And we’re back to our long put off Retro ReViews! We last left things in Star Trek: The Next Generation at the aggressively mediocre “Code of Honor”, or “The Enterprise Meets Space Wakanda.” Season 1, Episode 4 is better than that, if only for giving us our first look at a new significant alien species. That’s right, it’s our introduction to everyone’s favorite capitalist profit takers, the Ferengi!
By now, almost everyone is probably familiar with the backstory of the Ferengi. How for ST:TNG, the producers wanted new aliens, and expressly forbid conflict with the Romulans or Klingons. Which meant that the show needed a new Big Bad to show up every now and then, and the Ferengi were supposed to fit that role.
Except that they didn’t fare particularly well, and not for lack of trying. The overarching plot of this episode has the Enterprise pursuing a Ferengi vessel which has stolen an energy converter from a Federation outpost. The chase culminates over an outpost of a long-dead civilization where both parties are caught in the same trap – a trap which is foreshadowed through Data’s fascination with Chinese Finger Traps.
In this and the next few encounters, the Ferengi are supposed to be hardcore, nasty villains. But they just come off as wannabes. They’re short, greedy, and so misogynistic that it’s ridiculous. (Seriously. If you’ve forgotten, Ferengi females aren’t allowed to wear clothes. That’s a whole plot thing in this episode, because Yar is not only clothed, but head of security.) Small wonder that they end up becoming little more than comic foils in ST:TNG, redeemed mostly by their portrayal in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
There are a few fun character and backstory building moments in this episode. Riker notes that even in the 24th Century, Starfleet Academy still teaches Sun-Tzu. The Ferengi describe the members of Starfleet thusly: “Their values are perverse! You would not believe the business opportunities they have destroyed!”
Overall, it’s not a terrible episode. Not great, but certainly not worth the criticism it’s gotten over the years. There’s also a great monologue on flag colors (American versus French versus German versus Italian) courtesy of Picard and Data.