I know a lot of the fans hate a lot of the Ferengi epiodes. I know one of them is just aweful (Quark cross dressing episode ahem..) but I was wondering why so many dislike them as a whole...
Why the hate of the Ferengi Episodes?
- Thread starter Distorted Humor
- Start date
Trek has always had difficulty with comedies. There have been some very notable exceptions, but generally speaking, Trek is at it's best when dealing with serious issues and allegories.
Now in the run of the series, the Ferengi eps didn't outright bother me, and they were an occasionally nice change of pace, but having the series on DVD, unless I'm watching through every ep in order, I'll tend to skip them as they were often too inconsequential to warrant me choosing one, and the comedy just isn't that funny. I adore Quark and Nog, and to a degree Rom, but I get more out of them as part of the ensemble than when episodes focus directly on them.
Now in the run of the series, the Ferengi eps didn't outright bother me, and they were an occasionally nice change of pace, but having the series on DVD, unless I'm watching through every ep in order, I'll tend to skip them as they were often too inconsequential to warrant me choosing one, and the comedy just isn't that funny. I adore Quark and Nog, and to a degree Rom, but I get more out of them as part of the ensemble than when episodes focus directly on them.
I liked the Ferengi episodes at first, but they did get sillier and sillier as the series progressed. It's like they ran out of ideas for the Ferengi and reduced them to comic relief. Some of them were quite memorable though. One of my favorites is the one where a group of Ferengi had killed a Vorta, then tried to reanimate him. Then again, Iggy Pop was in that episode so that raised my interest level. 
I think the whole story with Moogie and the Grand Nagus was one of the most rediculous though.
I think the whole story with Moogie and the Grand Nagus was one of the most rediculous though.I love the Ferengi episodes, they're hilarious!
Yeah I actually find the Ferengi episodes to be quite funny. I never understood why people hate them so much (save for Profit and Lace). I think that the series as a whole would not be the same without them. This is one of the reasons I think DS9 is the best, they were good at both drama and comedy when it came to it.
People dislike the Ferengi? Quark was one of the best characters on the show.
And "House of Quark" and "Little Green Men" are both great episodes.
Although, in general, I find the Ferengi funniest when they're interacting with other species--like with the Klingons in "House of Quark."
The all-Ferengi episodes can get a bit wearing.
And "House of Quark" and "Little Green Men" are both great episodes.
Although, in general, I find the Ferengi funniest when they're interacting with other species--like with the Klingons in "House of Quark."
The all-Ferengi episodes can get a bit wearing.
I don't agree with this at all. For one, we only got a limited view of Ferengi culture. Saying that all Ferengi are greedy opportunists is like saying all Americans are bigoted republicans. And it was illustrated in later seasons that Rom and Nog were very different from the mainstream Ferengi society.
A-HEM!!!
On the main topic...I loved the Ferengi eps--particularly "Prophet Motive" and "The Magnificent Ferengi". As an earlier poster noted, they gave some nice "relief" to the intense nature of the series. And one in particular--"Rules of Aquisition"--really set the stage for the direction of the rest of the show....
If there's one thing I'm learning as I get older, it's that no mater what the topic or where the location, there are cold, humorless people everywhere.
And apparently some of them watch Deep Space Nine.
DS9 Ferengi episodes were always a mixed bag for me – some worked and some didn’t. Those that did:
“The Nagus”
“Rules of Acquisition”
“Little Green Men”
“Body Parts”
“Business as Usual”
“The Magnificent Ferengi”
The above episodes were as a rule generally well-written and/or funny, and in the case of “The Magnificent Ferengi”, not entirely logical but a hell of a fun episode watching Quark and company take on the Dominion. The X-Files fan in me thought “Little Green Men” was great. IMO, these episodes also fleshed out the Ferengi characters we knew and the species as a whole, as they were a joke on TNG.
Unfortunately, often Ferengi episodes fell back on lame clichés, predictable plots and bad humor, as seen in these episodes:
“Prophet Motive”
“Family Business”
“Ferengi Love Songs”
“Profit and Lace” double and double 
thrown in for good measure
“The Emperor’s New Cloak”
I’ll be honest and say that I can’t stand Moooooooogie and frankly the thought of her and Zek (who got more annoying with every appearance) makes my skin crawl. Of course the worst of these is “Profit and Lace” which combined cross-dressing (which has only ever been funny in Mrs. Doubtfire), lame jokes and the horrific mental image of Quark as a woman to make possibly the worst DS9 episode ever (only OK part is the beginning with Worf’s reply to Quark and Rom’s worries that the Dominion has invaded Ferenginar). Not even the wonderful Mr. Coombs could save this one.
