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Episode
100
The Last Outpost
The Enterprise is chasing a Ferengi vessel. What is a Ferengi? Exactly. Small and scheming or big and bad? Find out when we put The Last Outpost in the Mission Log.
As seen in Dec 87 ( Issue 59) of The Official Fan Club Magazine –
surprised there aren’t any Tom Hardy/Stargazer series pitches.
laser whips…lol
And… we get to hear Ken practicing for his cheerleading career in the beginning of this podcast. 😉
Angela who, now?
The Ferengi. Oh my. Such a misfire, not about creating a new species itself, but in creating a potential replacement threat now that the Klingons have been defanged. I am reminded of an anecdote about the making of Roger Corman’s “classic” scifi movie It Conquered the World. The FX guy had created the cucumber-like Venusian monster costume, thinking that a creature from a high-gravity world would be short and squat. Then one of the actresses saw the monster, walked up to it, said, “Gonna try and take over my world, huh?” – and promptly kicked it over. Lesson Du Jour: credible alien threats should be at least our height. Unless they’re spiders. Spiders win all arguments no matter their size.
In a backhanded way, it’s a good thing this intro of the Ferengi was so atrocious – if the Ferengi had been more successful as replacements for the Klingons, we might never have had all the great Klingon episodes that followed over the years.
Speaking of Klingons – I have to wonder if they are indirectly referenced in Data’s confession about how humans have allowed terrible things to happen to other civilizations. Not to the Klingons themselves, but to any and all races who are subject to the Klingon Empire. It is interesting to note that Kirk mentioned to the Organians how Klingons treat conquered planets, that they are organized into vast slave labour camps. So the Klingons are brutal conquerors, tyrants and jack-booted butchers, and the Federation’s best buddies. We can only assume the Federation has chosen to turn a blind eye to the plight of these slave races, because it is politically expedient for them to do so…?
I could be wrong, but I don’t think there is ever any mention, direct or indirect, about the conquered races of the Klingon Empire in all of Trek. (Rurapente doesn’t count, since that is a prison for criminals, and not indicative of standard imperial policy toward subject races). I can understand why the writers would avoid the subject like plague, since we would cease to sympathize with Klingons if we show too dark a side to their habits, and we wouldn’t want that, ‘cuz Klingons are just too damn much fun. So I like Klingons as much as the next guy, but I can’t help but to ponder that skeleton in their closet.
Am I wrong? Did we ever see or hear of these poor, benighted people whom the Federation has so casually brushed off as not worth thinking about?
The Ferengi really remind me of the “futurekind” who chase around the last humans at the end of the universe in Doctor Who. From the pointy teeth to the “oooooman.”