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| − | == Memorable |
+ | == Memorable quotes == |
"''At first, it struck me as a little...peculiar. But after I thought it over, I began to think that maybe this is a good sign after all.''"<br /> |
"''At first, it struck me as a little...peculiar. But after I thought it over, I began to think that maybe this is a good sign after all.''"<br /> |
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"''How can hiding in one of Julian's adolescent programs be a good sign?''"<br /> |
"''How can hiding in one of Julian's adolescent programs be a good sign?''"<br /> |
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: - '''Leeta''' and '''Nog''' |
: - '''Leeta''' and '''Nog''' |
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| − | == Background |
+ | == Background information == |
* This episode is somewhat unique in ''[[Star Trek]]'' insofar as it focuses almost entirely on two non-regular characters, although this was not the original conception of the episode. It began as an A, B, C story, with three concurrent plotlines (like the [[DS9 Season 2|second season]] episode {{e|Shadowplay}}) all taking place in [[Vic's lounge|Vic's]], and the [[Nog]] story was simply one of them. In fact the original pitch for the episode didn't even feature the Nog story at all, because it was pitched long before Nog lost his leg. In [[1995]] [[John J. Ordover]] and [[David Mack]] came up with a unique idea, which they pitched to [[Ronald D. Moore]]. According to Ordover, "''Our notion was that the most attractive pitch would be something that was as cheap for them to produce as possible. Well, that would be an entire episode that had no visual effects, very little makeup, and only one set to light''." The original idea involved a [[Bajoran]] holiday and everything on the [[Promenade]] closed except [[Quark's]], which is where the episode would be set. Ordover and Mack dubbed their idea "Everybody Goes to Quark's". The writing team tried to build an episode from the idea, but they were unable to at the time, and the concept was shelved. It was only with the introduction of the character of [[Vic Fontaine]] in [[DS9 Season 6|Season 6]] that [[Ira Steven Behr]] suggested revisiting the idea, and setting it at Vic's instead of Quark's. The writers decided to have two comic plots and one serious plot, and it was decided early on that the serious plot would involve Nog's recuperation after losing his leg in {{e|The Siege of AR-558}}. However, when it came time to actually compose the teleplay, Moore found that the Nog plot, because it was so heavy, was dominating the other two just-for-kicks plots. Soon, Ira Behr realized that the show had become about Nog and Vic, and he told Moore to jettison the other two stories and concentrate on the serious plot. (''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion]]'') |
* This episode is somewhat unique in ''[[Star Trek]]'' insofar as it focuses almost entirely on two non-regular characters, although this was not the original conception of the episode. It began as an A, B, C story, with three concurrent plotlines (like the [[DS9 Season 2|second season]] episode {{e|Shadowplay}}) all taking place in [[Vic's lounge|Vic's]], and the [[Nog]] story was simply one of them. In fact the original pitch for the episode didn't even feature the Nog story at all, because it was pitched long before Nog lost his leg. In [[1995]] [[John J. Ordover]] and [[David Mack]] came up with a unique idea, which they pitched to [[Ronald D. Moore]]. According to Ordover, "''Our notion was that the most attractive pitch would be something that was as cheap for them to produce as possible. Well, that would be an entire episode that had no visual effects, very little makeup, and only one set to light''." The original idea involved a [[Bajoran]] holiday and everything on the [[Promenade]] closed except [[Quark's]], which is where the episode would be set. Ordover and Mack dubbed their idea "Everybody Goes to Quark's". The writing team tried to build an episode from the idea, but they were unable to at the time, and the concept was shelved. It was only with the introduction of the character of [[Vic Fontaine]] in [[DS9 Season 6|Season 6]] that [[Ira Steven Behr]] suggested revisiting the idea, and setting it at Vic's instead of Quark's. The writers decided to have two comic plots and one serious plot, and it was decided early on that the serious plot would involve Nog's recuperation after losing his leg in {{e|The Siege of AR-558}}. However, when it came time to actually compose the teleplay, Moore found that the Nog plot, because it was so heavy, was dominating the other two just-for-kicks plots. Soon, Ira Behr realized that the show had become about Nog and Vic, and he told Moore to jettison the other two stories and concentrate on the serious plot. (''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion]]'') |
