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Alonzo Drek,[3][4] also referred to by final full title Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Drek, or Chairman Drek,[5] is the main antagonist in Ratchet & Clank, as well as its 2016 re-imagined game and the movie alongside Dr. Nefarious for most of both. He was the chairman of Drek Industries and a powerful dictatorial leader of the blarg, who harvested and destroyed planets across the Solana Galaxy in order to create a new homeworld for his race after Orxon became inhospitably polluted.

Drek commanded a powerful fleet of blarg and robot military forces, which he used to attack several targeted planets and plunder their resources for use in the construction of his new world. An escaped defect from Drek's robot factory on Quartu named Clank, became a threat to Drek's plans and disrupted his operations with the help of a lombax named Ratchet. Drek became Ratchet and Clankā€™s archenemy and the first, yet pivotal villain they had defeated.

In the 2016 game and movie, Drek has a slightly different personality, a different voice actor and altered motives for wanting to create new planets. He also has different allies, including lieutenant Victor Von Ion, assistant Zed, and scientist Dr. Nefarious, and at some point he manipulates Captain Qwark to turn him to his side.

History[]

Pre-Ratchet & Clank[]

Drek was born on Orxon, an industrialized planet in the Shadow Sector of the Solana Galaxy. At some point, due to overpopulation and pollution by Drek Industries,[6] the planet became uninhabitable, leading Drek to form a plan, which involved constructing an entirely new planet using the best pieces of other planets in the galaxy. Though he told the blarg and the rest of the galaxy that this was a solution to build them a new home,[7] he was actually motivated by profit and planned to pollute the next planet and restart the entire process.[6] Drek also hired galactic celebrity Captain Qwark to be the highly paid spokesperson for his new planet.[8]

One of Drek's earliest targets was Novalis, which he targeted for its renowned sewer systems among other reasons.[9]

Ratchet & Clank[]

Drek's plan 1

Drek giving his broadcast to Novalis.

On Quartu, Clank viewed an infobot that revealed Drek's plans to extract a portion of Novalis, which would then destroy the planet. Clank fled Quartu and crash-landed on Veldin, where Drek ordered his troops to destroy him. When Clank was instead recovered by Ratchet and the two left for Novalis, Drek ordered Qwark to eliminate them before they presented a larger threat, and he also posted "Wanted" posters of the two around the galaxy.

Yes, quite lovely.

Drek looking at the current state of his new planet.

Meanwhile, the Novalis chairman Agnogg Buckwash protested Drek's attack on the planet, and Drek only recommended that the inhabitants flee the planet before dismissing the chairman's protests. Later, Drek ordered his Robot Lieutenant to extract a large portion of trees from the forest planet Eudora, that way they could be used for his new world. After the lieutenant completed this task, albeit barely, Drek requested that he stay on the world and destroy the remaining trees. Drek also ordered blarg bombing attacks on Batalia, toxic dumping into the waters of Pokitaru, and began preparing an attack on Oltanis from his Gemlik Base, located on its orbiting moon. His intent here was stealing the city's power generators.[10] While still building his new planet, Drek needed to place it in the perfect orbit, though he had found this orbit was, unbeknownst to Ratchet and Clank, occupied by Veldin, leading him to pursue ways to destroy the planet, beginning with the invention of the PlanetBuster Maximus missile on Hoven.

Back so soon?

Drek menacing Qwark over his failure.

When Qwark's plan to trap and defeat Ratchet and Clank failed, Drek scolded him and demanded he listen to his specific orders from then on, or he would lose his endorsement deal. After Ratchet and Clank destroyed the PlanetBuster, Drek then ordered Qwark to intercept and shoot the two down at Gemlik Base using his starfighter, believing Qwark was "too washed up for ground combat." After Qwark's defeat, Drek demanded one of his scientists to come up with a new, foolproof plan to destroy Veldin. This eventually led the scientists to develop the Deplanetizer. Meanwhile, Drek ordered his most elite troops, the blarg elite commandos, to attack Kalebo III and eliminate Ratchet and Clank, and he also demanded they also destroy Gadgetron if necessary.

Drek announces Deplanetizer

Drek revealing his new planet and the Deplanetizer.

Hey, what the...?

Drek's encounter with Ratchet and Clank.

