Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get made

[Navaros]

I say It's Only a Paper Moon is one of DS9's very best episodes.

There isn't a boring scene in it.

It provides a compelling character study of both Nog and Vic.

In the DS9 Companion it says:

"There were virtually no principal players in the story," recalls Costume Designer Bob Blackman. "It only had two guest stars. It blew me away. I actually called Steve Oster and asked him if we were really doing that. And Steve said, "Yup.'"

A Star Trek story with no principals? What were they thinking?

"It was never meant to be," Ira Behr sighs. "It was supposed to be a show with three storylines, all of them taking place in Vic's. Vic was going to be involved in all these different stories and Nog was going to be in one of them."

Although he had become a familiar face around the station, Aron Eisenberg's Nog was only a supporting character, and Star Trek episodes aren't built around supporting characters. The presence of James Darren as Nog's main costar didn't help to alleviate the problem; Vic Fontaine was a supporting character, too, and a recently added one at that.

"Doing an entire show with supporting characters is asking a lot," Behr says. He sighs again, "I had no choice."

"I told Ira, 'You're very brave,'" James Darren chuckles.

..."Finally," continues Behr, "it got to the point where I said, 'Fellas, I have to tell you. Nobody's going to like hearing me say this, but this is a Nog/Vic show. You can throw out everything else, because nothing else works. We're going to have to make this a Nog/Vic show.'"

The thought of doing an episode that primarily would feature guest stars was startling. "It was remarkable that we decided to do it," Moore says with a pleased smile. "We didn't even do a B-story with it. As the show developed, Ira really got into it, and he kept shaking his head and saying, 'God, if I'd had any idea we were going to do this kind of show, we would have cut off O'Brien's leg in that other episode.'" Moore laughs. "And then O'Brien and Bashir would have been doing this episode in the holosuite with Vic. But it was too late. He'd already made the decision and the show had sprung forward. Actually, it was nice that it worked out this way because it gave us a chance to explore Nog as a character on a very deep level, in a way that we had already explored O'Brien."

I am very grateful that It's Only a Paper Moon turned out as it did.

But I find it to be madness that it wasn't supposed to happen because of the lame, out-moded way of thinking which dictates that only principals should carry an episode. That is an idea that must become extinct IMO. I feel that that idea limits creativity and there is no good artistic reason for why it must be a law of television.

Why shouldn't amazing non-principal actors get a chance to carry an episode? That the episode is a masterpiece is the important thing, not whether 'principal actors' are in it.

There are also many other masterpiece episodes of DS9 that don't use most of the principal actors (granted, they do feature at least one prominently), ie: The Wire, Improbable Cause, The Die is Cast, Faith, Treachery and the Great River etc. etc. DS9 would have lost much if it did not have those.

Do you think there will ever come a time when showrunners move away from the idea that they must use principal actors in every episode?

 

[KingstonTrekker]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Well, with DS9, the principal actors were getting paid a lot of money per episode -- irrespective of how much they were featured in an episode. As a result, these salaries ate up a fair chunk of the budget --- so the producers were justifiably compelled to use the actors they were already paying anyway.

I think some shows are moving away from this a bit. Smallville only signs some actors (e.g. Erica Durrance) for a certain number of episodes. This frees the show from needing to give all of the principal actors something to do in every episode.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

This is one of my top 10 or 12 episodes in DS9. I love this episode.

And further, I'm GLAD they didn't do it with O'Brien or whatever. I like it exactly as it is, with Nog and Vic.

In the Trek universe, an episode like this is a complete novelty...but then, DS9 was never a 'chip off the old block' in any case.

 

[Navaros]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

In the Trek universe, an episode like this is a complete novelty...but then, DS9 was never a 'chip off the old block' in any case.

Yes, and that's too bad. I wonder how many other potentially great episodes we missed out on simply because the concept of using two or more non-principals is taboo.

I read that Jeffrey Combs suggested having Defective Weyoun Clone live, and help Sisko to win the war with his insider information. That idea is frickin' amazing IMO. They shot down that idea and killed DWC instead. Maybe that is another example of this same sort of bias: perhaps they thought that since Weyoun is a secondary character, that would be doing something more important with him than he deserves.

On the other hand, I am also grateful for Treachery, Faith and the Great River even existing, because giving Weyoun such a heavy role in that episode also took bravery & fortitude on Behr's part.

