| Cardassian | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek race | |
 | |
| Created by | Jeri Taylor |
| In-universe information | |
| Quadrant | Alpha |
| Home world | Cardassia Prime |
TheCardassians (/kɑːrˈdæsiənz/) are a fictionalextraterrestrial species in the Americanscience fiction franchiseStar Trek. They were devised in 1991 for the seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation before being used in the subsequent seriesStar Trek: Deep Space Nine andStar Trek: Voyager.
The writers ofThe Next Generation introduced the Cardassians for the fourth season episode "The Wounded" as new antagonists for the crew of theUSSEnterprise-D to interact with on a personal level, as theBorg lacked personality or individuality, hindering interpersonal drama.
In the series, set in the 24th century, the Cardassians are presented as living under a military government controlling the Cardassian Union, an interstellar empire occupying other planets, most notablyBajor. WhenStar Trek: Deep Space Nine was launched in 1993, its writers set its events in the vicinity of Bajor in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation.
The Cardassians grew into major antagonists throughout the series, with severalrecurring characters developed, includingElim Garak (Andrew Robinson) andGul Dukat (Marc Alaimo).
The design of the Cardassians was undertaken byThe Next Generation's costume designer Bob Blackman and makeup designerMichael Westmore.[1] They sought to give the species a "snakelike" appearance.[2] Cardassians have grayish-white skin, ridges on either side of the neck, and a spoon-shaped structure on the forehead. Westmore was inspired by anabstract painting he had seen in aVentura Boulevard store of a wide-shouldered woman with what looked like a spoon on her forehead.[2]
Rick Sternbach designed the Cardassian spaceship in "The Wounded". He initially proposed a pod-shaped vessel, before replacing it with a design resembling ascorpion, then one based on theankh symbol.[2] Sternbach later noted that "TheGalor class started with an Egyptian ankh, given how [the Cardassians] were like the Pharaohs to the Bajoran slaves, but you don't really see the basic shape unless you look straight down on the vessel. The little disruptor pyramids were a bit more obvious, as were the 'temple' type structures on the ship's backbone, and the sandy yellow shades."[3]Ed Miarecki and Tom Hudson built the model used in "The Wounded" from Sternbach's design.[2] In the episode, Cardassian weapons fired a pink discharge, changed to amber in later episodes.[2]
Production designerHerman Zimmerman worked on the Cardassian architecture depicted on the shows.[4] His concept had someArt Deco influence, and was based on geometric patterns.[4] Some motifs were ellipses, angles rather than straight lines, and groups of three.[4]
The Cardassians were invented by the writers ofStar Trek: The Next Generation for the show's fourth season episode "The Wounded", written by Stuart Charno, Sara Charno, and Cy Chermak, with teleplay byJeri Taylor. It was first screened in January 1991.[1] The script related that the Cardassian Union and theUnited Federation of Planets—of which Earth was a part—were involved in skirmishes for many years but had signed a peace treaty.
