Most terrible character in DS9?

[Frontis]

Don't really understand all the Keiko hate. Generally I liked her.
It was not always easy for her but all in all she managed things quite well.
She probably had the perfect husband with O'Brien and somehow they always found a way in the end.
Somewhere I read that it was the only successful long-term relationship in the entire Star Trek universe.

 

[DonIago]

There was, in season 2. Called "DUET", Lt. Cadman (I believe that was her name) and McKay were picked up by a Wraith ship and when he was brought out of the beam, her consciousness was in his head at the same time.

I do remember that one, but I'm thinking of one where, IIRC, Weir and Shepherd were both possessed by aliens that put them at odds with each other, or something like that.

 

[Farscape One]

I do remember that one, but I'm thinking of one where, IIRC, Weir and Shepherd were both possessed by aliens that put them at odds with each other, or something like that.

"THE LONG GOODBYE"... same season.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

It's been a while since I've watched DS9 (close to 15 years I think) but I remember a strong dislike I had towards Vic Fontaine because of all the singing he did. Maybe I'd think differently nowadays tho.

 

[AntonyF]

I didn't care for Vic Fontaine.

I know I should respect all opinions - but GET OUT!

I'm seconding Vedek Bareil. An awful character with a (from what I can see) pretty poor actor.

When they brought him back for the mirror universe episode it was not only a poor episode but it reminded me of how dreadful Bareil is. And by this point we had such a great supporting cast that he stuck out even more like a sore thumb.

I may be harsh on the actor as I've not seen him in other stuff, but the mirror universe was a chance for him to show range. Except he came back as the exact dull, lifeless Bareil that we knew. Making his return all that more pointless.

 

[Oddish]

In terms of pure evil, the Female Changeling. She orders the eradication of an entire sentient species, and 800 million lives are lost at her command.

In terms of harm done to the Trek-verse, Ishka. She was the focal point of "Profit and Lace" and the destruction of a fascinating culture.

In terms of just a plain "meh" character, probably Shakaar. If we're allowed to include MU characters, then Mirror Bashir. He's angry and scruffy, but so is everyone else there.

 

[aVe]

In terms of pure evil, the Female Changeling. She orders the eradication of an entire sentient species, and 800 million lives are lost at her command.

In terms of harm done to the Trek-verse, Ishka. She was the focal point of "Profit and Lace" and the destruction of a fascinating culture.

In terms of just a plain "meh" character, probably Shakaar. If we're allowed to include MU characters, then Mirror Bashir. He's angry and scruffy, but so is everyone else there.

Nice takes. I agree with all of them.

PS: omg., at least, i am allowed to edit my posts. May Kosst Amojan bless all the admins.

 

[tomalak301]

Ishka. She might have been great at making profit but she was an annoying Farengi stereotype.

 

[DonIago]

Wasn't Ishka more the Ferengi anti-stereotype, given what we were told about Ferengi women?

 

[Oddish]

Wasn't Ishka more the Ferengi anti-stereotype, given what we were told about Ferengi women?

She was supposed to be a Susan B. Anthony type. Only it took Ms. Anthony and her thousands of fellow suffragettes over half a century to gain women the vote. Ishka, on the other hand...
1. Established full female equality in one year.
2. Did it completely alone.
3. Had a much deeper hole to climb out of: American women were second-class citizens but Ferengi females were basically livestock.

 

[Farscape One]

I will say Ishka comes off as a bad mom, too.

On "FERENGI LOVE SONGS", when Quark tries to convince Zek to reinstate his business license, he asks Ishka for some backup, but she says, "He's got a point, Quark. You did break the law."

Coming from her, who broke all sorts of laws only a year and a half prior to the episode, that's rich. She could have at least said something else besides that.

 

[Tosk]

I will say Ishka comes off as a bad mom, too.

On "FERENGI LOVE SONGS", when Quark tries to convince Zek to reinstate his business license, he asks Ishka for some backup, but she says, "He's got a point, Quark. You did break the law."

Coming from her, who broke all sorts of laws only a year and a half prior to the episode, that's rich. She could have at least said something else besides that.

More specifically though, Ishka doesn't get hung up on the fact that Quark broke the law so much as he was wrong to break a contract. That's a biggie. After all, "A contract is a contract is a contract. But only between Ferengi."

Edited because I used 'specifically' twice in one sentence. Yuck.

 

[kkt]

She was supposed to be a Susan B. Anthony type. Only it took Ms. Anthony and her thousands of fellow suffragettes over half a century to gain women the vote. Ishka, on the other hand...
1. Established full female equality in one year.
2. Did it completely alone.
3. Had a much deeper hole to climb out of: American women were second-class citizens but Ferengi females were basically livestock.

However, Susan B. Anthony wasn't sleeping with the president. Ishka was sleeping with the Grand Nagus, who was a much more powerful figure than the president is. No legislature to tell him where to spend money, no need to run for reelection.

 

[DonIago]

Also, it's a TV show and the Ferengi were (rarely) portrayed as a civilization to be taken entirely seriously, at least by hew-mon standards.

In other words, yeah, it's unrealistic, but if I'm coming up with a list of DS9 pain points, it doesn't rate very highly for me.

 

[CoveTom]

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I'm going with season 7 Dukat. Dukat was one of the greatest villains in Trek history in seasons 1-6. And then they just ruined him, IMHO. I hated the direction they took his character in the last year.

 

[Oddish]

However, Susan B. Anthony wasn't sleeping with the president. Ishka was sleeping with the Grand Nagus, who was a much more powerful figure than the president is. No legislature to tell him where to spend money, no need to run for reelection.

So basically, Susan B. Anthony could have gained women the vote back in 1866 just by toodling off to Washington and seducing Andrew Johnson.

 

[kkt]

So basically, Susan B. Anthony could have gained women the vote back in 1866 just by toodling off to Washington and seducing Andrew Johnson.

It helped that Ishka was a very effective financial advisor for Zek, who also kept her mouth shut about his memory difficulties. (You can tell it's fiction because I can't imagine where a female in Ferenginar would have gotten the education and training to be a good financial advisor. Financial skill is only partly something you're born with.)

 

[tomalak301]

Wasn't Ishka more the Ferengi anti-stereotype, given what we were told about Ferengi women?

She wasn't any different than most of the other Ferengi we've seen prior. The TNG Ferengi were stupid, and other than Quark, most were pretty annoying. Now in universe as part of the story, she was anti-Ferengi in that she was great at accumlating profit, but I was talking more about how she was portrayed.

 

[DonIago]

She wasn't any different than most of the other Ferengi we've seen prior. The TNG Ferengi were stupid, and other than Quark, most were pretty annoying. Now in universe as part of the story, she was anti-Ferengi in that she was great at accumlating profit, but I was talking more about how she was portrayed.

She was extremely different from most of the other Ferengi we'd seen prior by virtue of being a woman and not living up to basically anything we'd heard about Ferengi women to that point; in fact actively going against most of what we'd heard. The closest comparison is probably Pel, who had to pose as a man to get anywhere meaningful in Ferengi society.

 

[Oddish]

It helped that Ishka was a very effective financial advisor for Zek, who also kept her mouth shut about his memory difficulties. (You can tell it's fiction because I can't imagine where a female in Ferenginar would have gotten the education and training to be a good financial advisor. Financial skill is only partly something you're born with.)

That's probably why they're normally not allowed to learn to read. Many business lessons can be found in a book.