"The Last Outpost" (Episode 4, Season 1, Air Date 10/19/87, Stardate 41386.4) introduces the Ferengi, reflects on parts of human history, and praises human intellectual history with such examples as Sun Tzu ('The Art of War'). As I started to re-watch this episode I initially thought "ugh, this one." Though I actually found it more filled with imagination than I had remembered.
In the episode Enterprise pursues the Ferengi with hopes of reclaiming stolen technology and learning more about the Ferengi civilization. Enterprise and the Ferengi get suddenly immobilized by force fields extending from a nearby planet, which is the last remains of an extinct empire (called Tkon).
The Tkon empire had trillions in its population, spanned many planets and stars, had the power to move stars, and used planets as defensive outposts. It was completely wiped out by a supernova, though. The last planetary outpost of the empire gathers energy and acts as a power accumulator. It can also summon a sleeping guardian (referred to as Portal) from an older age of the empire to accept petitions to enter the empire and test applicants for their worthiness.
Throughout the episode the plot has other interesting gems that would not come across in a typical reporting of the plot:
(1) The Ferengi can somehow shield their thoughts and emotions from Deanna. They also distort their images from their ship (but we never find out how).
(2) Picard and his crew reflect on the meaning of flag colors. They comment on the competition between countries in the past, but Picard seems to still have some of that nationalism leftover from earlier periods of history. He thinks France has the flag color of red, white and blue in the proper order (blue, white, red). I thought we left such divisive thoughts behind us!
(3) Geordi uses a little Newtonian physics to explain the way the force field immobilizes Enterprise. It isn't a constant force, for as Enterprise tries to move, the force field pushes back with an equal push back.
(4) Data cannot get out of a simple Chinese finger puzzle (or finger trap). You'd think his advanced reasoning would try a few more possibilities. Data also works on his slang ('it's nothing to write home about') in his continuing quest to mimic human oddities.
I think science fiction should be as imaginative as this episode more often. As we imagine new cultures and new civilizations, we will no doubt find differences in values and in viewpoints about the definition of a civilization. The Ferengi find many human customs barbaric, and humans compare the Ferengi to the worst sort of capitalists in our own history; the sort of traders that stress the condition of 'let the buyer beware' in business dealings. But the Ferengi are at a similar level of technological advancement as the Federation (so they've done something expertly).
Usually new creations and inventive new aliens in SF and fantasy are only superficially different in manifest physical characteristics and then just reflect human values in fundamentals of cultural and moral beliefs.
The Ferengi succeed in being different in their ideas and values: their women wear no clothing and don't work, they don't like to communicate visually from ship to ship, they never adorn gold in wasteful ways, and they value commerce and modernization of lesser civilizations over the prime directive. But they don't have much curiosity in new ideas, and that hurts their image severely in this episode. How did they get so advanced then?
Riker and his team battle against the Ferengi and both sides try to convince the Portal to release their ships. We discover a bit about the Ferengi, but the Portal is impressed with human culture and thought. Apparently the Portal guardian studied human thought when it examined the computer library on Enterprise, but in any case it considers the Ferengi as closed minded compared to Riker's interesting thoughts about Sun Tzu ('Know your enemy and know your self, and you will always be victorious').
And to think that the intention of the Ferengi was to make them new bad guys! (1) Capitalists are the ultimate *adapters* to new frontiers, (2) commerce doesn't flow if a species is outright violent and constantly war-like (this reminds me of 'The Godfather'), (3) and to be successful in technology they require intelligence and innovation. Yes, they could still be unethical (by our standards) while being intelligent, but they could not be both unthoughtful and as advanced as the Federation on their own. (And the episode doesn't depict the Ferengi as forcing other intelligent beings to help them learn the technology they steal or design themselves.)
So to portray the Ferengi as completely closed minded is unconvincing in the extreme. Yes, perhaps they wouldn't dwell on Sun Tzu or any other philosopher but they would certainly have to dwell on science, technology, economics, and weaponry. You don't have to love Shakespeare to have interesting thoughts! They must be thoughtful to some extent (or have access to thoughtful beings). Even if they steal technology, they still have to learn how it works.
Riker compares the Ferengi to early capitalists in human history. He cannot bring himself to dismiss the Ferengi completely since they seem to him like they are at an earlier stage of human history, except they have greater power and so are more dangerous. But this breaks the typical reluctance of Star Trek to criticize other cultures. It treats Ferengi culture and values as lesser developed. Maybe its better just to call them dangerous and not compare moral conceits (since the Ferengi think it's the humans who are barbaric!).
