DS9 Flashback: The Magnificent Ferengi

Part of the formula of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was not to have a strict formula. Any given season contained serious episodes, comedic episodes, and everything on the spectrum between. When it came to the comedy, the writers would often look to the Ferengi. "The Magnificent Ferengi" was no exception.

Quark's mother has been captured by the Dominion, and he's out to rescue her using an all-Ferengi team: his brother Rom, his nephew Nog, his cousin Gaila, the eliminator Leck, and ex-liquidator Brunt. After realizing they'll never succeed with a commando approach, they cook up a prisoner exchange. But either way, they'll have to outwit a no-nonsense Vorta named Yelgrun and his huge group of Jem'Hadar.

This episode's title may be inspired by the movie The Magnificent Seven, but its plot is not. (The actors did work in their own homage, though, counting off the Ferengi on their fingers as they're added to the team.) If anything, this episode is more like "Ocean's Six" starring Quark, with impulsiveness and shenanigans replacing the slick planning. And if you're wondering why Grand Nagus Zek farms out Quark's rescue, it might make a little more sense to know that Zek was the prisoner in the original concept for the story; actor Wallace Shawn was unavailable, and the switch to Quark's mother was made.

All the Ferengi actors -- main, recurring, and one-offs suddenly recurring -- really do shine here at the comedy, in large part because each actor and character is good for a different kind of humor. Armin Shimerman plays Quark as "The Mouth," able to talk his way out of anything. Max Grodénchik has Rom's idiot savant act down cold. His reaction to learning of the Nagus' relationship with his mother is a hilarious display of the comedic "rule of three." Aron Eisenberg taps into the dictatorial order-barking that Nog has only previously directed at Jake. Watching him drunk with power as "strategic operations officer" is funny; watching that utterly fail to work with Ferengi is funnier.

Hamilton Camp is fun as Leck. His psychopathic personality is quite unusual for a Ferengi, though the fact that his ambition outstrips his abilities is very on-brand. Josh Pais returns as Gaila, and we learn that without his arms-dealing associate around, he's perhaps more cowardly than any Ferengi we've ever seen. Then of course, there's Jeffrey Combs once again chewing the scenery as Brunt. Though the character has been brought low, losing his job, he still can use coercion to get what he wants. His withering insults cut through the tension whenever the episode starts to get too serious.

But these six Ferengi actors aren't just good individually, they're funny as a comic troupe. The holographic rescue simulation makes for fun hijinks, their shared looks to their prisoner (or the camera) put a smile on your face, and their run through the empty halls of Empok Nor is so cartoonish that it's practically a Scooby Doo episode.

It's not just the rescuers providing the comedy, though. Christopher Shea, who so powerfully delivered drama as the Vorta Keevan earlier in the season, now proves just as skillful at bone-dry comedy. Keevan's resigned ennui and contempt for his captors run neck and neck for generating dark laughs. But Shea really shines after Keevan's death, when he's "reanimated" by technology to lurch and stumble around like a poorly manipulated puppet work; the specificity of the physical work is exceptional.

Returning as "Moogie," Cecily Adams is nowhere near a damsel-in-distress. She gets good moments too, beating on Nog when he tests to see if she's a changeling, and sharing financial advice with her captor. That captor is a new Vorta, Yelgrun, played by rock star Iggy Pop. Show runner Ira Steven Behr was a huge fan and had tried to cast him before; Iggy Pop was finally available here because he was recuperating from dislocating his shoulder while giving a concert. This role may not seem the most natural fit for his dynamic stage presence (which he couldn't have brought under the circumstances anyway), but he really is marvelous at capturing the droll disdain and growing impatience of this character.

Other observations:

• "Syrup of squill" and "hypecat" are shout-outs to a classic W.C. Fields movie, thrown in here because Ira Steven Behr thought they sounded funny. He was right.

• Odo has a scathing analysis of why Ferengi stories don't do well with a crowd: there's nothing heroic about earning profit. This is more than a cutdown, though -- the line frames the episode, a look at how Ferengi characters can rise to the occasion.

• The Jeffries Tubes are usually home to scenes of urgency and technobabble. Here, Quark and Rom take a long expository trip laced with jokes, and capped with a great sight gag of popping out in Sisko's office.

• Kira may not like Quark, but she returns favors, here helping Quark as payback for his rescue during the war arc

• The amount of makeup in this episode is extraordinary: seven Ferengi (one "old"), two Vortas, and dozens of Jem'Hadar extras. It's amazing they pulled this off. If saving money on sets by placing this story on Empok Nor is how they managed it, I'm totally here for it.

You have to get over the premise of this episode fast. Why would the Nagus send Quark to negotiate with the Dominion, rather than any of those Ferengi ships we used to see on The Next Generation? But if you can get at ease with the comedic aims of this episode, it's a hoot. I give "The Magnificent Ferengi" a B+.