Matthew Dougherty Vice admiral Matthew Dougherty was a Starfleet flag officer in the 24th century . In 2375 , Dougherty entered into an alliance with the Son ' a , led by Ahdar Ru ' afo , to covertly relocate the Ba ' ku from their home in an area of space known as " the Briar Patch , " and then perform a procedure to collect metaphasic particle s from the planet ' s rings . As this procedure would leave the planet uninhabitable , Dougherty and Ru ' afo were forced to develop a plan whereby the Ba ' ku would be transported to another planet using a holoship , leaving the Ba ' ku completely unaware of what was transpiring . This would leave Dougherty and Ru ' afo free to collect the particles , which had rejuvenating qualities , without killing the inhabitants . Although Dougherty had secured permission from the Federation Council to execute this mission , he actively attempted to prevent the details of the operation from reaching them , knowing that , if it were to be learned that the Federation had sanctioned the forced relocation of a peaceful people , public opinion would turn against him , and he would be unable to proceed . Dougherty ' s plans were complicated , however , when the crew of the uncovered the plot . As Captain Picard and members of his crew acted to protect the Ba ' ku , Commander Riker , the " Enterprise " s first officer , attempted to reach the perimeter of the Briar Patch in order to contact the Council and inform them of the details of Dougherty ' s operation . Dougherty was initially reluctant , but Ru ' afo convinced him to let two Son ' a battle cruiser s intercept the " Enterprise " , explaining that , if the Federation were to learn the truth , the operation would be halted , and the Federation would lose an invaluable opportunity . Later , upon learning that the Son ' a and the Ba ' ku were , in actuality , the same race , and that the Son ' a were simply attempting to gain revenge on those that had exile d them , Dougherty ordered Ru ' afo to halt the operation . However , Ru ' afo responded by viciously beating Dougherty and restraining him in a device designed to stretch the flesh of one ' s face tighter . Dougherty then warned that if the operation went ahead , the Federation would pursue the Son ' a . Ru ' afo responded that the Federation would never know what had transpired , before activating the device , killing Dougherty . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Matthew Dougherty was played by Anthony Zerbe . Developing the character . The first material evidence of Dougherty ' s existence was in a story treatment for the ninth " Star Trek " film ( which became ) , dated . In that treatment , he was characterized as a Federation ambassador who was aged thirty - eight and had the first name " Matt " . He was initially described in the same document as " the Federation ' s Romulan envoy " . As was revealed during the course of the story , he had negotiated an agreement with the Romulans to move a group of aliens off a particular planet , in order to make sarium krellide beneath the planet ' s surface available to the Federation and the Romulans . When Picard discovered the truth and began to rebel against the ambassador , Dougherty ordered Riker to arrest Picard . However , it was ultimately made clear to Dougherty , when hundreds of Federation colonists arrived to join the rebellion , that he had lost . Regarding the final encounter between him and Picard , the document stated , " " Ever the diplomat , Dougherty tries to put a spin on the events that makes everything okay . " " He took some credit for the Federation Council having decided there would be no formal charges against Picard . Dougherty even now respected Picard for the stand he took but the ambassador tried to dissuade him from taking the matter further , on Earth , though Picard implied he was indeed about to diplomatically oppose Dougherty further . ( " " ) In a story outline dated , Ambassador Dougherty ' s part in the story was replaced by an unnamed " senior admiral " at Starfleet . When Picard proved reluctant to move the aliens ( who were by now named the Ba ' ku ) against their will , the admiral ordered the " Enterprise " to leave their star system , allowing other Starfleet ships to do the job instead . As before , the admiral eventually responded to Picard ' s rebellion by ordering Riker to arrest Picard , though Riker ultimately didn ' t do so . This was the last mention of the admiral in that document . ( " " ) After Michael Piller wrote a first draft script for the film , Admiral Dougherty was mentioned in a memo Piller wrote to Rick Berman on . In that message , Piller observed that Dougherty himself had been sent to terminate Data , as the android had gone " berserk " . The memo also regarded Dougherty as a sinister influence within the Federation . ( " " ) Piller wrote more about Admiral Dougherty in a second draft script for the film . " " I ' d moved the admiral