10 Times Star Trek: The Next Generation Tried To Be Sexy

To put it delicately, the Ferengi have characteristically large ears, more commonly referred to as lobes. In addition to having very acute hearing, they are, at least among the males, intensely sensitive erogenous zones.

Stroking a Ferengi male’s lobes will send him reeling with titillation. This is known as oo-mox, and it doesn’t take much imagination to think of the equivalent act in human male anatomy. In other words, when you think of it, it’s one of the most explicit sexual acts ever to appear on screen anywhere in the Star Trek franchise.

This was the case when Counselor Troi, Commander Riker, and Troi’s mother Lwaxana were held captive by Ferengi extortionists.

As Lwaxana tries to seduce one of their captors, Tog, with honeyed words, she soon finds out that by stroking his ears she’s been winding him up, as it were, and is briefly mortified. She recovers and continues while her daughter and Riker engineer their escape.

Oo-mox later featured regularly in episodes of Deep Space Nine. And while most standards it’s fairly tame on screen and mostly played for laughs, the ecstasy on a recipient’s face reveals it’s not as PG as it seems. Gladly, Troi wasn’t there to see her mom playing Tog’s lobes like a ukulele.