10 Star Trek Actors Whose First Appearances You've Totally Forgotten
8. Ethan Phillips As Farek
Of course, Ethan Phillips is best known as Voyager's chef/morale officer/babysitter Neelix. However, he made his first appearance in the Star Trek universe in the Next Generation episode Menage à Troi. Playing a Ferengi doctor called Farek, he becomes involved in a nefarious Ferengi plot when his besotted colleague Tog kidnaps Troi, her mother Lwaxana and Riker.
True to form for his species, Farek believes that he can use the Betazoid's gift for empathy and telepathy to make his fortune. He also displays the traditional Ferengi disdain for women, believing that the Trois do not "deserve" clothes. Phillips is clearly relishing the part of this repulsive Ferengi scientist, who's miles away from Neelix who, funnily enough, is called upon to impersonate a Ferengi in the Voyager episode False Profits.
Riker and Deanna eventually rescue Lwaxana from Farek's mental experiments, but it's up to Captain Picard to rescue Lwaxana after she trades her freedom for that of Riker and her daughter. Rather than Phillips' performance as Farek, the episode is best known for the meme of Picard, hand outstretched. The image comes from the scene in which he recites a sonnet to declare his "love" for Lwaxana and liberate her from the Ferengi ship.