“The Nagus”
“Rules of Acquisition”
“Little Green Men”
“Body Parts”
“Business as Usual”
“The Magnificent Ferengi”
The above episodes were as a rule generally well-written and/or funny, and in the case of “The Magnificent Ferengi”, not entirely logical but a hell of a fun episode watching Quark and company take on the Dominion. The X-Files fan in me thought “Little Green Men” was great. IMO, these episodes also fleshed out the Ferengi characters we knew and the species as a whole, as they were a joke on TNG.
Unfortunately, often Ferengi episodes fell back on lame clichés, predictable plots and bad humor, as seen in these episodes:
“Prophet Motive”
“Family Business”
“Ferengi Love Songs”
“Profit and Lace” double
and double thrown in for good measure“The Emperor’s New Cloak”
I’ll be honest and say that I can’t stand Moooooooogie and frankly the thought of her and Zek (who got more annoying with every appearance) makes my skin crawl. Of course the worst of these is “Profit and Lace” which combined cross-dressing (which has only ever been funny in Mrs. Doubtfire), lame jokes and the horrific mental image of Quark as a woman to make possibly the worst DS9 episode ever (only OK part is the beginning with Worf’s reply to Quark and Rom’s worries that the Dominion has invaded Ferenginar). Not even the wonderful Mr. Coombs could save this one.
"Profit and Lace" is among the worst episodes of the series. If it wasn't a Ferengi cross-dressing/having gender reassignment surgery, it would still be one of the worst episodes.
I don't mind them and when watching the original run back in the '90s, I didn't mind them either. Strangely, I could watch "Profit and Lace" all through (and believe me, it was quite a challenge), yet I turned off "Ferengi Love Songs" for 15-30 minutes. Back then and with syndication/cable filling in the gaps, I've seen all but a dozen episodes of the modern era of Star Trek or so and this was the only one I could not sit through.
As noted, Ferengi episodes devolved into comedies as the series went on. I consider "Ferengi Love Songs" the turning point. Most Ferengi episodes after it just sucked. There's a fine line when doing comedies in serious shows. X-Files did it well early on, then they crossed the line at "Small Potatoes" & "Post-Modern Prometheus", culminating in the pile of crap known as (parts of) Season 7. Keeping from going too overt is key. They get laughs at the time, but when people look back on them, they cringe (except for PMP, which has a fan base).
Good: "War of the Coprophages", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (and "Humbug" I've heard)
Bad: those 2 eps + "Fight Club", "Je 'Souhaite", "Hollywood AD", "Dreamland" (a 2 parter no less!)
They're polarizing because some people hate the Ferengi, some feel it takes away from more serious stories can be told (umm... Star Trek had 26 episode seasons back then. Most shows then were 22-24 eps, now they're 20-22 eps. We were fortunate to get that many eps every season and 2-3/26 episodes isn't bad. 2-3/20 episodes can be a problem though). They aren't all outright comedies, but some are light-hearted or don't take themselves quite as serious as regular eps. Quark was the King of the B-plot, filling the B-story of several episodes to give the characters not used in the A-story some screen time, and sometimes an episode flipped on its head came along, a B-story is the dominant one (Quark's) and the rest of the cast are as minor as Quark is in most eps. (Quark is a really strange character when you think about it)
I think someone mentioned here that in an interview, one of the DS9 writers noted only the hardcore fans hated Ferengi episodes, casual viewers and loyal viewers who weren't so zealous to be hardcore fans loved the episodes or felt the episodes were fine.
Back in 1994, Odo & Quark were the 2 most popular characters on DS9, so the hate is a relative thing.
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"Rules of Acquisition" really seems to offend some people that it was the 1st mention of the Dominion. Zek can be polarizing. Some people hate his cartoonish voice (the actor did voice cartoons a lot. He can be mostly widely recognized in the voice of the red-headed adversary of Stewie on Family Guy).
