WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 3, “Jinaal”.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 3, “Jinaal” returns to Trill, but that’s not the episode’s only big connection to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In “Jinaal”, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) participates in a Trill zhian’tara ritual, embodying Jinaal Bix to lead Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) to the next clue in their treasure hunt. This ritual first took place in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 25, “Facets”, in which Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) conducts the ceremony, to meet the previous Dax hosts.
Interestingly, the subplot of “Facets” is about Nog (Aron Eisenberg) applying to Starfleet Academy, and a Ferengi Starfleet officer features in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 3, “Jinaal” too. However, while the Ferengi officer serving aboard the USS Discovery wears the same gold uniform as Ensign Nog in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he shares more in common with Nog’s uncle, Quark (Armin Shimerman). In the closing scenes of “Jinaal”, the Discovery crew unwind in the ship’s lounge bar, where they’re served drinks by a Ferengi bartender.
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Star Trek: Discovery Has Its Own Ferengi Bartender Like DS9’s Quark
Star Trek: Discovery‘s starship bar features in the closing scenes of “Jinaal”, and it’s revealed that it counts a Ferengi officer among its staff. This is notable for two reasons, the first being that Star Trek‘s starship bars are generally run by civilians like Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) or Honus (Anthony Atamanuik) from Star Trek: Lower Decks. It’s interesting that the USS Discovery has a serving officer behind the bar, though given the Ferengis’ talents for hospitality, it might not be surprising that this particular Ferengi has chosen to serve as entertainment officer.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s Ferengi bartender is also a direct reference to Quark’s Bar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While they’re not the first Ferengi that viewers have seen in Star Trek: Discovery‘s 32nd century, the ship’s new bartender is the character that most clearly links back to Quark in DS9. Sadly, the Ferengi bartender plays a non-speaking role, meaning that there’s no sense of how the character stacks up with Quark and his DS9 family. This must be particularly disappointing for Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), who looks like he could use the sympathetic lobes of a Ferengi bartender to share his troubles with.
Ferengi In Starfleet Was Set Up By Star Trek: DS9 & Lower Decks
It was Nog’s decision to join Starfleet Academy in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that paved the way for more Ferengi in Starfleet. While there haven’t been any named Ferengi officers in Star Trek shows set after DS9, there has been at least one starship captain glimpsed in Star Trek: Discovery. Another 32nd century Ferengi was seen to follow Nog into Starfleet Academy in Discovery‘s season 4 premiere. Nog’s admission and exceptional service during DS9‘s Dominion War paved the way for more Ferengi to become Starfleet officers, from the 24th century all the way to the 32nd.
Nog’s father, Grand Nagus Rom (Max Grodénchik) made further strides in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, when he negotiated for Ferenginar’s entry into the Federation. By the time of Star Trek: Picard‘s season 2 premiere, the flag of Ferenginar was glimpsed behind Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as he delivered a speech to the newest graduates from Starfleet Academy. Ferenginar becoming a member of the Federation made it much easier for Ferengi to follow the example of Nog by pursuing a career in Starfleet.
Star Trek: Discovery Honored DS9’s Nog
As well as the Ferengi officers glimpsed in the 32nd century, Star Trek: Discovery has honored Nog in other ways, too. One of the ships in Starfleet’s 32nd century armada is the USS Nog, which performed heroically during the evacuation of Earth in Discovery‘s season 4 finale. The captain of the USS Nog held out under the extreme pressures caused by the Dark Matter Anomaly’s debris field in order to meet their maximum passenger capacity. It was a heroic act that more than honored the legacy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Ensign Nog.
The USS Nog is an Eisenberg-class starship, named for the late Aron Eisenberg. This fact was confirmed by Star Trek: Discovery‘s co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman (via TrekCore) who hoped to “see more of the USS Nog as it helps Starfleet build a brighter future.” There’s no more fitting a tribute to the legacy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Aron Eisenberg, and the beloved character of Nog than that.
Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Discovery
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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
