Picardigan Has Moved

Because of feedback I've received about difficulty commenting, and because I did a bit of comparison research, I have moved Put On Your Picardigan to Wordpress. I know it hasn't even been here very long, but it seemed smarter to do it before it gets really big and unwieldy. A major reason for the move is that threaded comments are possible on Wordpress.

All the old posts have been moved there, and this is the last that will appear here.

If you have been kind enough to post a link to Picardigan on your own site, please adjust it to reflect the change. Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy the blog at its new home.



Put On Your Picardigan at Wordpress.com

OH MY GOD

Obviously, I already knew sticking Disney music to Lost was brilliant, because check it, but I'd never really thought about sticking it to Star Trek before, and now all I want in the world is a video where Riker is all
LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

TO DEFEAT

THE HUNS

Whenever he talks about how he's responsible for Wesley's training, that number is exactly how I'm going to imagine it. And if I have to imagine Wesley is a girl in disguise as a boy, well, that actually just adds to the fun.

Someone did use this idea with Worf, I am happy to report:





I never really realised how much people do tai chi in TNG until now.

Tng Episode 1.13: Datalore

In which the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

Memory Alpha says: Enterprise explores Data's home planet, Omicron Theta. They find his brother, and the dark secret he carries. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Of course I'll have a lot to say about this one, because it's the first really Data-centric episode, and to me TNG is a show about Data. It also introduces one of my favourite characters, and one I feel is sadly underused, Data's villainous older brother Lore. In the early planning stages, the new android was going to be female (a gynoid, really) and a love interest for Data (so, um, presumably not his sister, although I suppose if you want to be really rational about it it's not exactly incest if there's no DNA or shared experience of a familial relationship involved) but Brent Spiner suggested the ol' evil twin routine. 

TNG Episode 1.12: The Big Goodbye

In which Captain Picard and Data look completely fly in chalkstripe suits and fedoras and what else do I care about?

Seriously. Unf. Jaunty. Jean-Luc Picard knows how to angle a hat.

Memory Alpha says: Captain Picard and some of the Enterprise crew get stuck on the holodeck on their way to an important diplomatic mission. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

I think I'm going to write this one up as a proper summary with commentary, because I've been slothful lately. I know the bullet point commentary works okay for people who watch the episode themselves and then see what I had to say about it, but there's something to be said for reading an episode. Sometimes it's almost as satisfying as actually watching it, not that I can really explain why. 

Anyway! This is the first episode to feature holodeck LARPing and start exploring the storytelling possibilities of this nifty bit of technology - which, if you want to be realistic about it, is obviously incredibly dangerous to have on your starship, almost as dangerous as Data. Both are extremely powerful and unpredictably glitchy - but the holodeck is fun and Data is lovable, and quite frankly we know where our priorities lie.

DS9 Episode 1.11: The Nagus

In which Ferengi culture gets a little more fleshed out... with hairy ears.

Memory Alpha says: With the sudden death of Grand Nagus Zek, Quark becomes the new leader of the Ferengi Alliance, but he also becomes a target for murder. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Well, I finally have a proper, working internet connection again, so I can blog some more - although it seems inappropriate to cover a Ferengi episode when I have an ear infection. I don't quite feel like this:

but I don't feel too good.

This episode introduces Grand Nagus Zek and starts to show us a bit more about how the Ferengi Alliance works. Well, it shows us that the Ferengi Alliance does work, in its own shifty, shady, shonky little way, and that it's run by people with at least fractionally more nous than those twerps with energy whips who occasionally mildly inconvenience Captain Picard. Feeling about Ferengi-centric episodes seems to be a bit divided among DS9 fans, as some regard them as Odious Comic Relief. I like 'em. I like 'em all. What do you mean, 'Profit and Lace'? There's an episode called 'Profit and Loss,' you must be thinking of that. Move along.

DS9 Episode 1.10: Move Along Home

In which we receive further evidence that there are a lot of jerks in the Gamma Quadrant.

