Just watching this again as it's referenced in the new game "Star Trek Resurgence"
This week in ill-conceived ideas: Ferengi as a primary antagonist!
Not a very enthralling story or good episode but in my search to expose my girlfriend to Star Trek and slowly build an understanding of it’s societal ideals and Picards great captaincy (without showing her every episode), I found it 6.5/10 useful.
Would recommend :thumbsup_tone3:
[4.0/10] When watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid, I had no idea how much the early seasons of the show were indebted to The Original Series. The writers deliberately avoided explicit connections to the adventures of Kirk and Spock (save for Dr. McCoy’s cameo and the “Naked Time” sequel episode), but the rhythms and tropes of the 1966 series are still firmly present in these initial episodes. Unfortunately, that does the new show few favors.
The sense of a seemingly technologically superior ship you have to problem-solve your way around is reminiscent of “The Corbomite Maneuver”. A conflict with an unseen alien race whose appearance is only revealed later in the episode calls to mind “Balance of Terror”. And the combination of a defunct ancient civilization with technology or power that makes them godlike, just in time to judge humanity and his counterparts for their barbarism or high-mindedness, is a trope that Gene Roddenberry returned to again and again and again.
None of that’s the problem here (thought it does make the ending in particular feel passe to anyone steeped in the older version of Star Trek). The issue is that “The Last Outpost” adopts too much of the vibe of TNG’s predecessor. It stretches out half an hour’s worth of incident to full episode length. It’s full of cartoony characters and exaggerated speeches about this and that. Worst of all, it drags and drags and drags. The best episodes of TOS avoided those pitfalls, and even when they didn’t, it was more excusable as a product of its time, but the balance of the material here is some combination of dull and embarrassing.
Nowhere does that stand out more than with the Ferengi. Honestly, I wonder how this episode plays to someone who hasn’t seen the Ferengi developed as a civilization in the scores of Star Trek installments that followed this one (most notably, Deep Space 9). I imagine there’s the possibility that the show was able to wring some genuine tension in the first half of its runtime, when all Picard and company know is that there’s some unseen, unknown group of “yankee traders” who seem to have the Enterprise by the shorthairs and can’t seem to be reasoned with.
But it’s hard, coming to this episode decades later with the knowledge of the complicated, oft-clownish, but even at their best non-threatening personality that the Ferengi took on in later seasons and serieses. Rumor has it that the creative team behind TNG wanted these large-lobed antagonists to become the signature villains in the series, and it’s hard to square their ominous introduction here with their later, less-than-imposing depiction.
Even taking them at face value though, it’s not hard to see why contemporary fans both laughed and recoiled at the new antagonists to the point that the franchise had to retool them. First and foremost, they play as antisemitic stereotypes with their exaggerated features and obsession with gold and profit. Star Trek would, in its way, address this and add depth there, but it’s still more than a little uncomfortable at the start here.
Regardless, if you could somehow extricate that from the Ferengi in “The Last Outpost”, they would still be utterly ridiculous. They pronounce everything with an exaggerated snarl and call our heroes “hyoo-mahns.” They attack the good guys with their silly dildo whips. They flail their arms around and cavort about with an absurd effort at alien patois. This is fourth grade play-level villainy, and their presence isn’t nearly as scary as it is cringeworthy.
Still, there’s times where I’d take cringeworthy over boring. “The Last Outpost” does its best to employ the ticking clock that was also a trademark of The Original Series. While Riker and company are engaging with the Ferengi and the Tkon down on the planet, the Enterprise is running out of power and crew members and passengers alike are slowly freezing to death. But this largely feels like perfunctory false jeopardy. Likewise, the show spends a lot of time talking about what the Enterprise should or might or may do in response to the Ferengi or the planetary threat, but not nearly as much time actually doing it.
The best thing to say about this episode is that there’s some interesting stabs at diplomacy. Early Picard is still kind of a dick, but there is, at a minimum, something compelling about him trying to deal with an accusatory, profit-centered group of baddies who have something he wants, and going to his senior staff to try to determine how to protect his crew and fulfill his mission at the same time.
Likewise, the cleverest twist in the episode is the reveal that while the Enterprise thinks it’s being stifled by the Ferengi ship, they’re both being held and neutralized by a common third party, which Picard uses to his advantage for the moment. There’s even some solid efforts at diplomacy when he proposes a joint mission between Starfleet and the Ferengi to investigate the mysterious force that’s holding them in place.
