Badda-bing Badda-bang--Well done!

[IntrepidMan]

What a great episode this is! I just saw it for the first time in years. You know, sometimes I think Trek isn't that great, or DS9 isn't that great, but then I watch an episode like this and stand corrected. It really is good.

I think what I like most about BbBb is that it's really an ensemble episode--everyone has a part and gets at least a line or two of dialogue (well I guess not Garak or Jake or Rom), and most of the main cast works together toward the solution. There's real suspense at the climax when they're trying to steal the casino's cash, and the episode ends on a sweet note, with Vic inviting Sisko on stage for a duet, helping the Captain put aside his misgivings about the era's racism that the holosuite program conveniently overlooks.

DS9 is far from perfect, but episodes like these remind me how truly great it can be.

 

[Max33]

LOL... yeah that was a pretty good episode... I thought they were gonna get caught... it took Nog forever to open that safe.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Yes, this was a highlight from what I consider a rather dismal season 6-7.

 

[Sindatur]

I thought this episode was going to be horrible from the synopsis, but, yea it is awesome.

 

[Deckerd]

It's a load of rubbish. A space drama, in space, about travelling to new worlds and new civilizations. About helping worlds in conflict to resolution. The only thing that was was even more rubbish was the utterly stupid baseball one.

 

[JWD75]

I thought that BbBb and Take Me Out to the Holosuite were both great episodes which allowed the viewers and the writers to have some fun with the characters before the final stretch of episodes.

 

[toughlittleship]

DS9 did "caper" episodes very well - "Our Man Bashir", "In the Cards", "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" and of course "Badda-bing Badda-Bang".

 

[Enterprise is Great]

This was the episode right before the final 10 episode closing arc happened, right? It was the last bit of fluffy fun before everything went into the crapper.

 

[MHT1138]

This episode is awesome! There is a real sense of drama and danger because Vic's self aware hologram whom we have come to care about, could actually "die" It was a very clever dramatic device.

 

[Navaros]

I thought that BbBb and Take Me Out to the Holosuite were both great episodes which allowed the viewers and the writers to have some fun with the characters before the final stretch of episodes.

I do not think BbBb can be equated with TMOTTH.

I can understand the complaint against TMOTTH because taking 2 weeks off to play baseball in the middle of the war is odd. I can overlook that flaw, though, because TMOTTH tells a meaningful story about what is important in life.

On the other hand, BbBb is meaningless filler, and even though that is bad enough on its own, it is dragged down even lower by making the Sisko bitter about centuries-old racism.

Great episodes have a point, BbBb does not.

IMO In the Cards also cannot be equated with BbBb, because In the Cards (like TMOTHH) is a meaningful episode that has a point.

Our Man Bashir is on par with BbBb because it too is meaningless filler.

IMO pointless episodes are never fun (except maybe for a few great moments of acting in them); they are just examples of precious episode slots tragically wasted on inanity.

 

[MHT1138]

An episode that the audience enjoys watching is not a "an episode slot tragically wasted."

 

[Mage]

It's weird how fun it is really, but the biggest kick for me is still seeing/hearing Avery Brooks singing!!

 

[You_Will_Fail]

It's a load of rubbish. A space drama, in space, about travelling to new worlds and new civilizations. About helping worlds in conflict to resolution. The only thing that was was even more rubbish was the utterly stupid baseball one.

Sorry what are you talking about? That post was pretty incomprehensible.

Anyhoo, I love the episode too OP. Definitely a superior holodeck episode

 

[Danny99]

Sisko's bit about the racism seemed really out of place in the episode and seems like something Avery Brooks asked for.

Don't get me wrong, I like the episode, but that whole scene sticks like a sore thumb. If it was the writer trying to bring it up like an "issue piece", it is totally misused in a comedic romp.

