Andrew Robinson Interview Part 1 (Garak, DS9)

[oatmealboy6]

Happy birthday Andrew!

[flutey28]

I'm so glad that Andrew did play the part of "Garak" - I agree wih 2112Zeppelin, he woulda been a bad Odo, but a great Garak :) Epis with Garak were the BEST :)

[2112Zeppelin]

He would have been a terrible Odo. But god, Garak is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

[whitee1992]

i never realised he was the killer in dirty harry. love learning stuff like that

[fluideight]

Garak is the best character out of any ST franchise IMO.

[MapleBalls]

claustrophobic in real life, interesting.

[BadRobot71]

Loved him in hellraiser, did not realise he was Garack, amazing, and I bloody love DS9

[BlueCrystalGem]

You know you are an actor when the desire to act overcomes your most inner fears.

[BUZZWAM]

You are a Legend mate

[SidNightWalker]

Garak is in many ways the most complex character of the entirety of Star Trek.That's why he's my favorite.

[nujiro]

Thank god for Robinson's wife, without her there would be no Garak.

[hankheavy]

He also starred in Hellraiser.

[Waterflux]

Yeah ... Garak is his own class. MIght as well categorize DS9 based on with or without Garak. I think they did an excellent job in his characterization. He is very intelligent and resourceful, which are balanced by chronic sense of insecurity (he seems to be better off if he is the only Cardassian in a crowd). His shady outlook makes a lot of his sarcasm actually pretty humorous.

[disamjisa]

I absolutely *loved* A Stitch in Time. I encourage anyone who liked the Garak character to read it; it was a novel written by Andrew J Robinson with Garak's backstory, and it is utterly compelling. Probably the best Trek novel I've read, the only one that stands on its own as a novel, not just as a Trek novel.

[toomanyaccounts]

@disamjisa

There was another good novel DS9 novel: The Never-Ending Sacrifice that people should read.

[iammadness]

Weird thought: As a reptilian species do you think cardassians have a cloaca?

[Supernova12034]

OMG when he said ' so it doesnt breathe, NOTHING breathes' i saw a glimpse of Garak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kghill1980]

The funny thing is - Garak is also clausterphobic!

[genericusername337]

Garak was one of my favorite characters off DS9, he seemed to have this "intelligent" look.. made him kinda interesting and enigmatic

[RealH0rr0rsh0w]

My mind was blown when I was watching Dirty Harry and realized Scorpio is Garak.

[TheHeathercoyle]

@FawxNewbz what are u talkin about, hes not upfront nor does he tell the truth, he often states that hes a master of lies, he was in the obsidian order, his father was head of it, he lied about all that until his very death. i love garak but hes not a truthful person. no one trusts him. its always clear he has an ulterior motive but the show likes to keep u in the dark about it, which makes him way cooler. but yeah thats all

[SPQRImperator]

I loved Garak on DS9. He any Weyoun were fantastic.

[SidNightWalker]

Ah,, Garak...I like him, a lot...*whistles and walks away*

[TakatofanAgain]

So Garak being claustrophobic was real, cool!

[Khalev1979]

Best actor and role on DS9

[WillMauz]

Garak is the man...the Cardassian... the best!

[YesWeCantaloupe]

Wow. He's claustrophobic just like Garak!

[gateen22]

I love this interview and you can tell he's Garak! Just watch the eyes and mouth and how he answers questions. My fav characters are Garek, Weyoun, and of course Quark!

[TheMultiGunMan]

★★★★★

Great interview.

[davenielsen78]

@scrotillathehun I liked Bashir and O'Brian, but not O'Brian's wife. Part of what makes a lot of the aliens more likeable is that most Starfleet officers are so self-righteous, arrogant, and when convenient pretend to moral superiority.

[randomface54]

Andrew's claustrophobic? I wonder if that's the reason they gave Garak the same condition, because they knew he would be convincing due to personal experience.

[darkpassengers]

The finest actor on DS9 and a supremely good choice for that most complex of character roles. Cant add to that, except saying Thank You Andrew Robinson.

[darkpassengers]

The finest actor on DS9 and a supremely good choice for that most complex of character roles

[jimbopumbapigsticks]

Didn't know he was the Scorpio killer. He scared the shit out of me.

[sdegroot1]

@jimbopumbapigsticks  He actually got death threats because his performance as Scorpio was so real.

[JRHartly1984]

Garak was a really complex character, which was unusual for Star Trek. DS9 was narratively speaking, the most sophisticated incarnation of Star Trek. It became a Space Opera of political intrigue - the thinking man's Star Trek if you will.

[crazy88boss]

@JRHartly1984 An excellent critique, sir. Garak was definitely one of my favorite characters on the show as well.

[davenielsen78]

@JRHartly1984 DS9 was far from being the thinking man's Star Trek. It was all about mindless action, especially in its later seasons. Lots of big space battles. Lots of things blowing up real good. No ST series is flawless, but TNG and TOS definitely did a better job dealing with questions of morality. An episode of DS9 a lot of people think excellent (In the Pale Moonlight) is pretty cheap, pandering, and shallow. I did like a lot of the characters. Too bad they weren't on a better show.

[JRHartly1984]

@davenielsen78 << Nah DS9 was great, you felt you were watching a big epic story unfold instead of an episodic morality tales provided by TNG. Agreed , the show was not perfect but it was the darkest of the Star Trek incarnations that I felt gave it an edge over most of the TNG and TOS.

