“The Nagus” 30th-anniversary reflections

Having heard that some of Quark’s holosuite programs are quite alluring, Grand Nagus Zek, leader of the Ferengi Alliance, pays an unexpected visit to the station. As he shares his plans for Ferengi business expansion into the Gamma Quadrant, he also reveals that it’s time to retire and pass the golden staff to the next Grand Nagus: Quark.

Zek’s sudden death puts a target on Quark’s back as Zek’s son, Krax, teams up with Rom for a power grab. In the end, Zek returns from the dead at just the right moment to save Quark’s life and teach Krax a lesson. And Rom, who understands that a Ferengi should never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity, gets a promotion to assistant manager for policy and clientele as a reward for his treachery.

In this episode of The Orb, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 30th-anniversary retrospective that will take you through all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one episode at a time. In this installment, we discuss “The Nagus,” the way in which the DS9 writers reset the Ferengi as tool for telling Star Trek stories at their best, the absurdity of the main story, and the important messages about fatherhood that drive the secondary plot.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Redeeming the Ferengi (00:03:11) DS9 Does the Best Comedy and Commentary (00:06:49) Culture Clash (00:09:12) Subtle Morality (00:14:05) Benjamin Sisko the Father (00:16:31) Zek the Father (00:26:32) Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:32:42) Closing (00:34:29)

Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer)