Vic Fontaine

[Darth Thanos]

At one point DS9 adds a new character, Vic Fontaine, an hologram who eventually becomes aware of his nature and from there he manages to "have a life", so to speak, and the crew become friends with him. Is it my idea, or they were kinda making a ripoff of the Doctor from Voyager?

 

[at Quark's]

Then again, the Doctor could be seen as a ripoff of Moriarty and Data from TNG in turn (the first one in terms of a hologram becoming self-conscious, the 2nd one in terms of becoming friends with the crew). Strangely enough, Vic never seemed to have a problem with the 'Understanding the Human Condition' part - he seems to have had that from the start without having to learn it. Why couldn't they have included part of that in the EMH's programming? Wouldn't that have made him a better doctor, too? (probably the EMH's excuse would have been his programmers knew better than to cram the limited space of his program with useless knowledge, but still)

 

[David cgc]

Then again, the Doctor could be seen as a ripoff of Moriarty and Data from TNG in turn (the first one in terms of a hologram becoming self-conscious, the 2nd one in terms of becoming friends with the crew).

They're all rip-offs of Rimmer from Red Dwarf.

 

[Oddish]

All of the holograms were dubious judgment, because they essentially declared that while a ship's computer wasn't sentient, its programs were. Kind of a contradiction...

 

[kkt]

All of the holograms were dubious judgment, because they essentially declared that while a ship's computer wasn't sentient, its programs were. Kind of a contradiction...

If I were designing the ship's computer I wouldn't make it sentient. A sentient computer might decide it needed to pout for a while when I urgently want it to eject the warp core.

 

[Oddish]

It also means that Data's brain is less sophisticated than a dime a dozen ship's computer. Data can't generate emotions, but Moriarty, Fontaine, and the EMH (all housed in computers) can.

 

[Lynx]

I don't se Vic as a Voyager Doctor rip-off.
Vic is much more different in many aspects and obviously much more developed.

 

[Oddish]

I more see him as something like Damar, Ross, Nog, Weyoun, and others... something DS9 didn't know it needed until he showed up. DS9 was very good at recognizing these assets and welcoming them aboard.

PS... if I ever mention a character named "Beyond", it's Weyoun. My autocorrect does weird things.

 

[Fuddles]

At one point DS9 adds a new character, Vic Fontaine, an hologram who eventually becomes aware of his nature and from there he manages to "have a life", so to speak, and the crew become friends with him. Is it my idea, or they were kinda making a ripoff of the Doctor from Voyager?

I don't know if it's a ripoff of the Doc, but I never cared for the Vic Fontaine character.

 

[Lynx]

I don't know if it's a ripoff of the Doc, but I never cared for the Vic Fontaine character.

I like him. I think he's brilliant in episodes like His Way and It's Only A Paper Moon.

A nice guy and a contrast and complement to action characters like Kira, Sisko, Jadzia and many others.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Sometimes, I wish we had someone like him early on DS9. Someone who can help with things like relationships...

 

[Maj. Dick]

I always had the impression that Vic was Ira (The showrunner) patting himself on the back in a pretentious way. He wanted a character that would find random ways to shove martini drinking frank Sinatra songs into the show for no rhyme or reason. As a character though, very well written and acted.

 

[kkt]

Sometimes, I wish we had someone like him early on DS9. Someone who can help with things like relationships...

"Dear Vic, What can I do about this guy? He's been pestering me for dates for years now. I went on on a couple with him early on. He wasn't a bad guy and I don't wish him any harm, but he's so much younger than I am, and he really doesn't get me interested. He's ignoring all my hints that I don't want anything romantic with him. But we both work in the same small community so we run into each other constantly. I don't want to poison our workplace, I just want him to leave me alone." - JD in Bajor.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Yes, something like that.

 

[Lynx]

I always had the impression that Vic was Ira (The showrunner) patting himself on the back in a pretentious way. He wanted a character that would find random ways to shove martini drinking frank Sinatra songs into the show for no rhyme or reason. As a character though, very well written and acted.

Well, if I had been in charge of some Star Trek show, I would have sneaked in some of my favorite music too, like my little trick of turning characters I like into Iron Maiden fans.

As for Vic, I think that every Star Trek writer staff would need such a person. They have always been bad at creating realistic relationships, especially the Voyager staff.

 

[Maj. Dick]

Well, if I had been in charge of some Star Trek show, I would have sneaked in some of my favorite music too, like my little trick of turning characters I like into Iron Maiden fans.

As for Vic, I think that every Star Trek writer staff would need such a person. They have always been bad at creating realistic relationships, especially the Voyager staff.

This guy I used to watch reviews from said something funny and similar. "Why don't they all go to Zeps?" I think it started playing something from Led Zeppelin 2 super loud.