You are… six years old… weak and helpless! You cannot… HURT ME! "

" Let's drop the ranks for a moment. I don't like you. I think you're insubordinate, arrogant, willful, and I don't think you're a particularly good first officer. "

" Well, now that the ranks are dropped, Captain… I don't like you, either. You ARE arrogant, and closed-minded. You need to control everything and everyone. You don't provide an atmosphere of trust, and you don't inspire these people to go out of their way for you. You've got everybody wound up so tight, there's no joy in anything. I don't think you're a particularly good captain. "

" I won't order you to fly this mission. " " Then ask me. " " Will you pilot the shuttle, Commander? " " Yes. (Jellico goes to leave) You're welcome. "

" Do I wanna know how close that was? " " No. "

" I'm not going to argue with you, Gul Lemec. Every one of your ships has a mine on its belly, my finger's on the button, and you're in a very bad position. "

" I understand you're holding a Starfleet officer named Jean-Luc Picard. I expect him returned… immediately! "

"THERE… ARE… FOUR LIGHTS!"

" What I didn't put in the report was that at the end he gave me a choice – between a life of comfort or more torture. All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights when, in fact, there were only four. " " You didn't say it? " " No! No. But I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all! But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Final draft script: 15 October 1992 [1]
• Premiere airdate: 21 December 1992
• First UK airdate: 20 September 1995

Story and production [ ]

Stewart filming "Chain Of Command, Part II"

• "Chain Of Command" was originally pitched as a single episode, but Michael Piller suggested splitting it into two parts in part to save money. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 266)
• Key influences on this episode included the 1991 independent film Closet Land , as well as Ro Laren 's story from " Ensign Ro " in which she revealed that her father was tortured in front of her eyes by Cardassians during the Bajoran Occupation . ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , pp. 266-267)
• Jeri Taylor did a page one rewrite on the teleplay, but Frank Abatemarco retained the sole writing credit for the episode. This all-too-common television occurrence upset many of the production staff. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 268) Michael Piller later stated that " Jeri [Taylor] did a remarkable job " and that he is " extremely proud of this episode ". ("Mission Overview Year Six – Chain Of Command", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature)
• Abatermarco did intensive research, including consultations with Amnesty International , on the psychology of torturers, torture methods, and the experiences of endurers to inform the episode. Amnesty supporter Patrick Stewart was delighted at the first draft but was concerned when he heard of the rewrites. Taylor recalled, " Patrick got very concerned because he assumed that meant we were going to back off from the very strong nature of it. He said, 'I don't want that to happen. I think that this hits it head on. I want to do that. I don't want this to become another talky episode where we simply talk about and around something and don't really tell it the way it is. " These concerns were shared by Taylor, who remembered that Stewart was thrilled at the finished script " because we didn't back off an inch. It was very strong stuff. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 268)
• Stewart prepared for his torture scene at the hands of the Cardassians by reviewing tapes provided by Amnesty International. ( Star Trek 30 Years ) Stewart, at his own insistence, performed the beginning torture scene naked on a closed set. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 230))
• In The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers Volume II (p. 278), author Phil Farrand notes the similarities between the torture scenes in this episode and George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four . In the novel, the hero Winston Smith is tortured by O'Brien of the Thought Police. O'Brien keeps asking, " How many fingers do you see? " while holding up four, and the expected answer is "five." Unlike Winston, Picard never outwardly cracks to his tormentor, but in the final scene, Picard admits to Deanna that he was about to see them as five lights.
• This episode received a very minor trim when shown in the UK by the BBC , eliminating one of the more intense torture scenes.
• Set designer Richard James sought to avoid similarities to Closet Land in the design of the interrogation chamber. " I wasn't familiar with it and I didn't want to be influenced by that because I was fighting Silence of the Lambs at that time as well. I really wanted to try and keep myself open to my own kind of vision of it and as it turned out, the lighting played a very important role in what I was planning to do with it and the starkness of it. I wanted it to feel big as opposed to feeling like they were stuck in a small dungeon-type thing. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 268)
• Due to budget considerations, a bigger on-screen confrontation between the Enterprise and the Cardassians in the nebula had to be scrapped. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 230))
• David Warner took over the role of Madred on three days' notice and, though he had previously appeared in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , he knew nothing about the Cardassians from The Next Generation . As he recalled in a 2011 interview; " I took over on three days' notice. It was another makeup job. It was with Pat Stewart, who's an old colleague. It was great to be a part of that. I thought, "Oh, I've done two of the others, the old classic ones, and here I am in The Next Generation . I'll go for it." So I wasn't aware of it, of the Cardassians. I didn't know their history at all, except of course, that they weren't very nice. " Due to the short time in which he had to prepare, Warner also did not have enough time to memorize his lines. As such, they were written down on cue cards. As he commented; " There was too much technobabble and dialogue that doesn't come naturally to me. So they wrote everything up for me. I don't mind people knowing this. Every line I said, I actually was reading it over Patrick's shoulder or they put it down there for me to do it. " [2]

