Кардассианцы: Инопланетная раса из вселенной «Звёздный путь»

Fictional extraterrestrial species from Star Trek

The Cardassians (/k//ɑːr/'/d//æ//s//i//ə//n//z/) are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek. They were devised in 1991 for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation before being used in the subsequent series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. The writers of The Next Generation introduced the Cardassians for the fourth season episode "The Wounded" as new antagonists for the crew of the USS Enterprise D to interact with on a personal level, as the Borg lacked personality or individuality, hindering interpersonal drama. In the series, set in the 24th century, the Cardassians are presented as living under a military government controlling the Cardassian Union, an interstellar empire occupying other planets, most notably Bajor. When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was launched in 1993, its writers set its events in the vicinity of Bajor in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation. The Cardassians grew into major antagonists throughout the series, with several recurring characters developed, including Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) and Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo).

The design of the Cardassians was undertaken by The Next Generations costume designer Bob Blackman and makeup designer Michael Westmore. They sought to give the species a "snakelike" appearance. Cardassians have grayish white skin, ridges on either side of the neck, and a spoon shaped structure on the forehead. Westmore was inspired by an abstract painting he had seen in a Ventura Boulevard store of a wide shouldered woman with what looked like a spoon on her forehead. Rick Sternbach designed the Cardassian spaceship in "The Wounded". He initially proposed a pod shaped vessel, before replacing it with a design resembling a scorpion, then one based on the ankh symbol. Sternbach later noted that "The Galor class started with an Egyptian ankh, given how [the Cardassians] were like the Pharaohs to the Bajoran slaves, but you don't really see the basic shape unless you look straight down on the vessel. The little disruptor pyramids were a bit more obvious, as were the 'temple' type structures on the ship's backbone, and the sandy yellow shades." Ed Miarecki and Tom Hudson built the model used in "The Wounded" from Sternbach's design. In the episode, Cardassian weapons fired a pink discharge, changed to amber in later episodes. Production designer Herman Zimmerman worked on the Cardassian architecture depicted on the shows. His concept had some Art Deco influence, and was based on geometric patterns. Late in the first season, the show's creative team included another Cardassian themed episode, "Duet". Written by Lisa Rich and Jeanne Carrigan Fauci as a bottle episode, it featured the arrest of a Cardassian believed to be guilty of war crimes against Bajor, Aamin Marritza (Harris Yulin), and the relationship he developed with the station's Bajoran second in command, Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor). The lengthy speech given to Marritza was an early example of what the writers came to call "Cardassian monologues". Behr said, "Cardassians love to speak. Garak loves to speak, Enabran Tain loves to speak. Dukat loves to speak—very slowly—and certainly Marritza loves to speak." Over the course of Deep Space Nine, the Cardassians' internal politics and their relationships with the Federation and Bajor go through many upheavals. In early seasons, the Cardassians maintain a shaky alliance with the Federation, which comes to their defense against attacks from the Maquis and the Klingons. An ill advised attack by the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence agency, against the alien empire known as the Dominion cripples the power of the Cardassian military dictatorship and allows a civilian government to take control. Later in the series, Dukat negotiates Cardassia's membership in the Dominion in exchange for his own appointment as ruler of Cardassia, leading to a war against the Federation. When Dominion rule becomes too oppressive for the Cardassians, Dukat's successor Damar leads a resistance movement against the Dominion with the support of the Federation and Bajorans, restoring Cardassia's independence. However, during the final battle of the war, the Dominion leader ordered a genocidal retaliation for the Cardassian resistance. Although this was ended, at least eight hundred million people were killed and Elim Garrak lamented that their freedom had come at the cost of much of Cardassia's rich culture, best people and greatest minds, leaving the Cardassians facing a dire reconstruction effort.

Within the Star Trek fictional universe, the Cardassians were once a "peaceful people with a rich spiritual life". However, during this period they also suffered from disease and famine. and internal security police force, kept the population under surveillance. The Cardassians became imperialistic, waging war with other races and occupying their territory to exploit resources.

In 2328, the Cardassians invaded Bajor, occupying it for forty years, during which time they forced many Bajorans into slave labor, using them in their various mining operations. while other Bajorans became involved in the resistance movement, engaged in guerrilla warfare organising terrorist attacks against Cardassian targets. In 2369, the Bajoran resistance forced the Cardassians off Bajor, after which the Bajoran Provisional Government invited the United Federation of Planets to set up base on the former Cardassian mining station of Terok Nor, renaming it Deep Space Nine. Some of the top rated television episodes featuring Cardassians in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine include "Improbable Cause", which features an intriguing story centered on Garak, and also "Duet".

In cosmology, the concept "Cardassian expansion" is a term used for a modification to the Friedmann equations. It is named after the fictional Star Trek race by the original authors, Katherine Freese and Matthew Lewis. In their 2002 paper (which has been cited more than 330 times), a footnote on the "Cardassian term" states: "2 The name Cardassian refers to a humanoid race in Star Trek whose goal is to take over the universe, i. e., accelerated expansion. This race looks foreign to us and yet is made entirely of matter."