Watch: Denise Crosby Mocks Introduction Of ‘Butthead’ Ferengi As Star Trek TNG Villains

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The Ferengi never really caught on as a major adversary for the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation. At last weekend’s Montreal Comic Con, TNG’s Denise Crosby retold the story about how she and others in the cast mocked them from the beginning. Watch it below.

Crosby Mocks Ferengi As TNG Villains – ‘I’m Not Afraid of This!’

Star Trek: The Next Generation creator Gene Roddenberry decided that he wanted to create a new adversaries for the show and the first to be introduced were the Ferengi in the episode "The Last Outpost." In the end the Ferengi never caught on like Klingons and Romulans, and apparently the problems were obvious from the start, at least to Denise Crosby. During a women of Star Trek panel (along with Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis) at Montreal Comic Con last weekend, Crosby talked about how she immediately mocked the Ferengi when they were introduced, joking "I’m not afraid of this thing! and describing them as "butt heads" and how she didn’t want to shoot them, just "rub your little butts."

You can watch her mockery below (start at around the 16 minute mark)

To remind you, here is a clip from that episode featuring the Ferengi

Montreal video by LadyZayin

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Great to know the kitties loved Planet Hell.

Rub their little butts? Denise Crosby is one weird individual…

But hey, “butt heads”… Well, you can sorta picture Season 1 Ferengis actually behaving like THE Butt-Head: Uh-huh-huh-huh – whoa, that wuz cool! Huh-huh huh”

Nice to see the TNG ladies yucking it up together.

The decision to restyle the Ferengi as comic relief was certainly the right one.

And they really fleshed and plumbed the depths of that race in later TNG and especially in DS9. I’d love to see a new Trek TV series where the Romulans get more fleshed out and explored vis-a-vis their Vulcan cousins and are given more of a raison d’être as a race, like colonialism for the Cardassians and the quest for enlightenment through logic for the Vulcans. Not sure about the Nosferatu-like Remans, though.

I’m amazed that Marina still has her North London accent. Being North London born and bred (albeit I know live in Fulham), I’ve always been interested to engage in here and have like to engage with her on the various crossing we’ve had, generally about the fact that we are both Yiddos (and props for anyone here who knows what I am referring to).

heh! I always considered the Talosians to be the “butt-heads” of Star Trek! =)

The success of the Klingons/Romulans as adversaries on Star Trek TOS vs the failure of the Ferengi being the prime adversaries on Star Trek TNG failing I think was the penultimate example that that Gene Roddenbery “Wagon Train to the Stars” ex-cop ex-soldier pro-USA was a way better TV writer than Roddenbery the humanist visionary. “Wagon Train to the stars” = fun; “Socialism in space” = boring.
The surpreme irony with TNG when Roddenbery stepping aside was that the adversaraies that did catch on, the Borg, was a collective hive mind that dropped individuality for equality and the common good. I have often wondered if that pissed off Roddenbery the humanist visionary.

6. Cmd.Bremmon – September 20, 2014

The biggest factor in the improvement and success of TNG post-Season 2 appears to have been GR putting Michael Piller in charge of the writing. Whatever Piller did, it really should be studied and emulated for a future

There was just something so smart about TNG while Piller was in charge of the writing, particularly with regard to the mystery-themed episodes. None of the post-TNG spin-offs really tried to replicate that great TNG mystery-episode formula from episodes like Frame of Mind, The Chase, Conundrum, Parallels, Clues, Cause and Effect

I think the Borg was a commentary on communism rather than socialism, i.e. that philosophy taken to extremes.

Also, in a world several hundred years in the future with transporters, replicators, warp drive, and seemingly endless resources, the ‘isms of today would be about as current and relevant as medieval feudalism is to us. TNG wasn’t socialistic; it was Trekalistic.

