What if the Ferengi remained the main villains of tng

[Yes Man the Great]

Believe it or not the Ferengi were meant to replaced the Klingons, with their capitalistic nature contrasting the more communistic Klingons and Romulans before them, unfortunately they just didn’t work as the main villains, so I wonder what would the franchise be like if Ferengi remained the main baddies, would the Borg and Cardassians still show up, would the Romulans be loyal allies the federation and would Quark, Rom and Nog still be on ds9.

 

[Lord Garth]

I think that would've been disastrous. The Ferengi were impossible to take seriously in "The Last Outpost". In "The Battle", they come across a little bit better but they still seem like second-tier adversaries.

Bringing back the Romulans, who were barely used in TOS, and alluding to an even worse enemy (The Borg) was the best move and I'm glad they made it. "The Neutral Zone" seems as if it was written as a course correction for the main adversaries, moving forward.

 

[Tenacity]

If written differently after Last Outpost I think it could have worked. Would have to make them creditible enemies, the Frengi would have to win occasionally against team Picard to be taken seriously. I don't think the short stature would stand in the way of being menacing opponents.

Just don't have them be jokes.

 

[Reyman]

The Ferengi could have worked.

Change their appearance and make them more cold and calculating like the Vorta. Also the Hypyrian servants could be more like the Ferengis version of the Jem'Hadar.

 

[Yes Man the Great]

I always wondered if Hupyrians were slaves like the Ferengi version of Remans or if they were actually paid in latinum

 

[JesterFace]

Maybe the Ferengi were the baddies all along, only so good at being baddies they never appeared that way.
The Ferengi appeared as a threat that could not be taken seriously while at the same time robbing the Federation of their wealth.
Clever baddies.
Financial baddies.

 

[Finn]

If they had avoided the whole "Yankee Traders" thing, they could have pulled it off.

 

[Lance]

The Ferengi were TNG villains until the end.

People actually forget this.

But the idea that they just kind of became this race of comic relief?

Most of it is from Deep Space Nine.

Within the narrative, the Ferengi remained an actual credible threat to the federation flagship all the way through all of their appearances through TNG.

"Raacals" may be a comically absurd episode, but the threat represented by the Ferengi within the narrative remains powerful, and crucially, the Enterprise crew treat it as such.

 

[Lord Garth]

The Ferengi were TNG villains until the end.

Villains, yes, but not the main villains.

TNG compartmentalized their adversaries.

Need a goofy enemy? Go with the Ferengi.
Need a serious enemy? Go with the Romulans.
Need another serious enemy? Go with the Cardassians.
Need a deadly overwhelming enemy? Go with the Borg.
Need someone to question Humanity? Go with Q.
Wish an ally was still the enemy? Go with a rouge Klingon.
Want to show why the Enterprise crew is the best? Go with rogue Starfleet Officers.
Want to show why Picard's judgment is the best? Have him stand up to a Badmiral.

For every occasion, there's something different.

 

[JesterFace]

Need another serious enemy? Go with the Cardassians.

I never got a feeling that during TNG the Cardassians were really a serious enemy. When they first appeared the Enterprise took out their ship with one shot. And apparently there had been a war going on with them but how serious might have that been? Argument over borders maybe? It was never even mentioned during earlier seasons. It felt like something that was brought up for that particular story in 'The Wounded'.

 

[BillJ]

The Ferengi as the major adversary? The show wouldn't have lasted long, unless they were seriously retooled.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If we're talking Ferengi as we saw them in season 1, it would have been awful.

They could have possibly made capitalistic villains work if they presented a more realistic view of capitalisms that understands both its benefits and its problems. Instead of making them a cartoon about capitalism written by Bernie Sanders, make them more Randian. Like the Ron Swanson people.

 

[at Quark's]

I never got a feeling that during TNG the Cardassians were really a serious enemy. When they first appeared the Enterprise took out their ship with one shot. And apparently there had been a war going on with them but how serious might have that been? Argument over borders maybe? It was never even mentioned during earlier seasons. It felt like something that was brought up for that particular story in 'The Wounded'.

