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sshbpodcast · 8 days

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Character Spotlight: Nog

By Ames

After some great blogposts on Quark and Rom, we’ve got one Ferengi left to shine the spotlight on, and that’s another of our fan favorites: Nog! Similarly to his father, Nog’s character arc over the seasons of Deep Space Nine is captivating to watch, as he grows from a little punk ne’er-do-well into a fully realized, complex person full of nuance and opportunities to learn. Which is pretty much DS9 in a nutshell.

So get prepared for some character whiplash, as we’ve got both childish pranks and severe post-traumatic stress disorder to explore in our blogpost below as we applaud the impressive versatility and range of the late Aron Eisenberg. Check out what your A Star to Steer Her By hosts have assembled as some of the young Ferengi’s best and worst moments, and check out our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:15:10 for Nog!). And there’ll be no running on the promenade!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Vulcans stole my homework As usual, we’re starting off with the good moments, and early on in “The Nagus” we see Nog get pulled from Keiko’s school out of Rom’s sheer racism. But what’s most commendable in the young Ferengi is that he sticks with it, secretly learning to read in the cargo bay with Jake and entirely subverting Sisko’s expectations and systematic racism against the Ferengi!

Maybe this isn’t a problem. Maybe it’s an opportunity. While we gripe about how the Ferengi can be cartoonishly one-dimensional at times, there are times when their obsession with profit makes for good character and plot moments. When Nog encourages Varis Sul, Tetrarch of the Paqu, to view her land-rights situation in “The Storyteller” as a business negotiation, she finds a compromise everyone enjoys!

Say that five times fast Speaking of Nog’s business acumen, he’s clearly still learning some of the basics in “Progress” but we still enjoy watching as he and Jake create their own Milo Minderbinder–like syndicate to sell yamok sauce and self-sealing stem bolts for what will turn out to be great running gags for years to come… not to mention tongue-twisters that frequently plague us on the podcast.

Because I don’t want to end up like my father From what we know about Nog by the midpoint of season three (including some of the bad moments you’ll see below), it seems entirely random for him to want to join Starfleet as he says in “Heart of Stone.” But when he exposes to Sisko that he has dreams outside of making profit, of being something greater than his father, you really root for the guy and know he’s really going to do it!

Best friends in subspace When old man Jake Sisko is ready to embark on some outlandish quest to find his father, lost in subspace for decades, in “The Visitor,” there is absolutely no surprise that Nog is right there at his side in the Defiant, ready to do whatever it takes for his old friend. Sure, it’s an alternate future version of Nog, but the connection he has with Jake is as real as ever.

On Wednesday we wear red Of course, Starfleet Academy is a challenge for Nog, who has set his sights on getting into the elite and extremely cliquey Red Squad to make a name for himself. But when it turns out that Red Squad is just a bunch of cadets being used by Admiral Leyton for his coup in “Paradise Lost,” Nog helps Sisko to find the truth of the matter, even if it is reluctantly at first.

Not quite a Vulcan Hello The B-plot in “Blaze of Glory” may not entirely gel with the A-plot of watching Eddington’s sacrifice, but it’s still some cute stuff for Nog. When he stands up to Martok after a whole episode of getting walked all over by the Klingons, you’ve got to respect the guy. As Martok says, “Courage comes in all sizes,” and it’s great to watch Nog tackle his problems head on.

Have a good day! There’s just something about “In the Cards” that makes you feel good. Nog, being the best friend a kid could ask for, agrees to help Jake win his dad a baseball card, going so far as to loan all his money to Jake (I can hear every Ferengi screaming at that). And then the rest of the episode is them going around the station, making everyone have a genuinely nice day. It’s so cute!

Boogie woogie woogie Okay, Nog might only have one line in all of “You Are Cordially Invited,” but I just find him dancing with Jadzia at her bachelorette party just so endearing that I had to include it. Aron Eisenberg came up with the little Ferengi frog dance himself, and when Terry Farrell joins in, I find myself smiling every time. Thank you, Aron, for creating this adorable moment.

Have faith in the Great Material Continuum So the whole Rube Goldberg device that is the chain events of schemes in “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River” may be kind of a repeat of the deals from “Progress” but it’s still very clever. After he joined Starfleet, you could almost forget that Nog is a Ferengi under the ensign uniform, but he pulls off deal after deal after deal to get the chief the stabilizer he needs.

