Today would’ve been Aron Eisenberg’s 52nd birthday, the actor who played Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine passed away in 2019.
This article was supposed to come out on Jan. 6, 2020, in the early evening in what would’ve been Aron Eisenberg’s 52nd birthday. The post was going to celebrate one of his best scenes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but the article was held back in order for our readers to really cherish and enjoy the work of Eisenberg as Nog, a Ferengi with a Starfleet dream. Since it’s no longer his birthday, and fans need something good to enjoy today, we’re going to dive not just into the best moment of his career, but also look at some other interesting Nog-related stuff.
Star Trek fans have been lucky to not lose many of their beloved actors over the years. In fact, three of the original series actors are still with us despite them being in their late 80’s. Yet, the fandom was dealt a blow when Eisenberg passed away near the end of 2019 at just 50-years-old. Eisenberg had started a popular podcast with Cirroc Lofton, who co-starred with Eisenberg on Deep Space Nine as Jake Sisko, to Eisenberg’s Nog.
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The two had amazing chemistry together, and it allowed for Eisenberg to really showcase his skills as an actor on the series, especially under pounds of makeup and with teeth molds to deal with. His best scene though wasn’t with Lofton, but with Lofton’s on-screen father, Avery Brooks, who played Captain Sisko.
Nog’s best scene
Nog had a great arc on Deep Space Nine. He started off as an illiterate bully, who hated pretty much anything that wasn’t profit. Then enter Jake Sisko. Through the friendship, he grew. He learned to read, went to school, started to reject his uncle’s obsession with earning wealth, and started to see that he didn’t need to share the same future as his father.
So the young Ferengi decided to enroll in Starfleet. The only problem, non-Federation species could only apply if they were sponsored by an active officer. So Nog went to Commander Benjamin Sisko for the recommendation. A request that would initially fall on deaf ears.
Whether because of prejudice, special bias, or simply wanting to see if Nog would fight for it, Commander Sisko denies Nog’s request. This prompted Nog to defend his desire in a performance that Aron Eisenberg nails. Nog goes full-on here, claiming that Starfleet was a way for him to avoid ending up like his father, a mechanical genius but someone who went into business just as good-Ferengi are supposed to.
Sisko baits Nog, and the young Ferengi bites, eventually getting Sisko to change his mind on the recommendation. It was a scene that made people fall in love with the character, especially so early in the series. In a show that had so many stellar monologues, the way Eisenberg made Nog’s pain real, through fake teeth and heavy prosthetics, was a true master class in acting.
The history of Nog
No good tribute to Aron Eisenberg would be complete without looking at his most famous character a bit more. YouTube channel Certifiably Ingame has a history of doing deep dives into various Star Trek related content. They also offer various video types, like the Personnel File and they did a great look at the character’s history both on and off the show.
Did you know that Nog served under Captain Montgomery Scott? Don’t ask how that’s possible, because there’s some deep and convoluted reasoning I’m sure. It happened though. Nog as a character also served as Chief Security officer but only to be able to transfer to engineering. His real passion.
The deep dive delves into everything from how his father Rom lost his wealth, his mother’s abandonment, his time at the academy, and even his ascent to captain. It’s a joyous look at the character and one that does both Nog and Eisenberg justice. It even goes into the extended game universe as well. The video ends off with some great episodes for fans to check out that really did the character and actor justice.
Even though Eisenberg was only in 47 of a possible 176 episodes, he made sure to make each moment he was on screen memorable.