And I would say that even if the novel is not considered canon, the way the actors (and I do not believe it was just Robinson who felt this way) chose to play the roles is valid as part of canon as long as it doesn’t actually violate anything continuitywise.
If I found out that James Doohan had played Scotty as if he were an alcoholic… well, I wouldn’t have personally seen it that way, but he notoriously loved booze, so sure. Scotty was an alcoholic.
There’s a whole episode where Scotty drank a Kevlan under the table, the Kevlans were shown to be basically supermen, so… I’m pretty sure it would take an alcoholic to do that.
Edit: Oh, and the TNG episode where he got mad because everyone drank synthahol…
Sure, but if, alternately, I found out that he played Scotty as if he wasn’t an alcoholic- that he could go for months between scotches, he just had an amazing tolerance for alcohol when he drank, fine. It still doesn’t affect continuity.
Exactly. The actors aren’t robots or AI, running solely off the prompts of directors and writers. They are part of the collaborative art project that is the show. Their input, motivations, intentions behind the character are just as valid as the writer’s. Garak is queer, because Robinson says so. During the pandemic, Bashir and Garak did a video where they exchanged letters, and they made it clear that they romantically involved in that. Regardless of if physical sex occurred during the timeline of the series, suggesting that it could not have because none of the characters, in the tiny fraction of a percent’s time we actually see them during that year run, never outwardly exclaimed “bee tee dubs, me and Garak are banging” is such an insult to the actors who put so much of themselves into that role.
I said basically the same thing too. We see a fraction of their life for part of the about 45 minutes the episode is on. For all we know, everyone was complimenting Garak and Bashir on what a cute couple they made as they strolled down the promenade holding hands. Just not at the time we see them. Which makes sense because most couples aren’t about PDA all the time. Even if they’re on a date.
Especially Julian, tbh. He strikes me as the “but what would people think!” Type when it comes to dating a Cardassian. Lol. Not that he’s prejudiced… But simple Garak may well be a spy for the obsidian order!
You’re right. If there were any reason to not make that relationship public, if that was the case, it would have nothing to do with both of them being men, it would be because of who Garak is and who Julian is and the whole security issue there. I’m sure they wouldn’t want Odo checking up on them when they were trying to have a romantic moment.
But in the end, I know the look of two people who have a mutual attraction.
If Alexander Siddig wasn’t supposed to be attracted to Garak, at least in the minds of he and Andrew Robinson and their motivations in that scene, he did it very wrong.
And I think he knows what it’s like to be attracted to a man, because he apparently described himself this year as “not quite straight.”
Oh my God, you’ve just given me the idea for the best trek fanfic ever. Julian and Garak keep trying to secret away for a date, and whenever they do, Odo interrupts them to question their behavior. They sneak into a supply closet, Odo is the door. They slip away to a cargo bay, and suddenly a crate of self sealing stem bolts morphs into the familiar security officer. They finally get a nice table at a Holo restaurant under someone else’s name and Quark’s promised discretion, and lo and behold Bashir tries to take a drink of his champagne for it to suddenly become the changeling, relentless in his need to discuss this aberrant behavior. Finally they give up.
Bashir: yes, Odo, what can we do for you?
Odo: I need to discuss this sneaking around. It has become a security concern.
Garak: Trust me, Mr. Odo, had we been involved with anything concerning to the security of this station, you would never have discovered us.
After I posted this, I tried to find it and I can’t. Either I’m using the wrong search terms, or I dreamt it. Lmao.
Iirc, it was a reading of a portion of a stitch in time. I mainly remember it because it was the first time I’d seen someone other than me think that Garak was queer. I wasn’t big into online trek communities at the time, and my brother didn’t twig to it.
The novel (written by Andrew Robinson) A Stitch in Time also confirms this physical attraction, if not specific examples of physical affection.
And I would say that even if the novel is not considered canon, the way the actors (and I do not believe it was just Robinson who felt this way) chose to play the roles is valid as part of canon as long as it doesn’t actually violate anything continuitywise.