I absolutely despised the Ferengi as villains — at least the manner in which they were portrayed. They were bouncing buffoons, IMO. If they had been portrayed as something really demonic I would’ve dug that. But they just came off as nitwits. And their appearance didn’t convey any level of threat.
With all that said, I really liked Quark. In my view, Armin Shimerman brought that character to life and set him apart from any other Ferengi that ever appeared. He wasn’t a mere villain. He was a scoundrel and there was always something going on behind his eyes. He was more than a (typical) Ferengi.
But nothing about the Ferengi ever made me think: beware and be afraid. Maybe Roddenberry thought TNG era villains shouldn’t be too vicious…

I was at that Montreal TNG Comicon event. The entire cast was there (except for Wesley).

It was so amazing seeing all the actors. They all looked great and were so much fun.

They could and should do another movie.

At the Montreal Comicon the cast was:

Spiner was witty and funny, McFadden was intelligent and sexy, Stewart was tired but charming, Burton was somewhat quiet but came off as kind, Worf was a man of few words, Crosbie was not asked many questions but she was gracious when she spoke, DeLancie (my favorite) seemed bored but his presence was.. mystical. I was waiting for Q to snap his fingers at any moment.

It was so much fun. Worth every penny. I bought a silver ticket, and only because the gold tickets were sold out.

oh yes and Marina Sirtis was the heart of the panel (her and Stewart spoke the most).

Sirtis was a lot of fun except for 1 akward moment where she told a fan to stop wasting their time if he didn’t have a question instead of a mere thank you comment.

I think she realized her faux pas. But anyway besides that 1 off moment, she was great. The life of the party.

one final thing, the new Dr. McCoy was the guy who introduced the TNG cast. The crowd erupted in a standing ovation.

Another irony is that the Ferengi seemed like they would eventually join the Federation.

Varying degrees of democratic socialism have worked well in plenty of places — yep, it tends to get unpopular during bad economic times. And it really freaks people out because it instantly gets associated with State control.

I still find it bizarre as a Canadian to hear from other counties’ news that our healthcare system is a shambles — whenever there are news stories of people complaining of months of waits for elective surgeries (non-emergency hip replacements for extremely overweight people, for example) it never gets mentioned that such surgeries wouldn’t even be covered by private in******ce in some other countries.

Not that the very idea of ins******* is for everyone to ppol the risk/costs — universal healthcare is an extension of that….

Anyway, it would be great if we could talk about such economic policies without falling onto politcs and rhetoric and demonizing — on both sides. Democracy and Totalitarianism are political systems. Socialism/Capitalism/Communism are economic systems. Sometimes they get combined.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Or the one?

Note that modern China’s economic policies are more capitalist than North America. They’ve been communist in name only for years. They’re still not a democracy, though.

I always thought the Borg was as much about technology taking over — as it doesn’t seem at all about the common good but about achieving technological perfection…

And I don’t think TNG was overtly socialist — sure,it’s suggested people have equal opportunities to better themselves, independently of wealth or riches. it’s an interesting idea. TNG doesn’t really explain how this would work, other than technology will unite everyone and eliminate scarcity…. which, dream on.

I care more about good stories. Sure, the ideas are integral. But, yeah, they can’t replace the storytelling.

Jeez, Gates still looking like a knockout.

Gotta say it again, Gates is a knockout.

Yes i also agree our whole family were calling the talosians buttheads wayyy before the ferengi and beavis…i also thought Quarks character was written n acted wonderfully…his duals with odo always entertaining….ferengi also done well at star trek the experience in vegas when it was open…

Just when I thought that Gates McFadden couldn’t be more alluring, I find out that she speaks French fluently?! Oo la la! Je suis enchanté!

Glad to see I’m not the only one who thought they were a joke from the beginning.

8- Vultan

I remember that the commentary wasn´t on socialism, it was a criticism on corporations with their hostile takeovers instead.

Think on Microsoft assimilating smaller software companies relentlessly.

Just to chime regarding the political allegories imagined or not in TNG, and specifically the Borg. – Look, this debate has gone around and around for quite a while. I’ve been there too. But there’s one factor regarding Trek society that trumps ideological leanings or interpretations. That factor is, technology. Star Trek has always been an evolved, or utopic, what-have-you world because it’s technology that made that world possible.

Now, you can say technology has it’s own promise and peril. But I think that’s a debate that recognizes that technology is the centre of Treks world.