Eventually, Drek placed the Deplanetizer above the surface of Veldin, though he brought his mech suit, the Ultra Supreme Executive Chairman Drek-Mech, and a large army of blarg to battle against Ratchet and Clank, should they try and stop him. With Clank transformed into Giant Clank, the two fought Drek in a quick battle until Drek used his mech to revert Clank to his original form. The two then fought him over several canyons leading to the Deplanetizer, where he revealed to them that he did not really care about creating a new home for the blarg and was motivated solely by profits, as he would repeat the same process, polluting his new planet to allow him to profit from it again. In one last round, Ratchet and Clank destroyed Drek's mech, causing it to get lodged within one of the slots in the Deplanetizer. Drek attempted to eject his suit and ended up being blasted off to crash land on his new planet. With the laser facing towards Drek's world, Ratchet and Clank took the opportunity to destroy it and finish off Drek for good.

Re-imagined[]

The 2016 re-imagined game is primarily an unreliable retelling of events by Qwark.
The re-imagined game primarily describes Captain Qwark's account of events. As Qwark is an unreliable narrator, and contradictory events are in-universe fiction (though those which correspond still apply). Please see Project:Bulletin board/Canon for the wiki's coverage of canon.
Drek with Zed and Victor Ion

Drek with Victor and Zed.

In the film and Qwark's retelling of its events, Chairman Alonzo Drek has a similar story. After his father's company Drek Industries overpolluted the blarg homeworld of Quartu, Drek began building a new homeworld, known as New Quartu. To achieve this, he used the Deplanetizer, a space station that could destroy planets with a powerful laser. He then sent out robots to harvest pieces from other planets and use them for New Quartu. Drek destroyed unpopulated planets, including Tenemule, leading him to draw the attention of the Galactic Rangers. Victor Von Ion protested that he would not be able to stop the Rangers without any forces of his own, leading Drek to enlist his head scientist Dr. Nefarious to create an army of warbots on a factory on Quartu that would be used to attack Kerwan and destroy the Rangers. One of these warbots happened to be Clank, the defect whom Drek sent Victor Von Ion after to destroy, though Clank managed to escape and crash-landed on Veldin.

Nefarious and Drek

Drek and Nefarious in a meeting.

When Drek's army attacked Kerwan, it was thwarted by Ratchet and Clank, who destroyed the Class G Dreadship and stopped the invasion. In a meeting called following the failure, Nefarious suggested that Drek convince Captain Qwark to betray the other Rangers, believing Qwark's ego made him the weak link of the group and could be exploited. Drek sent his forces on other missions throughout the galaxy, including a mission to destroy the surface-to-space ion cannon on Batalia to allow for safe passage for blarg harvesters, and sending hydroharvesters to extract the water on Pokitaru. Later, the Galactic Rangers attacked Quartu to find Drek. Though none of the Rangers located him, Drek managed to corner Qwark, at which point he and other blarg convinced Qwark to betray the Rangers, playing on his jealousy of Ratchet, and promised not to harm the other Rangers if Qwark struck a deal with him.

Drek giving orders

Drek issuing orders to his troops.

Drek escaped Quartu, though his assistant Zed was captured. Having already destroyed five planets, Drek's next target was Novalis, the first populated planet he would destroy. When the Rangers attacked the Deplanetizer to stop him, Qwark sabotaged the mission and abandoned the others, flying towards the Deplanetizer himself. Drek then ordered his forces to destroy the Rangers as soon as Qwark was no longer looking, and Victor Von Ion went after Clank, though he was destroyed in the process. Ratchet, unaware of Qwark's betrayal, followed him, only for Drek to apprehend him with a Mag-Net Launcher and eject him. Though Novalis had been evacuated, Drek still destroyed the homes of its inhabitants. Next, as convinced by Dr. Nefarious, Drek was set to use the Deplanetizer on Umbris, a planet with an unstable core that would take the nearby dwarf star with it.

Drek as a sheep

Drek transformed into a sheep by Nefarious.

While en route to Umbris, Drek was confronted by Qwark about the destruction of Novalis and his forces attacking the Rangers. Drek attempted to sweet talk Qwark while ushering him away, only for Nefarious to arrive and send him out. Nefarious then transformed Drek into a sheep using a Sheepinator and shoved him into a shuttle, ejecting him out to New Quartu. When the Rangers redirected the Deplanetizer to destroy New Quartu instead of Umbris, Drek was killed in the destruction.

Legacy[]

Chairman Drek. This cunning Blarg attempted to create his own planet by using pieces of innocent worlds. He was thwarted by none other than Ratchet and Clank!

Docent 427 description of Chairman Drek.

After Drek's defeat, the blarg did not threaten the galaxy again. Orxon became featured as a campaign in DreadZone.

An unlockable paint job for the Star Explorer in both Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal was named "Drek's Black Heart". It was primarily black with red streaks.

