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Quark is a fictional character on the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine played by Armin Shimerman. Quark is a Ferengi bar-owner on the Deep Space Nine station. The clash between Federation, Bajoran, and Ferengi values wa one of the most memorable aspects of the series, and Quark played a huge role in this.
Quark was born on Ferenginar to Keldar and Ishka. He has one younger brother, Rom who has a son (Quark's nephew) named Nog.
They say if the original "Star Trek" was "Wagon Train to the stars", then "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" is "Gunsmoke". The station was like a western town, with Odo as the sheriff and "Quark's Bar" the local saloon. The "holosuites" upstairs in the salloon took the place (though could easily furnish) the wild west brothels that often seemed to occupy the upstairs of the old salloons. Quark's part as the slightly crooked saloon keeper was one he clearly relished.
One of the most interesting thing about the Quark character was that he slowly changed to understand and appreciate the Federation's "alien" values, so much so that he earned enemies on Fereginar that felt that he was betraying Ferengi values. He also found himself in the role of a reluctant hero on several occasions.
The Quark character was used for some of the most intellectually satisfying comic relief in TV history. The 24th century Ferengi society is a bizarre parody of our own 20th -21st century capitalist society. Their substitution of "profit" for concepts and values like "meaning", "faith", "contribution" ,"ethical" , "good" and "heroic" just points to the extent to which we have justified compromising these principles in the name of profit ourselves. So, every season, the series used the Quark character to delve into the seemingly bizarre yet somehow familiar world of the Ferengi and their values, mores, and laws. Using an alien society with a skewed point of view to look at our own foibles is one of the things that Sci Fi does best.
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