False Profits

DVD, Voyager S3 (False Profits)

Sequels that come so far after the original are a great thing in the Trek universe, helping to bind the series' together and show that all are connected by the name 'Star Trek.' Leaving aside the new film series, deliberately set apart from what came before, the previous torchbearers tried to keep the internal consistency going, even with the last 24th Century-set series, 'Voyager.' And so we come to the first, and one of the very few, Ferengi episodes. Never as good as the best 'DS9' entries in the sub-genre, this nevertheless stands up with the reasonably good ones, perhaps because it's such a rarity to see the Voyager crew dealing with familiar troublemakers of the Alpha Quadrant. We'd already had a Romulan ('Eye of The Needle'), a Klingon (Torres in 'Faces'), and a Vulcan (Tuvok's wife T'Pel in 'Persistence of Vision'), but notwithstanding Quark's appearance in the pilot episode, 'Caretaker,' this was the first Ferengi episode.

Not only did it feature the semi-lovable trolls, but it was a direct sequel to the 'TNG' story 'The Price,' itself not a particularly notable entry into canon, except for the fact that it was the first to name the Delta Quadrant, and anyone who keeps up with the unfolding history and lore of Trek would naturally associate anything to do with the Delta Quadrant (despite the immense size of a quarter of the galaxy!), as potential material for 'Voyager' to deal with. And in this case they didn't shy away from giving us what we wanted. The two Ferengi from the 'TNG' episode have set themselves up as gods on a primitive planet (not quite 'TOS' primitive, but they are pre-warp by a long way), and it's all about how Janeway deals with them.

I was actually surprised how badly the Captain comes off against the Ferengi in this encounter. She doesn't have the excuse that these are unknown quantities from the Delta Quadrant, and even Ensign Kim was 'warned about the Ferengi at the Academy,' so the way she gives ground so easily is quite a surprise. She's usually the one to stand firm and not be talked out of/into anything, but her initial intentions to chuck the offending aliens in the brig is turned around by Arridor's speech. Or maybe I'm doing her an injustice and it's really about her care for the people of Takar and how she realises they couldn't cope with the wrench of their 'gods' being plucked away from them. But it doesn't come across that way - she just scowls at the camera, seemingly beaten, and lets the Ferengi pop back down to their world. It doesn't give the people much credit, but then this is a stereotypical view of 'stupid' religious people that accept anything that comes their way, in the common, and flawed Trek tradition.

The people are shown to be pretty naive and simple folk, then turn into rabid extremists by the end, when they torch their 'Sages' to fulfil the prophetic song. There are no balanced characters to counteract this view of believers, but at least the people are shown to be quite hapless when it comes to the Ferengi culture which they've been forced to embrace. The sandal-maker is the most visible failure in this regard since although the Ferengi have been on the planet for seven years or so, he still doesn't realise he should be exploiting his family for profit. I suspect the Ferengi spent most of their time raking in the local currency rather than being true to their own culture and trying to spread money-making, injustice and the Ferengi way, across the planet. Arridor isn't even a very good Ferengi, having his own Rule of Acquisition which states he can make up any rule he wants. The Grand Nagus would have cut him down to size, had he visited.

My favourite moment is when the well-known icon of the Nagus' staff thumps into view. You could be forgiven for expecting Zek himself to step through the vault door, but instead it's Dr. Farek - sorry, Neelix dressed up as 'The Grand Proxy.' Ethan Phillips famously played the aforementioned Ferengi in a 'TNG' episode, and he probably was given the same headpiece to wear as the makeup people (and every other department), were notable for keeping hold of everything they could in case it was needed again. I just hope that was a stunt version of Zek's cane or the 'DS9' art staff would have some patching up to do! You wouldn't have expected 'Voyager' to contribute to Ferengi lore, and though I don't believe the Grand Proxy was ever heard of again, it's still fun that the Delta Quadrant series added to the Alpha Quadrant mythology when it could.

I was a bit disappointed in Neelix for giving in so easily to Arridor and Kol, though his energetic rolling around to escape the Arthurian swords used in the attack on him was a credit with all that bulky clothing on. I feel that Neelix would be more quick-witted than that, and be able to talk himself out of anything. Then again, these Ferengi seemed to have developed skills beyond what you'd expect, having tasted planet-wide adoration and godhood they probably weren't the usual cowardly variety we see. This explains weak hew-mon, Ensign Murphy's inability to keep them under control. Can we really believe a Starfleet security officer (especially when there seemed to be two of them taking the Ferengi to the brig) would be beaten by a couple of weedy Ferengi? Maybe he underestimated them, or maybe he was a former no-good Maquis member, or maybe it was a bit of both, but he couldn't have gone to the Mess Hall afterwards without getting some flack, I'm sure.