||
* Although speculative, the events of {{film|9}} (which was released between {{e|Covenant}} and "It's Only a Paper Moon") are believed to have occurred during this episode. This is due to the fact that [[Worf]] is only in the opening scenes of the episode, an episode which spans a fair period of time, and he does not appear at all in either of the next two episodes, {{e|Prodigal Daughter}} and {{e|The Emperor's New Cloak}} (only the mirror [[Worf (mirror)|Worf]] appears in the latter episode). The apparently large period of absence in his appearances would allow him enough time to assist in the security upgrade of the [[Manzar colony]] and join the {{USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701-E|-E}} crew during its mission to the [[Briar Patch]] before returning to the station. |
* Although speculative, the events of {{film|9}} (which was released between {{e|Covenant}} and "It's Only a Paper Moon") are believed to have occurred during this episode. This is due to the fact that [[Worf]] is only in the opening scenes of the episode, an episode which spans a fair period of time, and he does not appear at all in either of the next two episodes, {{e|Prodigal Daughter}} and {{e|The Emperor's New Cloak}} (only the mirror [[Worf (mirror)|Worf]] appears in the latter episode). The apparently large period of absence in his appearances would allow him enough time to assist in the security upgrade of the [[Manzar colony]] and join the {{USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701-E|-E}} crew during its mission to the [[Briar Patch]] before returning to the station. |
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*As part of the [[DS9 Season 7 DVD]] collection. |
*As part of the [[DS9 Season 7 DVD]] collection. |
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| − | == Links and |
+ | == Links and references == |
| − | === Guest |
+ | === Guest stars === |
* [[Aron Eisenberg]] as [[Nog]] |
* [[Aron Eisenberg]] as [[Nog]] |
||
* [[Max Grodénchik]] as [[Rom]] |
* [[Max Grodénchik]] as [[Rom]] |
||
* [[Chase Masterson]] as [[Leeta]] |
* [[Chase Masterson]] as [[Leeta]] |
||
| − | === Special |
+ | === Special guest star === |
* [[James Darren]] as [[Vic Fontaine]] |
* [[James Darren]] as [[Vic Fontaine]] |
||
| − | === Co- |
+ | === Co-stars === |
* [[Tami-Adrian George]] as [[Kesha]] |
* [[Tami-Adrian George]] as [[Kesha]] |
||
* [[Annette Helde]] as [[Nadia Larkin]] (archive footage, uncredited) |
* [[Annette Helde]] as [[Nadia Larkin]] (archive footage, uncredited) |
||
Revision as of 13:01, 14 August 2009
Template:Realworld
- For the song for which the episode was named, see "It's Only a Paper Moon".
After losing a leg on AR-558, Nog returns to Deep Space 9, but finds he cannot go on living his uncertain life and seeks shelter within the fictional world of Vic Fontaine and Las Vegas, 1962.
Summary
After losing his leg serving at AR-558, Nog returns home to Deep Space 9. He has undergone extensive counseling at Starbase 235. He is relieved of duty until further notice by Captain Sisko, a hero.
However, Nog finds the counseling with Ezri pointless. He uses a cane, and complains of pain, even though a tricorder scan does not show any nerves firing, leading doctors to conclude it's psychological. Nog, in his state, finds this ridiculous; the pain is real, he's not making it up. When walking through Deep Space 9, he has a sudden flashback on the death of Larkin and the injury of his own leg.
The only solace for Nog is in the Vic Fontaine recording that Doctor Bashir played during his time in triage on AR-558, I'll Be Seeing You. He now plays it constantly, enough to drive Jake Sisko crazy. Sick of listening to the same song constantly, he insists that Nog use a holosuite. Afterward Nog goes into one of Quark's holosuites having Vic sing every version he knows of I'll Be Seeing You. In fact, he feels safe enough that, he talks Vic into letting Nog live with him.
Ezri, concerned about Nog's condition, talks to Vic about Nog, but concludes this may be a good sign, since his counseling was going nowhere. Vic explains he has a trick or two up his sleeve to let him heal, so persuades Ezri to let Nog stay here.
Unfortunately, trouble occurs when Jake takes his friend Kesha on a date into the holosuite for one of Vic's performances. Nog is moody, and when the subject of his heroism comes up, Nog becomes irritated. When Jake asks Nog what's wrong, the Ferengi becomes angry and starts a fight by throwing the table onto Jake. Vic has to kick Nog back to their room.