If I found out that James Doohan had played Scotty as if he were an alcoholic… well, I wouldn’t have personally seen it that way, but he notoriously loved booze, so sure. Scotty was an alcoholic.
There’s a whole episode where Scotty drank a Kevlan under the table, the Kevlans were shown to be basically supermen, so… I’m pretty sure it would take an alcoholic to do that.
Edit: Oh, and the TNG episode where he got mad because everyone drank synthahol…
Sure, but if, alternately, I found out that he played Scotty as if he wasn’t an alcoholic- that he could go for months between scotches, he just had an amazing tolerance for alcohol when he drank, fine. It still doesn’t affect continuity.
Exactly. The actors aren’t robots or AI, running solely off the prompts of directors and writers. They are part of the collaborative art project that is the show. Their input, motivations, intentions behind the character are just as valid as the writer’s. Garak is queer, because Robinson says so. During the pandemic, Bashir and Garak did a video where they exchanged letters, and they made it clear that they romantically involved in that. Regardless of if physical sex occurred during the timeline of the series, suggesting that it could not have because none of the characters, in the tiny fraction of a percent’s time we actually see them during that year run, never outwardly exclaimed “bee tee dubs, me and Garak are banging” is such an insult to the actors who put so much of themselves into that role.
I said basically the same thing too. We see a fraction of their life for part of the about 45 minutes the episode is on. For all we know, everyone was complimenting Garak and Bashir on what a cute couple they made as they strolled down the promenade holding hands. Just not at the time we see them. Which makes sense because most couples aren’t about PDA all the time. Even if they’re on a date.
Especially Julian, tbh. He strikes me as the “but what would people think!” Type when it comes to dating a Cardassian. Lol. Not that he’s prejudiced… But simple Garak may well be a spy for the obsidian order!
You’re right. If there were any reason to not make that relationship public, if that was the case, it would have nothing to do with both of them being men, it would be because of who Garak is and who Julian is and the whole security issue there. I’m sure they wouldn’t want Odo checking up on them when they were trying to have a romantic moment.
But in the end, I know the look of two people who have a mutual attraction.
If Alexander Siddig wasn’t supposed to be attracted to Garak, at least in the minds of he and Andrew Robinson and their motivations in that scene, he did it very wrong.
And I think he knows what it’s like to be attracted to a man, because he apparently described himself this year as “not quite straight.”
Oh my God, you’ve just given me the idea for the best trek fanfic ever. Julian and Garak keep trying to secret away for a date, and whenever they do, Odo interrupts them to question their behavior. They sneak into a supply closet, Odo is the door. They slip away to a cargo bay, and suddenly a crate of self sealing stem bolts morphs into the familiar security officer. They finally get a nice table at a Holo restaurant under someone else’s name and Quark’s promised discretion, and lo and behold Bashir tries to take a drink of his champagne for it to suddenly become the changeling, relentless in his need to discuss this aberrant behavior. Finally they give up.
Bashir: yes, Odo, what can we do for you?
Odo: I need to discuss this sneaking around. It has become a security concern.
Garak: Trust me, Mr. Odo, had we been involved with anything concerning to the security of this station, you would never have discovered us.
If you’ve never seen the WWII-era Looney Tunes cartoon where Daffy gets drafted into the army, you should. Because it’s almost the same idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb6VAT6Ymi8
Ha! You’re right, very similar. I haven’t thought of that episode in years
I think I somehow missed this! Do you happen to have a link? A quick YouTube search didn’t help me out.
After I posted this, I tried to find it and I can’t. Either I’m using the wrong search terms, or I dreamt it. Lmao.
Iirc, it was a reading of a portion of a stitch in time. I mainly remember it because it was the first time I’d seen someone other than me think that Garak was queer. I wasn’t big into online trek communities at the time, and my brother didn’t twig to it.