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I'm sick of hearing people say how bad it was for this episode to have the Ferengi show up. First of all, they never said their name. Second of all, Archer told the Ferengi to never come withen a light-year of an Earth ship. They may have thought this meant the entire species, and as a result the Ferengi avoided the Federation for as long as they could. This even fits in with the Battle of Maxia. They may have attacked the Stargazer to prevent word from getting back to them that a Ferengi vessel was withen a light-year of an Earth ship.

ChakatBlackstar wrote:I'm sick of hearing people say how bad it was for this episode to have the Ferengi show up. First of all, they never said their name. Second of all, Archer told the Ferengi to never come withen a light-year of an Earth ship. They may have thought this meant the entire species, and as a result the Ferengi avoided the Federation for as long as they could. This even fits in with the Battle of Maxia. They may have attacked the Stargazer to prevent word from getting back to them that a Ferengi vessel was withen a light-year of an Earth ship.

Best theory I've heard of this, so far. This your original idea? If so, props. However, one would have to believe that if the Ferengi were as great of traders as everyone thinks, word would have eventually gotten out to the Federation what thse folks looked like, and in the 200+ years, they woulda put 2 and 2 together. It makes ZERO sense to me that the Ferengi had no admitted face-to-face contact with the Federation prior to the Enterprise-D. It's a big galaxy, but between trading it makes NO sense to have such little knowledge.

Do you really think three Ferengi are going to go home and say "We were warned never to go within a light year of a Human ship." - and then the entire Ferengi race will avoid every single Human ship, AND every single Vulcan, Andorian, Deltan, Trill, etc ship, for the next two hundred and twenty odd years?

Sounds more like a mistake of TNG than ENT to make such a great trading Empire but never have met the federation.

okay, I admit it is a bit farfetched, but I figure it is better then complaining over and over about the Ferengi showing up long before they should have. And to be honest I haven't heard any other theorys. If any one has a better theory I'd love to hear it. I'd also like to point out that while the Ferengi are traders, the Federation has often claimed not to have a monetary system. At least not in the same sense as the Ferengi.

And while there could have been some meetings with individual Ferengi they still may have avoided formal contact. And even if there was information on them it's very possible that it was not common knowledge, and the design of the Ferengi vessel might not have been encountered before, or again until more formal contact had been made.

Monroe wrote:Sounds more like a mistake of TNG than ENT to make such a great trading Empire but never have met the federation.

Agreed, but no one could have forseen the expansion the way it did, into multiple series, etc. However, I agree, it was illogical to assume this great empire had never been seen, even it was in the far off reaches of explored, they were traders, not recluses. Obviously it was done to add an aura of mystery. And lets be honest, any contact with them prior involved a clown and the Feregni wearing gorilla suits

For TNG not to have heard of them is almost impossible. But I hate Enterprise so I'll rag on it every chance I get.

Teaos wrote:For TNG not to have heard of them is almost impossible. But I hate Enterprise so I'll rag on it every chance I get.

Fair enough, though the episode itself I didn't think was THAT awful, taken out of context.

Considering DSN and that Quark was already at the station... I find it quite illogical that the Federation's never heard of them. At all. They're aggressive, always seeking new markets...

I say we put it in the same basket as the "The Feds sisn't know about Trills before TNG" thing. Say that there had been some contact with the Ferengi, but no official contact.

Tiberius wrote:I say we put it in the same basket as the "The Feds sisn't know about Trills before TNG" thing. Say that there had been some contact with the Ferengi, but no official contact.

Yeah, the Trill thing is absurdly difficult to believe. No official contact or not, it makes zero sense. Hell, I'm even amazed that stories hadn't gotten back about the Borg (and I'm not even counting the continuity-busting "Regeneration") If they controlled THAT much area, and assimilated that many people, it makes sense. One El-Aurian's report to Starfleet would be all that it would take, etc.

Well considering starfleet put rocks in their consols we can assume they are pretty stupid. Maybe they just disregard a bunch of data.

Bryan Moore wrote:

Tiberius wrote:I say we put it in the same basket as the "The Feds sisn't know about Trills before TNG" thing. Say that there had been some contact with the Ferengi, but no official contact.

Yeah, the Trill thing is absurdly difficult to believe. No official contact or not, it makes zero sense. Hell, I'm even amazed that stories hadn't gotten back about the Borg (and I'm not even counting the continuity-busting "Regeneration") If they controlled THAT much area, and assimilated that many people, it makes sense. One El-Aurian's report to Starfleet would be all that it would take, etc.

Well, to be fair about it, the El-Aurian reports probably would have been filed away by Starfleet and not many people would have known about it. And even if there were urban legends (or whatever the interplanetary equivilent is), how often would he have seen it before Q-Who?

Tiberius wrote:Well, to be fair about it, the El-Aurian reports probably would have been filed away by Starfleet and not many people would have known about it. And even if there were urban legends (or whatever the interplanetary equivilent is), how often would he have seen it before Q-Who?

I bet quite a few people. Remember hearing from a friend of a friend is one thing, but it just seems like something would have gotten to the Federation. If not then to the Klingons or Romulans or someone. Either way, playing 6 Degrees of Borg Knowledge, even in such a big galaxy. With the technology/communication levels, it just seems like it would have to have been known.

That and the fact that the Borg are the biggest threat in the Galaxy it seems impossible they wouldn't know.