Memory Alpha says: A visiting delegation from the Gamma Quadrant turns four crew members into "pieces" for a bizarre game. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

'Move Along Home' vies with 'If Wishes Were Horses' for the coveted title of Dorkiest Episode of Deep Space Nine. Visually and structurally I found it reminded me a lot of a children's TV show from my childhood called, if I remember correctly, T-Bag. A young girl had to solve a series of alphabet-themed challenges, moving around a giant game board, in order to defeat a wicked sorceress called Tallulah Bag, whose motto was 'Ignorance is bliss.' Her unwilling henchman was a grumpy little boy called T-Shirt, who she kidnapped at the start of each new series and enchanted and bullied into serving her; he always ended up turning on her and helping the heroine, and yet she kept on doing it. I always liked T-Shirt. I wish he were in 'Move Along Home.'

Two interesting snippets from the Memory Alpha page: one, STILL NO O'BRIEN THIS WEEK. AARGH I HAVE BROGUE WITHDRAWAL. Two, it seems that it was actually Dax who was supposed to visit the Enterprise in 'Birthright, Part 1' but Terry Farrell was too busy with this episode, so they sent Siddig El Fadil instead. I'm very, very glad about that, just because I'm a big fan of the friendship Julian and Data struck up (well, Julian did most of the striking) and wish it could have been pursued. It really is silly that the Enterprise never comes near DS9 again.

TNG Episode 1.11: Haven

In which Deanna receives a Quark in a box.

 

Memory Alpha says: Tension mounts on the Enterprise as Counselor Troi's arranged marriage nears, and her mother takes a liking for Captain Picard. Meanwhile, a plague ship threatens the planet where they are meeting. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

This is an episode I'm almost sure I didn't see on its first airing, and possibly have never seen at all. On the other hand, I could just be forgetting. I have the kind of memory that dredges up things like three Presidents of the United States with alliterative first and last names with relative ease (that won me a trivia quiz and totally impressed people, and I didn't even have to use Ronald Reagan) but won't do phone numbers that I didn't learn in childhood (my first ever phone number was 780527, back when New Zealand phone numbers only needed six digits) and is remarkably unhelpful on questions like 'So: have ya seen "Haven"?'

Anyway, this episode introduces Deanna's mum Lwaxana, which is either awesome or cringe-inducing depending on how you feel about her. Personally, I like her, and not because I don't think she's awful - she is awful, and she knows it, and she doesn't care because she likes herself so damn much. Plus, she's Majel Barrett Roddenberry, so resistance is futile. And I would just like to tell you that this episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series. I guess it didn't win, but let's look really closely at the hairstyles, because I think I might know which one they're talking about (which makes me suspect I have seen at least part of this episode after all).

TNG Episode 1.10: Hide and Q

In which Q shows his enthusiasm for cosplay, and Riker kinda shows his enthusiasm for Wesley.

Memory Alpha says: Q returns with a new test for the Enterprise. Can Commander Riker resist the power of the Q Continuum? (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

This episode marks the second time we see Q, and that establishes a tendency that will grow more pronounced over the course of TNG until it eventually gets really awesome in DS9, towards greater continuity in Star Trek. That's not to say there is no continuity in TOS; you get recurring outside characters like, um, Harry Mudd is the only one who comes immediately to mind (I've also found that a lot of people have trouble remembering that Cyrano Jones, from 'The Trouble With Tribbles,' is not Harry Mudd, because selling tribbles just seems like such a Harry Mudd thing to do).

This is one of the episodes that I really can't remember watching, except a vague memory of Tasha saying she was in a penalty box. Is that this one? Well, I'll find out, won't I?

DS9 Episode 1.9: The Passenger

In which Julian's mind is the scene of the crime.
 

Memory Alpha says: An alien criminal, attempting to prolong his life, hides his consciousness inside the mind of a station crew member. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Glorious: one of the search terms that has led people to this blog in the past month is 'keep away from data bitch ontd_tng.' Dude, it has not been possible to keep me away from Data since approximately 1988. But let's press on with DS9.

This is one of those Star Trek standbys, an episode in which a core crew member gets possessed by an alien intelligence so that they can have conflicts with the rest of the core cast and/or generally act like a dick without it being morally their fault or breaking Gene's rule that We Don't Fight Amongst Ourselves or, in fact, having any impact on how anybody responds to them in subsequent episodes (this is particularly hilarious with Data; the most hostile anyone gets with him is when, after he goes berserk and stabs her in a lift, Counselor Troi presents him with a mocking cake). TOS and TNG would be such different shows if, after events like these, it took time for people to regain their trust in each other, and in some cases they never quite did.

