Ardra is my favorite Trek con artist
Posted by strangway@reddit | TNG | View on Reddit | 103 comments
From episode Devil’s Due (0413)
Played by the late, great Marta DuBois (aka Mrs Magnum), this episode clearly shows how technology is magic to the unaware.
Bob Blackman was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Costumes for a Series for this episode.
It was originally written for Star Trek: Phase II for Kirk’s crew, then revised extensively for TNG.
She reminded me of Trellane and Harry Mudd.
Estarfigam@reddit
I kinda wish she had more episodes.
secondtaunting@reddit
Me too. I wanted her to come back, and have to work with Picard and he grudgingly decides he likes her.
Estarfigam@reddit
I was hoping she was going to be Next Gen's Harry Mudd
sirboulevard@reddit
Could you imagine if Carmel had lived long enough we could have had Mudd vs Ardra vs Quark. "The Devil's Mudd"
secondtaunting@reddit
Oh that’s a great title. It would have been so epically cheesy.
strangway@reddit (OP)
I have to add that it was a great touch to have Picard stop the earthquake with a Q-like finger snap 🫰
Ok_Tangelo_6070@reddit
He was not a judge, he was an arbitrator.
Rheumdoc42@reddit
Yes! I loved his line, "Counsel will refrain from making their opponent disappear." Also Picard's: "Do you mean she did not even stoop to pick up one piece of trash?"
AlaskaDude14@reddit
Doesn't she tell Picard that they'll meet again? I would have liked for her to be in another episode
Ok_Tangelo_6070@reddit
Read the trilogy of TNG novels called Prey. It actually explains the background of Ardra and how she helps the TNG crew catch the bad guys.
secondtaunting@reddit
That’s so sad.
strangway@reddit (OP)
I’d love a Lower Decks that just showed Ardra’s crew hard at work “backstage” on the ship preparing holocostumes and holowigs for her big eye blink costume change cues. The stage manager must’ve been Broadway-caliber.
Ok_Tangelo_6070@reddit
Read the trilogy of TNG novels called Prey. It actually explains the background of Ardra and how she helps the TNG crew catch the bad guys.
Ok_Tangelo_6070@reddit
The fate of Ardra is in a Star Trek Novel trilogy called Prey. She plays a role in helping the Enterprise crew capture that bad guys and it gives a very cool background story of her and this whole group of techno magicians.
DarthZoon_420@reddit
Ricardo Montalban is my favorite Khan artist
strangway@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah he really hammed it up, and not just in the chestal area
Acceptingoptimist@reddit
Hey! That absolutely wasn't faked. He was really into push-ups. Like obsessed with them. And a trained dancer.
Ok_Tangelo_6070@reddit
Ricardo Montalban as Khan was more fit and healthy than other adult men who were half his age. That is the definition of being a Giga Chad here!
Bad_wit_Usernames@reddit
A-Druid-Life@reddit
There can only be one!.............and that's our boy Ricardo.
Going from 60'S Khan to Fantasy Island to 80's Khan is some serious acting.
Emergency-Gazelle954@reddit
I respect this.
WarderWannabe@reddit
Ouch. Have an upvote
daxamiteuk@reddit
I adore this episode . So overdone and melodramatic. It works because of the Ardra actress 👏🏽
ForwardClimate780@reddit
Love me some Ardra!
APariahsPariah@reddit
What I love about this episode is that you can see Picard almost buying the con at one point there in the middle. The thought of this being a Phase II script, means Kirk shutting down a temptress would've hit even harder than Picard's rebuke does. Would have been awesome to see.
KierkgrdiansofthGlxy@reddit
Asexual captains are our best hope out there
Uhtred_McUhtredson@reddit
I remember when she turned into Klingon Satan.
That was pretty bad ass 🤘🏻
z500@reddit
When Data makes him stop his Fek'lhr demonstration, I like to imagine he's actually growling under that hologram
Significant_Pear_523@reddit
Right. They say it's really just transporter and other tricks, so it means Picard is really the one ranting and screaming, and amazingly stops the madness on a dime when Data tells him to.
strangway@reddit (OP)
My favorite part is how Worf got all twitchy and nervous seeing the Klingon Devil.
Later on they’re in the lounge and Worf goes “But her powers!” to Picard after he says she’s a flimflam artist.
😂 Poor gullible Worf.
Uhtred_McUhtredson@reddit
I sometimes thing Worf may have been something like a teen the way Klingons age.