in charge of the nefarious mission to be aboard the Son ' a ship , " " remembered Piller . " " That would give me the power of the Federation right there to confront Picard , eye to eye [ . . . ] [ Compared to the villainy of Ru ' afo , ] the moral ambiguity of Admiral Dougherty was more interesting to me . He was a decent man who thought he represented a noble cause and during the film , slowly compromises his ideals to get the job done . The trick would be for the actor cast to play his part as though he were the hero of the piece . In fact , I thought Dougherty was the true villain of the movie and the character who might prove to be the most memorable antagonist to Picard . " " In the same draft of the script , Dougherty was killed by Ru ' afo . Despite being the second draft Piller had written for the movie , this script – dated – was the first one he submitted to Paramount Pictures . About a week thereafter ( on ) , the studio executives at Paramount wrote a memo to the " " Star Trek " team " which suggested Dougherty might " share more of a backstory " with Picard and that , since it seemed unclear whether the admiral or Ru ' afo was the main villain until after Dougherty ' s death , power might be unequivocally seized away from him by Ru ' afo earlier in the story , specifically after Picard refused to follow the admiral ' s commands . The memo proposed that Dougherty could perhaps object to Ru ' afo taking control but that the admiral ' s threats might " ring hollow " , because he was already so entrenched in the conspiracy . ( " " ) In a character description that was written by Michael Piller and was used by Casting Directors Junie Lowry - Johnson and Ron Surma to seek a performer to play the role , Dougherty was described thus ; " " Human male Starfleet Admiral in his 60 ’ s . He has been assigned to help Ru ’ afo and the Son ’ a for what seem to be the most noble of reasons , or at least he has convinced himself that the reasons are noble . But as Picard begins to interfere with their plans , he begins to make moral compromises that lead him into making tragic errors . " " ( " " ) Dougherty ' s first name of " Matthew " comes from the revised final draft script of " Star Trek : Insurrection " . That screenplay also referred to him as being sixty - nine years old as of the film ' s setting in 2375 , suggesting he was born in 2306 . The script further described him as " a confident , charismatic officer . " On - screen portrayal . Anthony Zerbe was cast as Admiral Dougherty after auditioning for the role of Ru ' afo . " " He did a fascinating reading , " " Director Jonathan Frakes reflected , " " and even threw in some classic poetry , something from Dante as I recall . " " When F . Murray Abraham received the part of Ru ' afo , the casting team immediately selected Zerbe to portray Dougherty . ( " " , p . 122 ) At first , the fact Anthony Zerbe was almost entirely unfamiliar with " Star Trek " influenced his performance as Dougherty . " " As a matter of fact , one of my first lines was about Commander Data [ pronounced Day - ta ] , and so when we had the [ table ] reading , I said , ' Commander Data [ as in Dat - a ] . We can ' t find Commander Dat - a . ' Thirty heads turned to me in unison and said to me ' Day - ta . ' I was chagrined . I learned how to pronounce it quickly . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 28 ) This initial experience of Zerbe portraying Dougherty was followed by Rick Berman approaching the actor after the table reading and arranging to send Zerbe " a couple of shows . " ( " " , p . 35 ) The actor continued , " " They sent me the two prior films , and I studied the script . The guys that wrote it made themselves available to me , just to come into whatever it is , the 25th " [ sic ] " century . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 28 ) Zerbe found that watching the pair of movies helped him prepare for the role . ( " " , p . 35 ) Anthony Zerbe thought deeply about his part as Admiral Dougherty . " " I play [ Picard ' s ] boss . He ' s a little political , he ' s very high - up , " " the actor remarked . " " Whereas [ . . . ] Picard is the maverick , you know , he ' s kind of like the . I think of him as Rommel , and [ Picard ] would be my lead - tank guy [ . . . ] But I finally have to keep my eye on him . " " ( " Making " Star Trek : Insurrection " " , " " DVD / special features ) Zerbe additionally commented , " " Dougherty is a politician , and politicians [ even military ones ] tend to feel that the end justifies the means , so he has to take that position here . There are six hundred people on the planet , and if we have to lose 600 to help billions , that ' s okay with him . But it ' s not okay with Picard . " " ( " " , p . 25 ) Zerbe even admired the character , saying , " " I like Admiral Dougherty . I think that , even though it is not fashionable for the end to justify the means , it certainly is the way life works sometimes , thankfully . