Star Trek Just Set Up Its Weirdest Romance Ever

IDW's Star Trek ongoing series teases the franchise's weirdest 'ship ever, as Quark takes an immediate liking to Doctor Beverly Crusher.

IDW's Star Trek has set up the franchise's weirdest romance to date, as Star Trek #7 sees Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Quark charmed by a surprising character from Star Trek: The Next Generation – Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher. When USS Theseus stops at Captain Benjamin Sisko's old space station, the crew visits Quark's Bar, leading to the Ferengi entrepeneur trying to put the moves on Crusher.

Star Trek #7 – written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, drawn by Mike Feehan, colored by Lee Loughridge, and lettered by Clayton Cowles – gives the crew of the Theseus some much-needed downtime. The issue allows its characters and readers alike some moments of levity following an exciting start to the series, before the action heats up again. Naturally, the highlight is Quark's ill-fated wooing of Doctor Crusher.

In Star Trek #7, while Sisko reconnects with his son Jake and his family, the rest of the Theseus crew head to Quarks for drinks and games. Data and Doctor Crusher sit together, remarking how “loud and mirthful” Quark’s bar is. Almost on cue, Quark approaches them and immediately takes interest in Doctor Crusher, offering her drinks “on the house.” Though Data inadvertantly foils Quark's attempted flirtations, Doctor Crusher nevertheless manages to get her own jab in at the Ferengi's expense. When he declares, "spending money is fun," she retorts that he should let her buy her own drinks, in that case, sending him sulking off.

This is the first time in Star Trek that Doctor Crusher and Quark have crossed paths. The two come from vastly different worlds and cultures. Doctor Crusher served as the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer for six of The Next Generation’s seven seasons. Now, she has joined Captain Benjamin Sisko on the Theseus in the pages of IDW's Star Trek. Quark, on the other hand, has been tending the bar on Deep Space Nine since his first introduction at the start of that series. Like most Ferengi males, Quark sometimes struggles in his interactions with women, and the character has displayed a misogynistic streak at times.

This, of course, makes Quark and Doctor Crusher fundamentally incompatible, a fact Star Trek #7 readily acknowledges. Despite living among humans and other species for most of his adult life, Quark still struggles with cultural norms, as shown in his interactions with Doctor Crusher. Doctor Crusher, however, was wise to Quark from the start, and was able to turn his own logic back on him. The irony of all of this is that Quark’s family would no doubt approve of Doctor Crusher. Among his family, Quark is an outlier: he clings to traditional Ferengi culture while the rest of his kin are highly progressive.

Quark's mother, Ishka, owns property and makes profit – something unheard of for women in Ferengi culture, and over time her example has inspired others. Quark’s brother Rom led the first successful strike in Ferengi history, and his nephew Nog is the first Ferengi in Starfleet. Ishka in particular would highly approve of Doctor Crusher, as she embodies all of the qualities of female empowerment that Ishka fights for. Of course, had Quark considered this before approaching Doctor Crusher, he may never have even set foot near her table, denying readers the glimpse of even the possibility of the biggest romantic mismatch in Star Trek history.

Shaun Corley is a freelance writer currently residing in the mountains of Appalachia. A pop culture fiend, Shaun enjoys comic books, movies, novels, TV shows, music and so on. Outside of pop culture, Shaun enjoys spending time with friends. He also loves dogs.