Gul Evek. Most underrated Cardassian. Agree?
- Thread starter urrutiap
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Gul Evek showed up in TNG, DS9, and VOY. I liked that cross series promotion, and yes I liked Evek.
I like what the novelverse has done with Evek. He's portrayed as one of the most, if not THE most, powerful officers in the Cardassian fleet. A posting on his ship is considered the height of a Cardassian military career.
And I can't say I disagree, either. Evek was clearly not the genocidal maniac that Dukat turned out to be. Evek may have been at odds with the Federation on occasion, but he was clearly a reasonable man who could make compromises. He is simultaneously a loyal Cardassian and a worthy opponent.
Indeed, I rather think that Evek would have been disgusted at how the situation in the DMZ rapidly deteriorated. I don't see Evek being part of the Cardassian government's covert attempts to supply weapons to its citizens in the DMZ. That's the last thing he would have wanted; he lost two of his three sons to the last war, and he wouldn't have wanted that to start all over again.
And I can't say I disagree, either. Evek was clearly not the genocidal maniac that Dukat turned out to be. Evek may have been at odds with the Federation on occasion, but he was clearly a reasonable man who could make compromises. He is simultaneously a loyal Cardassian and a worthy opponent.
Indeed, I rather think that Evek would have been disgusted at how the situation in the DMZ rapidly deteriorated. I don't see Evek being part of the Cardassian government's covert attempts to supply weapons to its citizens in the DMZ. That's the last thing he would have wanted; he lost two of his three sons to the last war, and he wouldn't have wanted that to start all over again.
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You're probably right, Evek was a great Cardassian, cold menacing and didn't give a f about anyone who was against Cardassia. He was more dimensional than Damar but back when the writers took that race more seriously and the stakes were higher. Once the Grand Daddy Dominion came along the Cardassians needed a demotion and Damar was born. Then Seska, on VOY, who was not quite interesting either, but Gul Dukat was a very fascinating character in the 1st 3 seasons of the series and after had a dramatic turn for the worse.
The direction they were taking with that race a character like Evek wasn't needed anymore, I kind of wish these great characters were killed off or had a silent end like Evek simply never appearing in future episodes anymore. Maybe this is off base but a part of me wish Garak returned to Cardassia and created a whole new scenario of dread for our heroes on DS9, but again the focal point was on the Dominion.
I sort of thought of Evek as the working stiff, looking down at those other Guls he was supposed to look up to. A Gul ain't a Gul ain't a Gul, really, and Dukat's position would have been by far the cushier one, commanding an entire conquered star system from a regular throne and all. But Evek had a job to do, sweeping clean the border against the hated UFP, and he'd take pride in that, while never letting politics intervene much. And thus being in visible agony when having to do politics basically every single time he interacted with the Federation...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I definitely don't see Evek allying himself with the Dominion. He would have been first in line to back Damar's resistance movement.
Evek's loyalty is to Cardassia, above all else.
Evek's loyalty is to Cardassia, above all else.
Evek would've shot Damar in the head because he was Cardassian in make up only.
Explain.
That was the explanation. All in one sentence.
I've spoken enough of my distaste for Damar throughout these boards. If my sentence ain't good enough, you all can search for my comments. Evek is Cardassian and acted like one.
For me, Gul Evek was always a cool guy, just because he represented a (sadly) very short phase in the Trek history, where three ongoing series were 'outrageously modern' in their narrative structure: a story, which began in TNG, led into a DS9 two-parter, came back to TNG and gave VOY a kind of 'start-up support'.
Back then, this was the one time, where all three ongoing Trek series really seemed to play in the same universe (something, that DSC, PIC and LD haven't worked out yet). And while TNG, of course, was on its last season, I also was a bit dissapointed, how few VOY worked with the DS9 stuff in the later seasons:
Maybe they will finally manage to do again what they once did with Evek's 'help' (if you will): a storyline that runs through several series. For all their faults, I see at least a few good approaches in the 3rd season of DSC (e.g. with the Kovat Milat). And who knows? Maybe Q will show Picard some glimpses of the 33th century...