To give him something to do, Vic complains about his inability to do his accounting, and how his books are a mess. Nog helps him out, and concludes there is enough money in Vic's bank account he could expand the place. Nog soon finds solace in using his Ferengi business instincts to help make Vic's bar a success. He also soon gets his confidence back as he charms the holographic guests, especially lighting cigarettes for the ladies with a lion's head cane Vic gave him. Before long, he doesn't need it at all. That's when Vic starts to feel a bit exhausted, as the program hasn't been run for this long.
After a while, Ezri comes up to see how Nog is doing. Pleased at the progress report, she thinks Nog should return to the real world, and convinces Vic the same thing by tricking him into realizing he is just using Nog if he lets Nog stay. Vic tries to try and talk Nog out, but when he won't go Vic shuts down his program to force Nog to face the real world again.
Nog tries to force the computer to run the program, but to no avail. Even Chief O'Brien tells him that if Vic doesn't want to appear, he won't. Soon after, Vic causes himself to reappear, and Nog released what he was probably holding back from all the counseling sessions. He tells Vic when the war began, despite how many people he saw get wounded or killed, Nog thought he was going to be okay. Then he got injured at AR-558, and now the Ferengi is suffering from an overwhelming fear of his mortality caused by losing his leg. It was this, apparently, that he couldn't tell the counselors. Vic talks him out of it gingerly with a long speech, and Nog slowly but surely returns to reality.
Nog later thanks Vic for his help with good news: Quark will keep Vic's program running 26/7, effectively giving Vic a life of his own.
- Note: Please obey copyright policy; do not copy material from other sources without permission.
Memorable quotes
"At first, it struck me as a little...peculiar. But after I thought it over, I began to think that maybe this is a good sign after all."
"How can hiding in one of Julian's adolescent programs be a good sign?"
"Hey..."
"It could be worse. He could be hiding in the Alamo program."
"Or that ridiculous secret agent program."
(quiet) "Hey..."
"Or that stupid Viking program."
"Hey!"
- - Ezri, Quark, Jake, Leeta, and Rom teasing Bashir
"He's a one legged crazy man!"
- - Rom, on the new Nog.
"She called you a hero, and for that you slugged your best friend? Remind me never to give you a compliment."
- - Vic after the incident in the lounge.
"(About Shane movie) I like The Searchers better!"
"Yeah, who doesn't?"
- - Nog and Vic
"I'm an engineer, not a philosopher!"
- - O'Brien
"Is there anything I can do?"
"You know anything about bookkeeping?"
"I'm a Ferengi, it's in our blood."
"Be my guest." (hands Nog the account books)
"Where's your computer?"
"Right here." (holds up a pencil)
(Nog gives him a look)
"It's 1962, what do you want from me?"
- - Nog and Vic Fontaine
"When the war began... I wasn't happy or anything, but I was eager. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a soldier and I saw a lot of combat. I saw a lot of people get hurt. I saw a lot of people die. But I didn't think anything was going to happen to me. And then, suddenly Dr. Bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. If I could get shot, if I could lose my leg, anything can happen to me, Vic. I could die tomorrow. I don't know if I'm ready to face that. If I stay here, at least I know what the future is going to be like."
"You stay here, you're going to die. Not all at once, but little by little. Eventually, you'll become as hollow as I am."
- - Nog and Vic Fontaine
"Look kid, I don't know what's going to happen to you out there. All I can tell you is that you've got to play the cards life deals you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you're in the game."
- - Vic Fontaine
"Are you okay?
"No, but I will be."
