Mark Lenard as Romulan Marshal Virus, a recurring antagonist in the original series of
Star Trek. When writing the Original Series, Gene Roddenberry deliberately created a political setup roughly similar to that seen in reality. Earth and the United Federation of Planets stood in for the Western democracies, the Klingon Coordinate was a distinctly unflattering stand-in for the Soviet Union, and the Romulan Star Empire - descended from the Vulcan race - was an obvious 'expy' of the Fascist bloc in general and Italy in particular.
While both Klingons and Romulans became household names, it was the Romulans who received the most consistent development, and the real-world parallels became clear. For instance, the Romulans were shown as being willing to resort to extremely draconian means to keep order within their vast Empire - for which the Federation opposed them - but at the same time, they were shown as being capable of acts of great kindness, such as their rescue of alien refugees from Klingon space that formed the basis of the original series episode 'Refuge'...just as the Italians kept order in their colonies, and yet had also saved vast numbers of Jews.
Andreas Katsulas as Legate - later Consul - Tomalak, a recurring character on
Star Trek: A New Generation (1987-1994) and a main character on
Star Trek: Babel Station (1993-1999). Starring Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Edward James Olmos as Commander Guillermo Mendoza,
ST:ANG is probably the best-known of the many series, while it and
Babel Station vie for the title of 'best'.
It was the 'second wave' of
Star Trek that saw even further development of the Romulan people and nation, now reformed into a (Second) Republic, and allied to the Federation - as the real-world Fascist powers had reformed into more democratic nations. Now, the Romulans were revealed to have become imperialist as the result of both economic hardship following their settlement of the twin homeworlds of Romulus and Remus, and social upheaval following a costly war against the genocidal, slaving 'Xinti' race - revealed via backstory to have been an early opponent of humanity too. They were also further developed as following a strict honour code, based on a mix of Ancient Roman and Japanese samurai ideals of honour and public standing, and as being a race who placed high value on family. The Tomalak character, through his interactions with the crew of the
Enterprise and later Babel Station
, served as one of many ways of expounding on the race, while simultaneously somewhat bucking Romulan conventions when necessary. He likewise served as a window on the developing - and at times chaotic - nature of Romulan democracy, and as an example of a 'new breed' of Romulan in his expressions of regret for the actions of the old Empire.
The Tomalak character would ultimately become one of the two Consuls of the Romulan Republic, ending
Babel Station with the Romulans and the Federation growing ever-closer together.
Recurring antagonist Ralgha nar Kiranka, Holy Marshal of the Xinti, in the
Star Trek: Babel Station episode 'To Loose the Fateful Lightning' (part of the Xinti War arc). Introduced in
Star Trek: A New Generation first via backstory dialogue, then later on-screen, the Xinti are a felinoid race and a fundamentalist, expansionist theocracy with a belief that the Xinti race were made by the gods to rule the universe and all other beings are made to serve them (it is believed that the Xinti were inspired by a combination of the Mufti's Islamic Arabia and the resurgent South African regime). In the backstory created gradually, it is revealed that the original Xinti government fought and lost separate wars against Earth and the Romulans, which in turn had contributed to the collapse of said government (and the later apparent extinction of the Xinti via solar supernova). However, by the 'ANG-era', it is revealed in fact that hard-liners in their priestly and military castes, along with a large number of civilians, had evacuated their space and had ultimately found their way through the Bajoran Wormhole, settling new worlds in the Gamma Quadrant. There, they built a new empire, and prepared...
They would be first properly introduced as an antagonist in Season 2 of
Babel Station, towards the end of the series, before becoming a recurring arc antagonist throughout the remainder of the show. Ultimately, Seasons 5-7 would be dominated by the Xinti War extended arc, whereby the Xinti - allied with a resurgent Klingon faction - would seek to conquer the Alpha Quadrant. This arc is considered by most to be one of the highlights of the
Star Trek franchise, and its long-term effects would be revisited in more recent series. Ralgha nar Kiranka, in particular, is remembered as one of TV's greatest villains.