We have a casino to build While it is painful to watch Nog struggle with PTSD in “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” the way he knuckles down to assist Vic with his finances and to work on expanding the lounge into a casino is simply fascinating. It’s helping him cope, so that by the end of a brilliantly acted episode, he doesn’t even realize that he’s put himself on the road to recovery that is right for him.

He’s not just a hologram, he’s my friend Speaking of Vic’s casino, Nog is quick to pay back his holographic crooner friend for helping him recover by participating in the big heist in “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang.” Nog’s part is to crack the safe in the countroom, and when he learns that it has an auto-relock tumbler that no one was expecting, he keeps his cool, gets to work, and helps the whole crew save the day!

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Worst moments

You never get a second chance to make a first impression The very first glimpse we get of Nog in “Emissary” is him stealing shit (almost certainly at Quark’s bidding) and getting locked in the brig by Odo. He has all of two lines in the episode – “Hurry up!” and “Now!” – but he is immediately cemented as a bad seed under the thumb of his uncle. The show literally starts Nog off with such a bad reputation there’s nowhere to go but up!

What this place needs is a school Nog’s delinquent behavior doesn’t stop there. When he and Jake strike up a friendship in “A Man Alone,” it’s by sharing the experience of pranking a couple of civilians on the promenade with some Garanian bolites, which cause them to itch terribly and turn colors in a scene that legitimately looks like torture. It’s no wonder Keiko steps in by starting up her little school.

Buckets of fun! We see another of Nog’s juvenile pranks in “The Storyteller” when he fills Odo’s bucket with oatmeal and dumps it on Jake who, utterly mortified, believes for a second that they’ve somehow killed Odo. It’s a little funny in hindsight, but at the moment it just seems cruel. Jake’s reaction of terror certainly helps that along, cementing Nog’s station status as a nuisance.

No running on the promenade! There’s one more Nog prank to make the list! When he sprays some foul-smelling fluid on Tumak in “Sanctuary,” it causes a big fight to break out with the various Skrrean kids. Nog just can’t help himself. As if these refugee kids haven’t been through enough, they have this short, big-eared, froglike nuisance wreaking havoc for them. What a brat.

No one’s asking you to think, my dear As we’ve discussed in Quark’s and Rom’s respective spotlight posts before, Ferengi culture is garbage, especially how they treat females. We see some of that come through in Nog in “Life Support” when he goes on a double date with Jake and acts like a complete asshole to Riska. He’s demeaning to her, he requests she cuts his food for him, and somehow Jake’s the one apologizing!

I’ve been looking for it for two years Even when Nog has matured and joined Starfleet Academy, we get little reminders of the miscreant that he was from the start. At his coming-of-age yardsale, Kira discovers that Nog has had her lost springball racket all along and was attempting to sell it in “Little Green Men.” Sure, that was two-years-ago Nog, but he could have returned it in all that time!

Could you massage it some more? Across so many of these posts, every time oo-mox comes up it automatically makes the worst moments lists. So when Nog tricks Faith Garland into giving him oo-mox in “Little Green Men,” and not for the first time evidently, I find it abhorrent. Here’s hoping I don’t have to bring up such rapey behavior again for a while (at least until that one Ferengi episode of Enterprise).

Healthy body, healthy mind After a season or so at Starfleet Academy, Nog suddenly becomes a tightass. The conflict with Jake, now his roommate, in “The Ascent” is manufactured and trite – the kind of odd-couple antics of eponymous sitcoms. Nog is now a neatfreak. He constantly works out. He corrects Jake’s stories without permission. It’s like his character has been rewritten to fit a punchline, and an old one at that.

I won’t turn my back on you again This one’s just a little silly peeve. After the events of “Empok Nor” when Garak’s little murder spree on the titular station, Nog vows to never turn his back on Garak when they’re out searching for supplies in “Rocks and Shoals.” But then after they get hostage-handoff’ed, he immediately turns his back on Garak as they cross the levy. Dude! What did you just say?

Red Squad, Red Squad, Red Squad! Nog got tempted by the allure of the corrupt Red Squad in “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost,” but it’s in “Valiant” that he gets thoroughly taken in. Acting Captain Watters offers Nog everything he’s ever wanted: respect, rank, and some semblance of power, in exchange for his unquestioning obedience when the utterly impossible plan goes swiftly sideways. Gee, who’da thunk?

