Star Trek Actor Worries His Character Went Too Far

To understand Armin Shimerman’s complaint about this episode, you need to know more about the exact moment he is describing. Early on in “Vortex,” Quark is working with some alien twins who are trying to sell him a stolen item.

A third party comes in and demands the item in question, resulting in a nasty firefight that leaves one of the twins dead.

As you might expect, the killer is subdued by Odo, the shapeshifting chief of station security. Odo calls for more security to contain the crime scene, and Dr. Bashir shows up to helpfully verify that one of Quark’s would-be customers is very dead.

Despite how much he despises the Ferengi, though, Odo doesn’t arrest or otherwise detain Quark, and this is a narrative decision that Armin Shimerman had a big problem with.

The actor was so worried about this moment in the script that he took it up with executive producer Rick Berman. He found it odd that Quark was “participating in a really high crime,” something he thought “might be a little dangerous for the character and for the show.”

Interestingly, Armin Shimerman didn’t have a problem with Quark being morally grey in general—however, he felt his character’s treatment in this episode upset a fairly delicate balance that Deep Space Nine was still trying to establish.

Speaking with characteristic bluntness, the actor said that this episode proves Quark “can get away with murder, which is not what I think the show is about.”

He has a point here: while the Ferengi is constantly involved in illegal activities, later episodes make it clear that he has his own code of ethics that keeps him from taking things too far.

For example, the season 5 episode “Business As Usual” has a desperate Quark selling weapons to settle debts, but he frantically backs out of this profiteer lifestyle when he realizes one of his customers is planning a genocidal attack.

In addition to his character’s actions going too far, Armin Shimerman also worried that Quark getting away with a scheme in which a man died made other characters look bad. “It also makes somewhat of a fool of Odo…for that to happen under his nose and to let it get by him.”

He also criticized how Sisko’s decision not to punish Quark lessened the character of the station commander as well by showing he is willing to let almost any out-of-pocket behavior flourish.

Whether or not Berman and other producers took Armin Shimerman’s words to heart or not, they certainly softened Quark’s character moving forward. He still engaged in quite a few activities that likely should have had Sisko throw him in the brig, but it rarely rose to this lethal level in future seasons.

This is ultimately part of why Deep Space Nine fans fell in love with Quark: he was a sleaze with a heart of gold, one who doesn’t cross the line too much and always shows up for his friends.