- - Leeta and Nog
Background information
- This episode is somewhat unique in Star Trek insofar as it focuses almost entirely on two non-regular characters, although this was not the original conception of the episode. It began as an A, B, C story, with three concurrent plotlines (like the second season episode "Shadowplay") all taking place in Vic's, and the Nog story was simply one of them. In fact the original pitch for the episode didn't even feature the Nog story at all, because it was pitched long before Nog lost his leg. In 1995 John J. Ordover and David Mack came up with a unique idea, which they pitched to Ronald D. Moore. According to Ordover, "Our notion was that the most attractive pitch would be something that was as cheap for them to produce as possible. Well, that would be an entire episode that had no visual effects, very little makeup, and only one set to light." The original idea involved a Bajoran holiday and everything on the Promenade closed except Quark's, which is where the episode would be set. Ordover and Mack dubbed their idea "Everybody Goes to Quark's". The writing team tried to build an episode from the idea, but they were unable to at the time, and the concept was shelved. It was only with the introduction of the character of Vic Fontaine in Season 6 that Ira Steven Behr suggested revisiting the idea, and setting it at Vic's instead of Quark's. The writers decided to have two comic plots and one serious plot, and it was decided early on that the serious plot would involve Nog's recuperation after losing his leg in "The Siege of AR-558". However, when it came time to actually compose the teleplay, Moore found that the Nog plot, because it was so heavy, was dominating the other two just-for-kicks plots. Soon, Ira Behr realized that the show had become about Nog and Vic, and he told Moore to jettison the other two stories and concentrate on the serious plot. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- Although speculative, the events of Star Trek: Insurrection (which was released between "Covenant" and "It's Only a Paper Moon") are believed to have occurred during this episode. This is due to the fact that Worf is only in the opening scenes of the episode, an episode which spans a fair period of time, and he does not appear at all in either of the next two episodes, "Prodigal Daughter" and "The Emperor's New Cloak" (only the mirror Worf appears in the latter episode). The apparently large period of absence in his appearances would allow him enough time to assist in the security upgrade of the Manzar colony and join the USS Enterprise-E crew during its mission to the Briar Patch before returning to the station.
- The 1956 John Ford movie The Searchers is cited as a better movie than the 1953 George Stevens movie Shane; along with John Wayne, the protagonist of The Searchers was played by Jeffrey Hunter, who played Captain Christopher Pike in the very first episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
- This episode contains a scene from just before the final battle on AR-558 which wasn't actually seen in the episode "The Siege of AR-558"; after Bashir puts on "I'll Be Seeing You, he goes to check on Nog, who inquires as to the name of the song.
- According to Ronald Moore, this is one of his favorite episodes that he worked on. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- Obviously, the show is also a personal favorite of Aron Eisenberg's; "I was honored. It was my biggest episode in all seven seasons. I was working every day, and I was in almost every scene. I had a ball. They trusted that James Darren and I could carry an episode, and I gave it everything I had. I played Nog differently than I had before, because he was in a different place in his mind. He wasn't the gung-ho soldier anymore. Now his goals were blurred, and he was on this downward spiral because of fear." His favorite scene is when Nog breaks into tears; "It wasn't written that way. The script just said that Nog gets emotional. When we were ready to shoot, I realized that I had to cry. It was the defining moment of what the episode was all about. You finally see what's inside that's gotten Nog to this point. Up until then, you didn't know why he was behaving that way. I grew that day as an actor." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- After this episode aired, Eisenberg was contacted by a number of combat veterans who told him that his performance was extremely true to life, and who complimented him on his work. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 7.5, 7 June 1999.
- As part of the DS9 Season 7 DVD collection.
Links and references
Guest stars
- Aron Eisenberg as Nog
- Max Grodénchik as Rom
- Chase Masterson as Leeta
Special guest star
Co-stars
- Tami-Adrian George as Kesha
- Annette Helde as Nadia Larkin (archive footage, uncredited)
- Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett (archive footage, uncredited)
- Alan Ladd as Shane (archive footage, uncredited)
- Jack Palance as Jack Wilson (archive footage, uncredited)
References
Accountant; Alamo; AR-558; Bashir 62; Battle of Clontarf; Benbasset; biosynthetic limb; Cal-Neva Lodge; cane; Charley; cigarette; coonskin cap; counselor; craps; Crockett, Davy; Davis, Sammy, Jr.; De Wilde, Brandon; Ferengi; Flynn, Errol; Grand Nagus' staff; holosuite; "I'll Be Seeing You"; "I've Got the World on a String"; isolinear rod; "It's Only a Paper Moon"; Julian Bashir, Secret Agent; "Just in Time"; Ladd, Alan; Lake Tahoe; Las Vegas; latinum; magnetic flux; Makara fizz; Martin, Dean; martini; medical leave; "Moon River"; movie; "Noggles"; olive; Palance, Jack; physical therapy; plasma conduit; popcorn; Presley, Elvis; raccoon; replicator; Rockefeller family; Searchers, The; Shane; Shane; Sinatra, Frank; slot machines; Starbase 235; television; transilluminator circuit; tricorder; Uncle Sam; "Untouchables, The"; Vikings; Yankee.
External links
- Template:NCwiki
- It's Only a Paper Moon (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) at Wikipedia
| Previous episode: "Covenant" |
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 7 |
Next episode: "Prodigal Daughter" |