 

[mattyhugh]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Speaking of O'Brien one could make the argument that TNG's episode "The Wounded" sort of was baby step in this direction.

 

[Tallis Rhul]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I have to say that by the stage of DS9 they were at when "It's Only A Paper Moon" aired, there was so much life in the support characters that they could well have been mains anyway - Vic Fontaine was accepted by the audience right away in many cases (I've not heard a Niner slag him off yet... but I'm sure I will if anyone here disagrees!), and Nog had indirectly been part of the family since the pilot.

Taking risks is commendable really, especially when they pay off like this did.

 

[Mistral]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Great Episode. Another was The Visitor, which barely used the mains in support roles while Tony ran away with the story.

 

[seigezunt]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I loved this episode. And I feel that a little Vic goes a long way. But it worked here.

 

[Kegg]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I love the idea of the living defective Weyoun. Then in "The Dogs of War" we would have to have a Weyoun/Brunt scene. I remember reading somewhere (the companion maybe) they discussing doing that, a brief moment where the two meet in the Promenade and give each other a funny look before parting.

It would have been cool. And yes, "It's Only a Paper Moon" isn't just a great DS9 episode, it's - in retrospect - the best justification for Vic. Mediocre pap like "His Way" where Mr. Frank-Sinatra-Jr.-Wanted-To-Be-An-Alien-So-Instead-We-Hired-This-Guy (true story) waltzes his way through treacle just did not cut it.

 

[Tallis Rhul]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Mr. Frank-Sinatra-Jr.-Wanted-To-Be-An-Alien-So-Instead-We-Hired-This-Guy

Why the hell could he have not appeared in the credits as that?

 

[nx1701g]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I'm sorry to say that I have to take the opposite opinion. While it is a good character piece, I just never have been able to get into this episode and I think I've only watched it twice since it originally aired. Then again I was young the last time I watched that episode and it was before DS9 became my favorite Trek Series. Maybe I'll watch it again this weekend to see if my opinion's changed.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw
"It's Only a Paper Moon" is amazing.

 

[FormerLurker]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Reminds me of the issue of The Fantastic Four John Byrne wrote and drew that didn't have the Fantastic Four in it. It was just Doctor Doom, ruminating about how he talked himself into attempting the scheme he began the next issue. Fascinating look at his megalomania, and everything about him that makes him a Bad Person.

 

[toughlittleship]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

The episode really enlightened me as to how good a character Fontaine was. People (including myself) sort of overreacted to him.

 

[SchwEnt]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

Just one of the incredible strengths of DS9. Any of the "secondary" characters could carry an entire eps easily; Weyoun, Garak, Nog, Dukat, Martok, Damar, on and on.

In fact, many of the DS9 secondary characters were far stronger than the main players in other ST series.

DS9...amazing.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I've never heard this story before but it surprises me that that was some opposition to it. Now if it had been Nog from seasons one and two then sure it would have been a bad idea. But by the time Paper Moon came along Nog was a solid character that I looked forward to seeing more of.

Give how character driven DS9 was, it does amaze me that even Ira Steven Beher resisted it. Well I guess it doesn't matter because it got made and to this day it really stands out among the best of DS9.

 

[Wicca who Wonta]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I loved this episode as well but I thought I was the only one. It's good to see that isn't the case.

 

[Braindeer]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

I actually didn't like this episode. Not a big Vic fan, and his version of the song made me cringe.

But I appreciate the risk they took in using two non-principal characters, and it seems like it paid off.

 

[Arix]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

This episode was fantastic! One of the top 10 best episodes of DS9 (which is saying a lot, considering I consider about half the show 'the best' :P).

I loved the Vic character, he fit in seemlessly from the moment he was introduced.

You know, I never even thought about the fact that it didn't use any of the main cast! And I've watched it about 3 times now...

DS9 was the story of so many characters, woven together in a tapestry of awesomeness. So it just seemed natural to have a story about Nog, and how he dealt (or didn't deal with) the loss of his leg... It was just a fantastic story, pure and simple.

 

[I am not Spock]

Re: Its Only a Paper Moon - one of DS9's best, and almost didn't get m

What's great about this episode is that I didn't even notice that most of the cast weren't there! Nog and Vic completely carry the story.