The Ferengi are back following their initial appearance in the fourth episode of this series, 'The Last Outpost'. I didn't think they were formidable enemies of the Federation in that story, and that's reinforced here, although their leader DaiMon Bok (Frank Corsentino) had a sinister revenge planned for Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) that he'd been waiting nine years to implement. Apparently, Picard ordered the destruction of a Ferengi vessel when it provoked an attack against the Captain's prior command, The Stargazer. Bok's son was killed during that encounter, with Picard using a first-time offensive maneuver that came to be named after him.
The encounter with the Ferengi this time leads to a bit of bait and switch on the part of DaiMon Bok. Feigning friendship and mutual cooperation, Bok secretly employs a thought device to induce severe headaches in the captain, while simultaneously altering his perception of events nine years ago with an altered voice log that contradicted the historical record of the event. Leave it to Data (Brent Spiner) to uncover the deception, and aid Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in rescuing Picard, now aboard the immobilized Stargazer that the Ferengi discovered floating along in the Xendi Sabu System.
While one obviously expects the Enterprise crew to emerge successful during this encounter with the Ferengi, the surprise for me was when DaiMon Bok's first officer Kazago (Douglas Warhit) removed his boss from command for failure to honor a profit motive in offering the Stargazer to the Enterprise-D. Done off screen, I thought that was a bold maneuver, kind of unprecedented for a pirate-like alien race. I also thought Kazago had the best line of dialog in the story when he responded to Riker's suggestion to help each other - "I'm all ears."
The encounter with the Ferengi this time leads to a bit of bait and switch on the part of DaiMon Bok. Feigning friendship and mutual cooperation, Bok secretly employs a thought device to induce severe headaches in the captain, while simultaneously altering his perception of events nine years ago with an altered voice log that contradicted the historical record of the event. Leave it to Data (Brent Spiner) to uncover the deception, and aid Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in rescuing Picard, now aboard the immobilized Stargazer that the Ferengi discovered floating along in the Xendi Sabu System.
While one obviously expects the Enterprise crew to emerge successful during this encounter with the Ferengi, the surprise for me was when DaiMon Bok's first officer Kazago (Douglas Warhit) removed his boss from command for failure to honor a profit motive in offering the Stargazer to the Enterprise-D. Done off screen, I thought that was a bold maneuver, kind of unprecedented for a pirate-like alien race. I also thought Kazago had the best line of dialog in the story when he responded to Riker's suggestion to help each other - "I'm all ears."