Of course, as DS9 went on, it became apparent that you don't need anybody to be possessed by an alien intelligence for them to have some beefy conflicts and act like a dick (you have people like Dukat around who are more than happy to fill your dick quota), so they became less reliant on the old possession trick, or when they did use it did something interesting like introduce the Pah Wraiths. At least that's how I'm remembering it; I'll have to see whether that's borne out by this rewatch. I do remember that they did at least one other old-school possessionpisode, 'Dramatis Personae,' which I found striking because Avery Brooks played his possessed character with much more personality than he gave Sisko at the time.

For the second episode in succession, we'll get no O'Brien. I guess he's still in Japan, and I hope at least he gets to do some nice things like soak in a hot spring with snow monkeys. But hang on. Bear with us. Bullet point commentary again.

DS9 Episode 1.8: Dax

In which Dax could tell you a lot, but it's not in a gentleman's code; make it one for Fionnula Flanagan and one more for the road.

Memory Alpha says: New evidence reopens a thirty-year-old murder case, and Dax's previous host Curzon is now the prime suspect. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

I'm reverting to commentary form, because it's quick and I'm lazy. I'm doing this one at my parents' place, because they have decent broadband and are sympathetic to my internet-deprived plight (connecting the line at my new flat is not going smoothly, I'm waiting on a technician, they might have it working on Monday, it's all a bit unnecessary). I have to admit that, while I'm really enjoying revisiting the early TNG episodes that I haven't watched for ages, because everything is half-remembered and goofy and adorable and weird, since I first watched DS9 right through back in May 2010, getting through Season One again is a bit of a slog, so I want to keep this thing moving and not get bogged down. (The only thing I can remember being outstandingly good in Season One is 'Duet,' but at least 'Move Along Home' is so cracky it really deserves to be an early TNG episode.)

Right; this episode is important because it begins to explore the consequences for Jadzia of living with Dax's past, something to which her storylines (and Ezri's, but Ezri is rather boring) will return a few times, sometimes with awesome two-lady kissing. I do like the fact that, in the Star Trek universe, the legal system has to deal with questions like 'Does Data have human rights?' and 'Is Jadzia liable for things Curzon did (if indeed he did them)?' that are quite outside the kind of courtroom dramas you can do in a less fantastic setting. I persist in believing that something like Law & Order: UFP would be kind of a fun spin-off. The usual assumption is that Captain Picard will be some kind of ambassador when he retires from Starfleet, but why not a crusading silver-fox DA, I ask you? Why not indeed. If you like Law & Order and ridiculous/cool things, go and look at These Are Their Stories; I'll wait for you. There are Kate Beaton drawings.

On 'vacation'

aka my internet is still not working properly in my new flat, bludging off landlord's unreliable WiFi, did you know I watch streaming episodes rather than SUPPORTING THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS by buying all the DVDs? DON'T TELL A SOUL. I was joking anyway.

but

here is a nice vacation photo of Armus:

Courtesy of the very excellent Hatecation (it seems like there should be some simple way to link a Tumblr picture into a Blogger post, but I'm not seeing it).

For God's sake watch out kid. Although you do have a puckish quality I can't help warming to.

Part of me can't wait to get to this episode even though I know how stupid it is. I think I just really like sand, and honestly, I remember Armus scared the poop out of me as a kid (I think I'd had some nightmares about black shiny goo in early childhood; do you ever remember stuff from your childhood nightmares that you just can't understand why it was so scary? Tractor tyres. The number '100' in gold figures at the top of a silver column. Terrifying), so I'm eager to revisit it and totally not be scared. Above/at left is evidence that Jonathan Frakes is a hell of a good sport, and at this stage of his career had some very sharp buttockular definition.

But anyway, if I ever get things working right here, soon we'll be back with 'Dax.'