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 28 ) Zerbe especially liked that the character figures prominently in the storyline of " Star Trek : Insurrection " . " " Dougherty makes a lot of sense to me , " " he admitted . " " He ' s thinking in the largest sense of where this metaphasic radiation [ that surrounds the planet Ba ' ku can go ] , how it can be used to create new medicines and to help millions of people . He has to ask himself , ' Do we really need to worry about 600 people on the Ba ' ku planet when you think about where this can go and what can happen ? ' So , that ' s a global thinking as opposed to Picard ' s more personal thinking . So in that way , I can certainly defend Dougherty quickly and easily . " " ( " " , p . 35 ) Chuckling , Zerbe added about Dougherty ' s dilemmas , " " Fortunately for me , I never really have to deal with those things . That ' s why I like this sort of vague reality I live in . " " Indeed , Zerbe thoroughly enjoyed playing Dougherty . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , pp . 28 & 29 ) Anthony Zerbe regarded the way in which Dougherty is killed as being similar to another death scene he himself performed , as Milton Krest in the . Once he was shown where Dougherty ' s death scene was to take place , Zerbe had to perform it , as the admiral ' s death was planned to be achieved using a combination of CGI and live - action footage of the actor . " " They wanted me to scream all through that , which I did , " " he recalled . " " They took a lot of still photographs . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 29 ) Portraying Dougherty ' s death additionally married prosthetics , cyberscanning and morphing , with 3D ripple effects and shadows added by Blue Sky / VIFX to enhance the footage . Initially , Michael Westmore ' s makeup effects team built , as a starting point , a twisted face , using hand - laid strands of hair to represent Zerbe ' s white beard . Viewpoint DataLabs International , Inc . , hired to execute cyberscans of the actor in various facial positions , then used in - house software that enabled them to create five NURBS surfaces – head , eyelids and ears – from the 350 , 000 points of data gathered during a face scan in which Zerbe ' s expression had been neutral . Morph target points were then created for Softimage animation . In order to film the end of the shot , the set had been rebuilt on stage at Blue Sky / VIFX . " " In the main unit coverage , there was no B - side of the prosthetic for after - death shots , " " explained BS / VIFX Visual Effects Producer John Kilkenny . " " We shot the B - side here " [ during post - production ] " , matching it to first unit ' s stuff , while adding dripping blood , scars and stretching skin . " " This filming involved Zerbe , Kilkenny and BS / VIFX Effects Supervisor Jim Rygiel . Once all the necessary footage had been shot , the Blue Sky / VIFX team produced morphs between the facial scans and the earlier - created Westmore makeup , creating the semblance of tearing skin and crushing bones . " " The scan data let us morph between the A - plate to the B - plate to complete the illusion of this killer facelift , " " Kilkenny concluded . ( " Cinefex " , No . 77 , pp . 88 & 87 ) Playing Dougherty required that Anthony Zerbe return to do some dubbing . That experience allowed him to view some footage of the movie . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 29 ) Reception . Dougherty made an impact on Picard actor Patrick Stewart . " " Anthony Zerbe ' s role is the most complex one in the movie , " " Stewart reckoned . " " He ' s the one who has to deal with his loyalty to the Federation while at the same time accommodating the evil wishes of the Son ' a . He ' s a man who we see is torn by his professional dilemmas . And of course , before the end of the movie , we see him literally torn by something physical as well ! " " ( " " , p . 123 ) Jonathan Frakes once described Anthony Zerbe ' s portrayal of Dougherty in " Star Trek : Insurrection " as " great " . ( audio commentary , / ) On another occasion , Frakes enthused , " " Zerbe is , in many ways , a more conniving villain than [ Ru ' afo ] . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 12 , p . 33 ) He also approved of the face - stretching effect that results in Dougherty ' s death , about which Marina Sirtis agreed , " " That ' s a brilliant effect . " " ( audio commentary , / ) Zerbe ' s portrayal of Dougherty also impressed Rick Berman . ( " " , p . 12 ) Apocrypha . In the novelization of " " , Dougherty was established as being married to Madalyn , a woman thirty years older than him . He remained happily married to her until 2374 , when she passed away . According to the " " novel " Rogue " , Dougherty was a member of Section 31 . In " Abyss " , Elias Vaughn described Dougherty as " " a single rogue admiral , now dead , who was working with the Son ' a " " .