It begins with the revelation that the USSPhoenix, a renegade Federation starship under the command of Captain Benjamin Maxwell (Bob Gunton), has begun attacking Cardassian targets, as Maxwell is convinced the Cardassians are rearming for war against the Federation. TheUSSEnterprise-D, captained byJean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), is sent to stop thePhoenix, with the Cardassian Gul Macet (Marc Alaimo) coming aboard theEnterprise to assist.[1]
Alaimo's appearance as Gul Macet in "The Wounded" made him the second actor, afterMark Lenard, to play three separate alien species in theStar Trek franchise. In earlier episodes he portrayed an Antican ("Lonely Among Us") and a Romulan ("The Neutral Zone").[1] He later portrayed a human inThe Next Generation episode "Time's Arrow" before gaining a recurring role as the Cardassian Gul Dukat inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine.[1]
For this episode, several Cardassians were depicted wearing helmets, something never again done in the franchise;[2] Blackman and Westmore's designs also gave Macet facial hair, the only time a Cardassian was shown this way.[1]
In the fifth season episode "Ensign Ro", written byRick Berman andMichael Piller and first screened in October 1991, theBajoran species was introduced. It explained that the Cardassians had annexed the Bajoran homeworld, Bajor, 40 years earlier, with many Bajorans fleeing their planet as refugees and often fighting back with militant tactics.[5] "Ensign Ro" was the first episode where Cardassian warships were introduced as "Galor class" vessels.[6] Although it was not intended at the time, the situation between the Cardassians and Bajorans laid the groundwork for the plot ofStar Trek: Deep Space Nine.[6]
The Cardassians were central to the two-part sixth season episode "Chain of Command", written byFrank Abatemarco and screened in December 1992. In them, the Federation has gained intelligence that the Cardassians are developing a genetically engineered virus on an uninhabited planet. Picard is sent to infiltrate and destroy the weapon but is apprehended and tortured by the Cardassian Gul Madred (David Warner).[7]"Chain of Command Part I" included the first mentions that the Cardassians' homeworld was called "Cardassia", and the "Cardassian Union" as the name of their interstellar state (previously mentioned only as the "Cardassian Empire").[8] "Chain of Command Part I" also introduced the news that the Cardassians had withdrawn from Bajor, setting the stage for the events ofStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, which began airing a month later.[9] The show's designers introduced the Cardassians' hand weapon in this episode, with Sternbach describing it as like a "copper-colored banana".[8] Part Two of "Chain of Command" provided a brief history of the Cardassians and their military government.[10]
The Cardassians also appeared in the sixth season episode "The Chase", written by Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore and screened in April 1993, where it is revealed that humans and Cardassians—as well as theKlingons andRomulans—are all descended from an ancient species who seeded many planets with life.[11] In the seventh season episode "Journey's End", written by Ronald D. Moore, it is explained that the treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians left various Federation planets in Cardassian territory, and that many of these Federation colonists refused to leave. Their presence and struggle for independence from Cardassian rule was a recurring theme in bothDeep Space Nine andVoyager.[12] "Journey's End" was the first time Cardassian communicators were shown, affixed to the actors' wrists.[13] The conflict between the Cardassians and the rebel colonists, known as theMaquis, was again used as the basis for the series' penultimate episode, "Preemptive Strike", written by Naren Shankar and René Echevarria and directed by Stewart.[14]
.jpg)
Launching the new series,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was the pilot episode "Emissary", written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Focussing on the aftermath of the Cardassian departure from Bajor, the premise of the series revolves around the Federation taking control of Deep Space Nine, a Cardassian-built space station orbiting Bajor, at the request of the Bajoran provisional government.[15]
In "Emissary", the station's newStarfleet commander,Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) is visited by the Cardassian who formerly served as prefect of Bajor, Gul Dukat, played by Marc Alaimo.[16] Alaimo had played a different Cardassian character inThe Next Generation, but was brought in to replace the actor formerly cast as Dukat, whose performance had dissatisfied the creative team. Ira Behr recalled that "It was either Mike Piller or Rick Berman who finally said, 'Let's get Marc Alaimo,' who had done a bunch ofTNG episodes for them in the past. Marc came in and, of course, hewas Gul Dukat."[17]Deep Space Nine would go on to introduce several more Cardassians as recurring characters, including the exiled spy-turned-tailorElim Garak, whose mysterious past and moral ambiguity made him one of the franchise's most popular recurring characters.[18]
Late in the first season, the show's creative team included another Cardassian-themed episode, "Duet". Written by Lisa Rich and Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci as abottle episode, it featured the arrest of a Cardassian believed to be guilty of war crimes against Bajor, Aamin Marritza (Harris Yulin), and the relationship he developed with the station's Bajoran second-in-command,Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor).[19] The lengthy speech given to Marritza was an early example of what the writers came to call "Cardassian monologues". Behr said, "Cardassians love to speak. Garak loves to speak, Enabran Tain loves to speak. Dukat loves to speak—very slowly—and certainly Marritza loves to speak."[20]
Over the course ofDeep Space Nine, the Cardassians' internal politics and their relationships with the Federation and Bajor go through many upheavals. In early seasons, the Cardassians maintain a shaky alliance with the Federation, which comes to their defense against attacks from the Maquis and the Klingons. An ill-advised attack by the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence agency, against the alien empire known as theDominion cripples the power of the Cardassian military dictatorship and allows a civilian government to take control. Later in the series, Dukat negotiates Cardassia's membership in the Dominion in exchange for his own appointment as ruler of Cardassia, leading to a war against the Federation. When Dominion rule becomes too oppressive for the Cardassians, Dukat's successorDamar leads a resistance movement against the Dominion with the support of the Federation and Bajorans, restoring Cardassia's independence. However, during the final battle of the war, the Dominion leader ordered a genocidal retaliation for the Cardassian resistance. Although this was ended, at least eight hundred million people were killed and Elim Garak lamented that their freedom had come at the cost of much of Cardassia's rich culture, best people and greatest minds, leaving the Cardassians facing a dire reconstruction effort.