 

[IntrepidMan]

^I think Ira Steven Behr inserted the racism bit because he wanted everyone--especially the younger viewers--to know that, yes, racism existed in the 1960s in Las Vegas and the writers were aware of it. I think he made the right call. They needed to mention the fact that whenever Sisko, Jake, or Kassidy enter Vic's program they are the only black people there and why that is so.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

On the other hand, BbBb is meaningless filler, and even though that is bad enough on its own, it is dragged down even lower by making the Sisko bitter about centuries-old racism.

While I enjoyed the Oceans Eleven part better than the Oceans 11 movie, I agree that making Sisko bitter and having him being willing to let what amounts to an alien being (a hologram) die for an Earth grudge that he had no control over, was a huge misfire. What did Vic ever do? If it's anyone's "fault," shouldn't it be Felix's?

I think that if they had to play that angle, Sisko should've sat down at the end over a nice glass of wine with Vic and talked it out. I suspect he would've found Vic more aware of history than he would think (given what Vic seems to know about what's going on on the station, it stands to reason). I would not be surprised if Vic made it clear that part of what he wants out of life is to do a better job than the people of the time period he was programmed to live in.

As to Vic's status as a sentient being...I think he was childlike compared to the Doctor, but given that this story was running concurrently with VOY, there is no doubt in my mind Vic was intended to be sentient, in which case allowing him to die would make one an accessory to murder.

 

[Brikar99]

I do enjoy this episode. It's pretty fun throughout - and that great shot of the cast in their 60s costumes as they strut through the Promenade with the jazzy version of the DS9 theme is awesome.

 

[heavylids]

Pretty solid episode. It was almost like the movie Casino, but in space....minus all the holes in the desert.

 

[IntrepidMan]

While I enjoyed the Oceans Eleven part better than the Oceans 11 movie, I agree that making Sisko bitter and having him being willing to let what amounts to an alien being (a hologram) die for an Earth grudge that he had no control over, was a huge misfire. What did Vic ever do? If it's anyone's "fault," shouldn't it be Felix's?

I think that if they had to play that angle, Sisko should've sat down at the end over a nice glass of wine with Vic and talked it out. I suspect he would've found Vic more aware of history than he would think (given what Vic seems to know about what's going on on the station, it stands to reason). I would not be surprised if Vic made it clear that part of what he wants out of life is to do a better job than the people of the time period he was programmed to live in.

No offense, but I disagree with you. I think Sisko's behavior is very understandable. He doesn't have a "grudge" against anyone, but is hurt and a little upset that his friends are so interested in going back to a place and time where, in real life, he would not be able to participate because of the color of his skin. I would probably feel the same way in his shoes.

And Sisko and Vic do work it out, though not over a glass of wine. When Vic invites Sisko on stage, I think it is his way of acknowledging Sisko's concerns and making him feel welcome. It is a sweet moment and their duet is more effective than any dialogue might be, which is one reason why I like the episode so much. A boring discussion about race relations is not necessary.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I could see that for someone in the 20th/early 21st century--but we are 300 years beyond that, in Trek. But to me, the biggest issue is that Vic is not a white human male any more than the Doctor is. He may have been programmed with a certain appearance and to have a certain library of sayings to draw on, but he is not human and not a party to anything that ever happened on Earth.

The fact that he is a sentient and non-human alien makes Sisko an attempted accessory to murder. For Sisko to be willing to ignore the evidence of Vic's status as a sentient life form, and to allow him to die, over an issue of race...maybe the writers didn't think about what they were doing--and it's especially poor if they didn't pay attention to what the VOY staff were doing with the Doctor, who, by the way, is fighting for his rights to be recognized as a sentient being (something Sisko ought to empathize with if he's so concerned about fairness and anti-discrimination!), but it comes off as a sick form of revenge and it really lowers Sisko.

As for why Sisko should've talked to Vic...while Vic might've had a hunch, it's cowardly of Sisko to not sit down and talk to this intelligent being that--let me remind you--he was ready to kill, and acknowledge him as a fellow sentient who deserves to be treated with dignity.