Could the Ferengi have worked as the main villains?

[The Overlord]

Originally the Ferengi were supposed to be the main villains for TNG, but the episode introducing them was so bad, they could never be taken seriously as villains. But could the Ferengi have worked as the main villains? I think the concept is ok, but the execution sucked. The Ferengi should have been far more slick, far more professional looking then in "The Last Outpost". They should have pretended to be the Federation's friend in order to betray them later, not act hostile right away, that's not good business. Most business men do not act like angry monkeys.

The Ferengi don't look very scary, but they could have played on that, pretending to be harmless to lure their intended victims into a false sense of security. Also if the Ferengi aren't good at physical fights, they could have hired mercenaries or built robots to fight their battles for them.

 

[Arpy]

I can't really imagine them working as villains b/c of how poorly they were executed as such, but as for whether or not business people could work as baddies in a story? I just saw Gordon Gekko in Wall Street 2 yesterday and Mr Potter in it's a Wonderful life last week, so yes, yes, for the love of god yes, is my answer. So much nastiness in the world today isn't done by imperialist thugs in the name of honor or glory or country, but by brilliant movers and shakers in the name of wealth, power, and commerce. And regular folk back them in it.

The Ferengi were a farce. They looked like the metaphorical ugliness within, but in business, like in politics, it helps to have a nice smile and good hair. They should have been hot. Like in V or something.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Yeah, it was just weird how silly they were in their first episode. Wasted.

 

[Bob Morton]

The first 3rd of the episode was superb! You don't know who these mysterious aliens are. They've got unfamiliar tech that is at least on par with the feds. Too bad it all falls apart when the Ferengi are fully introduced.

 

[JRoss]

I agree with The Overlord. It might have worked that way.

 

[Saxman1]

What others have said above. The hopping around in their introductory ep didn't help their case, either. At least they dropped that as time went by. Loved Quark and his family on DS9 as comic relief, though.

Roddenberry originally wanted the Ferengi to have giant penises. Yeah, that was a great idea.....NOT!

 

[Shon T'Hara]

I can't really imagine them working as villains b/c of how poorly they were executed as such, but as for whether or not business people could work as baddies in a story? I just saw Gordon Gekko in Wall Street 2 yesterday and Mr Potter in it's a Wonderful life last week, so yes, yes, for the love of god yes, is my answer.

I should point out, Mr. Potter was preaching fiscal responsibility. George Bailey was handing out subprime loans left and right while giving jobs to his incompetent relatives. Bank of America is run by the Baileys, not the Potters.

Hmm, I'd like to see movie reviews written from a Ferengi perspective.

 

[siskokid888]

I was always disappointed that the Ferengi did not become major adversaries. They were presented as having the technology and some bad ass ships, but the whole concept seem to fall apart, until they became the clowns on DS9. A little creative writing, I always felt, could have made them an interesting species.

 

[The Overlord]

The first 3rd of the episode was superb! You don't know who these mysterious aliens are. They've got unfamiliar tech that is at least on par with the feds. Too bad it all falls apart when the Ferengi are fully introduced.

Except most business men don't act mysterious, they often just put on a friendly face in order to secure deals.

I think there are tons of evil things the Ferengi could have done to appear menacing, besides acting like apes: they could dumped toxic waste on other planets to make a profit, they could encourage wars between planets so they can sell arms to both sides, they could have had a slave trade where they capture aliens and put them on slave auction, they could have supported dictatorships to secure access to cheap labor, they could have a drug trade, etc. Sure the Ferengi don't want to take over the universe, but they still could have caused a lot of damage in quest for profits.

Plus I think if the Ferengi were to be the main villains, their home planet should have been different. Instead of just being a wet planet, Ferenginar could have been an over polluted hell hole with a culture centered around commercialism and consumerism, that would provided more sharp criticism then the Ferengi acting like apes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The most successful businessmen do act mysteriously, in movies & TV at least.

And yeah, as written, the Ferengi were ridiculous in the beginning. Rat-men with energy dildos

I actually liked (most of the time) the DS9 representation, at least they had a purpose, even if they came off a little silly at times.

 

[Bob Morton]

We didn't know they were businessmen at first. It was first contact. They could have been any type of forehead alien with a single defining factor.

