I think Oatley and I are on the same page. All that lovey-dovey crap really tainted some good episodes. Trek writers always seem to want to pair people off.
They could have done so much more with the Ferengi, too - but when they were in the spotlight, things just got dumb. (A friend of mine has likened them to Mel Brooks' "Jews in Space") And Moogie - please. I know they had a penchant for sermonizing, but they could at least do it with characters you care about. They seemed a lot more interesting when they were introduced in TNG as "Yankee Traders" and portrayed as guiless manipulators. In DS9 they were mostly latinum-obsessed bunglers.
But they weren't the worst part of the show. The Vulcan baseball game episode was absolute torture.
They could have done so much more with the Ferengi, too - but when they were in the spotlight, things just got dumb. (A friend of mine has likened them to Mel Brooks' "Jews in Space") And Moogie - please. I know they had a penchant for sermonizing, but they could at least do it with characters you care about. They seemed a lot more interesting when they were introduced in TNG as "Yankee Traders" and portrayed as guiless manipulators. In DS9 they were mostly latinum-obsessed bunglers.
But they weren't the worst part of the show. The Vulcan baseball game episode was absolute torture.