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Star Trek 101: Gul Dukat

Star Trek 101: Gul Dukat


Star Trek 101, StarTrek.com's newest regular column, serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why, written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, as well as the first 10 Trek feature films. Today, we learn about Dukat.

DUKAT (Marc Alaimo)Cardassian military officer

"I should've killed every last one of them. I should've turned their planet into a graveyard the likes of which the galaxy had never seen!" -- "Waltz"

Gul Dukat -- gul is his rank, not his first name -- is a Cardassian military officer who was once in charge of his government's occupation of Bajor. Think Heinrich Himmler but more self-deluded. Dukat believes his reign of brutality was in the best interests of his victims. Sisko describes him as "truly evil."

Dukat has a weakness for Bajoran women and harbors a yen for Kira, but the feeling is far from mutual.

Key Dukat Episode: "Waltz"