I found the Ferengi a bit unconvincing as dim witted, advanced capitalists. But the Tkon empire was interesting and it's Portal is smart to appreciate the mind of humans (I do too)!
In the episode Enterprise pursues the Ferengi with hopes of reclaiming stolen technology and learning more about the Ferengi civilization. Enterprise and the Ferengi get suddenly immobilized by force fields extending from a nearby planet, which is the last remains of an extinct empire (called Tkon).
The Tkon empire had trillions in its population, spanned many planets and stars, had the power to move stars, and used planets as defensive outposts. It was completely wiped out by a supernova, though. The last planetary outpost of the empire gathers energy and acts as a power accumulator. It can also summon a sleeping guardian (referred to as Portal) from an older age of the empire to accept petitions to enter the empire and test applicants for their worthiness.
Throughout the episode the plot has other interesting gems that would not come across in a typical reporting of the plot:
(1) The Ferengi can somehow shield their thoughts and emotions from Deanna. They also distort their images from their ship (but we never find out how).
(2) Picard and his crew reflect on the meaning of flag colors. They comment on the competition between countries in the past, but Picard seems to still have some of that nationalism leftover from earlier periods of history. He thinks France has the flag color of red, white and blue in the proper order (blue, white, red). I thought we left such divisive thoughts behind us!
(3) Geordi uses a little Newtonian physics to explain the way the force field immobilizes Enterprise. It isn't a constant force, for as Enterprise tries to move, the force field pushes back with an equal push back.
(4) Data cannot get out of a simple Chinese finger puzzle (or finger trap). You'd think his advanced reasoning would try a few more possibilities. Data also works on his slang ('it's nothing to write home about') in his continuing quest to mimic human oddities.
I think science fiction should be as imaginative as this episode more often. As we imagine new cultures and new civilizations, we will no doubt find differences in values and in viewpoints about the definition of a civilization. The Ferengi find many human customs barbaric, and humans compare the Ferengi to the worst sort of capitalists in our own history; the sort of traders that stress the condition of 'let the buyer beware' in business dealings. But the Ferengi are at a similar level of technological advancement as the Federation (so they've done something expertly).
Usually new creations and inventive new aliens in SF and fantasy are only superficially different in manifest physical characteristics and then just reflect human values in fundamentals of cultural and moral beliefs.
The Ferengi succeed in being different in their ideas and values: their women wear no clothing and don't work, they don't like to communicate visually from ship to ship, they never adorn gold in wasteful ways, and they value commerce and modernization of lesser civilizations over the prime directive. But they don't have much curiosity in new ideas, and that hurts their image severely in this episode. How did they get so advanced then?
Riker and his team battle against the Ferengi and both sides try to convince the Portal to release their ships. We discover a bit about the Ferengi, but the Portal is impressed with human culture and thought. Apparently the Portal guardian studied human thought when it examined the computer library on Enterprise, but in any case it considers the Ferengi as closed minded compared to Riker's interesting thoughts about Sun Tzu ('Know your enemy and know your self, and you will always be victorious').
And to think that the intention of the Ferengi was to make them new bad guys! (1) Capitalists are the ultimate *adapters* to new frontiers, (2) commerce doesn't flow if a species is outright violent and constantly war-like (this reminds me of 'The Godfather'), (3) and to be successful in technology they require intelligence and innovation. Yes, they could still be unethical (by our standards) while being intelligent, but they could not be both unthoughtful and as advanced as the Federation on their own. (And the episode doesn't depict the Ferengi as forcing other intelligent beings to help them learn the technology they steal or design themselves.)
So to portray the Ferengi as completely closed minded is unconvincing in the extreme. Yes, perhaps they wouldn't dwell on Sun Tzu or any other philosopher but they would certainly have to dwell on science, technology, economics, and weaponry. You don't have to love Shakespeare to have interesting thoughts! They must be thoughtful to some extent (or have access to thoughtful beings). Even if they steal technology, they still have to learn how it works.
Riker compares the Ferengi to early capitalists in human history. He cannot bring himself to dismiss the Ferengi completely since they seem to him like they are at an earlier stage of human history, except they have greater power and so are more dangerous. But this breaks the typical reluctance of Star Trek to criticize other cultures. It treats Ferengi culture and values as lesser developed. Maybe its better just to call them dangerous and not compare moral conceits (since the Ferengi think it's the humans who are barbaric!).
I found the Ferengi a bit unconvincing as dim witted, advanced capitalists. But the Tkon empire was interesting and it's Portal is smart to appreciate the mind of humans (I do too)!