Family Business
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 15 May 1995
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- René Auberjonois
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 469
WRITTEN BYWritten by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Quark and Rom are summoned home to Ferenginar when their mother is accused of the gravest crime a Ferengi female can commit: earning profit.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Liquidator Brunt of the Ferengi Commerce Authority informs Quark that his mother, Ishka, has been caught earning profit, which is forbidden to Ferengi females. Quark and Rom travel to the rainy Ferengi homeworld, Ferenginar, where they find Ishka unrepentant and even wearing clothes, another taboo. She refuses to sign a confession, proud of her talent for business. Quark discovers she has been trading under several false names and has amassed far more than he imagined, and mother and son clash bitterly. Rom tells Quark that Ishka has offered to share her profits, then admits he made it up to force them to make peace. Moved by Rom's good sense, Quark and Ishka relent: she signs the confession and agrees to repay her earnings, though she secretly keeps two-thirds of her fortune. Meanwhile, Jake sets his father up with freighter captain Kasidy Yates, and the pair hit it off over their shared love of baseball.
- 01The first appearance of the Ferengi homeworld, Ferenginar, with its relentlessly humid weather.
- 02Introduces three recurring characters: Jeffrey Combs as Brunt, Andrea Martin as Ishka and Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates.
- 03Cestus III, the Federation colony from the original series episode “Arena”, gets a mention.