Star Trek: The Next Generation, 104 (Oct. 17, 1987) - "The Last Outpost"
Written by: Herbert Wright Directed by: Richard Colla
The Breakdown
The Enterprise crew are in pursuit of the mysterious never-before-seen Ferengi, when their ship suddenly powers down while orbiting an uncharted planet. Initially Picard is given the impression that a Ferengi weapon is involved, when they receive a call from the Ferengi themselves admitting to having the same problem. Ultimately it’s determined that the power drain is coming from the planet’s surface, so both ships send a landing party to investigate while everyone else is forced to wait in hope for a solution that doesn’t involve freezing to death.
Once on the Planet, the Ferengi immediately begin attacking with what appear to be whip-phasers (the default weapon of any strong capitalist society), and a fight ensues until it’s interrupted by some sort of all powerful deity-guardian (from a long extinct civilization. Pretty standard ancient space stuff) who decides to test which crew is more honourable-and-just. Since the Ferengi are buffoonishly evil, Riker is able to make short work of the test, and the Guardian is pretty much like, “Sorry for the trouble with your ship, here’s your power back” before vanishing. The end.
The Verdict
The first half of this episode mostly works at successfully building suspense over new unknown enemy. And then we finally meet the Ferengi and things get… unintentionally hilarious? Yes, I think that’s about as generous as I can be. By the time we meet this episode’s obligatory all-powerful space deity/guardian, the story has hit peak moral-lesson-of-the-week platitudes.
1.5 stars (out of 5)
Additional Observations
Picard dismissing old earth nationalistic values, and then immediately implying his ancestor’s flag was better than the American’s, seems a little off-brand for a starfleet captain.
Data getting caught in a Chinese finger trap is dumb. I know it’s being played for comedy, but it just falls flat. And Riker’s “let’s beam a box of these over to the Ferengi” gag at the end is equally dumb, and an obvious knock off of the ending from ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’.
Picard’s an asshole: While grappling with the reality of the entire crew freezing to death, Dr. Crusher considers the possibility of sedating Wesley to ease his inevitable suffering, to which Picard gives us us the gem: “He has the right to meet death awake.” …I mean, sure I guess he should be allowed to make that choice if he wants, but do do you think it might be worth asking him? Going out peacefully in my sleep seems alright to me, and it’s not like you can’t just wake him up if you all survive. Picard must REALLY hate that kid.
After watching episodes like this I can understand why so many people hate the Ferengi. Thankfully DS9 does a much better job with them.