"The Magnificent Ferengi" was liked back then and for years after. Some hate it along with anything Ferengi, but the idea people liked about it was the Ferengi trying to figure out a way to take on the Dominion. Their guile is their only real weapon. And yes, it did attract some attention for the Iggy Pop appearance (even though its ratings were average).
As for "The Emperor's New Cloak", it was a very lousy way to end the Mirror Universe story, and was filled with WTFs (cloaking devices when they already had 'em, Vic Fontaine is real, etc), but I think their rationale for making it as it was, was the MU is the inverse of the STU and with the war making the tone of DS9 a lot darker, the inverse of that would be making things lighter, thus a bizarro MU ep.
"Little Green Men" was a parody of X-Files, which was starting to get huge in 1995. It's also the only DS9 ep to share a title with an X-Files ep (from 1994) at the time ("Improbable Cause", "The Ascent" & "The Adversary" [Anasazi] come close). DS9 had "Chimera" in 1999, X-Files would have a "Chimera" in 2000.
"The House of Quark" & "Prophet Motive" are basically Klingon & Bajoran/Prophet culture shock when they deal with the Ferengi. People really hate the latter, though I like it. The Prophets' disgust with the Ferengi is funny.
"The Nagus", "Rivals" were generally considered weak episodes or hated.
"Profit and Loss", "Looking for Par'mach...", "Business as Usual" are more hit or miss. Some people like them, some people don't.
"Family Business" seems to be a litmus test for like of Ferengi episodes. Those who like it tend to like Ferengi eps, those who dislike it tend to hate Ferengi eps.
"Bar Association", people seem to generally like this one.
"Body Parts". I remember waaaaaaay back when, some people found the concept creepy/disturbing and avoided it, but it's not that bad (and it seems to be one of the more overlooked Ferengi/Quark episodes).
"Ferengi Love Songs" is hated, but with "Let He Who is Without Sin..." as a hate magnet on worst of the season lists, it can hide in that ep's shadow.
I don't mind them and when watching the original run back in the '90s, I didn't mind them either. Strangely, I could watch "Profit and Lace" all through (and believe me, it was quite a challenge), yet I turned off "Ferengi Love Songs" for 15-30 minutes. Back then and with syndication/cable filling in the gaps, I've seen all but a dozen episodes of the modern era of Star Trek or so and this was the only one I could not sit through.
As noted, Ferengi episodes devolved into comedies as the series went on. I consider "Ferengi Love Songs" the turning point. Most Ferengi episodes after it just sucked. There's a fine line when doing comedies in serious shows. X-Files did it well early on, then they crossed the line at "Small Potatoes" & "Post-Modern Prometheus", culminating in the pile of crap known as (parts of) Season 7. Keeping from going too overt is key. They get laughs at the time, but when people look back on them, they cringe (except for PMP, which has a fan base).
Good: "War of the Coprophages", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (and "Humbug" I've heard)
Bad: those 2 eps + "Fight Club", "Je 'Souhaite", "Hollywood AD", "Dreamland" (a 2 parter no less!)
They're polarizing because some people hate the Ferengi, some feel it takes away from more serious stories can be told (umm... Star Trek had 26 episode seasons back then. Most shows then were 22-24 eps, now they're 20-22 eps. We were fortunate to get that many eps every season and 2-3/26 episodes isn't bad. 2-3/20 episodes can be a problem though). They aren't all outright comedies, but some are light-hearted or don't take themselves quite as serious as regular eps. Quark was the King of the B-plot, filling the B-story of several episodes to give the characters not used in the A-story some screen time, and sometimes an episode flipped on its head came along, a B-story is the dominant one (Quark's) and the rest of the cast are as minor as Quark is in most eps. (Quark is a really strange character when you think about it)
I think someone mentioned here that in an interview, one of the DS9 writers noted only the hardcore fans hated Ferengi episodes, casual viewers and loyal viewers who weren't so zealous to be hardcore fans loved the episodes or felt the episodes were fine.
Back in 1994, Odo & Quark were the 2 most popular characters on DS9, so the hate is a relative thing.
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"Rules of Acquisition" really seems to offend some people that it was the 1st mention of the Dominion. Zek can be polarizing. Some people hate his cartoonish voice (the actor did voice cartoons a lot. He can be mostly widely recognized in the voice of the red-headed adversary of Stewie on Family Guy).
