"It's Only a Paper Moon" is the 160th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the tenth episode of the seventh season. The production code of the episode is 560. First aired December 30, 1998. It was written by Ronald D. Moore based on a story by David Mack and John J. Ordover. Directed by Anson Williams. The episode has an average rating of 4.2/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of September 1, 2007).[1]
Nog returns to DS9, limping, with a cane. After his leg was critically hit in "The Siege of AR-558," Nog was outfitted with a biosynthetic replacement and spent a couple of months in therapy at Starbase 235. Nog feels a lot of pain in his new leg even though the doctors cannot detect any stimuli in the pain receptors of the leg. He turns down Captain Sisko's invitation to a party in his honor, preferring instead to go straight to his quarters.
Now on medical leave, Nog drives his roommate Jake crazy by listening to a recording of "I'll Be Seeing You" (sung by Vic Fontaine) over and over. When a frustrated Jake remove the data rod from the music player, Nog goes to the holosuites at Quark's, where he has Vic sing him that song in over a dozen different arrangements. Nog stays at Vic's hotel suite for the night. With reservations, Ezri Dax signs off on the idea of Nog staying there for his rehabilitation.
Vic gives Nog a cane similar to one Errol Flynn once used, to replace Nog's Starfleet issue cane. When Jake visits Vic's with his girlfriend Kesha, Jake and Nog get in an argument and Nog turns a table on Jake. Vic throws Nog out. Back at the suite, Nog apologizes to Vic.
Fretting about his finances, Vic hands Nog his ledgers. Nog finds that not only has Vic nothing to worry about, the IRS owes him a lot of money, enough to build a new casino. As Vic and Nog plan the new casino, Nog relies less and less on his cane. Ezri talks with Vic about Nog's recovery, and Vic realizes it's time for Nog to go back out into the real world. When Nog refuses to do so, Vic shuts down his own program and resists the Ferengi's attempts to restart it. Miles O'Brien explains to Nog that Vic is a different kind of hologram program. Vic shows up without the holographic environment and has a heart-to-heart talk with Nog. Nog decides to end his leave, returning to limited duty at first. As thanks for Vic's help, however, Nog convinces Quark to leave the program running all the time, effectively giving Vic a 'real' life.
- Towards the end of the episode as Nog is attempting to "fix" Vic's program, Vic says, "Now that the chief's told you that I'm smarter than the average bear, will you stop messing around with my holosuite?" The line, "I'm smarter than the average bear" is a reference to Yogi Bear, whose singing voice Darren provided in Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!.[citation needed]
- Aron Eisenberg, the actor who played Nog, reported that he received lots of favorable fan mail from veterans who applauded his realistic portrayal of post-combat stress conditions.[citation needed]
[edit] Bloopers
- When the senior staff is meeting immediately after Nog asks Vic if he can live in the holosuite, the rank pips on Dax's collar are backwards. The camera then pans to Jake Sisko, and when the camera returns to her, they are corrected.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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