The Nagus

"The Nagus" is the 11th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

"The Nagus"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 10[1]
Directed byDavid Livingston
Story byDavid Livingston
Teleplay byIra Steven Behr
Featured musicJohn Debney
Production code411
Original air dateMarch 21, 1993 (1993-03-21)
Guest appearance(s)

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, in orbit of the planet Bajor. In this episode Retiring Grand Nagus Zek announces Quark as his successor (over his own son); Sisko frets over his son's devotion to his friend Nog, a known troublemaker.

Plot

Zek, the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance, arrives on the station and seems to take an interest in Quark, but it is not clear why. He tells Quark that he wants to use Quark's bar for a conference, where he announces that Quark will be his successor. The Nagus then dies, apparently making Quark's appointment permanent.

Quark has a hard time adjusting to his new position, but he becomes popular among the Ferengi entrepreneurs by giving away lucrative business opportunities. Zek's son Krax and Rom attempt to kill Quark and are stopped by Zek, who appears before them still very much alive. Quark's appointment was a test to see how his son would respond in his absence, and as Zek says, "You failed! Miserably!" Quark congratulates Rom for having the lobes to try to kill him.

Meanwhile, Sisko is trying to cope with the friendship between his son Jake and Rom's son Nog. His problem is seemingly solved when Rom orders Nog not to attend school; however, Jake and Nog begin spending even more time together. Jake will only tell Sisko that what they are doing is "private." In the end, Sisko finds he has nothing to worry about when he finds Jake teaching Nog how to read.

Arc significance
  • First appearance of Grand Nagus Zek and first mention of his plans to expand Ferengi business into the Gamma Quadrant.

Notes
  • In this episode, there is an homage shot to The Godfather. Shortly after Quark is "Made" Grand Nagus, the shot of the following scene is a near-exact duplicate of the opening of the movie, with a client coming to seek a favor. Quark is even reclining in a chair as did Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone and petting an alien creature the way the Don held his cat. In his following line as well he paraphrased Brando: "And now you call me [Nagus]...".

Reception

In 2018, CBR ranked Grand Nagus Zek, the character introduced in this episode, as the 13th best recurring character of all Star Trek.[2]

gollark: Do notation considered.
gollark: Idea: a monad tutorial esolang.
gollark: <@330678593904443393> There's one in Go.
gollark: The C interpreter would then run a Python interpreter to run the existing WHYJIT compiler.
gollark: Brilliant idea: make the WHY compiler produce a Haskell program which runs a Python program which then runs a C interpreter.

References
  • P. Farrand, Nitpicker's Guide for Deep Space Nine Trekkers New York: Dell (1996): 48 - 51
  1. "The Nagus". Star Trek. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  2. "Star Trek: Ranking the 20 Best Recurring Characters". CBR. 2018-12-28. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
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