Throwing the Ferengi out with the bath water?

[JirinPanthosa]

I thought Ferengi did that by clanging the bars together and looking for the ding.

Something I would have loved to see in a Ferengi plot is, the Ferengi are going around to non-spacefaring planets in Federation space and selling them modern technology. This could have ended up in Quark-worthy debates.

"How dare you arrogant Federation types decide which cultures get to join your galactic civilization and which don't? We Ferengi are providing an opportunity for billions of people to share the same wealth you possess."

"And profiting off it in the meantime!"

"We make profits, they get to advance centuries in a matter of weeks. Everybody wins!"

Then they could turn that into a real debate over the prime directive and we could see some planets doing well with it and others destroying themselves.

 

[Mojochi]

You know... ultimately, I'm not entirely against how things turned out with the Ferengi. They have usefulness as is, in small doses like The Perfect Mate & The Price & some individual performances, like in Gambit & The Battle/Bloodlines. It gave their universe a bit more depth to have theses seedy lowlifes about. Sure they had ups & downs. What alien race didn't? As it ended up, they were far better suited in the capacity they were featured, than they'd have ever been as proper villains, even had they been given a more creative treatment

 

[Maurice]

The baldness isn't the problem - it's the baldness combined with the hunch-backed, crazed-monkey jumping that was the problem.

That is the most nonsensical association I've seen on this on this board in some time, and that's saying something. It's as sensless as saying "The red fedora isn't the problem - it's the red fedora combined with the hunch-backed, crazed-monkey jumping that was the problem."

 

[MikeS]

FASA?

Role playing game and also war/combat games. Eventual they created a elaborate separate history for Starfleet and the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, etc.

Their "source books" are online (somewhere), you might find them interesting.

Interesting. Thank-you.

I find there are too many unexplained acronyms on here at times. I thought it was refering to an episode.

 

[Pavonis]

The baldness isn't the problem - it's the baldness combined with the hunch-backed, crazed-monkey jumping that was the problem.

That is the most nonsensical association I've seen on this on this board in some time, and that's saying something. It's as sensless as saying "The red fedora isn't the problem - it's the red fedora combined with the hunch-backed, crazed-monkey jumping that was the problem."

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I don't really care. Some people just can't pull off wearing a red fedora. Some things just don't go together - like bologna and filet mignon, or bald and monkey-toddler behavior, or you and your red fedora.

Bye now.

 

[Unicron]

FASA?

Role playing game and also war/combat games. Eventual they created a elaborate separate history for Starfleet and the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, etc.

Their "source books" are online (somewhere), you might find them interesting.

Yep. I also know a good source where you can actually buy a lot of the old sourcebooks, and I'd highly recommend them to you. Drop me a PM. FASA still exists as a gaming company, but not on the same scale they did back then. They had a license from Paramount up until TNG premiered, and only made one TNG supplement (The Officer's Manual). Interestingly, it's probably the one product that deviates the most from what has been established since. Most of their TOS-Movie era stuff was based on a smaller selection of canon material and some of the other tie-ins; the Klingons as described by FASA are based on John Ford's designs. While some of that has been overwritten by later canon, a lot of it fit pretty smoothly into the era it was written for.

The name FASA itself is an in-joke by the company staff. It was based on a Marx Brothers movie set in several fictional countries, and one was called Freedonia. FASA stands for the Freedonian Air and Space Administration.

 

[Pondwater]

I like that the Ferengi were turned into the comic relief of the galaxy. Klingons, Romulans, Borg...etc.

 

[T'Girl]

I like that the Ferengi were turned into the comic relief of the galaxy.

Voyager basically did the same thing with the Borg. Turned them into a joke.

Borg: "We are the Borg, you will be ..."

Victim: "yawn, what else is on?"

 

[Anwar]

I like that the Ferengi were turned into the comic relief of the galaxy.

Voyager basically did the same thing with the Borg. Turned them into a joke.

Borg: "We are the Borg, you will be ..."

Victim: "yawn, what else is on?"

Oh, no they didn't. They just had Voyager run into them more often than TNG did.

I suppose you hate that VOY showed there was a single alien species out there that could fight the Borg and win?

 

[T'Girl]

... there was a single alien species out there that could fight the Borg and win?

The play-doh people from fluidic space?

