In the earliest Ferangi episodes they were portrayed as a pretty serious threat. They would go to battle and pretty much despised humans. Then they started to grow into comedy characters. By DS9 the Ferangis were kind of cariacture of what they once were and pretty much used as the focal points for comedy based episodes. What happened with the Ferangis? Did the writers decide it was better to use Romulans and newer aliens as the chief threats? Did the fans backlash against them?
Ferangi threat
- Thread starter SignGuyHPW
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I don't think it's right to say they despised humans, so much as they would do any nasty thing they needed to if it made them profit. But despite their angular mincing gait and ridiculous accents, other than Damon Bok it wasn't personal.
I like the way the writers called out the hypocrisy of the Ferengi portrayal. Quark goes around preaching "What's worse, a laissez-faire economy, or slavery and the holocaust?"
It is true, in early TNG Ferengi warships were a military match for Federation ships, and later in TNG then in DS9 their ships were barely armed and defenseless.
I like the way the writers called out the hypocrisy of the Ferengi portrayal. Quark goes around preaching "What's worse, a laissez-faire economy, or slavery and the holocaust?"
It is true, in early TNG Ferengi warships were a military match for Federation ships, and later in TNG then in DS9 their ships were barely armed and defenseless.
Actually I think in season 1 they just said the Marauder was as fast as and generated as much power as the Galaxy class. Their weapons always seemed underpowered when they didn't take them by surprise. I always figured they're just giant cargo ships pretty much designed to get to and from places quick so they can make money.
I got the notion that they despised humans because of how repulsed they got by the clothing on females. Plus despite not being personal, the Ferangis still seemed to dislike the humans. It wasn't untill a few years into TNG that the Ferangis were portrayed as comical interstellar salesmen for the most part.
The Ferengi where not much of a threat. When your "threat" are bunch of growling, hissing, monkeys screeching at the sound of thunder and lightning it's hard to take them as much of a threat.
Christopher L. Bennett provides an explanation for this in The Buried Age. According to his book, Grand Nagus Zek had only heard rumors of the Federation through third parties (kind of like the explanation provided for why the Hansons were so interested in the Borg) and had concluded that with its moneyless economy and inherent altruism, the Federation as a whole must be insane and therefore dangerous. As a result, Zek began a military build-up of Ferengi starships and paid intermediaries to spread rumors about the mighty Ferengi Empire to make them seem more threatening than they were.
Later, when contact was formally made and relations established, Zek realized that the Federation was neither insane nor dangerous and he stopped the rumors and let the Federation (and the audience) see the real Ferengi.
Later, when contact was formally made and relations established, Zek realized that the Federation was neither insane nor dangerous and he stopped the rumors and let the Federation (and the audience) see the real Ferengi.
In Enterprise, some Ferengi are presented as pirates, as well as merchants, so the concept of losing shipping to them, hence their potential danger, would not have been unknown. Additionally, the only species definately known (on screen) to the Federation that are likely to have contact with the Ferengi, prior to the official first contact with the Fed are the Cardassians, possibly Bajorans and maybe Talarians, hence limited or incorrect intel. Maybe, at some point the Ferengi did have to defend themselves against Cardassian aggression and did well enough to maintain their independence, and somehow intel on a species who could hold their own against Cardassians, given the Federation's own trouble with Cardassians, would seem to be a potential threat. This would also conveniently 'explain' the late forst contact with this advanced specied, located not too far from home - the ferengi were tied up with Cardassians, and, until the Cardassian Wars, there was no border between Ferengi territory and the Fed, and that access between the two was only created when Cardassian territory shrunk after the war.
The Marauder Mo action figures Quark had were carrying those whips.
Those Ferengi were terrible but the whips were awesome.
As bad as the early Ferengi were, they could have been worse. I've read that during their conception, Gene Roddenberry was obsessed with how well hung they'd be, and had to be talked out of giving them huge cod pieces....
With all of the things I've read and heard about over these many years, I'm happy that Gene Roddenberry had (in those later years once he had gone wacky) very little control over Star Trek outside of those first few seasons of TNG.
Maybe it was a Federation weapon/device they needed or was dangerous? We've also seen plenty of times where the Federation doesn't want their technology in others hands.
They couldn't let the Ferengi get away with it, it would set a very bad precedent. Theft is still theft.
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