Star Trek: 10 Best Ferengi Episodes
8. Deep Space Nine: Family Business
"Family Business" was an important episode for Deep Space Nine and Star Trek as a whole as it featured a series of firsts. It was the first time the Ferengi homeworld, Ferenginar, was featured. It was the first time Brunt, a liquidator with the Ferengi Commerce Authority, appeared, beginning years of tormenting Quark. It was also the first appearance of Ishka, Quark and Rom's mother.
Confronted by Brunt, Quark and Rom had to return to Ferenginar to deal with Ishka. She had been accused by the FCA of accruing profit. Ishka had never been the typical Ferengi woman, which meant she wore clothes, talked to strangers and didn't chew her son's food for them. Accruing profit was just another deviant behavior in the eyes of the FCA as Ferengi women were not allowed to.
What Quark found out when he got to Ferenginar was that Ishka had accrued an impressive amount of profit, using dozens of aliases and shell corporations all over the quadrant. While he was able to smooth things over, Quark only discovered a third of what Ishka had accomplished.
This early appearance by Ishka set the groundwork for her impact on Ferengi society later in the series. It was also interesting to see Ferengi culture up close in this way, an opportunity no other series afforded Star Trek fans.