Just couldn't like Nog
- Thread starter John200
- Start date
A
Amaris
Guest
Really? Nog was one of my favorite characters. He never seemed like he was trying to be a big war hero. He seemed very confident, eager and naive, but not conceited.
That's sort of the point, I think. Nog was enthusiastic about the war and saw it as his chance to prove himself. Then he lost his leg and he began to see everything differently.
Personally I liked him a lot, especially in Season 7.
I always liked him, even when he was annoying. (And I agree that he never seemed as though he considered himself a "war hero.") The thing about Nog is that he seemed...well, realistic, given a very specific definition of "realistic" that encompasses a fictional character who was of a fictional race from a fictional world. 
He wasn't a superkid, like that poor boring little oddball Wesley Crusher. He wasn't an angel, but he wasn't a devil, either. He...well, if we accept the idea of a race like the Ferengi, I can really see such a race producing somebody like Nog, and I can really see Nog turning out the way he did. So I think he was a great character.
He wasn't a superkid, like that poor boring little oddball Wesley Crusher. He wasn't an angel, but he wasn't a devil, either. He...well, if we accept the idea of a race like the Ferengi, I can really see such a race producing somebody like Nog, and I can really see Nog turning out the way he did. So I think he was a great character.
I always liked him, even when he was annoying. (And I agree that he never seemed as though he considered himself a "war hero.") The thing about Nog is that he seemed...well, realistic, given a very specific definition of "realistic" that encompasses a fictional character who was of a fictional race from a fictional world.
I agree with all that.
I also really like Nog.
About the only time I didn't was in the episode Valiant. He really seemed arrogant in that one. However, it might just be my dislike for that episode in general. It's probably my second-least favorite, after Let He Who Is Without Sin.
I love Nog, but I admit that he can be a bit annoying sometimes with his pompousity after joining SF. He redeemed himself in It's Only A Paper Moon, though.
He was quite conceited. Like when he refused to help save the life of his own grandmother because he was 'too busy', and agreed to help only after he thought he would earn prestige from the job. In that same episode, he also expects the Ferengi hitman to call him "Sir".
Actually, I find Nog's refusal to help save his grandmother's life quite disturbing and OOC. If DS9 was ever re-edited, that is one fubar which they should decanonize (they should do the same to Rom trying murder Quark, while they are at it).
He was quite conceited. Like when he refused to help save the life of his own grandmother because he was 'too busy', and agreed to help only after he thought he would earn prestige from the job. In that same episode, he also expects the Ferengi hitman to call him "Sir".
Actually, I find Nog's refusal to help save his grandmother's life quite disturbing and OOC. If DS9 was ever re-edited, that is one fubar which they should decanonize (they should do the same to Rom trying murder Quark, while they are at it).
I'd hate to have a mother, or grandmother, who is that overbearing. So, I guess I can't really fault Nog in this instance.
Ferengi males are amazingly sexist, remember? Before Ishka started influencing the Grand Nagus to give Ferengi women more rights, they were practically house-slaves. I remember one scene where Jake and Nog are double-dating and Nog tries to get his date to cut up his food for him. He might control that attitude in Starfleet but that doesn't mean it's gone. I'm not defending that position, I'm just saying it fits Nog's profile as a Ferengi.
^Exactly. To have him stop behaving like a Ferengi entirely or to start acting like a born-and-bred Federation citizen... jeeeeeeeeeeeeez, how boring that would have been. Yes, he had some less-than-admirable traits. So do we all. I am a much better grandchild that Nog was...but on the other hand, I doubt if I would perform in battle as well as he did. I think those flashes of Ferengi-ness helped keep him interesting and well-rounded as a character.
I think he was a good character; he underwent an an amazing shift. I loved him in In The Cards, Treachery, Faith and the Great River, The Siege of AR-558 and especially, It's Only A Paper Moon.
I don't agree that refusing to save the life of one's own grandmother is a Ferengi trait.
Yes the Ferengi females are supposed to be naked, and yes, the Ferengi are supposed to be highly sexist. I too am against how the show ultimately horribly fubared the Ferengi as a race.
However, that is a totally separate issue from saving a female relative's life from hostile captors.
Quark, the most dedicated Ferengi, wasn't being "un-Ferengi" by savign Ishka, if he was, he would have said so at the very least.
Yes the Ferengi females are supposed to be naked, and yes, the Ferengi are supposed to be highly sexist. I too am against how the show ultimately horribly fubared the Ferengi as a race.
However, that is a totally separate issue from saving a female relative's life from hostile captors.
Quark, the most dedicated Ferengi, wasn't being "un-Ferengi" by savign Ishka, if he was, he would have said so at the very least.
A
Amaris
Guest
Keep in mind that Quark had several non-Ferengi traits, not the least which he was very generous with the stipend that he sent to Ishka. Quark has soft spots at times when it would behoove him to deny as a Ferengi, but he doesn't. It makes him more varied and nuanced as a character. The same for Nog. He has many likable traits, yet he's still a Ferengi, and as one, has traits we'd find distasteful, like his treatment of his grandmother.
Overall, however, I'd say Nog was one of the characters who grew the most during the show's run. He is definitely one of my favorites, although he didn't start out that way.
There are so many great characters on DS9 that it's hard to pick a favorite out of them all. He grew so much from the first season to the last it's amazing. He's one of the best characters on the show because of that. Here's a Ferengi you get the feeling to just ignore that gets transformed into a promising Starfleet officer by series end. It's not what you expected. The Jake/Nog friendship is a great relationship as well and they did a good job showing some ups and downs during the series.
It's Only A Paper Moon is one of my favorite episodes. I wouldn't have dreamed from the early episodes that Nog would develop into a deep character, but the writers did a stellar job at bringing him up to be a character that I really cared about.
When he went on that double date with Jake and treated his date like dirt, I saw him as someone I would never want to hang out with. That certainly changed by the end of the series.
Hats off to DS9 in general for making the Ferengi an interesting race, after TNG had pretty much portrayed them as nothing more than idiotic buffoons. I thought that Nog, Quark, Rom, and Brunt (and sometimes Zek and Moogie) were all exceptionally interesting characters.
When he went on that double date with Jake and treated his date like dirt, I saw him as someone I would never want to hang out with. That certainly changed by the end of the series.
Hats off to DS9 in general for making the Ferengi an interesting race, after TNG had pretty much portrayed them as nothing more than idiotic buffoons. I thought that Nog, Quark, Rom, and Brunt (and sometimes Zek and Moogie) were all exceptionally interesting characters.
I didn't expect nog to develop much in the series either.
