How the hell is Vic Fontaine in the MU?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by I am not Spock, Nov 22, 2013.

  1. I am not Spock

    I am not Spock Commodore Commodore

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    I know it was meant to be a playful joke on the writer's part, but any fan theories as to who or what this 'Vic' was in the episode 'The Emperor's New Cloak'?

    Maybe Vic Fontaine was a holoprogram designed by a certain individual, a man with a liking for 60s crooners of Las Vegas. And this rebel is the MU version of the program's creator.

    Maybe it is an android who was designed to look like Vic Fontaine, for some reason.

    Or perhaps it is just a guy who happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to our universe's Vic? :)
     
  2. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    The way I figure it, Felix based the holoprogram heavily on a guy he knew named Vic Fontaine. And that's why there is also a MU Vic running around.
     
  3. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I think mirror Vic was actually Felix himself.

    IIRC, we never hear him addressed by his first name. In the regular universe, Felix could have written Vic's program based on himself, as a sort of wish fulfillment fantasy. In the mirror universe, then, Felix could have been the badass warrior that his RU counterpart was not.
     
  4. Jono

    Jono Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I thought Bashir knew Felix well enough that he would have commented on Vic being based on Felix in appearance.

    I tend to think along the same lines as Tosk that he used the appearance of a guy named Fontaine. Though I would have preferred they didn't do it at all...the episode that is, not just Mirror Fontaine.
     
  5. Lance

    Lance Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That does raise a question about the ethics of creating a holoprogram based on a real person (living ones that is, presumably it's okay to create holo-Einstein's and so forth). Is it said anywhere if it's allowed or not? Presumably the 'real' Vic would have given permission for the fictional Vic to be based on him?
     
  6. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

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    The problem with the android idea is that it wouldn't make much sense to create a Terran android in the mirror universe. I mean, why bother, when there's so much biological slave labor?

    Not like anyone in the mirror universe would have the knowledge to do it, either. Noonien Soong doesn't seem the type that would flourish there to the point of creatin' sentient androids. And the Terran Empire probably destroyed the human-type androids as possible threats before it fell in the 23rd century.

    I don't think it was Felix, either, since he responded to the name "Vic" when Quark & Rom saw him in the mirror universe.

    I gotta go with its the mirror universe counterpart for whoever Felix modeled Vic after for the holoprogram in the regular universe.
     
  7. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    I've no idea what the ethics of this would be in the Mirror Universe, but in the regular universe, the TNG and DS9 characters were quite displeased when they discovered themselves used as holocharacters without permission.

    That seemed a bit looser in Voyager, although I've always wondered what Chakotay's reaction would have been if he'd known about Seven's holodeck fantasy version of him.
     
  8. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    You have it backwards: Vic Fontaine is a real person in the mirror universe who, for some unexplained reason, has a holographic equivalent in the Trek universe.
     
  9. dub

    dub Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You had it right from the start. Best not to hurt our heads too much over this one. :)
     
  10. MikeS

    MikeS Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Tell all this to Reg Barclay.
     
  11. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    Using holograms to have intimate encounters with your friends and co workers is only creepy with Barclay (or presumably any man) does it. But it's sweet and hot if Seven (or presumably any attractive woman) does it.
    Double standard.
    Weren't there hints that the regular hologram Vic was somehow more than he should've been?
     
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  12. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Yep.
     
  13. nureintier

    nureintier Commander Red Shirt

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    This.

    Yeah, I think it was mostly that he had become self-aware and didn't like the downtime, so that's why they kept the holosuite with him in it open after a while. The other hologram characters (in his program and elsewhere) usually weren't aware of their status as a hologram, except for that one guy in the holodeck in TNG, I think.

    But yeah, I think it's just a sort of joke. Not going to overthink this one.
     
  14. exodus

    exodus Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I don't think ethics apply in the MU.

    Nope, only the already creepy men or did anyone not notice no women wanted to date Barclay or Geordi?
    If women didn't want to date them, imagine how they felt knowing they were holographic masturbatory tools.
    Oh wait, we did!
    Everyone on Voyager knew Seven was experimenting with dating but after she found out Paris & The Doc were using her as a game, she was humiliated. They treated it as sweet cause they were all still embarrassed by what they did to her and how NONE of her friends came to her defense.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2013
  15. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    How about this then? Felix had a friend named Vic Fontaine who died under tragic circumstances. He was a massive fan of the swinging '60s, so Felix made the program as a tribute to his friend. What could be better than having him live on (ostensibly forever) in the world he loved so much?
     
  16. Pondwater

    Pondwater Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Vic exists in the mirror universe for the same reason that Jake Sisko and the O'Brien kids don't....
     
  17. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Vic is in the MU for the same reason that in a universe that's completely different in every way from the prime universe, everybody has an exact physical duplicate of themselves.
     
  18. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    It's one of those unsolved mysteries of the Star Trek universe. After transferring to a college, I was frequently asked if I was related to a guy named Jay, and that I looked a lot like him. When I finally met Jay a year later, it was uncanny. He looked more like my brother than my brother does.
     
  19. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'll bet there are people who are willing to lend their visage to help develop a product; that is to say, modeling may still be a profession in the 24th century.
     
  20. exodus

    exodus Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I figured Vic was real, he was like Tony Bennett to Felix and as a fan he put him in a holodeck program. In the MU he sure as hell couldn't be a lounge singer.
    It's like of you made a holoprogram of a club or bar, wouldn't you make a holo version of a real singer or band you loved to play in it?
    Since there's no money in the Federation, you can use a persons image or body of work without paying royalities?