And you find that impressive? The Dominion War sure brings out the worst in a lot of people. Sisko commits some war crimes. O’Brien is typically racist about the Jem’Hadar. And Nog starts to fancy himself a soldier, bent on killing the enemy. In “The Siege of AR-558,” he blatantly admires the Ketracel-white tubes that Reese has collected as war trophies, and Quark is all of us, displaying utter disgust at this.

You don’t come into my club and start hitting customers While we totally get that recovery from the loss of his leg is a struggle, that’s no excuse for how Nog treats his friends in “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Living in a holodeck starts off as a way to not only avoid the people he thinks are staring at him, but to avoid helping himself get better through therapy and rehabilitation. And when Jake visits, Nog is rude to Jake’s date, and then outright attacks Jake in the middle of Vic’s set. Pally!

— You’ve got a deal! That’s the end of the Ferengi spotlights (for now?), but we’ve got more great DS9 recurring characters to examine for the next couple weeks, so make sure you’re following along here. We’re also still plodding through the Xindi arc over on our watchthrough of Enterprise, so join us on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts, and hail us over on Facebook and Twitter. Now say it with me: self-stealing stem– dammit!

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warsofasoiaf · 1 year

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May be a weird question but I love your write ups: what do you think of Weyoun from DS9? He's probably one of my favourite Star Trek characters in any series (it can be annoying for me rewatching the series cos I want him to show up sooner lol)

I think Weyoun was an excellent character played remarkably well by Jeff Combs. The combination of calm ruthlessness and comedic moments made him a memorable character, and his on-screen chemistry with Dukat and Sisko made him a great antagonist.

The first Weyoun we meet, Weyoun 4, emphasizes much of the negative aspects of the Vorta. Much like his Founder makers, Weyoun was ultimately dismissive of his lessers as mere tools; he sees the Jem'Hadar as disposable assets that must be addicted to ketracel-white to ensure their compliance. He despises the ritual to dispense the white and performs it in a perfunctory manner, not bothering to hide his contempt for it. He believed that the Jem'Hadar needed to be addicted to the white, otherwise they would be entirely disloyal. His overtures to the Federation likewise inspired no confidence, Sisko saw him as a scheming and untrustworthy figure undeserving of his command. His contempt for the Jem'Hadar likewise earned contempt from First Omet'iklan, who was disgusted with the Vorta and ended up killing Weyoun 4 over doubting his loyalty to the Founders. This gave viewers a stark insight into the other races of the Dominion - and a look into Dominion culture one rung down the ladder. It's no surprise that the Dominion, a culture that values obedience and so disregards individual dignity that they craft entire slave races to carry out their will, would have their individual subservient races likewise express that same disregard for each other.

Weyoun returns as Weyoun 5, and here, we see a slightly different, more amiable Weyoun. This is the Weyoun that delightedly screams "Dabo!" when he wins in Quark's bar, and trollishly drinks the heavily-poisoned kanar right in front of Sisko and Dukat. This is also the Weyoun that tries to learn about Ziyal's painting, as the accomplishment clearly matters greatly to Dukat and he seeks Kira's help to appreciate why the painting was good. Weyoun 5 even gets introspective, wondering why he doesn't have a sense of aesthetics to appreciate Ziyal's paintings. This is a low-key method of reinforcing the horror that is the Founders. The genetic addiction of the Jem'Hadar is certainly one thing that is horrible, but destroying the Vorta sense of aesthetics means the Vorta cannot use art to reflect a lens into their culture, it means they they've been bred to gain no pleasure save through serving the Founders (Weyoun 6 even remarks that he doesn't really have a sense of taste, save an appreciation for certain foods for a possibly apocryphal story). Ultimately, however, Weyoun 5 is a loyal servant of the Founders, and his unfailing politeness puts a nice mask on their genocidal goals. Weyoun 5 is also a terrible diplomat - constantly misreading Sisko, Kira, Odo, the Female Changeling. About the only person he can successfully manipulate is Dukat, who is deeply susceptible to flattery (and who secretly hates him, and in turn Weyoun always thought of Dukat as an arrogant idiot and stealth insults him at every opportunity). He pushes Damar to the point where the Cardassian secretly has him killed, even as drunk and directionless as he was as the puppet Legate of the Cardassian Union. However, his constant attempts to ingratiate himself with Sisko (and Jeff Combs's excellent acting) keep him a delight on the screen.

