I’m sure lots of people have discussed this before, but I always wondered why the DS9 makeup artists were so inconsistent with Garak’s neckridges. Dukat always looked virtually the same - Garak changed from episode to episode - it would be interesting to see if it was even WITHIN episodes. Could they not save a photo, maybe?? We go from one to almost three to one and a half, lifted up - was Garak constantly shedding or did he inject himself with the Cardassian equivalent of Botox?
This is the single most annoying thing about all the make up. They manage to get Jadzia’s spots nigh perfect every time, but they fail at this??
YES! And the thing is, it wouldn’t be such a big deal except that, as others have pointed out, Garak is a tailor and takes such pride in his appearance - so the neckline when they get the ridges wrong is just plain odd. Plus, if they increased the “ridge count” to make him appear more masculine (a reaction against the dreaded G/B implications,) then how come not only Dukat but also Mirror Garak are satisfied to stick with one row, basically? :-) And that’s my favorite look for him - the one in the top photo.
Alright this is bugging me that people seem to think Dukat’s ridges don’t ever change. They do.
Now, here is my own personal headcanon because the change in neck ridges bugs me too.
Some lizard puff up when they are agitated, angry, trying to attract a mate… it’s a posturing thing.
So I like to think that when Garak has more ridges, he is shedding, he is agitated, or he’s trying to get into Bashir’s pants.
When Dukat’s change, he is shedding, he is agitated, or he’s trying to get into Kira’s pants.
Also consider the sexual nature of the ridges. Human men seem to think it’s a big deal to be “well-endowed”. Cardassian men are probably similar in this. Technology can allow a bunch of humans to become Klingons for a period of time, so it’s certainly not a stretch to think that Cardassian males can have ridge-enhancement surgery. I can especially imagine Dukat doing this because… he’s Dukat. Has only one row of ridges? Was not naturally blessed with a thick scaly neck? Try natural ridge enhancement. All the single ladies will be lining up to stroke your ridges and kiss your chufa. (At least that’s what all of those annoying spam PADD messages say).
