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Deep space nine ferengi8/9/2023 Of course, there are two big caveats here. Even those critics wary about its handling of transgenderism would acknowledge that Some Like It Hot was relatively open-minded by the standards of its time. Many would argue that the film was cheekily subversive against the backdrop of the Hayes Code, silently progressive in the way that it teased out its ambiguities. Of course, the use of cross-dressing and the subversion of gender norms in Some Like It Hot has been heavily discussed and debated by film critics and historians. It seems inevitable that the production team would get around to doing Some Like It Hot sooner or later. Errol Flynn is a point of conversation in Past Tense, Part II. The writers on Deep Space Nine were very heavily influenced by classic Hollywood cinema, to the point that many episodes can be read as extended homages to those classic feature films Profit and Loss is Casablanca, Fascination is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Homefront evokes Seven Days in May, while In Purgatory’s Shadow began as a nod to The Great Escape. Some Like It Hot is the most obvious example of the trope, but cross-dressing was a popular comedic trope in the middle of the century Bugs Bunny was quite fond of the practice, and Cary Grant got in on the act in I Was a Male War Bride. It feels like something from a forties or fifties comedy. Profit and Lace can be boiled to the plot summary that “Quark has a sex change, and it is hilarious.” Of course, it makes sense that this basic plot would appeal to the writers on Deep Space Nine. Profit and Lace is awful on its own terms. Even if those episodes were not consistently funny, they tended to be competent. However, they were all much better episodes than Profit and Lace. One Little Ship was a waste of a potentially fun story hook. His Way was as problematic as it was goofy. Who Mourns for Mourn? and You Are Cordially Invited… were uneven, but enjoyable. The Magnificent Ferengi was brilliant, one of the best comedic episodes in the franchise. To suggest that Profit and Lace suffered from a “whimsy backlash” is to ignore its very severe flaws. The quality of these episodes was inconsistent at best, but these softer and gentler stories stood out in contrast to the more weighty storytelling of Waltz, Far Beyond the Stars, In the Pale Moonlight or Inquisition. It was the sixth “lighter” episode of the season, following the broad comedy of The Magnificent Ferengi and Who Mourns for Mourn?, along with the more whimsical storytelling of You Are Cordially Invited…, One Little Shipand His Way. It is tempting to argue that Profit and Lace suffered from audience fatigue. Suddenly, the Ferengi are appearing in episodes as tone-deaf and ill-advised as The Last Outpost.Īt some point, something went horribly wrong. The writers on Deep Space Nine did a tremendous job developing and humanising the Ferengi, but the late one-two punch of Profit and Lace and The Emperor’s New Cloak erases all of that good will. Some of the show’s best episodes focus on the Ferengi characters, like House of Quark or Family Business or Little Green Men or The Magnificent Ferengi, not to mention all manner of very solid stories like The Nagus or Bar Association or Body Parts. The episode is so bad that it becomes a retroactive taint upon Deep Space Nine‘s attempts to develop and flesh out the Ferengi. It could reasonably be argued that the toxicity of Profit and Lace is not even quarantined. At best, it is an episode that belongs in conversation with Meridian, Prophet Motive, Let He Who Is Without Sin… and The Emperor’s New Cloak. Profit and Lace is a disastrous misfire, a late-season catastrophe that many would consider to be the absolute nadir of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
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