David Warner’s Most IncredibleStar TrekTurn Is a Tale of 2 Cardassians

David Warner , who sadly passed awayearlier this week , is beloved for his villainous turns . From Time After Time to Time Bandits , from Tron to Batman : The Animated Series ’ Ra ’s Al Ghul , the actor ’s legendary calling is paved with them . But perhaps his finest hour on television comes from his third and net Star Trek character inThe Next Generation .

“ Chain of Command ” sit as a two - parter in the middle of The Next Generation ’s sixth season . It’sone of the show ’s good , and beloved for a haunting turn by Patrick Stewart , playing a Picard who is captured and brutally tortured by the Cardassians — an interrogative sentence trail by Warner ’s sinister Gul Madred . He ’s left as vulnerable as we perhaps ever see the great bomber Jean - Luc Picard , who end the floor by acknowledge how close he came to make up .

Picard is nearly broken by Warner ’s Madred , who turns in a truly fascinating carrying out that catapults him into the top tier of TNG ’s unspoiled guest stars . Madred is in reality not in “ Chain of Command ” that much — he does n’t appear until the climactic view of the first sequence , and the 2nd intersperses his torture of Picard with the natural process back aboard the Enterprise , where substitution Captain Jellico ( Ronny Cox ) is attempting to strong - branch his way through negotiations with another Cardassian , Gul Lemec ( John Durbin ) . But from the second Warner go into the setting , Madred is straightaway captivating .

Screenshot: Paramount

He glides around the dimly little business office / torture room that becomes the primary degree of the back half of “ Chain of Command , ” hardly entering the sharp pouch of light as he verbally and , sometimes technologically with an implanted equipment in Picard ’s chest , needle the practiced skipper until he is a writhing wreck . Madred ’s front is elegant and terrifying — Warner ’s voice for the character reference almost barely a whisper , precise and controlled as he completely pulls Picard ’s strings over and over . That ’s really what makes Madred so compelling and creepy-crawly , beyond the fact he ’s savagely torturing our hero : he ’s a shade , meticulous and elaborate but never brash and booming , dominance held by his complete and utter control , not just of Picard but of himself . There ’s a single panorama in which Madred infract this facade — when Picard mocks his childhood fostering as a starving orphan on Cardassia — but it ’s only for a moment . Even then , as Picard celebrates discovering a gap in Madred ’s armour , Warner ’s subdue , visit mien keeps him a threat until the episode ’s very climax .

It ’s a grand performance in isolation , but what make Gul Madred sincerely shine as a theatrical role is that he ’s not the only Cardassian baddie of the piece . Although they just share covert time save for a scenery near the two - parter ’s end , Gul Lemec is a vital foil to Madred that creates a heavy whole , abstracted as what would be the earmark of the Cardassians ’ portrait when they truly enter Trek ’s glare in Deep Space Nine . Durbin ’s Lemec is everything that Warner ’s Madred is not — idealistic and pontifical , supercilious and theatrical . There ’s almost an element of camp to Durbin ’s bit , practically voguing about the Enterprise conference room as he spits demands and insults at Jellico , Troi , and Riker , custody dramatically turn out as they trip the light fantastic stroking from chair to electric chair . If Madred skulked in the shadows , Lemec jump into the light , the embodiment of Cardassian haughtiness and arrogance .

They ’re both fantastical performances in isolation , but in mutualism they paint an incredible picture of what the Cardassians were up to of , as both organism and as theatrical role for Star Trek to work with — the deadly , cipher sneaks , the pontifical warrior . Even barely apportion the screen , Durbin and Warner ’s duple use feel like a performative dance , a pair of opposites , each demarcation making the other performance fall just as powerfully even as they juke aside from each other . Durbin ’s the proud , furious performance Lemec make Warner ’s pick as Madred feel all the more insensate , count on , and cool down , and in number that subdued sinister performance makes Lemec ’s madness and arrogance all the more strong .

Screenshot: Paramount

Screenshot: Paramount

I came back to “ Chain of Command ” last night in the viewing of Warner ’s perish ask to retrieve his carrying into action , and his alone — one of the all - time great of Star Trek guest wizard . But I was surprised in pull in that it only hits hits its biggest heights thanks to as just as commendable execution in Durbin : two unbelievable actors setting the phase for what Cardassians could be , quick for them to go up into Trek ’s annals as one if its most fascinating smart set just a few years later .

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Screenshot: Paramount