Mad #321 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Ferengi Issue - September 1993

The Ferengi are the capitalists of the Star Trek world.  They seem only to be motivated by profits and greed.  As writer Dick DeBartolo noted in the "Star Blecch: Deep Space Swine" parody, they should just get a replicator to reproduce gold-pressed latinum and stop bothering the non-materialistic species on the space station.  This is the 12th parody of the Star Trek franchise to appear in Mad (see also numbers 115, 186, 216, 236, 251, 271, 272, 283 and 293).  Issues 236 and 251 contained two parodies each counting the Don Martin versions.  For the parody of Deep Space Nine, Mort Drucker created the cover and the double-splash page featuring some unusual space station visitors: Momma, Fozzie Bear, Alf, Jabba the Hut, Yoda, Darth Vader and a few others.  In the conference room with roulette table, Captain Crisco and crew encounter a Fantootle Hatchback which is transporting a family of canisters with an energizer bunny.  Although Deep Space Nine was the least popular of the Star Trek television spin-offs, it was ripe for a Mad parody.  This issue also contained an excellent four-page parody ("Charade") of Parade magazine (newspaper insert) by Joe Raiola and Charlie Kadau. [JAM 4/24/2012]

Departments:
Off the Beaten Trek - Star Blecch: Deep Space Swine
Zingin' in the Pain - Least Common Accidents and Injuries in America
Trading Faces - When Celebrities Take Jobs as Product Logos
Air Apparent - Other Uses for Blow Dryers
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Operating Die-Rections - The Panasony RIP 2000 Suicide Machine Owner's Manual
All Jaffee - Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
Replay's the Thing - Groundhog Deja Vu
Rowboat Cop - The Avenging Oar
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Let's Twist And Make Up - Spin Doctors for the Rest of Us
The Agony of Their Feats - Real Life Stupid Human Tricks
Insert Ouch! - Charade
Packs to the Future - Baseball Card Wars
Tots Fall, Folks! - Save a Child Star

Fold-In - Gag