Continuity [ ]

• This episode was the last to air before " Emissary ", the premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on 3 January 1993 . The Cardassians are an integral part of that series.
• During interrogation, Picard sings the first two lines of the French song called Sur le pont d'Avignon .
• A line cut from the final episode stated that Starfleet had also sent the USS Aries , USS Berlin , and USS Sutherland to assist the Enterprise -D, but they were three days behind.

Reception [ ]

• Entertainment Weekly ranked this episode (combined with Part I) #10 on their list of "The Top 10 Episodes" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation . [3]
• Michael Piller remarked, " I can't imagine a better show than 'Chain of Command, Part II' and it had no tricks or whiz bang stuff and it was one of the least expensive shows of the season. David Warner was sensational and Patrick Stewart was even better. I don't think there's been a better show in the history of this series, and certainly there was not a better hour of television on that year. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 267)
• Jeri Taylor agreed, " It is not possible that there are five better male actors in this town than Patrick Stewart! It's probably his finest performance – he literally threw himself, physically and mentally, into that. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 230))
• Taylor noted that some viewers protested at the graphic nature of the torture scenes. " They didn't want to see Patrick Stewart or anybody else writhing in pain. They felt that it was excessive, that it went too far and that it was disturbing to children. I can't disagree. It's certainly very intense for children. I wish there had been a disclaimer. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 268)
• Ronny Cox greatly enjoyed the role his character played in the two-parter. He commented, " [J]ust about everything on the ship was between Riker and Jellico. And I loved that aspect. Gene Roddenberry didn't like conflict between the characters, so my guy was the first guy to come in and sort of ruffle everybody's feathers. I liked that aspect of him. I also liked that he was a by-the-book guy. I loved it when Picard comes back to the Enterprise at the end and Jellico says, "Here's your ship back, just the way you left it… maybe a little better." " He elaborated, " I never saw him as a villain. He was a bit of a hard-ass, but not a villain. I thought he dealt with the Cardassians really well and I thought he ran the Enterprise really well, though in a completely different style from Picard. " He also joked, " I've done a lot of things in my career, and I've got people in my family who think that's the only thing of any worth I have ever done. I'm also a trivia answer. I'm one of the few actors, other than the show's regulars, to have done a captain's log on TNG. " He concluded, " But that episode had a lot going for it. Patrick was brilliant. So was Jonathan [Frakes] . So was David Warner . And the story was compelling. " [4]
• In a review for Star Trek appearing in Slate Magazine , writer Juliet Lapidos argued with its "standard Hollywood torture scene," the film failed to live up to the intellectual standard set by "Chain Of Command, Part II", whose treatment of the issue she found both more sophisticated and pertinent to the ongoing debate in the United States at that time. [5]

Apocrypha [ ]

• In the comic story Star Trek: The Next Generation - Perchance to Dream , Picard was forced to enter his own mind to stop a telepathic weapon called the Chova – the mind meld with Sarek , the imprinting of Kamin 's memories, and his time as Locutus of Borg granted him the makings of a multiple personality disorder, and his multiple personalities were able to overwhelm the Chova and thus neutralize it to "cure" the other victims. During this time, he used the symbol of four lights as a memory of a previous victory to allow him to maintain his strength even when Locutus attempted to take control of his body.
• The novel Ship of the Line has Picard getting a measure of revenge on Madred, with support from the Cardassian's teenage daughter, three years after this episode.
• The short story "Four Lights" in the anthology book The Sky's the Limit features Picard reuniting with Madred during the Dominion War .