Drek appeared in Ratchet's Dreamtime sequence in Size Matters. He also appeared on screens in the IRIS Supercomputer in Tools of Destruction. In Into the Nexus, he was also featured in the Hall of Villainy within the Intergalactic Museum of History in Meridian City, located within the Polaris Galaxy.

Drek's counterpart from Rivet's dimension appears in Rift Apart.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Drek was a short blarg who was smaller than most characters and had a paler complexion than most blarg. Wearing a business suit at all times, he had a large, pointy head with small hair tied into an elegant topknot and large eyebrows with light blue eyes. In the re-imagined appearance, his head was larger, and his eyes had pupils instead.

Personality[]

Ratchet and Clank (2002)[]

Who do you think polluted our last world? I did. This is about one thing and one thing only. Cash, and lots of it! You see, I've been paid for every square inch of my new world. Once the inhabitants move in, I will begin polluting this world as well, then the whole thing starts all over again.

Drek (2002) explaining his ultimate goal

Drek was a cunning, intelligent, manipulative, and charismatic blarg who would sweet-talk characters to get what he wanted. When that failed, he would instead resort to brute force, using his blarg and robotic forces for intimidation. Drek was extremely callous and motivated by greed, having a lack of empathy for his victims, subordinates, and those who lost their homes while he destroyed planets. However, he never forgot his mother's birthday.[11]

Drek had a professional, business-like demeanor and was far more competent than the company he kept. Drek demanded a great deal of respect from others and had a short temper when dealing with the incompetence of his subordinates. Though he would become frustrated with his subordinates and with setbacks in his plans, Drek nonetheless remained confident throughout and harbored a certain sadistic sense of humor.

Throughout the original release, Drek changed his title. His initial title is simply "Chairman Drek". Later, it is expanded to "Executive Chairman Drek",[12] to "Supreme Executive Chairman Drek",[13] and finally to "Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Drek".[14]

Ratchet and Clank (2016)[]

After I've built us a new home world, I'll make another. And another. Can you imagine? Dozens of Blarg owned planets forged not by nature, but by my company. We'll create an entire empire using your galaxy's wasted planets. I suppose this will leave many of your citizens homeless or, well, dead - but sacrifices must be made!

Drek (2016) explaining his ultimate goal

In the re-imagined release, Drek has a similarly cunning and ruthless personality, though he has more of a sense of humor. He is however more easily manipulated by Dr. Nefarious, who makes many of his decisions for him in their planet forging operations.

A drastic difference to the re-imagined version is Drek's personal reasons for creating new Blarg homeworlds. Unlike in his original incarnation, Drek did not purposefully pollute his own homeworld and resented that him and his race were forced to live underground due to the pollution caused by his father's company. Rather than solely profit from forging new planets, Drek sought to create a vast Blargian empire of synthetic worlds for his race to propagate across the galaxy.

Equipment[]

R.Y.N.O

Ratchet facing off against Drek's Mech-suit.

In the original release, Chairman Drek made use of the Ultra Supreme Executive Chairman Drek-Mech to fight Ratchet and Clank on Veldin. The suit was capable of flight, firing lasers, throwing bombs, and releasing Dark Gadge-Bots to attack the duo.

In the re-imagined release, Drek would travel around on a hovering scooter. He utilizes a Mag-Net Launcher to capture Ratchet at one point.

Behind the scenes[]

Development[]

Drek This!

"Drek This!", an obtainable trophy featuring Drek. Obtained by defeating Drek in his mech.

Chairman Drek was inspired by the environment surrounding Insomniac Games' offices while they were working at Universal Studios. The staff surrounding them, which Insomniac employees often assumed to be movie executives, inspired Drek's design as a corporate villain.[15] The manual also compares Drek to a "movie producer with a mean streak".[16]

Unused dialogue for Tools of Destruction reveals that a space pirate would have mentioned that Chairman Drek was responsible for the destruction of the grummel's homeworld.[17]

Voice acting[]

Drek, in the final release of the original Ratchet & Clank, is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who at the time was most notable for voicing Captain Gantu in Lilo & Stich. Richardson also voices the Commando and Qwark's bouncer in Ratchet & Clank. Prior to the release of Ratchet & Clank, recorded footage of Drek features an entirely different voice actor.[18]

In the 2016 Ratchet & Clank movie, Drek is voiced by Paul Giamatti, a well-known Hollywood actor. In the game, some of Drek's cutscenes are also voiced by Giamatti, though the in-game dialogue is voiced by Eric Bauza.

Cameos[]

Drek appears as a multiplayer skin in Full Frontal Assault.

Drek's mech appeared as a large enemy in the PlayStation Home firing range space (past), with Drek piloting it.

Citations[]

References[]

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