Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 6 - "Hear All, Trust Nothing"Quark (Armin Shimerman) is a great success story, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine after 23 years. Of course, no visit to DS9 would be complete without Quark, who was in the thick of the episode's chaos involving the Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) of the USS Cerritos opening trade negotiations with the Karemma of the Gamma Quadrant.
Throughout progressive changes made to Ferengi culture by his Moogie, Ishka (Cecily Adams), thanks to her relationship with Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn). As DS9 ended, Quark thought he was going to become the next Grand Nagus, but Zek chose Quark's brother Rom (Max Grodénchik) as his successor.
Star Trek: Lower Decks revealed how Quark finally turned his fortunes around. The Ferengi has franchised Quark's Bar into dozens of worlds, and he's now a mogul. The secret to Quark's success is the Quark 2000, a food and drink replicator that adds a little "extra something" that makes his cocktails and adult beverages a cut above the Synthehol that Starfleet's replicators can generate. But of course, Quark was cheating the system because the Quark 2000 used stolen Karemma technology. When the aliens found out, they arrested Quark and tried to take him back to the Gamma Quadrant before the Ferengi was rescued by Ensigns D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). As punishment, Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) forced Quark to turn over 70% of his profits to the Karemma.
Quark's Success Lasts From Lower Decks To Picard
Somehow, Quark continued his success in business into the early 25th century in spite of losing his illicit advantage of the Quark 2000 in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3. In Star Trek: Picard's timeframe, Quark is as successful as ever. In the Picard season 1 episode, "Stardust City Rag," iral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his motley crew, including Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), visited Quark's Bar in Freecloud. Although Quark wasn't seen in the episode, he was respectfully referred to as "Mr. Quark of Ferenginar." The Freecloud location of Quark's Bar is also considerably more high-end than the original restaurant on Deep Space Nine, so profits are clearly rolling in for the Ferengi.
Quark is easily the most popular and the most important Ferengi character in Star Trek. He literally changed the concept of the Ferengi for the better after they were introduced as smarmy villains on Liquidator Brunt (Jeffrey Combs). The Ferengi-centric DS9 episodes were always comedic highlights of the series. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard show that Quark deservedly achieved his Ferengi dreams of success, and it lasts decades after Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.