Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Nog
9. Literary Inspirations
The seventh season episode Treachery, Faith, And The Great River is a stand-out story for Nog, drawing inspiration from Joseph Heller's Catch 22. Though Nog's story is the B-plot of the episode, its comedic tone draws from a satire of the American Dream.
Nog's plot is inspired by Milo Minderbinder, an extreme idol of capitalism in Heller's novel. Nog uses a complicated system of bartering in an attempt to get O'Brien the parts that he needs, though he loses Martok's blood wine and Sisko's desk along the way.
In Catch 22, Minderbinder uses a similar system of bartering and sales to, at least initially, improve food conditions in the officers' mess. His scheme to source higher quality eggs lands him in front of a tribunal, by which point his assets had grown to rival that of the U.S. Government.
Nog's version of this story is played for straight laughs, though it is perhaps the closest he had ever been to becoming a true Ferengi businessman.