Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S1/E04 The Last Outpost

An unknown force immobilizes the Enterprise during the Federation's first encounter with a new alien threat—the Ferengi.

This episode contains the following tropes:

 * Early Installment Weirdness: The only appearance of the Ferengi energy whip until Enterprise.
 * Well, sort of. Some of Quark's childhood action figures have them in an episode of Deep Space Nine.