He came a long way by DS9.
nebelmorineko@reddit
Given how fast Alexander grew being 3/4 Klingon I think it's possible the mature physically faster than humans.
zombie_spiderman@reddit
I think I remember it being Canon that they lived significantly shorter lives than most other humanoid species. Of course that could have been due to all the murder
Unit_79@reddit
Yoooooou are NOT Feklar!!!!!!
RocketDog2001@reddit
She was brought back in one of the novels, I don't remember much besides I liked it a lot.
rootxploit@reddit
RIP Dubois, excellent acting.
lil_jashy@reddit
scully360@reddit
Hot af
wrenawild@reddit
This episode is playing right now on the Star Trek channel
darth_sudo@reddit
It’s always playing on the P+ Star Trek channel
tonytown@reddit
I loved hearing Picard using the term flim flam
z500@reddit
Right up there with "the doll's my cousin"
Unit_79@reddit
My wife and I love using the term “flim flam man!”
Significant_Pear_523@reddit
"Devil's Due" is an episode with a very strong TOS feel and generally receives negative reviews.
I'm glad to find others who enjoy it. DuBois's performance is wonderfully unconstrained.
ladykansas@reddit
TOS? Sorry I'm dumb and don't know that abbreviation.
Jadedcelebrity@reddit
The Original Series
Significant_Pear_523@reddit
Those Old Scientists.
user_number_666@reddit
I love how Lower Decks made those kind of references!
Significant_Pear_523@reddit
You're not dumb. Trek fandom has its own language.
Acceptingoptimist@reddit
Yeah Rodenberry wanted to just reuse old scripts almost verbatim to save money. The Naked Now is a redo of the Naked Time from TOS. The Devil's due was an unused TOS script.
I gotta say they made it work. It had some of the tropes of TOS I didn't care for (all powerful being suddenly defeated at the end because Kirk/Spock, I mean Picard) but they made it work. It's pretty cool.
ersatzcrab@reddit
This is funny to me, since it's one of my very favorite episodes. The fact that it's camp and silly but still tells a story and shows the strengths of the crew makes it quintessentially Star Trek to me. But it really does have that strong TOS vibe.
haresnaped@reddit
"Madam, I find you vulgar and obvious." - I recently had cause to deploy that one on a cadre of teenage boys I was punitively in charge of. It was a hit.
strangway@reddit (OP)
Ardra all done up in hot lingerie and 1980s Tawny Kitaen Whitesnake hair only to be rejected as “Vulgar and obvious” by Captain Picard is truly withering
Acceptingoptimist@reddit
This sentence is something you can't find on other subs.
secondtaunting@reddit
lol no joke. She should have gone with something a bit less obvious.
gravitasofmavity@reddit
Love how you described that Trek goodness, and I couldn’t agree more. This episode was great fun for 8yo me and I always enjoy tuning into it when I can. Very much a great guest star in Marta DuBois. As entertaining a “villain of the week” as I can think of.
WeHoMuadhib@reddit
Great ep. I love Ardra vamping it up. She would make a great drag Queen! But there’s a pretty major plot hole. What was her end game with Picard? Lets say no one ends up disputing her powers and she wins the arbitration…alright, she loots the planet of all their riches, gets out of dodge with Picard now her love slave. And then what? At that point she has to let Picard in on her true identity and motives and he’s just supposed to sit there? Or does she get bored with him and drops him off at the next planet and gets away with riches?
Significant-Deer7464@reddit
That's what Q did with Vash. Got bored and dumped her in the Gamma quadrant.
zombie_spiderman@reddit
Why didn't she have any minions? She should have had henchmen disguised as her evil servants going around robbing jewelry stores and central banks and stuff so at least she would have gotten away with SOMETHING
Aggravating-Try1222@reddit
My favorite com artist:
Ok_Television9820@reddit
I was going to say, WalMart Voyager crew are the best.
beezdat@reddit
man picsrd a stronger character than me, i would have wound up being her slave lol
Opening-Emphasis8400@reddit
Dr. Berlinghoff Rasmussen is deeply unsettled by this.
strangway@reddit (OP)
He was a good talker, but he had no style. She had fake earthquakes, holocostumes, and she even made a starship disappear!