[davenielsen78]

@JRHartly1984 I liked some aspects of the show. Some of the characters, like Bashir and O'Brian, were appealing.  However self-contained episodes seem to work best, and when you take the exploration aspect out of the equation it's not really Star Trek anymore. That's probably why the writers started the Dominion war - those episodes kind of write themselves. And it was probably a bit cheaper as many of those space battles recycled footage even from as far back as ST6.

[AnteyPL]

@JRHartly1984

But...you know... these "episodic morality tales" warp living daylights out of "big epic story" where ships don't use shields in battle, there's no star trek, there's little of star ship and most of episodes are *really* poor.

Actually, it was brilliant Garak / Andrew Robinson (aside Dukat and Martok) who literally saved and rescued DS9.

[Freddie1980]

How about this for an association. Andrew Robinson who played Garak also stared in the TV show Mrs. Columbo who of course was played by Kate Mulgrew who played Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek Voyager.

[Shadowboro2]

@Freddie1980 Not only that, but he also starred alongside Kate Mulgrew in the 70's soap "Ryan's Hope". So that makes 2 times they've starred alongside each other. There's even a scene in that show where Kate's character gives Andrew's character a friendly peck, so you could say Janeway gave Garak a friendly kiss. Anyway, Andrew Robinson is a great actor, very underrated unfortunately.

[Shadowboro2]

@Freddie1980 Not to mention Andrew Robinson also got to direct two B'elanna Torres-centric Voyager episodes, so he got to work with Kate Mulgrew AGAIN (this time from the director's chair perspective). By that time they probably needed no introduction given they're previous past times working together.

[TheJaguarKnight]

no offense to robinson, but i think he was better looking as a cardassian lol

[davenielsen78]

@TheJaguarKnight He's old now. He wasn't bad back in his Dirty Harry days.

[reptongeek]

@davenielsen78 The first time I heard he was Scorpio in Dirty Harry I was shocked!!. I couldn't see Garak in a Clint Eastwood flick

[davenielsen78]

@reptongeek I couldn't believe it was the same guy at first either. Well, that's what a couple decades does to you I guess. :-)

[CIarKent]

@scrotillathehun Dax wasn't a human either

[derdelush]

@scrotillathehun actually Quark made her seem like that to me in the episode where he was an arms dealer and she just went on her federation issued moral superiority pony.

[krankenshaft]

Thank god indeed. Garak is the best thing about DS9.

[LocutusBorgOf]

To Robinson's wife THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

[LittleFrenchy72]

4:46 what a coincidence, so is garak!

[PigOnGas]

Bashir and Garak BFF!

[davenielsen78]

@PigOnGas I thought O'Brian was Bashir's BFF.

[jigsaw9919]

like many actors who play vicious murderous characters on screen (ie. Scorpio killer), he seems to be a really nice guy

[9999pharlap]

Garak really is the kind of guy you'd like as a friend. Anyone gives you trouble, you just tell them that you'll send them Garak to take care of their problem. And then they shit their pants...

[sdegroot1]

@9999pharlap Of course Garak would show up at their place with a smile, then stab them with his tailoring needle.

[Nerdovich]

@9999pharlap If the world was run by Garaks it would be a safe and yet occassionally dangerous, fun, weird, well dressed and sceheming place to be. But one thing would also be for sure: shit would get done. Plain and simple. No grey areas.

[Madaboutsims]

one of the best character inany story, let alone sci-fi. I mean the character, the development and the full length story for season 1-6 is simply amazing.

[Dragblacker]

I wonder if they decided to base Afterimage on Robinson's claustrophobia.

[davenielsen78]

@Dragblacker I thought it was just ripped off from The Great Escape.

[PuppetMask]

THANK GOD IS RIGHT! 

[io1011001]

He reminds he always of the actor, who played that absolute fool but also the absolute hero of Idenpendence Day, lol. That weird guy, you know who is meant. But there you see, going to art school in London does not bring you any big money. Most the stars are lousy school wise, and as you see also at his buddy Siddig, they do not make it to the blockbuster earners. There you also see the big difference between people who seriously learn how to act and the ones that just act and make millions. :)

[Shadowboro2]

@io1011001 Now that you mention it, the way Andrew Robinson talks and his voice does seem simialr to Randy Quaid. Obviously Robinson is a better actor than Quaid is.

[StevieAndCoryYUMMY]

He turns 69 today!

[GreenDay1981]

@StevieAndCoryYUMMY So hard to believe. He looked so young as Garak. I didn't even know he was that old until I found out his daughter, who looked like she was in her 30's, appeared in a DS9 episode.

[jermzhi]

Episodes with Garak were always excellent, and they always matched him along side a specific actor in those episodes, he always shined.

[VegasBilgeRat]

@jermzhi no doubt. Garak is my favorite character from DS9.

[jermzhi]

Interesting....Andrew Robinson was claustrophobic....so was Garak in the show. I guess Andrew told them he was...and they passed it on to the actual character?

[Maxillius]

@jermzhi That's exactly what I was going to post! That episode where Garak is in the wall trying to break out of the Dominion prison must've been excruciating for him!!

[KuunLan87]

@jermzhi So that his reaction would be more beliveble. A similar thing was done in "Ravenous", a movie about the Wendigo myth. Guy Pierce, who plays a soldier that is forced by circumstance/accident to become a cannibal and is then possessed by the demon, is a declared vegetarian. In the scenes where he looks at meat or is forced to eat it, you see pure disgust on his face, beacuse Guy chews actual meat and is revolted by that.

[electrohermit]

brilliant actor

[Jitpring]

@electrohermit Yes indeed. I think he's exactly right about the effect of his devastating performance in Dirty Harry.

[friedkat]

Great video - thanks so much for posting!