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 69, 7 June 1993
• In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Length TV Movies : Volume 6, catalog number VHR 4106, 27 March 1995
• As part of the TNG Season 6 DVD collection
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete TV Movies collection
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Captain's Log collection
• In feature-length form, as a stand-alone single-disc Blu-ray release, Chain of Command
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: Picard Movie & TV Collection Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Ronny Cox as Edward Jellico
• John Durbin as Lemec
• David Warner as Gul Madred

Co-stars [ ]

• Heather Lauren Olson as Jil Orra
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Majel Barrett as Narrator
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Cameron as Kellogg
• Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae
• Tony Cruz as Lopez
• Eben Ham as operations division ensign
• Melanie Hathorn as sciences officer
• Christie Haydon as command division ensign
• Kai as science division officer
• Mic Rodgers as Corak
• Shawn as Cardassian
• Michael Tierney as Tajor
• Cardassian guard

Stand-ins [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Debbie David – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Brian Demonbreun – hand double for David Warner
• Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

22nd century ; ailment ; alpha shift ; annexation ; antimatter mine ; archaeology ; As You Like It ; Avignon ; Berlin , USS ; beta shift ; Cairo , USS ; Cardassia ; Cardassian ; Cardassian base ; Cardassian military ; Cardassian Union ; career ; Celtris III ; delta shift ; dermal regenerator ; elephant ; Excelsior -class ; Federation ; Federation-Cardassian Armistice of 2367 ; Federation-Cardassian border ; Federation-Cardassian War ; Ferengi ; First Hebitian civilization ; France ; French language ; Galor -class ; gamma shift ; gettle ; heart ; inertial damper ; insubordination ; jazz ; jevonite ; Jil Orra's pet wompat ; Jovian Run ; Jupiter ; La Barre ; Lakat ; Lakat children ; Lyshan system ; McAllister C-5 Nebula ; McDowell ; meter ; Merchant of Venice, The ; metagenics ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Minos Korva ; ; negotiating tactic ; negotiations ; nest ; number one ; phaser coil ; Picard, Yvette ; place of birth ; prisoner of war ; proximity scan ; quantum resonance scan ; red alert ; Reklar ; rescue mission (aka rescue operation ); Riker's shuttle ; Sakharov ; Saturn ; scientific research ; Sector 21527 ; Sector 71527 ; security protocol ; Seldonis IV ; Seldonis IV Convention ; shuttlecraft ; Solok's cargo ship ; special operations ; stellar cartography ; Sur le pont d'Avignon ; taspar ; theta-band device ; Titan ; Titan's Turn ; Tohvun III ; tricorder ; trombone ; voice authorization ; Wompat

Library computer references [ ]

• Starship mission status : Ajax , USS ; Alderaan ; Alpha Laputa IV ; Ambassador -class ; Apollo -class ; Aries , USS ; Beta Cygni system ; Bradbury , USS ; Bradbury -class ; Charleston , USS ; Constellation -class ; Excelsior -class ; Fearless , USS ; Goddard , USS ; Hood , USS ; Korolev -class ; Merced -class ; Merrimac , USS ; Monitor , USS ; Nebula -class ; New Orleans -class ; pulsar ; Renaissance -class ; Repulse , USS ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; sector ; Sector 21396 ; Sector 21538 ; Sector 22358 ; Sector 22846 ; Sector 22853 ; Sector 23079 ; Starbase 134 ; Starbase 434 ; Thomas Paine , USS ; Trieste , USS ; Victory , USS ; Vulcan Science Academy ; warp drive ; Zhukov , USS
• Summery System Report 58383-98: Minos Korva : Berlin , USS ; Cardassian Central Command ; class G star ; class M ; Excelsior -class ( starships ); Exeter , USS ; USS Exeter (NCC-26531) personnel ; Federation Exploration Bureau ; galactic center ; habitable zone ; Minos Korva ; Minos Korva ; Piller, M. ; reference beacon ; Secretary of Exploration ; Sector 21528 ; Tezber Planetary Evolution Model

