Prophet Motive
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 20 February 1995
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- René Auberjonois
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 462
WRITTEN BYWritten by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
The story was inspired by William N. Stape, who received no on-screen credit.
Grand Nagus Zek arrives with a shocking new edition of the Rules of Acquisition, and Quark is horrified to find the Ferengi leader has turned generous.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Grand Nagus Zek arrives on the station with his latest work: a rewritten Rules of Acquisition that preaches kindness and charity instead of greed. He wants Quark and Rom to run his new charitable foundation. Quark fears the Ferengi will overthrow the Nagus, and him too. Searching Zek's shuttle, Quark and Rom find an Orb of the Prophets. Through the orb, Quark learns the truth: Zek visited the wormhole hoping to profit from the Prophets' knowledge, and the aliens, baffled by his greed, changed him into a less acquisitive version of himself. Quark takes Zek back into the wormhole. When the Prophets threaten to change him too, Quark warns that more curious Ferengi will come to disturb them unless Zek is restored. The Prophets relent, and Zek destroys every copy of the new Rules. Meanwhile, Bashir is nominated for a prestigious medical award and loses, and Rom admits he embezzled from the foundation.
- 01René Auberjonois's directing debut on the series.
- 02Introduces O'Brien and Bashir's dartboard. It moves into Quark's bar in the next episode and stays there for the rest of the series.
- 03Tiny Ron finally gets to speak as Maihar'du, but only because one of the Prophets is using him to talk to Quark.