Star Trek Viewing Guide
Chapter 5 · A New Generation
  1. 1The Road to the Federation2063–2161
  2. 2Toward the Five-Year Mission2230s–2261
  3. 3The Expanding Federation2265–2268
  4. 4The Long Road to Khitomer2268–2293
  5. 5A New Generation2324–2367
  6. 6Continuing Voyages2367–2369
  7. 7New Frontiers and Foundations2369–2370
  8. 8Exploring New Quadrants2371–2372
  9. 9Storms on the Horizon2372–2373
  10. 10The Dominion War2373–2375
  11. 11Trying to Get Home2375–2379
  12. 12Life on the Lower Decks2380–2382
  13. 13Echoes and Legacies2383–2401
  14. 14The Far Future3074–42nd century

The Next Generation · S1 · E5

The Last Outpost

First aired October 19, 1987

Held captive over an unknown planet, the away teams of the U.S.S. Enterprise and Ferengi starships must pass an important inquisition by a mysterious life form known as Portal, before they are allowed to continue their journeys through space.

Commentary

While this episode presents itself as Starfleet's first encounter with the Ferengi, we know better: the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 met them more than two centuries earlier. Those earlier visitors promised Archer they'd stay away from Starfleet and Vulcan ships, and apparently kept their word for a VERY long time.

You'll notice that these Ferengi behave quite differently from the ones we met back in Enterprise. Originally intended to be a major new antagonist race, the Ferengi were poorly received and underwent some pretty drastic changes in later appearances. Eventually, one would even become a regular character on Deep Space Nine. (In fact, Armin Shimerman, who plays Letek here, would go on to play that character, Quark, as well as spending several years tormenting Buffy Summers as her high school principal.)

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