Opening-Emphasis8400@reddit
It was actually funny how transparently shady he was.
strangway@reddit (OP)
How very Max Headroom
JonIceEyes@reddit
She said they'd meet again and then they never brought her back! She was way more fun than Vache
strangway@reddit (OP)
Both sat cozily on the Captain’s chair, so they both have similar styles. Then again, my cat similarly sits cozily on my chair, too.
jonguy77@reddit
Teenage me found her super attractive and sexy. Wait a sec 47 year old me still does!
DriverGlittering1082@reddit
The actress Marta DuBois (RIP) was in an LA Law episode. She was interested in the Spanish lawyer played by Jimmy Smits llRC. She said something crazy and he walked away.
strangway@reddit (OP)
I read that she was Magnum PI’s wife, but never watched the show. Sounds like my kind of program.
Neuroxix@reddit
It hurts a little now at 34 knowing that I'll never be able to go back in time and have a chance. All I can say is rest in peace angel.
moondogmk3@reddit
She would have made a good Q, now that I’m thinking about it.
kittenconfidential@reddit
who’s to say Q wasn’t feklar, the way he tormented worf
strangway@reddit (OP)
Eat any good books lately? 😏
Sufficient_Button_60@reddit
She was a lot of fun
PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS@reddit
I loved her obsession with Picard. She really should have turned tail and run, but she was too hot for Picard. "Oh Picard! I will enjoy you morning, noon, and night!" I mean, damn, girl!
strangway@reddit (OP)
I like that she pursued Picard, instead of Riker—he would’ve just given in.
Seyi_Ogunde@reddit
RIP Marta DuBois. Died of a brain anyeursym in 2018.
secondtaunting@reddit
That’s so sad.
Gummies1345@reddit
Her downfall, she wouldn't compromise. She could have been a "forgiving god" and took a smaller tribute. And I'm sure she would have been golden.
Sumthin-Sumthin44692@reddit
I grew up watching TNG. Didn’t see TOS until waaaaay later. I don’t think I fully appreciated this episode until I saw TOS. It’s such an OG Trek story. It was written for Kirk and it shows. Cool throwback.
DarthZoon_420@reddit
Thanks for the award, kind stranger
ENZYME_O1@reddit
She was definitely good. The episode itself, the writing didn’t carry her through well enough, but the actress was great. She reminded me of Suzie Plakson, almost similar acting style there.
owen-87@reddit
It’s a thought-provoking episode, but rewatching it now, I can’t get over how easily these con artists used their technology against a Galaxy-class starship. They’re beaming people around, projecting complex illusions, disrupting ship systems, and even causing earthquakes on the planet and somehow the Enterprise can’t immediately trace any of it? A starship like that should be able to scan the origin of every energy signature within seconds. If they really had gear that powerful, scamming one planet would be a joke. Sell it to the Romulans and make a bundle.
JugOfVoodoo@reddit
Did you notice that we never learn her real name? She's only ever called "Ardra".
Fluid-Bet6223@reddit
“Ardra — that’s one palindrome you won’t be hearing for a while.”
strangway@reddit (OP)
My name is Ardra, I like to take things too far-dra 🎶
strangway@reddit (OP)
She was known by 23 aliases in just that sector!
JugOfVoodoo@reddit
And we're never told any of them either.
strangway@reddit (OP)
All of them, that planet’s devil. So badass.
Mass-Effect-6932@reddit
Harry Mudd my favorite salesman / con artist
strangway@reddit (OP)
All he wanted was a planet full of sex androids, but they outsmarted him and trapped him. Typical AI
KashiofWavecrest@reddit
I actually really, really like this episode and this actress.
I was shocked to find some didn't like the episode.
Ok-Push9899@reddit
She was too "of this world" for me. Like, I recognised in her many of my contemporaries in arts, commerce, and middle management. I seem to have sat around meeting-room tables with too many Ardas. I guess that's a tribute to good acting.
strangway@reddit (OP)
Imposters! Imposters everywhere!
Sweaty_Ranger7476@reddit
Ray, when someone asks if you're a god, you say "YES!!"
markshure@reddit
This is a great one. It sort of freaked me out the first time I saw it.
strangway@reddit (OP)
I was legit scared watching this as a kid
markshure@reddit
I find that the shows & movies that freaked me out as a kid hold up the best today. Neverending Story, 86 Transformers, Secret of Nimh.
FooBarU2@reddit
which is a good thing IMO... same here when I watched it first.. great fun and mirth at the end, that made it all worth it..
RobertWF_47@reddit
Would like to see an Ardra spinoff series!
JohnVonachen@reddit
Picard should have given her a tumble and then proceed to arrest her.