In ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ the Ferengi were introduced—a new TNG race/villain, perhaps to replace the overused Klingons and Romulans—in passing and made to sound both threatening and mysterious.
In ‘The Last Outpost’ we are set up to encounter them in media res, but the episode, like the last couple, has too many ideas to fully explore in one episode.
And that’s without evening mentioning how silly the Ferengi are when we finally meet them.
Back to a summary: we find the Enterprise in pursuit of a Ferengi ship suspected of ‘stealing’ a piece of Federation technology. As the ships approach a planet, the Ferengi ship seems to fire on the Enterprise, and the Enterprise is rendered powerless and defensless. Eventually surrender negotiations are opened with the as-of-yet-unseen Ferengi and over the course of the latter part of the episode it is discovered that the planet below is now all it seems.
I like:
- … that we’re starting sort of in the middle of the story, the Enterprise in pursuit
- … that we are kept from the Ferengi for so long, that they are treated as mysterious
- … that we have a follow-up on previous episodes
I don’t like:
- … the let down that is actually meeting the Ferengi
- … the one-too-many-times-to-the-well treatment of ‘Yankee Trader’ (see also: an obscure Earth language, French; a Chinese dynasty, certain Native American tribes, and all the other bad things from the Space Blacks)
- … the very 60s-looking set on the planet
- … the little time dedicated to the dude on the planet
Other thoughts:
- … oh, look how hard those Ferengi are acting! They’re little monkeys pantomiming away in the background while Riker stands stoically, while Worf glowers, while Data suffers from glossy jaundice.
- … I wanted to know ‘more’ in a sense about that Guardian … he was Riker’s new best friend!
- … you know, Troi did say, “Hey y’all, perhaps that ship isn’t causing our problems … we haven’t looked at the planet yet!” and then they ignore that for another ten minutes until the story has to move along again. There’s ‘subtle,’ and then there’s the 1st season of TNG.
What I also like about this episode is that it places the Federation and other things—the ‘Star Trek Universe,’ so to speak—in a greater context, in a space opera realm of sorts where there are long-dead civilizations, and things that are quite alien, not just analogs of human cultures (though once they’re introduced the Ferengi become a bit one-note). It’s a ‘bigger’ world than that of TOS.
It seems / seemed for a while that the Ferengi could be the new Klingons/Romulans, but TNG has to wait, really, until first the Borg and then the Kardashians Cardassians until a serious rival to and antagonist for the Federation shows up. There are just so many dropped-balls in the first couple seasons (think of the mouth-infiltrating brain bugs a ways down the road).
Links:
- The Last Outpost (Wikipedia)
- The Last Outpost (Memory Alpha – the Star Trek wiki)
- The Last Outpost (A.V. Club)