External links [ ]

• " Chain of Command " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Chain of Command " at Wikipedia
• "Chain of Command, Part II" at StarTrek.com
• " "Chain of Command" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Chain of Command, Part II" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• 1 Rachel Garrett
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

Lizzo Says She's Quitting, Addresses Various 'Lies,' Controversies & Disrespect Online

Rebel Wilson Bashes Leaked Footage From Sacha Baron Cohen Movie After Calling Him 'Massive A-hole'

Who is Beyonce's Becky With the Good Hair? 6 Celebrities Rumored to Be Jay-Z's Mistress, What They Said & Who the Character Really Is

More 'General Hospital' Cast Changes in 2024: Multiple Exits, Several Stars Return, One Iconic Character Replaced

Noah Kahan Set List for 2024 'We'll All Be Here Forever Tour' Revealed After First Show

Noah Kahan is officially on the road with his We’ll All Be Here Forever Tour and you can check out the setlist right here!

The 27-year-old singer, who received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist this year, launched the tour with a sold-out show at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday (March 26).

Noah performed all of his fan favorite songs like “Stick Season” and “Dial Drunk.”

The tour continues through mid-July, where he will wrap the trek with two shows at Fenway Park in Boston. He’s also playing famous venues like Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Head inside to check out the set list…

Keep scrolling to check out the full set list… **This set list is representative of one of the first shows and might not be completely accurate for every show.

1. Dial Drunk 2. New Perspective 3. Everywhere, Everything 4. False Confidence 5. Forever 6. Come Over 7. Godlight 8. Pain is Cold Water 9. Maine 10. All My Love 11. Your Needs, My Needs 12. Paul Revere 13. You’re Gonna Go Far 14. Homesick 15. Growing Sideways 16. Glue Myself Shut 17. She Calls Me Back 18. Call Your Mom 19. Orange Juice 20. Northern Attitude 21. ENCORE: Young Blood 22. ENCORE: The View Between Villages 23. ENCORE: Stick Season

Check out the set lists for more artists on tour right now!

JJ: Latest Posts

• 'NCIS' Star Sean Murray's Wife Carrie...
• Hulu's 'Death & Other Details'...
• Starz Cancels 2 TV Shows, Renews 2...
• Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck...
• The Original 6 Avengers - Where Are...
• Elizabeth Chambers' Divorce From Armie...
• Rome Flynn Shockingly Leaves 'Chicago...
• Lizzo Says She's Quitting, Addresses...
• Sam Smith & Boyfriend Christian...
• NBC's 'Found' Season 2 Cast: 7 Actors...
• Willem Dafoe Joins 'SNL 1975' Cast:...
• Kim Kardashian's Youngest Son Psalm...
• Melissa Joan Hart Responds to 'Quiet...
• Selena Gomez's New Cooking Show...

Just Jared Jr.

• 'Fright Krewe' Star Sydney Mikayla...
• Woody Woodpecker Returns In New...
• Olivia Colman Exits 'Heartstopper'...
• JoJo Siwa Announces 'Karma' Release...
• 'Zombies 4' Cast Revealed - 4 Stars...
• Finn Wolfhard Explains How He'd Like...
• Get to Know 10 Fun Facts About 'Davey...
• © 2005-2024 Just Jared, Inc. ||
• Accessibility
• Privacy Policy
• Manage Cookies
• Return to Mobile