Quark and the Dabo Girls' Deleted Scene from Insurrection

By now I think it's safe to say that most DS9 fans as well as a lot of hardcore Trek fans in general know that Quark and two Dabo girls from the station were in a Deleted Scene from the very end of INS and that the scene was not only scripted but actually shot with Armin Shimerman in full makeup on the Ba'ku Village set. I'm curious as to what you guys think of the scene. Have you seen the still images from the shoot, though only two or perhaps three are even out in the public more than 25 years later? Was it a good idea to cut Quark and his Dabo girls from the film seeing as how they were just tossed in before the end credits roll to further tie the ninth movie to the rest of the franchise and the fact that by 1998 Worf was a cast member on DS9? Would you have left it in just for the fun of seeing Armin in a Trek film and as his most famous character?

And what WAS the deal with his "vacation beachwear"? He was already disturbing enough in "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." in a similar casual outfit and that's not even the worst thing about that particular episode. The Quark Deleted Scene has been one of my personal favorites when it comes to deleted footage from the movie franchise and largely because - while superfluous and fan service even PIC Season 3 would have likely left on the cutting room floor - the dialogue is kind of fun and it would have been entertaining to see Worf eyeroll over Quark showing up on the Ba'ku planet with absolutely no warning.




QUARK'S VOICE
Worf!

They turn to see a Ferengi (QUARK) approaching in a
bathing suit with a beach umbrella and two barely dressed
Dabo girls...

WORF
What are you doing here, Quark?

QUARK
The same thing everyone else in
the quadrant is going to be doing
here... as soon as I build the
greatest spa in the galaxy...
(sotto)
... these people don't have any
religious thing about casinos do
they...?

PICARD
There aren't going to be any spas
on this planet.

QUARK
Do I know you?

PICARD
(ignoring the
question)
This world is about to become a
Federation protectorate, which
will end any and all attempts at
exploitation by people like you.

QUARK
Explain to me how five thousand
time-share units... right there
along the lake... would be
'exploiting' anyone.

PICARD
Mister Worf, have this
uninvited... offlander and his
quests beamed to the Enterprise.
We'll deposit them at Deep Space
Nine.

WORF
Must you, sir?

Worf takes Quark away by the scruff of his beach shirt...
his disappointed babes follow ...trailing away --

QUARK
You'll hear from my Nagus.

 

I'd like to see it some day, but I'm very glad they cut it. The idea that Quark dropped everything to haul ass to Klach D'kel Brakt to set up a resort just doesn't fit (in my mind) with DS9. If he could set up a resort, why hasn't he eslewhere? How did he get there? Why is Picard taking him into custody instead of sending him away in the ship he presumably came in? The planet is about to become a protectorate, it ain't yet. Damn Picard grabbin' up people like he owns the place.

 

Yeah, how he got there and so quickly does bother me. Trek loves to play fast and loose with the duration of long distance space travel but even by its own lofty standards Quark's quick side trip to the Briar Patch to pitch time shares to the Ba'ku is pretty ridiculous.

 

Quark's dismissive "Do I know you" to Picard does make me laugh when I think about how it sounded on-set. It's possible Quark's never before met Picard in person and the last time we saw him interact with anyone from Picard's crew (if you don't count O'Brien) it was when he spoke to Riker over subspace in "Firstborn(TNG)."

 

Or Worf.

 

And at that moment in the scene I'm pretty sure Quark wanted to pretend Worf wasn't there.

 

Not like I’m a huge fan of INS or anything, but this scene was rightly cut. It made no sense and only existed to shoehorn in a DS9 reference for no real good reason.

 

DS9 had already been referenced at least twice earlier in the film and in my head canon the nightmare Worf is having when he wakes up in his guest quarters and bumps his head is about Jadzia's death, which happened just a handful of months prior to the events of this film.

 

It would have made a great bonus feature on the bluray though.
Since they already shot the scene...

 

Which is pretty baffling, seeing as they vetoed a legit DS9 reference, a brief dialogue exchange regarding the death of Jadzia.

 

They should have kept it in. The film was supposed to be like an episode of TNG, and TNG had its bits of humour. This scene seems to serve the purpose of adding more humor to the film, so its really not out of place at all, even if Quark does appear out of nowhere. Keep in mind that Worf also appears out of nowhere in the film too.

Besides, there’s already a line regarding DS9 in the film, when Worf sleeps in late and Picard talks to him over the intercom. This scene with Quark and the dabo girls just further serves to help connect the movie to DS9. And there was a DS9 reference in FC with the Defiant, so nothing really unusual here.

The only real problematic thing I can find is the “people like you” line said by Picard. But since TUC included racially charged lines such as “bring them to their knees”, that Brock Peters had a problem saying…seems like all they’d have to do is reshoot the scene with better dialogue.

Besides, the film’s length was rather short. Keep the scene, and extend it a bit with more references to DS9.

 

^There’s a huge difference between Worf and Quark. Mainly, that Worf served a purpose in the film, and Quark didn’t.

 

What?

They deleted Quark!

How could they delete one of the best characters in all of Star Trek from this otherwise rather mediocre movie?

He should definitely had been in the movie!

 

I would have loved to see Quark there, but I have to agree that it would have felt very much like trying to forcibly inject a DS9 character that really had no business being there. And weren't there already DS9 references when several characters referenced the Dominion and that the Son'a had been involved in the production of Ketracel White?

 

I don't know how but I've seen the scene albeit very poor quality. Agree it has no place though so better to be cut.

 

As much as I LOVE DS9, I don't think Quark's appearance would work in INSURRECTION, even briefly.

There is one thing that feels out of place, and it is not obvious.

Worf referred to Quark by name. If memory serves me, Worf never called Quark by his name, only as 'the Ferengi' or another version of that. It would actually be out of character for Worf to do this in the film.

 

Much like the producers wanting to shoehorn in Seven of Nine in Nemesis for no real good reason. Luckily that didn't happen either.

 

Admiral Janeway was one of the few really fun things about NEM but at least it was her - a recently-promoted Admiral at Starfleet Command with jurisdiction over Picard - and not Seven stuck into the plot just so we can see what she looked like after returning home to Earth.

Turns out the near-20-year-wait was just fine. We didn't get closure on her character at the conclusion of "Endgame, Part II(VOY)" so I sure wasn't needing closure in a TNG movie produced just one year later.

 

The Doctor in First Contact was a good cameo. I can remember back in 95/96 reading on teletext (remember that?) that Sisko was going to be in FC. It even said roughly what was going to happen, the Borg were going to attack DS9 on their way with Sisko and others taking refuge on Bajor with him sending Worf in the defiant to help defend Earth.