But from there, it’s just another unimaginative “godlike race judges mankind and the enemies it’s feuding with” episode from the franchise. There’s nothing compelling about the Emperor Palpatine wannabe from the Tkon Empire who challenges our heroes, and the less said about the various Ferengi antics that take place while he’s rendering judgment and testing Riker’s interpretation of Sun Tzu, the better. I can forgive the cheesy set and even the caricatured, laughable presence of the Ferengi down on the planet. What I can’t forgive is the dull as dishwater approach to the conflict and resolution here which would leave even devoted fans checking their watches.
I come to The Next Generation with affection, for the show it eventually became and the characters it eventually crafted. But returning to these shaky initial outings, you can not only see the series still trying to find its own voice, but also the ways in which it was still taking its cues from the show that came before, whether that approach worked twenty years later or not. Eventually, TNG would grow into its own independent, worthwhile project, but in episodes like “The Last Outpost”, it scans like a recapitulation of its predecessor’s worst impulses.
This episode is not very good. The only part really worth mentioning is Data's finger puzzle—but that scene is supremely rewatchable, even if it doesn't make sense that Data can't just instantly figure out the solution by searching his vast memory. Most of the plot is a disjointed mess, with sledgehammer philosophy tacked on at the end. What else is there to say about the writing? It's just… weak.
This episode introduced a constellation of continuity issues. Beverly calls Picard "Jean", which no one ever calls him again (always "Jean-Luc" from here on). The Ferengi never carry plasma whips again, that I can remember. Troi claims to sense nothing from the Ferengi ship, then later claims to have read them—while later, it's established that Betazoids cannot read Ferengi emotions, ever.
Meh. Even Armin Shimerman couldn't save it. It's no wonder that Star Trek production staff and talent from Ira Steven Behr to Wil Wheaton have referred to the Ferengi as introduced in this episode as "a disaster", "probably the lamest enemy ever introduced in the history of television." Those ridiculous hand contortions we see from the Ferengi in a few shots don't help either. But at least the Ferengi makeup was refined away from the pointed chins and ears that came up in early concept art…
That's a mediocre yet very classical story. A seemingly technological overpowered enemy. An unknown race. The Enterprise dead in space. The officers explore several plans. Diplomacy to attack? To the surprise of nobody both ships share a common fate. Let's not talk about this gatekeeper guy. That's from a TOS script, right? It can only be a parody or something.
The story is perhaps interesting because you learn more about Picard's great leadership skills. It's also exciting (if I watched it the first time) to encounter a totally different and intriguing species. From later episodes and DS9 you learn more about the Ferengi. I always thought that their economy, culture, society and even their outward appearance is fascinating. I like them. That's why I don't like the portray of the Ferengis here. They are violent savages. It's not exactly believable that these savages build this ship and a huge and powerful alliance. Don't know whether they were designed to be the prime nemesis in TNG, but I'm glad they didn't follow through with this version of Ferengis. Gosh those laser whips!
+1 point for one of the greatest Data memes. It's also the moment when you realize that Data will actually have come a long way when the show will have ended in seven years time. He is still super android back then. Not all characters on this show grow but Data definitely will.
When the Ferengi stunned the away team, they put Riker's head almost directly on top of Geordi's crotch. Lmao
I'm a bit surprised that the weirdo Jerry didn't include in his 'content conerns' the fact that Picard said the French equivalent of shit. I guess he's not worldly enough to recognize it.
Eh, calling him a weirdo is probably too mean. His comments are honestly hilarious. Great comedy. Talk of unclothed female aliens?! Goodness gracious!
Interesting to see the start of Worf’s disdain of Ferengi after watching DS9. Did not like these ferengi myself they were depicted as too barbaric from what I know. Like what was with the movements they had. Very primate like. I think the episode spent too much time in the ship thinking the ferengi were the enemies. Should have been on the planet and the riddle was too easy. Anti climatic
An exciting and fun space opera.
Content Concerns: One usage each of the d-word and h-word; scary looking aliens; a scene or two of violence; talk of female aliens being unclothed; freaky visuals at times.
Shout by ShoMokBlockedParent2023-12-14T23:46:13Z
A better episode thus far. Besides the annoying fidgeting Ferengi. Armin Shimerman shout out!