 

[R. Star]

I thought Ferengi did that by clanging the bars together and looking for the ding.

Something I would have loved to see in a Ferengi plot is, the Ferengi are going around to non-spacefaring planets in Federation space and selling them modern technology. This could have ended up in Quark-worthy debates.

"How dare you arrogant Federation types decide which cultures get to join your galactic civilization and which don't? We Ferengi are providing an opportunity for billions of people to share the same wealth you possess."

"And profiting off it in the meantime!"

"We make profits, they get to advance centuries in a matter of weeks. Everybody wins!"

Then they could turn that into a real debate over the prime directive and we could see some planets doing well with it and others destroying themselves.

That would've made them more interesting if they were competing with the Federation for winning hearts and minds like this. Not every directly involving themselves, but definitely influencing things from behind the scenes for their own benefit, while smiling benevolently and promising it's all for the best.

 

[The Overlord]

Fajo was a better merchant villain then any Ferengi, he was pretending to be helpful to the Enterprise before his villainous intentions were revealed.

The Ferengi should have been more like slick 80s business men, rather then generic warriors, they pretend to be your friend before stabbing you in the back.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

I thought Ferengi did that by clanging the bars together and looking for the ding.

Something I would have loved to see in a Ferengi plot is, the Ferengi are going around to non-spacefaring planets in Federation space and selling them modern technology. This could have ended up in Quark-worthy debates.

"How dare you arrogant Federation types decide which cultures get to join your galactic civilization and which don't? We Ferengi are providing an opportunity for billions of people to share the same wealth you possess."

"And profiting off it in the meantime!"

"We make profits, they get to advance centuries in a matter of weeks. Everybody wins!"

Then they could turn that into a real debate over the prime directive and we could see some planets doing well with it and others destroying themselves.

And professional writers missed this opportunity?! Just thinking about what you've said, the potential storylines just seem to suggest themselves right out of the air!

 

[Anwar]

I thought Ferengi did that by clanging the bars together and looking for the ding.

Something I would have loved to see in a Ferengi plot is, the Ferengi are going around to non-spacefaring planets in Federation space and selling them modern technology. This could have ended up in Quark-worthy debates.

"How dare you arrogant Federation types decide which cultures get to join your galactic civilization and which don't? We Ferengi are providing an opportunity for billions of people to share the same wealth you possess."

"And profiting off it in the meantime!"

"We make profits, they get to advance centuries in a matter of weeks. Everybody wins!"

Then they could turn that into a real debate over the prime directive and we could see some planets doing well with it and others destroying themselves.

That would've made them more interesting if they were competing with the Federation for winning hearts and minds like this. Not every directly involving themselves, but definitely influencing things from behind the scenes for their own benefit, while smiling benevolently and promising it's all for the best.

They might've worked out better as Space Mafia types, who also worked as Businessmen as their fronts.

And employ various aliens as their Front Spokespeople and their Muscle as well. Why bother putting themselves in danger when you can hire some Nausicaans to fight for you?

The play-doh people from fluidic space?

Yes, the 8472 aliens.

I suppose if TNG had introduced the 8472 aliens instead no one would care?

 

[Melakon]

And employ various aliens as their Front Spokespeople and their Muscle as well. Why bother putting themselves in danger when you can hire some Nausicaans to fight for you?

That's sort of how the Founders ran the Dominion.

 

[Anwar]

And employ various aliens as their Front Spokespeople and their Muscle as well. Why bother putting themselves in danger when you can hire some Nausicaans to fight for you?

That's sort of how the Founders ran the Dominion.

Except in this case, it'd be different aliens each time to keep suspicions low. With the Jem'Hadar, they were there to specifically make it clear it was the Dominion.

Heck, why not have Ferengi Equivalents to the East Indian Company or the Hudson's Bay Company?

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Wow, reading all these neat Ferengi ideas, it really makes me look forward to this Star Trek: The Next Generation series!

 

[DigificWriter]

I happen to like the 'evolution' of the Ferengi, as it makes perfect sense that in a society that is driven by greed and avarice, you'd have people like the The Last Post Ferengi and DaiMon Bok existing alongside the likes of Quark, Gaila, Goss, and Zekk, and honestly don't think the Ferengi would have been as interesting if they'd been written and portrayed the same way from the beginning.