Maybe underestimation was the key. If Janeway had taken it all seriously from the start and put full effort into apprehending these villains she might have dealt with them quicker. Not that the story's badly thought out. Yes, there are some major coincidences regarding the Song of the Sages (which I was expecting to be revealed as a construct of the Ferengi) - it just happens to be about two powerful beings that fall from the sky, and then it just happens to end with a get-out clause of another Sage who comes to take them back which falls happily into line with the crew's original plan to have Neelix decoy the Ferengi off the planet, meaning triumph is created from disaster.

The signs this was to be a story about Ferengi were all there early on if you were paying attention, though I can never be sure if I'd have made the connection or not because I probably saw this before 'The Price' and may even have read about it in the magazine before it came to the UK. But the title (usually associated with Ferengi: 'Profit and Loss,' 'Prophet Motive,' 'Profit and Lace'), the wearing of ears (I so wanted them to all put on Ferengi ears over their own!), and such hints as the salesman, in one of the few scenes of clear Ferengi-isation of the society, admiring Chakotay and Paris' shoes (like Quark in 'In The Cards': "sold… to the man in the good shoes"), or the poet reciting the song for money, were all indications. I thought they missed a trick with the shoes. They should have done it like 'Mission: Impossible 4' when Ethan Hunt walks along without any shoes on, as the humour would have been more pronounced than Paris just saying he had cold feet. A funny moment I liked was Kafar's lack of surprise at the Sages' disappearance right before his eyes. Instead of shock he pops over to the settee to have a lie down! Maybe the Ferengi had occasionally used their transporter to show their power, but for me it was just such a rare opportunity for the lackey to experience some of the luxury he always saw around him.

Rob LaBelle (whom I later knew as the Dr. from Season 2 of 'Smallville') had some fun with his character, especially the relish he puts into banging the gong to summon the villagers for the burning of the Sages. I couldn't decide if he was bitter at them or just glad for the chance at getting rid of them (he certainly enjoyed a superior coming to tell them what to do and immediately rushes to serve him), but he's not shown taking advantage of the people's wealth as might be expected. Once the Sages have gone we see him giving out money to the people. I wonder if he became the new leader and what happened to the government or leading body before the Ferengi landed on the planet? One of the problems with budgeting an episode like this is that it can be difficult to get a crowd together, and this episode suffered a little when we see the same people hanging around the temple by the fires at night. I can understand that maybe they couldn't afford to heat their homes and came for the warmth, but where was the sandal-maker's family if that was the case?

There were a couple of early nitpicks that came to mind in the story: the crew get all excited that there's the signature of a replicator just like the ones in the Alpha Quadrant, but although we know most races don't have replicator technology in the area (as mentioned in the Kazon episodes), they do have beam technology and you'd expect one to come with the other (though 'TOS' didn't have them so maybe it's a big advancement from the transporter). That was just a minor quibble, but I was wondering why they should expect it to be from the Alpha Quadrant when it should be possible for the same signature to have been used elsewhere in the galaxy. I also thought the merchant noted that Chakotay and Paris were new on Takar, but checking back I realised it was new 'in' Takar. The first way wouldn't make sense since they wouldn't have expected a visit from aliens, but the second's odd too - their capital city is called the same as their planet? Do they call their system the Takar system and is it the Takar galaxy, as well? Could be to them…

I'd wager Arridor and Kol weren't very high on anyone's wish list of returning characters (if anyone even remembered them), but the delight is in plugging neatly into the former story and creating a fun episode for this series. They do stray a little too far into the 'TNG' portrayal of the race, but that may be because we don't have the wider Ferengi family to play with that 'DS9' had the luxury of. This is the second episode in a row where Tuvok cites the Prime Directive, but this time he can't help but agree with Janeway's interpretation, dancing logically around the issues as she does. It seems for the Ferengi, Starfleet will do almost anything to foil their greedy exploitations. Which makes me wonder how the series might have played out had the two Ferengi become recurring characters on the ship like the Borg children. At first they'd have been held captive, but later might have been made useful, and could have been an interesting addition to the crew.

The reset button is well pushed though, and destroys all hope of hanging around for seven years until the Barzan Wormhole returns. While it would have meant 'Voyager' lasted for ten seasons, they'd have been pretty boring. Thanks to the actions of the Ferengi both ends are flipping about like a snake with wind. It might have been fun for the pair to appear in 'DS9' having exited in the Gamma Quadrant, but that might have been pushing the character's fame too far. The story could have been an accessible way to bring Voyager home. Grab  the Ferengi, chuck them in the brig and zip through the wormhole. But that side of the story, the possibility of a return, was cut right down. It makes sense after so many false hopes that they wouldn't have concentrated too much belief or hope in the wormhole, but it's almost nonexistent in the episode. At least it ends nicely with (I think), Kafar looking up and saying 'the holy sages are going home.' Neatly done, though there's also slight disappointment that the Doctor's storyline of memory loss wasn't continued from the previous episode.

A couple of faces I felt I recognised, and I'm not surprised as both the sandal-maker and the bard had played several other roles between them in other Trek's!

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