The twenty-third episode of the third season of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Family Business, is one of my favorites because it stars the incomparable Andrea Martin, one of the funniest comediennes ever. She appears as Ishka, mother to Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Rom (Max Grodenchik), who are horrified when they learn their mother has been wearing clothes and making profits, absolutely forbidden for Ferengi women.
The final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, What You Leave Behind, aired June 2, 1999. The show ran for seven seasons starting in 1993. It won four Primetime Emmys:Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series (1995) for the episode Distant Voices; in 1993, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series for the episode Captive Pursuits; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects. Its phenomenal cast included Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko, Nana Visitor as Major Kira, Rene Auberjonois as Odo, Terry Farrell as Jadzia Dax, Cirroc Lofton as Jake, Alexander Siddig as Dr. Bashir, Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien and Armin Shimerman as Quark. Michael Dorn joined the cast as Worf in 1995.
Actor Max Grodenchik, born November 12, 1952 in Queens, New York, is best known as Quark's goofy but brilliant brother Rom on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Grodenchik actually auditioned for the role of Quark, but lost to Armin Shimerman. He also appeared twice in different roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
January 3, 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered, the third live-action series in the Star Trek franchise. The first episode, Emissary, introduced us to a new cast of heroes: Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Major Kira (Nana Visitor), Odo (Rene Auberjonois), Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig), Lt. Dax (Terry Farrell), Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton), Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Quark (Armin Shimerman).
It is the only Star Trek series that is based in a stationary setting. Many of my friends cited this as a reason for not liking it, but their loss. I liked it as much as Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The show lasted for 7 seasons, but it ended in such a way that there won't be any Deep Space 9 movies. Bummer!
One of the funniest episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was Little Green Men, which aired November 13, 1995. It answers the decade-long question of what happened in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. For seventy years now, people have been speculating that an alien spacecraft crashed in the desert and has been the subject of the largest government cover-up in history.
It appears they were right. Quark, Rom and Nog are on their way to Earth when they realize their shuttle craft has been sabotaged. Nom figures out a way to keep the ship from tearing apart and they crash on Earth but in the year 1947.
It has some of the best lines ever:
Rom: Maybe we are dead.
Quark: What're you talking about?
Rom: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury.
Quark: Oh, don't be ridiculous, the Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where is the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives, hmm?
Rom: You don't think we're in the other place?
Nog: The Vault of Eternal Destitution?
Nurse Garland: For all we know, it could be the mother.
[Quark is shouting at Rom in Ferengi]
Jeff Carlson: If she is the mother, she's quite a shrew.
Major Kira: Quark, Rom and Nog together on that ship all the way to Earth? Glad I'm not going with them.
Captain Ben Sisko: Only thing that worries me... no one warned Earth that they're coming.