ETA: As long as I'm posting ridiculous vacationy shit, here, have a this:

(hope that embeds properly). My main thoughts about this: Cruise Director is a perfect job for Deanna. Also, I have headcanoned those uniforms with the shorts as Starfleet Tropical Kit; they make at least as much sense as those desert Jedi robes the Sisko and Ezri wore to go on his baseball vision quest.

Apology/clarification/thingy

In my post on the DS9 episode 'A Man Alone' I included several references to the musical Avenue Q, including quoting the number 'Everyone's A Little Bit Racist.' I did not realise anyone would actually be offended by what I thought was just a silly joke, but I now know from feedback that at least one person was.

Honestly, I'm in two minds about this. I don't want to offend people for no good reason. I don't want to hurt people's feelings or put them off reading what else I have to say. I'm just writing opinions about Star Trek and there is no earthly reason for me to turn that into some kind of bitter wrangle. For that reason, I offered that person an apology, and I did mean it. (Who knows whether it sounded sincere to them, though; any time I get feedback like that I start to gravely doubt my ability to say what I mean without it sounding like something worse.)

On the other hand, I still think 'Everyone's A Little Bit Racist' is a very funny number, Avenue Q is overall a very funny show, and I like to quote bits and pieces of whatever I think is funny in whatever I write. I guess I can't anticipate every reference that might bother somebody with a different perspective from my own, every phrase that just seems silly to me but may seem nasty to someone else. (Many, yes, every, no, and a lot obviously depends on context and mood, not to mention whether I'm fully alert at the time.)

I hope people will understand that while I may sometimes say something tactless, without realising how it may sound to another person, I do not mean any harm, and if given the benefit of the doubt and a concise explanation of why what I said bothered you, I usually catch on and try to put things right. I don't want to be one of those people whose attitude is 'I didn't mean it that way so you are in the wrong for taking it that way,' because I've dealt with some of them myself and know how irritating they are.

Am I attempting to justify/cover myself? Yes, I suppose I am. It's never any fun to hear that you offended someone while joking around; there's always an element of wounded amour-propre from the clash between one's intentions and the way the remark was received, especially when you're usually fairly careful about these things. Even when you habitually try to be considerate and fair, you can still fuck up sometimes in unguarded moments, and all you can do is listen to what the other person says, explain yourself, and try not to repeat that particular mistake.

So I'm sorry about that, I can't promise I won't unwittingly make that kind of mistake again, and I ask you to bear with me, I guess. At least I thought about it?

TNG Episode 1.9: The Battle

In which Wesley is unusually annoying.

Memory Alpha says: A gift to Captain Picard from a Ferengi military leader may have more sinister intentions. 

My Review

This should be my last one before Christmas, because I actually have a life for the next few days - and it will also be the last one until after New Year, because guess who's moving house on the 29th? Yes, I shall be a busy bunny indeed. 

So in this episode we get some more repellent military Ferengi - I do want to continue with my assumption that Marauders are just the dregs of their society, sent out into space to stop them getting in everyone's way - and the origin of the Picard Manoeuvre, the actual spaceship one rather then the one you do with your pullover. I have spelled it Manoeuvre because it's far more French that way and I feel sure Jean-Luc would like that. 

Allons-y!

DS9 Episode 1.7: Q-Less

In which Julian gets right up my nose - and up Q's too.

Memory Alpha says: Archaeologist Vash arrives from the Gamma Quadrant as Q plagues the station and an unknown force threatens to destroy it. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

I'm getting blogger's anxiety about whether people are enjoying this, because I haven't had any comments in the last couple of days, and as I type this my Blogger stats suggest people actually haven't been viewing the last couple of entries. I realise that the format or style of my reviews has been changing around; in some cases I just gave commentary while in others I recapped the episode with my commentary seeded in. (I fell into this, I suppose, because it's standard on Television Without Pity, and I usually enjoy that site - Keckler's reviews of Enterprise are well worth reading, because she gives the show credit for what it did well but never lets its many weak points slide, and is funny, and includes interesting cookery anecdotes, and she did some one-offs of TOS, TNG and DS9 episodes as well.) I hope that's not annoying people. On the other hand, I realise that it's the end of the middle of December and a lot of people are travelling to spend the holidays with their families, shopping, cooking and decorating for Christmas, going to parties, and generally less inclined to sit on their bums reading about Star Trek, so I'll try not to fret.

