@lefthandedguitarist not wanting to sound picky but it's Maxwell not Maddox. That was maybe a carry over from the previous episode ? :wink: I am surprised thought nobody noticed it before.
I like your look on the Cardassians. I became a big fan of Alaimo later on DS9. Really good actor that can stand up against anyone.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2017-06-11T12:04:32Z
Of all TNG episodes, 'The Wounded' feels like the one which firmly leads to the creation of Deep Space Nine. Chief O'Brien, having been given more and more screen time over the past couple of seasons, is finally given something of a leading role and a huge amount of character development. I would think that it's this episode that brought his character over to DS9. I really love the dinner scenes with Keiko, and of course the fantastic talk in Ten-Forward.
Additionally, we get to meet the Cardassians for the first time. These guys are just incredible, and I think one of the most developed alien races in popular science fiction. A big part of their success is down to the casting here, with Marc Alaimo playing Gul Macet. It's no coincidence he was later cast as Gul Dukat throughout DS9 (and for me, by far and away the best Trek villain ever). He brings a great deal of menace and intellect to the role, but we also get depth when you look at all 3 of the Cardassian actors together as they each display very different personalities. If they hadn't all worked so well I'm not sure that the Cardassians would have become some an important part of the franchise. There are wonderful scenes on the bridge as Picard has to deal with events while Macet watches on, tense stuff.
The weaker parts of the episode for me come in the form of Captain Maddox. Maybe it's because we've gotten so used to Picard as an example of a leader, but this guy just crumbles in comparison to him. It's also odd that we never see any of Maddox's crew and have to assume that they are just blindly following his bizarre orders.