 

[Arpy]

I can't really imagine them working as villains b/c of how poorly they were executed as such, but as for whether or not business people could work as baddies in a story? I just saw Gordon Gekko in Wall Street 2 yesterday and Mr Potter in it's a Wonderful life last week, so yes, yes, for the love of god yes, is my answer.

I should point out, Mr. Potter was preaching fiscal responsibility. George Bailey was handing out subprime loans left and right while giving jobs to his incompetent relatives. Bank of America is run by the Baileys, not the Potters.

Hmm, I'd like to see movie reviews written from a Ferengi perspective.

Shame on you, sir. That's a cynically-inspired lazy analogy. Bank of America handed out insanely subprime loans to people who obviously couldn't afford them out of greed. George Bailey was a small-town investor who personally knew most of the people he loaned to and whether or not they were a safe bet. The two cases are very dissimilar.

I can see George, having a big heart, occasionally losing money on townspeople that for whatever reason weren't able to repay their loans, but I think those cases were few - he didn't seem incompetent. Nor do I think he minded too much - he had a comfortable life with many friends and was a force for good (growth, prosperity) in his community.

That the Great Depression(!) nearly put him out of business, I can't fault him. His investment helped that town become a wonderful place to live, compared to the hole we saw that it might have been, and it returned favorable yields when it was he, another good bet, that was in need of a loan.

 

[Saxman1]

The Ferengi rocked on DS9, expecially the Grand Nagus!

 

[The Overlord]

We didn't know they were businessmen at first. It was first contact. They could have been any type of forehead alien with a single defining factor.

Except we knew before they even met with Star Fleet that they were ultra capitalists and an ultra capitalist wouldn't avoid contact with others, they could seek new business relationships all the time. American business man travel to China and India all the time to create new business deals.

So the Ferengi having a "custom" against face to face talks seems widely out step with their nature as ultra capitalists. Frankly if the Ferengi were supposed to be Ultra capitalists their first contact should have widely different, they would have likely put on a far more friendly face, not be insulting to the feds off the bat and then try to trcik the Feds into some bad trade deal or something,

 

[Arpy]

Not to contradict what I said earlier, but just because they don't look or act exactly how we think they should doesn't mean they can't still be a certain way. These are aliens after all - they're bound to be different. Sure I would have designed them differently from the get-go but in-universe they look how they look - no nice smiles and shiny hair but they make do with what they've got.

If anything, I think they were too humanized later on DS9 than at first. Early on, Rom was as nasty as Quark and believed, as presumably most Ferengi did, that kids who couldn't make it without education should die in the streets. By series' end, he was this saccharine buffoon with savant-like technical skills who becomes emperor of his people, gives women the right to clothes, make money, and taxes everyone for the first time ever. His not being assassinated I find more incredible than half the stuff Wesley Crusher pulled!

 

[Starbreaker]

No way. They came off way too silly when they were first introduced. I'm glad they went in the nuisance direction.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Sometimes this board can turn anything political and all TNZey.

 

[CoveTom]

Roddenberry originally wanted the Ferengi to have giant penises. Yeah, that was a great idea.....NOT!

Roddenberry wanted everything he did on TV and in film to be an outlet for his puerile sex fantasies. The great visionary he was not.

 

[Gary7]

The original intention of the Ferengi seemed very comical. Unfortunately, that really tainted their chances of becoming a significant foe of the Federation. And there were some rather ridiculous bits later on, like the Ferengi mind control orb. Or the unprovoked attack during the simulated engagement between the Hathaway and the Enterprise in Peak Performance. Actually, I liked how they turned out later in DS9. It's clear that greed undermines their effectiveness to properly coordinate for any substantial endeavors, like an all out war. We never learn of their past, but it would be interesting to see some kind of back story.

The Ferengi were pretty well represented in DS9. I think it worked well, how they were this "sideline" race of beings who could cross cultural boundaries purely for the business of making profit. No other race seemed to be focused like this, in the Star Trek series.

So, in the final point, I don't think they would have worked as main villains as this would have left a gap in the way they were used for DS9 (and briefly in VOY).

 

[Satyrquaze]

They would need a complete re-write and new make-up. So, technically they could work... but it would cost the same as creating an all new group of adversaries.

but, you'd would be so much better off to bring back old adversaries (the Romulans) and/or create new adversaries (the Borg).