Many of the worst Ferengi episodes frequently feel like the writers are trying to have their cake and eat it, slathering broad comedy over a premise that simply is not comedic.
When they don’t work, it tends to come down to issues of tone. That said, the Ferengi episodes on Deep Space Nine do not always work.
They are among the best comedy episodes in the franchise. Little Green Men and The Magnificent Ferengi are both delightful “caper” episodes that benefit from never treating their central characters as particularly serious or grounded. House of Quark is one of the most underrated episodes of Deep Space Nine ever produced, using Quark to skewer the seriousness afforded to Klingon culture in the Star Trek pantheon. Some of these stories have also worked very well. However, Deep Space Nine has also used the Ferengi for broad comedy. These episodes retain a sense of humour about the character, but they treat Ferengi culture as something to be explored and interrogated, in the same that Klingon or Cardassian culture might be. There are any number of strong dramatic episodes centring around Quark: Family Business, The Bar Association, Body Parts and Business as Usual. Armin Shimerman has argued that his personal preference was for stories on Quark to explore the character’s dramatic possibilities. The truth is that Deep Space Nine has enjoyed some success with both approaches. Are they an exploration of cultural relativism and tolerance within a complex multi-polar universe, or are they cartoon characters played by actors in latex? Watching Deep Space Nine, it is difficult to know how seriously the audience is supposed to treat the Ferengi from one appearance to the next. However, even within Deep Space Nine, there were issues with the tone of the Ferengi. Even if the show did not entirely succeed, what they did achieve was no small accomplishment. Outside of Deep Space Nine, they often feel like an unfunny joke that has been extended well beyond the patience of the audience.ĭeep Space Nine devoted considerable effort to rehabilitating the Ferengi. As a result, the Ferengi have always seemed a little out of place in the larger Star Trek universe. However, the decision to portray them as cartoonist apitalist trolls immediately undercut any credibility as villains. After all, they were introduced in The Last Outpost as the grand new antagonists of the Rick Berman era. Tone had always been something of an issue with the Ferengi. In a panic, Quark immediately grabs his bag and prepares to leave his house (and the planet) before he properly processes what has happened. He reopens the closet, at which point the Grand Nagus points out that Quark shouldn’t even be here. Quark closes the closet, and then does a double-take. The Grand Negus is waiting inside and accepts the bag that is offered. Quark absent-mindedly opens his closet and puts his travel bag inside.
There is an endearing absurdity to the gag that feels almost like the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers are affectionately poking fun at the franchise’s self-seriousness.Įven the execution of the joke works very well. It is very much a stock sit-com trope, except it has been dressed up in the trappings of a franchise that has a long record of taking itself incredibly seriously. The idea of the leader of a vast interstellar empire hiding in somebody’s bedroom is ridiculous in a way that Star Trek is very rarely ridiculous, at least during the Rick Berman era. It is a great comedy moment, in both concept and execution. I think about you day and night, it’s only right…
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