MOOGIE      MENU RETURN              
adapted from the Israeli Star Trek Fan Club web site www.starbase972.com

(view Cecily's tribute in Hebrew as seen on the Israeli web site - except that as reproduced on this site the Hebrew reads left to right!)

     The "Moogie" character appeared in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” for the first time in the third season in "Family Business" alongside two other major characters making their first debut: Brunt the Ferengi and Kasidy Yates. All three became an important part of the “Star Trek” universe.

       Ishka caused her son Quark a lot of problems every time they met, starting from this first episode. As Quark arrives home to Ferenginar, he finds out his mother made her own profit and managed her own business, which is forbidden to all Ferengi females. As though not enough, Moogie also went around clothed (G-d forbid) which was again, a thing not to be done by Ferengi females. The Ferengi code forbids any involvement of females with finances (a thing clearly stated in the “Ferengi Rules of Acquisition"). Moogie was not opposed to profit making, but rather wanted profit of her own, like any true Ferengi. She believed that she and other females could do no less than the males, they could even do better. Eventually, Ishka  agreed to give up her profit in order not to cause her son, Quark, who inherited her lobes, bankruptcy (No one but Rom knew she gave away only a third of her profits…).

       The first appearance of Moogie  was played by Andrea Martin, and thereafter by Cecily Adams for the rest of the series.  

      Visiting home again in Ferengi Love songs, Quark finds out that Grand Nagus Zek (the Ferengi leader) and his own dressed, liberal mother are lovers, after they met at the global Tongo Championship. Liquidator Brunt of the FCA (the Ferengi Commerce Authority), who had Quark blacklisted, persuades him to separate the two lovers, and in return Quark will receive his business license back. Quark gladly does so, and comforts his sad mother who is worried about her love and about Ferenginar too, for some reason.

       He soon finds out that his mother was the actual brains that derives the whole Ferengi economy, since she is the economic advisor to the aging Grand Nagus. To prevent Brunt becoming the Nagus, Quark helps Zek in gaining control again and admits that the advices given to Zek, are actually his mother’s. Thus, the two lovers are brought back together.

       Adams viewed tape of Martin’s character prior to Adams' remarkable performance of Moogie, which astounded the producers.  Although Adams had faithfully caught the essence of the Martin portrayal to keep the character consistent, she also brought along new  elements that helped the character of Moogie to evolve  great depth over the years. The  character began to take on many of Cecily's own personal beliefs  about feminism, as well as  Cecily's unique and  endearing personality.

       It took Cecily a little bit of time to get used to the massive amount of makeup she had to walk around with, since the "old" Ferengi characters demanded more makeup than the other "younger" Ferengis. She had two prosthetics expert colleagues:co-star Armin Shimerman  (Quark) and episode director Rene Auberjonois (aka Odo), both advised her about performing while wearing a rubber head. And initially Adams found some of  Moogie’s vocabulary quite challenging, with words like Maihar’du or Tongo.

       Because performing with the  specially made "Moogie teeth"  had an effect on the performance,  Cecily would rehearse with just  her teeth in place in front of a  video camera, and watch back  each take so that she could make  adjustments. Once inside the rubber head it was difficult to  know what her performance was  like because of the difficulty in hearing --- she relied to a large  degree on duplicating what was  established in her video rehearsals.

(continued at top of next column)

       Sixth season episode The Magnificent Ferengi shows us that Ishka is a prisoner of the Dominion, captured while returning from a lobelift on Vulcan. Being the Grand Nagus' lover and all, Zek demands Quark's help in a rescue mission.

     This causes Quark a mild headache, as the Ferengis are not exactly a fighting people. He gathers the best Ferengis he can find for this mission. During her captivity, Moogie gives a few advices to her Vorta captor and is quite calm. She is not happy when Quark stalls her rescue, and even hits Nog when he verifies she is not a changeling (by causing her hand to bleed).

      Ferenginar is in an economic chaos in Profit and Lace, following the overthrowing of Grand Nagus Zek. He authorized Ferengi females to go fully clothed (and thus make profit), apparently under Ishka's influence. After Zek & Moogie arrive at the station, Quark and his mother go into a harsh verbal confrontation, in which he accuses her as being the worst thing ever happened to the Ferengi Alliance. Following this confrontation, Moogie has a heart attack and is need of a transplant.

     The plan is to convince FCA members that females are capable of business, to calm things on Ferenginar. But since Ishka is ill, Quark is forced to assume a female's appearance (a temporary sex change procedure made by Dr. Bashir) and prove that females do understand a thing or two in business. He does so in order to get the Nagus back on his throne, and prevent, again, from Brunt doing so.

     The last time we see Moogie is in The Dogs of War, (the episode immediately before the two-part series finale of “Deep Space Nine”). Quark gets a static-filled transmission from the Nagus, saying he is on his way to the station, where his successor will be named. Quark understands that he will be the successor. He hears from Brunt about new decisions Zek made that changed the Ferengi homeworld completely, making it almost democratic! Quark plans how to correct things. However, when Zek & Moogie arrive at DS9, he is shocked to hear that Rom is the one who has been chosen. Rom was found more suitable to the new ways of Ferenginar, as Quark is still of the "old school". Moogie & Zek then retire to  Risa. 

      This was the last time we saw Moogie, but we saw Cecily one more time, in What You Leave Behind,  part II.  In this second part of the series finale, we see a long party scene with the extended cast, held at Vic's. In this particular scene a few of the series’ stars appear without their makeup on, as humans (or human holograms) in the party.

     Among these stars, we can see Cecily Adams – Cecily is the young woman in the red dress sitting at the table on the right, just as Vic returns to the stage during his song, “The way you look tonight”. We can see her one more time, when Sisko leaves the party – she is dancing, just behind Kasidy.

      For several years, Cecily  appeared alongside her Star Trek colleagues Max Grodenchik (Rom), Aron Eisenberg (Nog) & Chase Masterson (Leeta) and DS9 preproduction coordinator Lolita Fatjo in conventions, as they displayed a humor-filled Ferengi show - "The Ferengi Family Hour".

      As we saw, Ishka was not a regular Ferengi female. She was a pioneer, she was a feminist, doing everything a male was allowed to do, just because she had “the lobes” too. She never agreed to stop making profit, certainly not just because it was forbidden for females. She started making money for herself, and after becoming Zek’s lover she took care of the entire Ferengi Alliance, as well as the Nagus. Moogie also introduced Zek with the revolutionary ideas about making Ferenginar a better place with worker’s rights, environmental issues, preventing exploitations etc. She went against everything the Ferengi knew until those days, as reflected in Rule of Acquisition (RoA) no. 94 “Females and finances don't mix” and in RoA no. 139 “Wives serve, brothers inherit”. She simply wanted to be a true Ferengi (“A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all”, no. 18) and acted according to the 263rd RoA: “Never allow doubt to tarnish your lust for latinum”.