Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Actor Casey Biggs Became Sick Because Of A Disgusting Prop

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The Cardassian character of Damar, played by Casey Biggs, didn't appear on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" until its fourth season, and he didn't become a major player on the series until its sixth. He was initially presented as a military hard-liner, a by-the-book soldier who admired the ambitious and villainous Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo). Later in the series, though, Damar became key in the show's complex war plot, rising through the ranks of the Cardassian empire until he reached the rank of Legate. But "Deep Space Nine" was a massively incidental show, so Damar's rise ran parallel with the Cardassian Empire becoming attached to the large, aggressive Dominion. Damar's rank soon became meaningless. He was also hoodwinked by the Dominion into committing useless war acts that cost many, many lives. 

One might understand, then, why Damar became an alcoholic. He finally achieved a rank he always wanted, only it was by sacrificing all this power and authority. He drank a lot, fooled around with women, and essentially adopted an "eff everything" attitude. Damar was present through the end of "Deep Space Nine," when his character developed even further. 

Damar's drink of choice was a Cardassian liquor called kanar. None of that synthehol for him. It was usually seen in corkscrew-shaped bottles and poured out in a thick, viscous consistency. Kanar was most commonly black, although it came in other brighter colors from time to time. 

As explained in Toni Erdmann's and Paula Block's book "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion," kanar was visualized on set with nothing more than dark Karo corn syrup. Later on, they switched to sugar-free pancake syrup. Biggs, as one can imagine, hated swilling corn syrup, and he admitted that he once had to do so many takes, he got a little sick on the stuff. 

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Anyone who has been on the set of a TV show or movie knows that actors rarely swallow whatever they have to eat or drink. Because multiple takes are generally required, actors will take bites or sips, only to spit them into a nearby bucket when the director yells "cut." Despite this practice, Casey Biggs, when he had to film scenes of Damar drinking kanar, had to put a glass or bottle to his lips and take at least a tiny mouthful. Because Karo syrup is so gooey, it would be hard to spit it all out. 

Luckily for Biggs, Damar gave up drinking sometime in the middle of the show's seventh season, and he didn't have to film kanar scenes anymore. But it was touch-and-go there for a minute, and the actor made himself ill at least once. Biggs was quoted as saying: 

"I hated the stuff they made me drink. [...] The Karo was just disgusting. Then they changed to a sugar-free pancake syrup, which wasn't quite as bad, but after you do a number of takes, it's still pretty disgusting. One time we did so many takjes that I got quite sick by the end of the day. I'm very happy Damar stopped drinking!"

And Biggs wasn't the only one who hated the kanar. It seems that everyone on set, including the crew, winced whenever Biggs had to take yet another swig of the Karo syrup. Assistant director B.C. Cameron is also quoted in the "Deep Space Nine Companion," and she said that "when they made Casey's character an alcoholic, he had to drink it constantly. I felt so horrible for him." 

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B.C. Cameron said the producers chose Karo syrup for kanar because, "they wanted it to look different from anything else." Karo was a good choice because, "it would pour real thick." There aren't too many jobs in the world that require the daily consumption of straight Karo syrup, so we must give Casey Biggs a round of applause merely for bearing the brunt of it. 

Of course, Biggs should also be given a round of applause for playing Damar as well as he did. The character first appeared as essentially a background figure. As mentioned, he became one of the show's central figures during the Dominion War storyline. "Deep Space Nine" showrunner Ira Steven Behr took pride in his ability to take supporting players and grow them into semi-regulars. Writer Hans Beimer even noted that they hired Biggs because they all knew Biggs was a better actor than just playing "that one Cardassian." Behr, meanwhile, got to brag about his treatment of Damar in the "Companion," saying: 

"It was an ego trip for us. [...] The fact was that we could take this character who started out with two lines, and over the course of a few years, turn him inot a complicated character with the weight of the universe of his shoulders. We knew Casey could pull it off." 

Biggs was also once quoted, as previously covered by /Film, that he loved the episode wherein he stopped drinking, called "Strange Bedfellows." He also was startled to learn in that episode just how much backstory Damar had, because until then, he had no clue that Damar had a family. "Deep Space Nine" writers gave him a gift, so maybe all the Karo syrup-chugging was worth it.