Fans of the early TNG Ferengi?

[warp-coil]

In Encounter at Farpoint, Picard mentions that the Ferengi eat people. Not sure if I like that portrayal or not..

 

[Oddish]

By DS9, they were eating worms and slugs.

 

[Ragitsu]

In Encounter at Farpoint, Picard mentions that the Ferengi eat people. Not sure if I like that portrayal or not..

Is it possible that Picard was screwing with him?

 

[Oddish]

Given the Ferengi dentition, I think the writers still thought they were going to be the Big Bad of TNG.

 

[Orphalesion]

Yeah in Encounter at Farpoint the Ferengi are built up to be these scary opponents. So scary that we can't even reveal them in the pilot yet so we can built up their menace and the hype. The successors to the Klingons, so to speak.

Pretty sure that only went out the window once The Last Outpost turned them into laughing stocks.

 

[Kor]

The Ferengi were definitely originally intended to be one of the, if not the, big bads of TNG. Things didn't quite work out that way, though.

Kor

 

[Oddish]

But remember that in "Last Outpost" (and "Shades of Gray"), one of them tried to munch on Riker's face like it was a freshly baked orange roll. So definitely shades of the people-eating mythos there.

 

[Ragitsu]

If I - a being with razor-sharp teeth - were grappling with an adversary, I would probably consider biting them as a means of inflicting both physical damage and acute pain.

 

[Oddish]

As I said, a species that normally consumed invertebrates would probably not need teeth like that. Suggesting that early on, the Ferengi were meant to be carnivorous.

 

[Ragitsu]

As I said, a species that normally consumed invertebrates would probably not need teeth like that.

Huh?

*scans thread*

Where?

 

[Oddish]

I mentioned Ferengi dentition. In other words, teeth.

 

[warp-coil]

Is it possible that Picard was screwing with him?

anything is possible. I am sticking with it being the truth

 

[Ragitsu]

I mentioned Ferengi dentition. In other words, teeth.

I deduced what "dentition" meant, but - at the time - I didn't think of the "Carnivorous equals villainous." convention.

 

[Oddish]

Carnivorous doesn't equal villainous, but "eats sentients" does. And I think that the Ferengi may indeed have been designed with Picard's description in mind, one because of their teeth and two because one of them tried to gobble up Riker's face like a burrito.

By DS9, the writers had moved away from "Ferengi eat humans", but the character design was set, so they retained their sharp teeth.

 

[Ragitsu]

Klingons also have "interesting" teeth and they were (usually) allies during the TNG era.

 

[Ragitsu]

By DS9, the writers had moved away from "Ferengi eat humans", but the character design was set, so they retained their sharp teeth.

If it had been there, it was abandoned as early as their debut appearance; at least one TNG-era Ferengi lusted after a Betazoid (very close to human in likeness) and this amorous interest in humanoid aliens/humans persisted all the way to and through Deep Dish Nine.

 

[Orphalesion]

As I said, a species that normally consumed invertebrates would probably not need teeth like that. Suggesting that early on, the Ferengi were meant to be carnivorous.

I could swear there was something about Male Ferengi filing their teeth like that to show that they don't have to chew their food because they can afford to keep "females" to chew it for them. Basically a status symbol.

Of course that doesn't gel with the fact that female Ferengi have the same teeth.

Also...well invertebrates...on earth that also includes animals like crustaceans, clams, etc. Maybe Ferengi teeth evolved to break the hard shells of certain types of invertebrate?

 

[Ragitsu]

Didn't Quark complain that his Momma neglected to chew food for her sons (or, at least, him)? It's a secondary complaint after his grievance concerning her lack of nudity, sure, but...

 

[Orphalesion]

Didn't Quark complain that his Momma neglected to chew food for her sons (or, at least, him)? It's a secondary complaint after his grievance concerning her lack of nudity, sure, but...

Yeah, Moogie refused to chew the food for both Quark and Rom. Iirc Quark complains that the children at school made fun of them for it, while Rom claims their mother did it to teach them to do things for themselves, or something like that. Considering how successful both her sons (and her grandson) turned out at the end, she might have been on to something.