Weyoun 6, however, really takes the introspective of Weyoun 5 and runs with it. Weyoun 6 may only be around for one episode, but Treachery, Faith, and the Great River is an excellent episode that explores what it means to be loyal, to be a traitor, and to have faith. Weyoun 6 sees the Dominion War as counter to the very interests of the Dominion of itself, as an immoral crusade. Yet Weyoun 6 doesn't see himself as disloyal - he simply sees that the war will lead to consequences that end up harming the Founders more than it helps them. In his mind, the only way to be faithful to the Founders is to be loyal to the Founder that opposes the war - Odo. There's a lot of powerful thematic work at play in this episode, from patriots who protest their country's actions to religious schismatics who protest the religious hierarchy as deviating from the true faith. Odo has always struggled with faith, both because he is a skeptical man by nature and because the scope of the Founder's genetic slavery into making the Jem'Hadar and Vorta worship them as if they were gods makes him deeply uncomfortable. Yet when Odo and Weyoun 6 are trapped (and Weyoun 7 willing to murder Odo on behalf of their dying gods), Weyoun 6 sacrifices himself to spare Odo, his faith in Odo permitting him to act with bravery. Odo, still uncomfortable, blesses Weyoun, to give him what manner of peace he can. Odo may not understand faith, but his experiences with Kira have taught him empathy and consideration, and that others have faith even if he doesn't. He may not feel like a god, but he can bless the supplicant who hopes for some comfort before his death. Combs really showed his range in this episode, showcasing Weyoun's zeal not only in polite affectation and a callous smugness, but a sincere and hopeful one, a positive dimension of faith.

Weyoun 7 and 8 don't have any of Weyoun 5's introspection or Weyouns 6's fear. They're zealous senior administrators of the Dominoin, determined to win the war even as they must give ground. Damar lambasts Weyoun 7 that "Overconfidence is a hallmark of the Weyouns" and he's not wrong. Weyoun 5 was always confident he could win Sisko over, Weyoun 7 was confident he could taunt Ezri Dax in interrogation, even Weyoun 6 was confident he could defect (although in his case, the very threat of death meant he had to take a risky gamble to escape). The loss of Weyoun's more humorous aspects showcase the added pressure that the Dominion is under, forcing them to seek out the Breen to even the playing field. Whereas Weyoun before could actually be quite funny, these Weyouns are more often than not frazzled, killed by Worf, mocked by Damar, and undercut by the Female Changeling. Gone are the fun jokes, now it's Weyoun taking pleasure in committing genocide against the Cardassian and relishing the murder of the puppet Legate Broca for possible disloyalty. The Female Changeling says that Weyoun is the only solid she could depend on to Weyoun 8 (even when before she said that she only didn't kill him because the Cardassians destroyed the cloning facility on Rondak), and it's clear why; Weyoun 8 harbored no thoughts other than the execution of whatever the Founder asked, no matter how brutal, no matter how pointless. Weyoun 5 stepped beyond his station when he commented that the Female Changeling manipulated Odo, and Weyoun 7 was careless, only Weyoun 8 could get this ignoble praise. Whereas Weyoun 6 received his blessing in comfort, Weyoun 8 is the blessing of nothing less than a demon for being able to commit such atrocities. The Weyoun line ends at the hands of Garak, as the heavy-handed actions of the Changeling, enacted through Weyoun, create exactly what Weyoun 6 predicted! He said that the Dominion War would only engender hostility amongst the solids - and he was right. Their habitual untrustworthiness led even powers with non-aggression treaties to fight against them, like the Romulans and the Bajorans. Goading Damar only led him to rebel, distracting the Founders when they had the perfect opportunity to attack the Romulans and the Federation. As an antagonist, Weyoun was perfect in his role, fun to have on screen, to laugh at his presence and want his smug teeth kicked in at the same time.

Ultimately, I think the best credit we can give to Weyoun is that the DS9 writers so loved Jeff Combs's portrayal in To The Death that they wrote cloning as an aspect of the Vorta just so they could bring him back. That is a true testament to quality, that the writers will concoct an entire worldbuilding reason just to bring the character back. And to the writers' credit, cloning worked very well with the Vorta. Similarly, the writers said that Combs's acting made it hard to cast other Vorta, because according to Ira Steven Behr: "It's really tough to find actors who can play the many colors that he [Combs] gives it." When you play the part so perfectly that they come calling for you, and when you set the bar that high that it becomes hard to follow you, that is true craft.

Thanks for the question, Uncle.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#star trek #ds9 #vorta #weyoun

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