The Last Outpost

An *Opinionated Next Gen Episode Guide* review.

Review of a Season 1 episode of *Star Trek: The Next Generation*.

## Episode information

* **Season:** 1
* **Episode:** 5
* **Original airdate:** 19 October 1987
* *The Last Outpost* at StarTrek.com, the official website
* *The Last Outpost* at Memory Alpha, a canon *Star Trek* wiki
* *The Last Outpost* at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
* *The Last Outpost* at the Internet Movie Database

## Review information

* Review link
* Published:

## SF Debris synopsis

*Opinionated Next Gen Episode Guide returns to season 1 to finally see where it all began with the Ferengi, also known as, where it all began to go wrong with the Ferengi.*

## Post-Episode Follow-Up

### Final Score: 2

***An exercise in self-sabotage***

"Final score for 'The Last Outpost' is 2 out of 10.

There was a good idea in there, but it was buried under sheer incompetence. Had the Ferengi presented an appropriate foil, then the plot threads would have lined up as intended. But all of this demanded an adversary worthy of our heroes. Without that, then the build-up leads to a dud and the confrontation on the planet a farce.

The conception of the Ferengi is where it all went wrong. Klingons and Romulans were classic enemies, but they were respected enemies. Enemies people might dress up for, for conventions. The Ferengi were supposed to be despicable enemies, ones that represented values that Roddenberry despised, and so they were not presented in the same way at all. Which, I suppose, makes a kind of sense. The Russians were our enemies, but many of their achievements did deserve respect. They were a people, an entirety of culture. The Ferengi weren't that, though. They were essentially a caricature of a mindset, a straw-man version of the worst of American history.

Essentially, take the typical hateful slander for the opposing political party in any news comments section, that's the basis for the Ferengi. They are not to be respected, they are to be pitied. Not hated, of course, because hate is wrong, but they are clearly to be seen as unworthy of any form of respect. Except that's the worst kind of menace, unless you are doing deliberate comedy. If a menace is pitiful, then what does that say about your heroes, if they have trouble defeating it.

"Bride of Chaotica" made fun of the old-time, one-dimensional villains, but that's *precisely* what they did here. Made an enemy just as vacuous. And if that wasn't bad enough, deliberately made them *act ridiculous*. It's like Gene was so intent on his humans being awesome, that he reached the point where the only way to make them look better, was to make everyone else look worse. I am frankly shocked the Ferengi didn't start throwing poop at Riker. It is unbelievable that this ever made it onto television. And even more so that TNG didn't end after only one season.

Well, luckily, it didn't, so next week we'll be heading all the way to season 7, with "Phantasms"."

### Annoying character

***Ferengi trio***

"Annoying character goes to the Ferengi trio, although they are something more to be pitied than anything else."

## See also

* Opinionated Next Gen Episode Guide
* The Next Generation Season 1 reviews