{"id":2339,"date":"2021-04-06T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assend.net\/?p=2339"},"modified":"2021-04-04T21:42:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T02:42:07","slug":"deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-10-the-nagus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/2021\/04\/06\/deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-10-the-nagus\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Space 9 WatchParty (Phil) – Season 1, Episode 10 \u2013 The Nagus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My feelings on this episode went through a bit of a roller coaster. When I saw the cover image for it, I was groaning inside. I did not want to watch this one. I did not want to deal with a bunch of Ferengi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I got started with it, my reaction changed. \u201cOh, it\u2019s this guy! And that guy! Oh, fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Followed shortly by another let-down as DS9-writing settled in to muck it up. There were a couple more rise-and-falls, as the plot seemed like it had potential, but then always fell back into the mud as the writers just couldn\u2019t pull the trigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary Plot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The plot in this one has some decent potential. The Ferengi version of the Pope (complete with kissing of his scepter) comes by Quark\u2019s little place of business on DS9, bringing a host of other high-level, scheming Ferengi in his wake. This exalted Ferengi is the titular \u201cGrand Nagus,\u201d and he apparently makes high-level decisions for the Ferengi on who may conduct business where and when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nagus has come to Deep Space 9 to discuss Ferengi business territory in the gamma quadrant. Instead, he abruptly retires and names Quark as his replacement. Quark is then in charge of doling out territory in the gamma quadrant. After giving Quark some advice and rules-of-thumb for being Nagus (the final piece was \u201cwhen in doubt, be ruthless\u201d), the former Nagus then dies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quark is a big target as the top-dog Ferengi. There are assassination attempts on his life, and he struggles with his new role as an alpha. It is unfamiliar territory for him. He\u2019s used to having to connive, obfuscate, and circumvent Odo, Sisko, and Kira the Needlessly Defiant. He enjoys telling people what to do, but he isn\u2019t used to having to assert his will and dominate others while doing so. He is also not used to having to guard himself at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, Quark struggles with his new demands. He isn\u2019t ruthless, and he doesn\u2019t scheme well. He doesn\u2019t act greedily. He whimpers. But, of course, he\u2019s saved by the writers. The Nagus wasn\u2019t dead after all. It was all a fake, and he takes his duties back at the end of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest problems with this episode is the character the Ferengi make of themselves. They\u2019ve pissed away all their reputations with everyone they have dealings with, so they are looking forward to being able to take advantage of everyone in the gamma quadrant. They\u2019ll have a clean slate, so no one will have heard of the deserved bad reputations they have.
For being all about profits, they are unable to think long-term to maximize profits. Their cultural blind spots are staggering, and they cannot conceive of how outsiders view them or how to relate to them. Honestly, this episode is so \u201con the nose\u201d about this caricature and portrayal of the Ferengi, I don\u2019t know that it could be aired today. I\u2019m almost certain it would be tarred with the \u201canti-Semitic\u201d brush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would not be helped by all the Ferengi introduced in this episode being played by Jewish actors. All of them. Without exception. There are some very enjoyable actors as Ferengi here. The Nagus is played by this guy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wallace Shawn<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I always enjoy him in whatever he\u2019s playing. Normally he is a very silly, over-the-top character who is also equal parts annoying. That isn\u2019t the case here. He is perfect for this role. For as little screen time as he has as the Nagus, he just owns that role. (My favorite role of his, however, is not in the Princess Bride. Rather, it is as Sheldon\u2019s Meemaw\u2019s boyfriend, and Sheldon\u2019s mentor, on Young Sheldon.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Quark\u2019s main opposition as Nagus is played by this guy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yes, he of Pirates fame in just 8 short years after this episode was aired. It was very cool seeing him here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The other major problem this episode has is the Ferengi scheming, or lack thereof. It doesn\u2019t happen. There are bountiful opportunities for Quark to play each Ferengi schemer off each other, or to scheme to provide protection for himself both physically and through being essential to each other Ferengi\u2019s success, and perhaps that could have been something that was on-going beyond this episode. It was set up so beautifully throughout this episode. That was a shot that was looking for a spike over the net. It would have been a glorious spike. But the writers bumped it away instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We got this…<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Instead of this.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Secondary Plots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hero Miles O\u2019Brien\u2019s wife is away, so he must be the substitute teacher at the school. He\u2019s not great at it, and is frustrated at dealing with his students, particularly Nog, the Ferengi boy. Nog doesn\u2019t do his work, makes up lies about it, and gets Jake Sisko to back him up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Hero isn\u2019t quite up to the task. He\u2019s a hero, not a teach or a miracle worker. Like all heroes, he has strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Brien isn\u2019t the only one struggling with minors. Sisko is having a lot of issues with his son. Jake won\u2019t listen to him, doesn\u2019t want to spend time with him, etc. Keeps hanging around the Ferengi boy, Nog, until Nog refuses to have anything more to do with humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads to an interesting, and for Star Trek, shocking, admission\u2014culture matters, and not all cultures are equal. Jake points out to his father that he is always espousing making friends and understanding other races and cultures. Sisko admits this is true, but also says the Ferengi are an exception. They have never been able to find any shared values between the cultures, and there is no common ground on which to build a relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This episode wasn\u2019t bad. But again, it wasn\u2019t good. Missed opportunities and a lack of awareness from the writing team hampered things. Perhaps it was due to limitations on production. I don\u2019t know. But certainly this episode did not fare nearly as well as it could have because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was interesting to see how \u201cbased\u201d this episode was, however. Unintentionally so, I\u2019m sure, but never-the-less, some information and viewpoints do come across that I\u2019m certain would be disowned by the show creators and studio at this current moment in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, this episode moved to slowly, was too boring, and missed too many obvious marks to be very good. It honestly wasn\u2019t terrible. It just wasn\u2019t good, and it left me frustrated at what could have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Grade: C-<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My feelings on this episode went through a bit of a roller coaster. When I saw the cover image for it, I was groaning inside. I did not want to watch this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26017,"featured_media":1946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,21,33,20],"tags":[28,27,24,29,32,31,30],"class_list":["post-2339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-space-9","category-reviews","category-sci-fi","category-star-trek","category-tv","tag-deep-space-9","tag-ds9","tag-reviews","tag-sci-fi","tag-star-trek","tag-television","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2444,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions\/2444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}