#donatra

[tolllthedead]

[elev-toreth]

not gonna lie

[sshbpodcast]

Not staying neutral about this: The best Romulans in Star Trek

By Ames

Guess who’s BACK? Last week we covered their logical counterparts in our best Vulcans of Trek blogpost, and this week we’re shining the spotlight on the other pointy-eared race that takes up most of the Beta Quadrant. We meet a good number of them, especially in more recent series like Picard, so get ready for a lot of scheming as A Star to Steer Her By picks our favorite Romulans!

Fire up your cloaking device, put Geordi in the Manchurian Candidate machine, and clone up some Picards: we’re setting course for the wrong side of the neutral zone! Follow along with our top Romulans below and/or on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 56:02). You’re in for some absolute candor with these picks.

[images © CBS/Paramount] 

Caitlin – It’s a faaaaaake

Keras

Vreenak

Rakal

There are secrets getting revealed in Caitlin’s three choices. Keep your lips sealed when you see past the cloaking device for the first time and get our first glimpse of an ever-elusive Romulan, when you see the shady deals the Romulans make with the Dominion and a senator tries to spill the beans on a truly nefarious Federation plan that gets him killed, and when you get to watch the best work we’ve seen out of Marina Sirtis when Troi gets abducted and needs to out-Romulan one of our other favorite Romulans, as you’ll see…

—

Jake – Warbirds of a feather cloak together

Jarok

Toreth

Bochra

All of Jake’s faves end up being ethical people when you get down to it, with little to no actual scheming to speak of (shocking!). Once they decloak their true selves, you get to really see a Romulan defector who’s sick of all the corrupt politics, the flipside of that coin in a shrewd and principled commander who nearly takes out Picard and the Enterprise-D, and an enemy officer who chooses to work together with his new best friend Geordi La Forge to get through a disaster.

—

Chris – I could have called you friend

Keras

Toreth

R’Mor

Chris’s three Romulans are all individuals with whom we can empathize. Why, in a different reality, we can absolutely envision getting to know more of the Romulan commander who nearly matched wits with the first Starfleet captain to make visual contact with their race, more of the other Romulan commander who had an entirely understanding grudge against their culture’s shadow agency that totally fucked her over before, and more of the scientist who went above and beyond to help a stranded crew whom he’d otherwise call enemies.

—

Ames – The plot thickens!

Sela

Nevesa

Narek

Everything in the lives of my picks is an opportunity to make a convoluted Rube Goldberg machine on the off chance it might reach an unearned conclusion. From the sheer gall of introducing Tasha Yar’s half-Romulan daughter who has it out for Picard, to the badass Romulan commander who tries to seduce Spock over to their side, to the blacksheep brother from season one of Picard who gave a whole lot of added depth to this shady, mysterious, kinda sexy race, these famous schemers have it all figured out… until they don’t.

—

We hope you chose to live with all of those difficult choices. We’ve got even more on deck when we explore another alien race next week, so keep your sensors trained right here! You can also continue on our voyage through Voyager on SoundCloud, come up with some dastardly schemes with us on Facebook and Twitter, and remove the coat hangers from your jackets before wearing them.

[aliensamba]

Donatra - Star Trek: Nemesis. in-universe date: 56844.9 (2379)

DONATRA: Here's another word, Praetor. ...Trust. ...Do you trust me? ...How far does that trust extend? ...How deep does it go? ...What must a commander do to prove herself faithful to you? ...What must a woman do?

SHINZON: You are not a woman. You are a Romulan! Serve me faithfully and you will be rewarded. ...Keep those lovely eyes on Commander Suran. And at the first sign of treachery...

DONATRA: ...dispose of him.

SHINZON: Then you will have proven yourself.

[supersecretsombraboop]

[saint-alia-of-the-knife]

“not all romulans,”

you’re right. commander donatra would never do this.

[fuckyeahromulans]

Donatra on Star Trek Timelines

[defconprime]

Commander Donatra