Back then, this was the one time, where all three ongoing Trek series really seemed to play in the same universe (something, that DSC, PIC and LD haven't worked out yet). And while TNG, of course, was on its last season, I also was a bit dissapointed, how few VOY worked with the DS9 stuff in the later seasons:
- When Ferengi were seen in VOY, they also were more the TNG type of Ferengi than they worked with DS9's development of the Ferengi culture. Of course, in 'False profits', it was more than legitimate, but in 'Inside Man', they really worked with a Ferengi typ, that, in my opinion, already had outlived itself.
- Okay, too many words have already been wasted into the VOY-Maquis-thing. But then again, I always was a bit underwhelmed by the way, they handled the reactions of Voyager's Maquis members to the message of the Maquis' end. Especially the fact, that the Maquis was right in not trusting the cardassians, was never played out, what was, in my eyes, a bit disappointing.
- As much as I love 'Message in a bottle', it always seemed weird to me, that the VOY writers didn't use the opportunity to show the Dominion at least once but wrote about a Romulan attack. (As a kid, where I didn't see, what the Prophets really did there, I always hoped for an episode, where the Voyager meets the Dominion fleet, that was transferred from the wormhole into the Delta quadrant, too.)
Maybe they will finally manage to do again what they once did with Evek's 'help' (if you will): a storyline that runs through several series. For all their faults, I see at least a few good approaches in the 3rd season of DSC (e.g. with the Kovat Milat). And who knows? Maybe Q will show Picard some glimpses of the 33th century...
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33rd Century.
Hmmm. Well, YMMV of course. Personally, I thought Damar was great.
And of course he gave rise to one of the greatest lines in Trek history:
"Maybe you should talk to Worf again."
Evek is a great character and I really wish that we had seen more of him in DS9.
I have often wondered what he was doing during the Dominion War. I can imagine that as a Cardassian Officer, he fought for Cardassia and The Dominion to start with but that he might have changed his mind and joined the resistance movement when he found out what obedience to The Dominion really meant.
There is not much information about Aman Evek and his activities during the Dominion war on neither Memory Alpha or Memory Beta. According to Memory Beta he survived the plasma storm in the Badlands when he was chasing Chakotay's ship (Liberty or Val Jean or whatever). After the Dominion War, he obviously toook part in Cardassian politics:
After the end of the Dominion War, Evek took a prominent role in the Directorate political group on Cardassia. In a meeting that Garak attended, Evek called Skrain Dukat a traitor, which elevated Evek's standing in Garak's eyes. (DS9 novel: A Stitch in Time)
As for Damar, I find him an interesting character.
When he first showed up, I found him rather arrogant and annoying. Then he became a puppet to The Dominion, his low point was the brutal murder of Tora Ziyal.
But then he realized that he served a power which only wanted cardassia as a puppet state and nothing more so he started to fight The Dominion and died like a hero. A lot of interesting twist and turns in that story actually. In fact, similar things happened in some countries in Eastern Europe when Communism fell, politicians who had served the system becamefreedom fighters instead. Some of them may have switched sides for having a chance to remain in power but some were actually honest in their actions.
As for Damar, I strongly disliked him from the start but I got more sympathy for him later on.
Yeah, you're right, thanks a lot (even though I think it's a pity that you didn't want to contribute anything else)
Evek wouldn't have worked based on how Cardassians were later developed. I don't think his brash and at times stone cold bluntness just wouldn't work because his race no longer had the might and power they had in that system anymore. They're lapdogs to the super threat of all threats "the all mighty" Dominion. Freedom fighting was not part of his character, neither was Dukat but he was so neutered by that time he was miserably restructured as a looney toon, a goof ball like Damar was the perfect symbol because he was so 1 dimensional and boring where else could a writer go with that idiot.
well Evek in the last season of Next Generation was dealing with some of those Maquis or at least some of those Native American Indians that didnt want to move to a different planet. Even though Evek or one of his sons or his men did get a little trigger happy in that one episode they did a better job at controlling some of the chaos that the Maquis were doing
No way Evek and his goons could pull that crap in the 4th through 7th seasons of DS9. No way.
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