To take my mind off it, today I shall wrap presents (I'm using a 'brown paper packages tied up with strings' theme, and anyone who doesn't like The Sound of Music can sit on it), help decorate the tree at my parents', and watch Star Trek. I see I've surprised you! Okay, let's tackle the only Q episode of DS9, which would otherwise be Q-less, and you see what I did there.

DS9 Episode 1.6: Captive Pursuit

In which O'Brien makes a friend, and Quark is a more effective counsellor than Deanna ever was.

Memory Alpha says: O'Brien helps an alien from the Gamma Quadrant as hunters descend on the station searching for their humanoid prey. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Although O'Brien wasn't exactly the main focus of the last episode, he was our way into the story. I would say 'Captive Pursuit' is the first proper O'Brien Episode, so it's an interesting one to look at in terms of how O'Brien is used in DS9. His initial purpose in the series, besides 'mend the station,' is to be a familiar face from TNG, someone reliable and relatable who we know and like, a bit of an anchor as we get used to the new characters and setting. The foundation of the 'O'Brien Must Suffer' policy was the fact that O'Brien was so relatable and likeable, that he had an Everyman quality in the midst of space opera. And of course now that O'Brien got to be a main rather than supporting character, he could be much more developed than there was ever time for in TNG. Good opportunity for the writers, and for Colm Meaney, of whom I am fond (see The Snapper). So this is the start of O'Brien's new phase of development.

'Captive Pursuit' also features some far more convincing reptilian alien makeup than 'Lonely Among Us' did, just in case you really like reptilian alien episodes. Let'sssss go.

TNG Episode 1.7: Lonely Among Us

In which Data smokes a pipe and floats my boat.

Memory Alpha says: While transporting delegates, Picard and his crew are enveloped by a cloud that seizes control of their minds and alters their behavior.

My Review

And that's why I don't trust clouds. I have no real memory of this episode to go on, other than some blue lightning, and I think that at some point Riker comes off as a smug vegan. Since Riker looks like he lives on raw steak and ice-cream, I find this amusing. On with the show.

The Enterprise is doing a little diplomatic jaunt this week, carrying delegates from two alien races to negotiate with each other on a 'neutral conference planet' called Parliament. They come from two planets in the same solar system, and they simply hate each other's guts, a bit like us and the Martians I suppose. Since they've developed warp drive, they're eligible for Federation membership, but everybody's got to play nice in the Federation (well, despite the fact that the founding races, Vulcans, humans, Tellarites and Andorians have never really liked each other, except in a few cases where, say, individual Vulcans and humans have liked each other very, very much) so the point of the negotiations is to see if they can find some way to refrain from tearing each other's faces off long enough to be allowed in.

TNG Episode 1.6: Where No One Has Gone Before

In which Wesley is a very special boy.

Memory Alpha says: When a specialist in propulsion makes modifications to the Enterprise's warp drive that send it 2.7 million light years out of the galaxy, then an impossibly unreturnable 1 billion light years in the other direction, it is his assistant, a mysterious alien, and Wesley Crusher that must bring it back home. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review
I'm going to keep this uncharacteristically short, because you know what? Not a lot actually happens in this episode. Apart from a few character touches, the whole story exists pretty much to create an excuse for Wesley to work on the bridge, in the role of Acting Ensign. He doesn't actually earn this himself by proving that he's smart, responsible, mature and trustworthy; he gets given it because a mysterious alien privately tells Captain Picard that he's got the potential to be a super-genius and needs to be given extra opportunities - but mustn't be told yet that he's special, I suppose so he doesn't get a swelled head.

He compares Wesley to Mozart, which I know is supposed to make us think 'awesome precocious sparkling genius,' but makes me think 'dead at thirty-five, buried in a pauper's grave.' Also, did you know that Mozart and his mother exchanged love-letters about farts? Honestly. Read The QI Book of the Dead. It's an eye-opener. I'd pull the quote but my copy is with a friend. And no, I'm not just mixing him up with James Joyce; the whole farty love-letter thing seems to be a trope. I'll admit I often think farts are funny, but they've never really rung my bell in that way.

