Vic Fontaine - why, just why?

Series 5 and 6 were going so brilliantly, and then they had to put this monster in. Now I'm all for DS9 being a bit different to the ship-based series but come on, really?

 

Vic is one of my favorite non-main Trek characters, so I could not possibly disagree with you more. Also, It's Only a Paper Moon is my favorite DS9 episode.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated Vic Fontaine. What's even worse, I was so completely rooting for Odo and Kira to get together, and they had to ruin that by inserting Vic into the storyline. I hated his whole stupid rat-pack wannabe vibe. I seem to remember him being killed of the Mirror Universe (he was a "real" person there) and me cheering at the TV.

 

Vic was fine. Sure, his holo-bar kinda detracted from Quark's, but he was delightful a character, anyway.

 

As I've said here before, if you hate that type of music and the whole Sinatra "Rat Pack" vibe, then you're not going to like Vic. Personally, I love it, and thought the character was absolutely brilliant. To me, Vic is as cool as a cucumber and the other side of the pillow combined. If I were on DS9, I would spend a lot of time hanging with Vic for sure. Smooth cocktails, groovy music, and hip chicks - that's the scene for me, man.

As far as Vic getting Odo and Kira together, I thought that was extremely well done, and I found that episode to be quite moving. I wouldn't change a thing about it.

 

That doesn't have anything to do with being British.... I used to mix up Seasons and Series a while back..... TNG, DS9, Voyager, etc. are Seriesez.... each series had a batch of episodes broken up into seven Seasons

Anyways, enough nit picking for me..... at first, I didn't like Vic.... but then through my second and then third viewing of DS9, he grew on me. Some of DS9's more fun episodes had him involved, along with some of the more serious (Paper Moon) ~ Either way, his episodes were better then the Ferengi episodes.

And if people still don't like Vic and want to blame someone.... Blame Bashir, it was his program

And him helping out Kira and Odo?

Well nobody else was helping them get together and both sure weren't doing it themselves.... someone needed to give them a push, and he did it quite nicely.... he also helped Odo to come out of his shell and chill.

 

Maybe for me it's a hologram thing. I was never that fond of Hologram characters in any Trek series, with some notable exceptions being Voyagers "Doctor" and maybe "Professor Moriarty" in TNG.... oh, who am I kidding, it's Vic. Everytime he said, "Paly," I cringed. Oh well, different strokes for different folks and all.

 

I loved Vic and his club, I think he added a nice change of pace and a good distraction for the crew during particularly difficult times. However, I also love that type of music, so I can see where someone who isn't a fan wouldn't care for him.

 

My issue with Vic Fontaine was all the damn singing. Sometimes it seemed like the writers added a song in an episode because they couldn't be arsed to write more story for the episode. I admit he was charming but after hearing a few songs I didn't really care for he started to grate on me. It was like how Ally McBeal kept annoying me with songs in the bar. Voyager was also annoying with the EMH singing all the time, I didn't mind some of the songs he did with Seven that weren't too over the top.

 

For me, Vic's was the ultimate in alien entertainment - a world completely unfamiliar to me, totally lacking in resonance or reference points. And I like aliens and alien cultures in my scifi shows!

I also like the 1940s, because we in Europe didn't have one; film noir really gets me because of that. But the Sinatra sixties are tantalizingly just beyond the border of alienness from where I'm looking, too.

I wonder how alien that environment was to, say, Sisko or Bashir or O'Brien? Bashir was into agent stories - but in the real 1960s or in a world as painted by Felix? O'Brien didn't strike me as a history buff, and certainly not US history buff. But Sisko seemed to have an anachronistic chip on his shoulder about the 1950s-60s and racism in the US, so perhaps he had an inkling about the cultural setting as well.

Timo Saloniemi

 

I'll admit that I didn't like Vic at first. Aside from getting Odo and Kira together, he didn't do much for me early on. In fact, one of the many reasons I was happy with the character of Ezri was that she was a counselor. I thought "good, let's get rid of that annoying peusdo-counselor who sings."

However, Vic really grew on me. It was probably in It's Only a Paper Moon that I finally saw what the character was made of and came to appreciate him.

Now, I actually kinda like him.

 

I've no problem with the music but it was totally out of place on DS9 and his character was horrendous.

 

Vic was awesome! I loved everything about him, the singing, the 'vibe', the whole semi-sentient hologram thing...he was great. I actually like him more than The EMH.

 

Like Shran I disliked Vic when he was first introduced in His Way. However, the character grew on me. I liked how he was a hologram who was completely aware of the outside world and his place in it. He was not a "dumb" TNG hologram who was simply part of a program. And unlike Voyager, I never felt like the holodeck stories took away from the greater story of the series. There was only one "light" episode (Badda Bing Badda Bang) and even that was simply a short getaway prior to the Final Arc. It's Only A Paper Moon was a brilliant way to examine Nog's character using the holosuite as a tool rather than letting it take away from the story.

 

I liked Vic. I thought that he enriched the series.

 

Agreed.

 

Vic was one of those characters I liked at 14 (when the show was originally airing) but when I watch him now, I cringe. I feel embarrassed for DS9 when Vic is on.

Also, it was not the way I would have chosen to have Kira and Odo come together.

 

I agree with this completely. I do feel embarassed for the show. He's the equivalent of Voyager's "Farhaven" episodes, which I believe were pretty unpopular.

That being said, even annoying characters such as him have their moments of likability, and I do think, if they had to use him, "It's Only a Paper Moon" was a pretty good episode.

It's funny, because I'm reading one the DS9 books where Quark gets annoyed at all Vic's jabbering and excessive use of unfamiliar slang, and I'm giggling because that's exactly my reaction.

 

That's hitting a little below the belt.

Vic is nowhere near in the same abysmal league as Fair Haven and Spirit Folk.