When did the Ferengi go from "serious" villains to just comic relief

[Anwar]

What did the Klingons ever do, on-screen, in TOS except lose or something similar? All they had going for them were good actors like Colicos and Ansara.

[T'Girl]

Kirk: "They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens."

[USS Excelsior]

They were certainly menacing in that war games episode, and what if they did destroy the Enterprise, that might have started a war.

In that prostitute episode when the Ferengi were a joke they came up with his lame excuse that he was looking for the barber....

[T'Girl]

USS Excelsior wrote:

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he was looking for the barber

Just because there's none on his head, doesn't mean there isn't bountiful amounts of hair elsewhere that need trimming.

[Therin of Andor]

BillJ wrote:

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It was Roddenberry's show. He had final say on what made it to the screen and those Ferengi made it to the screen.

But, to fire the director would have meant delays, so compromises get made. Even on TOS, Roddenberry didn't always get his own way. During the week of filming "The Last Outpost", they probably all felt the Ferengi were working. They certainly made some brave choices. I rather liked the ADHD qualities, the animal skins, the energy whips.

20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's interesting, though, that the director never worked for TNG again. The directors who get excellent results are invited back over and over.

[Therin of Andor]

The Overlord wrote:

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Well Ultra capitalists can make good villains, Lex Luthor is Superman's arch nemesis and he is just a corporate tycoon.

But he was reimagined that way. Luthor started off as a small-town scientist type. The corporate tycoon Luthor, and then politician-type, was part of a huge overhaul of the "Superman" titles.

MikeS wrote:

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It was suggested that they ate another species, their "associatiates". This makes them untrustworthy, not cannibalistic.

A humanoid species eats (presumably humanoid) former business associates. How is that not a hint that they may be cannibals? (Broadening "cannibal" to all humanoid species here, not just fellow Ferengi.) I assume it's meant to be a wry dig at corporations consuming their rivals.

[Anji]

Why does everything in Star Trek have to be so serious???

Personally I loved the Ferengi. They were pretty damn funny and Star Trek needed the comic relief.

I think it was Shimerman who said that when he saw the big ears it was difficult to play the role anyway but silly.

Corsentino however really rocked in Menage a Troi and I think is responsible for the creation of the Ferengi attitude.

[Anwar]

T'Girl wrote:

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Kirk: "They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens."

Did we ever SEE any of that, though? Even the Romulans were SHOWN to do some damage in their first appearance.

[USS Excelsior]

And in Voyager they were shown as snickering conniving greedy trolls.

[CoveTom]

Anji wrote:

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Why does everything in Star Trek have to be so serious???

Personally I loved the Ferengi. They were pretty damn funny and Star Trek needed the comic relief.

I don't think it's that people don't want comic relief in Trek. I think it's the fact that they attempted to play the Ferengi serious, and utterly failed, that makes the early appearances of the Ferengi painful to watch.

[InklingStar]

In DS9's Bar Association Liquidator Brunt keeps a pair of Nausicaan mercenaries around for muscle. It would have been interesting to see that idea used more often for the Ferengi.

[T'Girl]

Anwar wrote:

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Did we ever SEE any of that, though? Even the Romulans were SHOWN to do some damage in their first appearance.

But what did we "SEE" the Romulans do? Set a single room on fire in a outpost and likely kill the one person located there. Later they kill one more person aboard the Enterprise after it is attacked. That's all we are shown. We know through dialog that a number of outposts were attacked and destroyed, their personnel also "destroyed."

It is the same with the Klingons, we know through dialog of their deeds, they were capable of invading the Federation and killing people there. They're powerful enough to issued a ultimatum to the Federation without being simply dismissed.

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