Within theStar Trekfictional universe, the Cardassians were once a "peaceful people with a rich spiritual life".[21] However, during this period they also suffered fromdisease andfamine.[21]Nationalistic fervour grew and amilitary dictatorship was established, under which the citizens became prosperous.[21] The Obsidian Order, anintelligence agency[22] andinternal securitypolice force, kept the population undersurveillance.[23] The Cardassians becameimperialistic, waging war with other races andoccupying their territory to exploit resources.[21] The Cardassianempire is known as the Cardassian Union.[24]
In 2328, the Cardassians invadedBajor, occupying it for forty years, during which time they forced many Bajorans intoslave labor, using them in their variousmining operations.[23] This forced many Bajorans to flee and live inrefugee camps away from Cardassian domination,[24][25] while other Bajorans became involved in theresistance movement, engaged inguerrilla warfare organisingterrorist attacks against Cardassian targets.[23][24]
TheFederation would not intervene in the situation, due toPrime Directive considerations.[24][26]
In 2369, the Bajoran resistance forced the Cardassians off Bajor, after which the BajoranProvisional Government invited theUnited Federation of Planets to set up base on the former Cardassian mining station of Terok Nor, renaming itDeep Space Nine.[23]
During the Dominion War, the Cardassian Union joined theDominion in opposition to the Federation alliance, taking a main role below the Dominion's rulers, theFounders.[22] They were supplanted by theBreen Confederacy and, after some of their territory was promised to the Breen, the Cardassians rebelled against the Dominion, and were instrumental in defeating the Dominion and ending the war.[22] It was aBajoran, ColonelKira Nerys of theBajoran Militia, who trained the Cardassians in guerrilla warfare to defeat their own occupiers.[22]
In 2017,Den of Geek ranked Cardassians the 4th best aliens of theStar Trek franchise, behind the Borg but ahead of the Bajorans.[27]
Some of the top-rated television episodes featuring Cardassians inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine include "Improbable Cause", which features an intriguing story centered on Garak, and also "Duet".[28]
.jpg)
Incosmology, the concept "Cardassian expansion" is a term used for a modification to theFriedmann equations. It is named after the fictionalStar Trek race by the original authors,Katherine Freese and Matthew Lewis.[29] In their 2002 paper (which has been cited more than 330 times[30]), a footnote on the "Cardassian term" states: "2 The name Cardassian refers to a humanoid race inStar Trek whose goal is to take over the universe, i.e., accelerated expansion. This race looks foreign to us and yet is made entirely of matter."
| Television series |
|  | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Films |
| ||||||||||
| Setting |
| ||||||||||
| Production | |||||||||||
| Unmade projects | |||||||||||
| Spin-off fiction | |||||||||||
| Aftershows | |||||||||||
| Documentaries | |||||||||||
| Cultural influence |
| ||||||||||