Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Garak

9. He Will Eat You. Or He Will F*ck You.

Star Trek Garak Bashir
CBS Media Ventures

In Past Prologue, that famous lunch scene - the very first one - occurs between Garak and Dr. Bashir. There is little to no ambiguity here - Garak is out for lunch, and he's not particularly fussed about what he gets to eat.

This was a choice by Andrew Robinson. He said that in this earliest appearance, he wanted to portray the character without any defined sexuality. He wanted to display a character with a sexual appetite that could be appeased by an attractive human - and the fact that this human was male made no difference.

While, according to Robinson, he was supported in the idea that Garak would have a certain charismatic, dangerous charm to him, the writers didn't want to go down the sexually opaque route. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, he said, it was because the show was Star Trek. There wasn't truly room to explore this aspect of the character. Another reason was that he was hindered by the writers. Though he would have enjoyed keeping Garak sexually open in this way, the writing wouldn't support it, which meant he couldn't either.

 
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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"