10 Star Trek Episodes That Just Didn't Work
7. Profit And Lace - Deep Space Nine
The issue with this episode is not that Quark dresses in drag. The issue with this episode is that Quark seemingly undergoes an entire gender reconstruction and it's played entirely for laughs. The episode falls absolutely flat from the beginning, resulting in the effective death of Ferengi-themed episodes for the rest of Deep Space Nine's run.
Gender reassignment surgery seems to be as available to people in the 24th century as painkillers or getting a flu vaccine is today. Even if this was presented as a positive thing, the idea of having Quark become a woman to close a sale was beyond misjudged. As Lumba, Armin Shimmerman was instructed to cry a lot. He refused, going further to say that he hated the episode's script, as Quark didn't learn anything from his time as a woman. He tried to emulate Dustin Hoffman's performance in Tootsie, though he was unable to match it.
While this would have a fair place on a list of episodes that didn't age well, it simply stunk from the writing stage onward. Alexander Siddig, who directed the episode as well as appearing as Dr. Bashir, wanted to take out some of the comedic undertones. Accordingly to Cecily Adams, this was blocked by the producers.
Ira Steven Behr later commented that the mistake with the show was its comedy and that in hindsight, they should have followed Siddig's advice.