So I think I'll drop into point form for this commentary. Things will most likely be out of the order in which they appear in the episode, because I watched it last night and decided I was too sleepy to write it up then.

DS9 Episode 1.5: Babel

In which O'Brien commences to suffer, and Quark has an adventure.

Memory Alpha says: A virus infects the station's residents, making everyone unable to speak coherently. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Star Trek writers really like the word 'Babel,' because it's been in the title of multiple episodes, including the awesome TOS 'Journey to Babel' in which we meet Sarek and Amanda, everyone looks extra classy in dress uniform jackets, and McCoy is just elated to hear that Spock had a childhood teddy bear.

I love his eyes. Furthermore, I felt quite unnerved when I realised that in the JJTrek universe, McCoy has brown eyes and Kirk has blue; what an inversion!

This episode is the most literal use of 'Babel' in Trek, because the name originates in a Biblical story that purports to explain why people in different places speak mutually unintelligible languages. Once upon a time all the humans got together to build a great tower at a place called Babel which was going to reach Heaven and really annoy God. So God caused them all to speak different languages so they couldn't understand each other and co-operate, and the project was abandoned. I think this means the Universal Translator is an abomination, like eating shrimp, wearing poly-cotton blends, and Garak's personal life. 'Babel' also, like 'The Naked Time' and 'The Naked Now,' introduces a contagion that messes with people's minds, but to my eternal gratitude, nobody is going to get awkwardly laid.

DS9 Episode 1.4: A Man Alone

In which there is very little actual suspense about a murder case, and Julian has obviously not seen Wayne's World.

Memory Alpha says: An old enemy of Odo's is murdered behind locked doors, and all the evidence points to Odo as the killer. (For detailed information, please click the Memory Alpha link.)

My Review

I think I remember finding this a pretty good episode, so I'm interested to see what I think this time. It has the advantage of focusing on Odo, who is reliably interesting. Rene Auberjonois feels to me like one of the tentpoles of early DS9, in the way that Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner were in early TNG; without such charismatic performances, the show would have been much weaker and more likely to fold. DS9 was in a stronger position to begin with, having the proven success of TNG to support it (and provide justification for giving it time to find its style),  but I do think that if Stewart and Spiner hadn't been as good as they were, TNG might not have stayed on the air long enough to become awesome. (Yes, Jonathan Frakes helped by growing a beard, I am not denigrating his contribution.)

TNG Episode 1.5: The Last Outpost

In which we meet the Ferengi, and Data is wearing his sassy pants.

Memory Alpha says: In pursuit of Ferengi marauders, the Enterprise and its quarry become trapped by a mysterious planet that is draining both ships' energies. (For detailed information, please click the Memory Alpha link.)

My Review

'Code of Honor' was (generally unintentionally) racist about black people. Now we have 'The Last Outpost,' which manages the interesting feat of being racist about people who don't even exist, the Ferengi. It is understandable that the Ferengi are not everyone's cup of tea, but at least in DS9 they are developed into an internally consistent, relatively plausible culture and we get to know some likeable individuals. I find Rom more tiresome than anything else, but I love Quark and Nog, and Liquidator Brunt is one of my favourite antagonists. The Ferengi in DS9 are portrayed as cunning, devious, amoral, sly, shifty little bastards (stop, I'm making them blush) - but also as people who care about their families and friends, and at least don't have any genocide on their collective conscience.

But in their first appearance, 'Code of Honor,' they are prancing, jabbering idiots, to the extent that it's hard to understand how such a species of utter gobshites ever managed to get off their own planet. The Ferengi were supposed to be major antagonists in TNG, as you may have surmised from the sinister terms in which Picard mentions them in 'Farpoint,' but after this episode, the staff were forced to admit that this just wasn't going to work. They did appear again, but from then on were played for laughs rather than with any sincere attempt to suggest that they posed a challenge. Fortunately for all of us, they thought of the Borg who are WAY scarier, and maintained the Romulans and dickhead factions of Klingons, and invented the Cardassians, and it was all good.

I suppose one explanation for the vast difference in intellect between the 'Code of Honor' Ferengi and the DS9 ones could be that only fuckin' idiots sign on as marauders, while sensible and intelligent people go into business. Well, anyway, let's go, Marauder Mo.