House of quark, the magnificent ferengi, who mourns for morn, were a couple of my favourites. Did you like the ferengi episodes? Do you think Ds9 would've been better or worse without them?
The Ferengi episodes
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'The Magnificent Ferengi 'and 'Little Green Men' are pretty indisputably awesome. 'Profit and Lace' is arguably the worst piece of Star Trek ever commited to film. The rest are pretty middling and forgettable.
On the whole, I'd say they're a positive force in the DS9 canon, but just barely. I guess that's damning with faint praise, but there it is.
On the whole, I'd say they're a positive force in the DS9 canon, but just barely. I guess that's damning with faint praise, but there it is.
The Magnificent Ferengi is one of my fav episodes in general, not only Ferengi 
The Magnificent Ferengi is one of my fav episodes in general, not only Ferengi
i love when Quark and Rom and crawling through the ductwork, take a wrong turn and end up in Sisko's office.... and all Sisko is doing is sitting there playing with his baseball
Ferengi episodes tended to be hit or miss to me. I loved "Little Green Men" - HAH! The Ferengi were the Roswell Aliens, awesome! "House of Quark" was great, "The Magnificient Ferengi" had its moments, and "Profit and Lace" was ... *shudder* pure awfulness. It was a mixed bag, but at least on DS9 the Ferengi were developed beyond the ridiculousness of Ferengi characters on TNG.
Some of them were really good (The House of Quark, Little Green Men, Body Parts, Business as Usual). Some were mediocre (The Nagus, Family Business, The Magnificent Ferengi). Others constitute the most vile and offensive writing that I have ever encountered on television (Profit and Lace, Ferengi Love Songs, The Emperor's New Cloak).
Therefore, Ferengi episodes aren't bad or good per se. As with everything in TV and film it comes down to the writing. However, Ferengi episodes did face one major hurdle that made writing good episodes for them hard. From their very inception the Ferengi were always pretty damn cheesy. I think as an alien culture the writers never really took them very seriously, unlike say the Bajorans, Cardassians or Klingons. The Ferengi were always fair game to be the at the butt-end of all the jokes if you know what I mean - their main traits were greediness, cowardice and being pathetic. Thus they had a built in cringe factor that needed to be overcome for an episode to work. Characters like Zek, Moogi, and to some extent Rom and Leeta didn't make this task any easier and most episodes that focused on them are utter and complete failures. Quark and Nog on the other hand were much more layered and dignified from the outset and thus their episodes tend to be a lot stronger.
Therefore, Ferengi episodes aren't bad or good per se. As with everything in TV and film it comes down to the writing. However, Ferengi episodes did face one major hurdle that made writing good episodes for them hard. From their very inception the Ferengi were always pretty damn cheesy. I think as an alien culture the writers never really took them very seriously, unlike say the Bajorans, Cardassians or Klingons. The Ferengi were always fair game to be the at the butt-end of all the jokes if you know what I mean - their main traits were greediness, cowardice and being pathetic. Thus they had a built in cringe factor that needed to be overcome for an episode to work. Characters like Zek, Moogi, and to some extent Rom and Leeta didn't make this task any easier and most episodes that focused on them are utter and complete failures. Quark and Nog on the other hand were much more layered and dignified from the outset and thus their episodes tend to be a lot stronger.
I've never seen Profit and Lace. I was working my way through the series and had just finished Season Five when my apartment was robbed and all the DVDs were stolen and I was too disheartened to replace them (but now Christmas is coming around the corner...). Anywho, from what I hear about this, I should be thanking the robber from saving me from watching it.
As far as Ferengi episodes go, I never had a problem with them. I'm generally easy to please and as long as something isn't boring or has absolutely zero redeeming qualities, I won't hate something. And none of the Ferengi episodes I've seen so far has fit that criteria.
Now, the Ferengi as a people are a missed opportunity. They are the epitome of everything I feel is wrong with how races are portrayed in Star Trek. They are a completely homogenious race with no variation. No entire race should be that rigid that people can't act as individuals and if they do, the entire race is offended (in the case of Rom and Nog). If portrayed as a rigid class based society with an intense free market capitalistic approach, it could have been really intriguing to see people like Zek and Brunt at the top, Quark being perfectly in the working class and then people at the very bottom, it would have been really cool. They kind of did that, but if they made them serious and not into comedians, it would have been even better. The concept is pretty cool and if done seriously, they could have been just as cool as the Cardassians and the Bajorans.
What DS9 did best was always dealing with cultures and making them out to be real cultures rather than just taking like a one or two word concept and making every member of that race be like that. They had some points where they Ferengi broke out of this, but they dropped the ball in so many other ways.
As far as Ferengi episodes go, I never had a problem with them. I'm generally easy to please and as long as something isn't boring or has absolutely zero redeeming qualities, I won't hate something. And none of the Ferengi episodes I've seen so far has fit that criteria.
Now, the Ferengi as a people are a missed opportunity. They are the epitome of everything I feel is wrong with how races are portrayed in Star Trek. They are a completely homogenious race with no variation. No entire race should be that rigid that people can't act as individuals and if they do, the entire race is offended (in the case of Rom and Nog). If portrayed as a rigid class based society with an intense free market capitalistic approach, it could have been really intriguing to see people like Zek and Brunt at the top, Quark being perfectly in the working class and then people at the very bottom, it would have been really cool. They kind of did that, but if they made them serious and not into comedians, it would have been even better. The concept is pretty cool and if done seriously, they could have been just as cool as the Cardassians and the Bajorans.
What DS9 did best was always dealing with cultures and making them out to be real cultures rather than just taking like a one or two word concept and making every member of that race be like that. They had some points where they Ferengi broke out of this, but they dropped the ball in so many other ways.
I'm glad they did have them in ds9 although some were boring, most were entertaining.
I loved the ferengi eps always comdic relief.
Season 3 episode Prophet Motive is my second favorite Ferengi episode. My third favorite Ferengi episode is Business As Usual. The rest of the Ferengi episodes I could've lived without. Now the Klingon episodes are a different story. Klingon episodes: Way Of The Warrior, Looking For par'Mach In All The Wrong Places, Rules Of Engagement, Soldiers Of The Empire. I loved all the Klingon episodes. House of Quark is a little of both Ferengi episode and Klingon episode, which is why it's my favorite Ferengi episode. Way Of The Warrior is my favorite Klingon episode.
I like most of the Ferengi episodes. The one with Quark in drag sucked ass though...
That episode was Profit and Lace. That's my 4th favorite Ferengi episode.
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I never really considered 'Little Green Men' or 'House of Quark' to be Ferengi episodes, even though the main character were Ferengi. Id even kind of dispute 'The Magnificent Ferengi'. For me, the ferengi episodes were the ones which actually dealt with ferengi society, not just a group of ferengi, they were the episodes that looked at things a bit more closely. In my opinion, a ferengi episode is an episode is one which contains Zek, with the exception of 'The Dogs of War'. I felt those sucked because they looked at ferengi society a little to closely, and it didnt really stand up well to scrutiny.
The emperors new cloak was bad, but the rest, including "Profit and Lace" were hilarious. I always enjoyed the Ferengi eposides. You knew they were going to be so over the top because the Ferengi as a race was over the top. Oh yea, don't forget "Ferengi love Songs" and "Family Business". Funny as heck.
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