"The Magnificent Ferengi" was liked back then and for years after. Some hate it along with anything Ferengi, but the idea people liked about it was the Ferengi trying to figure out a way to take on the Dominion. Their guile is their only real weapon. And yes, it did attract some attention for the Iggy Pop appearance (even though its ratings were average).
As for "The Emperor's New Cloak", it was a very lousy way to end the Mirror Universe story, and was filled with WTFs (cloaking devices when they already had 'em, Vic Fontaine is real, etc), but I think their rationale for making it as it was, was the MU is the inverse of the STU and with the war making the tone of DS9 a lot darker, the inverse of that would be making things lighter, thus a bizarro MU ep.
"Little Green Men" was a parody of X-Files, which was starting to get huge in 1995. It's also the only DS9 ep to share a title with an X-Files ep (from 1994) at the time ("Improbable Cause", "The Ascent" & "The Adversary" [Anasazi] come close). DS9 had "Chimera" in 1999, X-Files would have a "Chimera" in 2000.
"The House of Quark" & "Prophet Motive" are basically Klingon & Bajoran/Prophet culture shock when they deal with the Ferengi. People really hate the latter, though I like it. The Prophets' disgust with the Ferengi is funny.
"The Nagus", "Rivals" were generally considered weak episodes or hated.
"Profit and Loss", "Looking for Par'mach...", "Business as Usual" are more hit or miss. Some people like them, some people don't.
"Family Business" seems to be a litmus test for like of Ferengi episodes. Those who like it tend to like Ferengi eps, those who dislike it tend to hate Ferengi eps.
"Bar Association", people seem to generally like this one.
"Body Parts". I remember waaaaaaay back when, some people found the concept creepy/disturbing and avoided it, but it's not that bad (and it seems to be one of the more overlooked Ferengi/Quark episodes).
"Ferengi Love Songs" is hated, but with "Let He Who is Without Sin..." as a hate magnet on worst of the season lists, it can hide in that ep's shadow.
I always enjoyed the Ferengi stuff, the only thing that really really bothered me was how "special" Quark and Rom seemed to be - the Nagus should have just shown up a couple of times at most, it got to the point he became a regular, and worse still his character mellowed too much from the greedy, dominating dictator portrayed in his first appearance.
^ I totally agree on Family Business being the litmus test to determine whether you're a Ferengeek or not.
Personally, I love all the Ferengi episodes apart from Profit and Lace. They are usually very well-written and endlessly quotable. The wife and I use "It's like talking to a Klingon" and "And you failed! MI-SE-RA-BLEE!" wherever and whenever we can.
Personally, I love all the Ferengi episodes apart from Profit and Lace. They are usually very well-written and endlessly quotable. The wife and I use "It's like talking to a Klingon" and "And you failed! MI-SE-RA-BLEE!" wherever and whenever we can.
I enjoyed that episode as well. I liked seeing more Nog, and more Empok Nor, and the Vortas get their heads handed to them, and Quark wheeling and dealing, et al, so I think overall it was a great episode!
I can see why people hate some of the Ferengi episodes - like Profit and Lace. But, taken as a whole, I enjoyed them.
It is true that Trek often struggles with comedy. But, when it is good, it's very good. And, it's ironic that one of Trek's shining moments in terms of comedy is a Ferengi episode - The Magnificent Ferengi.
It is true that Trek often struggles with comedy. But, when it is good, it's very good. And, it's ironic that one of Trek's shining moments in terms of comedy is a Ferengi episode - The Magnificent Ferengi.
I didn't hate the Ferengi, I hated Rom.
My only real problem with the Ferengi episodes is that they got incredibly stupid towards the end - it's rather fitting in retrospect that Rom ended up as Grand Nagus.
I thought episodes like Business as Usual and Bar Association were excellent and a good ways to use the Ferengi to do episodes that had a bit more meat to them.
It's a pity then that they went down the slapstick route. Quark in particular has a very shady background that was never really explored.
I thought episodes like Business as Usual and Bar Association were excellent and a good ways to use the Ferengi to do episodes that had a bit more meat to them.
It's a pity then that they went down the slapstick route. Quark in particular has a very shady background that was never really explored.
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