Agreed. To me, the Cardassians in TNG and DS9 (without the Dominion, of course) never "felt" as a more serious threat than that of a second tier power - capable of overwhelming Federation forces within the region on short notice, perhaps, but no match for the Federation should it really decide to commit its full might and resources to such a conflict.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

By the time Cardassians were introduced in TNG the war was over and Picard was in peace keeping mode. Even in CoC they were clearly interested in forcing diplomatic sacrifices more than starting a war.

 

[1001001]

The Ferengi as the major adversary? The show wouldn't have lasted long, unless they were seriously retooled.

There is no escaping The Laser Whip!!

 

[The Overlord]

The Ferengi could have worked.

Change their appearance and make them more cold and calculating like the Vorta. Also the Hypyrian servants could be more like the Ferengis version of the Jem'Hadar.

The Ferengi could have worked if they were sleazy businessmen from the start. Make them a civilization made up of Post Crisis Lex Luthor types.

They should not have been so aggressive from the start, they should be all smiles with knives behind their backs, not just coming in and stealing from the Federation right away, that is showing your hand before you are ready.

The problem is Gene insisted they be pathetic, which undermined any menace they could have had. They should have a powerful military too, not be a bunch of pushovers like they were in DS9. The British Empire was based on trade and they had a powerful navy to back them up.

 

[JesterFace]

There is no escaping The Laser Whip!!
View attachment 13149

The accuracy of those whips must be amazing, just point and shoot.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

As i said in the other Ferengi thread:

"To break a lance for "The Last Outpost", ignoring the goofy and actually stupid way the Ferengi landing party was portayed as consisting of braindead imbecils, i really liked the Ferengi DaiMon that appeared in this episode.

He really behaved like a member of an alien species, with a different mindset, culture, customs and traditions and another unfamiliar philosophy.

Something that was lost later on when the Ferengi just became a parody for capitalistic business people.

Say what you want, but if they didn't mess up the scenes on the planet, the Ferengi could have had a lot of potential for being a serious and interesting species and a good adversary for the Federation."

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/if-...ferengi-eating-their-busines-partners.302610/

 

[Timo]

Of course, the adorable little villainlets are pardoned for having an off day in "The Last Outpost": they are being torn to pieces by the noises on that planet. Imagine an itch that you can't scratch - inside your ear - and then stop imagining that and instead imagine a gnome pushing a rotavator back and forth in there... You'd jump up and down a lot, too!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SiddFinch1]

If you beef up.their ships and have episodes where they compete by furnishing low tech world.with tech where the Feds don't due to the prime directive. If you really want to make it interesting have the Ferengi sometimes help the "good guys" if they have the money where the Feds would not interfere to have moral.ambiguity

 

[Shawnster]

Believe it or not the Ferengi were meant to replaced the Klingons, with their capitalistic nature contrasting the more communistic Klingons and Romulans before them,

I'm not disagreeing with your assessment, because it is consistent with the way the show was presented... but the Klingons and Romulans were never portrayed as communistic.

The whole Yankee Trader aspect seriously hindered the Ferengi. The miserly, money grubbing, capitalistic trappings only served as comedic.

Despite them always being the villain, the Ferengi were never presented seriously in TNG. There was always some goofy, comedic element, even if unintentional. And I don't think the teeth prosthetic helped. They all talked like they had a mouth full of plastic.

 

[jmidnight_99]

Believe it or not the Ferengi were meant to replaced the Klingons, with their capitalistic nature contrasting the more communistic Klingons and Romulans before them, unfortunately they just didn’t work as the main villains, so I wonder what would the franchise be like if Ferengi remained the main baddies, would the Borg and Cardassians still show up, would the Romulans be loyal allies the federation and would Quark, Rom and Nog still be on ds9.

capitalistic? communistic?

The Klingons never seemed like communists to me; I don't know where this comes from... And the Ferengi don't seem like capitalists to me... well maybe the globalist "capitalists" that currently run the banks, media, health care systems and the legal system, and want to spread that across the globe.