With the Destruction of DS9 (Terok Nor) and the rebuilding of the new DS9 (Federation Starbase)... What is the status of our favorite "holographic Headliner" Mr. Vic Fontaine? Was Julian/Quark able to salvage his program? I honestly can't recall much mention of him but I figure he's too important a chararcter to just forget about. Also, I've always wondered what shenanigans The Doctor & Vic might get up to if say Moriarty ever showed up again (and what do you know...) Any word if our "Favorite Photonics" would ever get to chew the scenery together?
He's safe. Quark paid Morn to carry the device containing his program off of the station as they evacuated.
Well maybe he got backed up to the Starfleet Cloud and was safely restored to the new station. I've always thought STO needed some holodeck side games for fun and Vic's lounge would be fun to be in on DS9. I don't think we'll ever see Moriarty intereact with anyone again he was fooled pretty well in that mini computer. Did they even salvage that thing from the D wreckage? And if so did it even still work?
Quite. I was hoping that Mr. Lang may include mention of Vic since this appears to be another A.I./Hologram sort of story.
OK, am I blind or just dense? I realize I read the linked article really quickly, before leaving for work, but, I never saw any mention of Vic or any indication that he may be in the new novel. I've read about this new novel for a few months now and have never heard any mention that Vic was supposed to be back or making an appearance. Did I miss something? - Byron
Correct, I think bfollowell just confused the quote with the subject. The quote Defcon made was just referring to Moriarty as being confirmed to appear in the next book. In addition, mention of other holograms showing up has been made... So Vic MIGHT be in the book, which is what we've been postulating.
Yes, I just flew right over that and assumed we were still talking about Vic. Like I'd mentioned, it was early in the morning before I left for work; about 4:45 AM if I remember correctly. I'm just now getting a chance to get back and see my silly oversight. - Byron
I imagine the reason we haven't seen him is because his program was made for the old DS9's holosuite systems, and every computer in the current Bajoran system is incompatible.
Was he, though? Bashir got the program from his friend Felix back home. I always assumed that it was a commercial program that Felix sold (or distributed, or however IP is handled in a moneyless post-scarcity economy) to various customers. There could be a bunch of Vic Fontaines out there, just as there are a bunch of EMH Mark 1s. Although that raises the question of whether they're all as sentient as Vic seems to be, or whether Vic is even sentient at all. Some of the books imply there's more to him than meets the eye. There was a Strange New Worlds story that posited that "The Pup" from season 1's "The Forsaken" had merged with Vic's program and made him "alive," which is a cool idea, although unfortunately the story makes a couple of major mistakes (it calls Vic's programmer "Fritz" and assumes that Vic is a bartender rather than a singer/lounge owner), so I'm not quite able to think of it as the "real" story. Besides, we know from very early on that Quark's holosuites are compatible with Federation software protocols, since Sisko and Jake brought their baseball programs with them when they came to DS9. It stands to reason that commercial suites like Quark's would be able to accommodate multiple standard software formats, both so that he could buy cheaply available, standard programs rather than needing to commission custom ones, and so that he could gain business from customers who wanted to run their own programs on his suites while they were staying at the station.
That's a nice idea. O'Brien has a habit of picking up pets that we never hear from again. The Pup, his tarantula, Bilby's cat... he's like the Bluebeard of lost and displaced creatures.
According to Brian Seidman's annotations "'Fritz' is the little-known last name of Dr. Bashir's friend (and proported creator of the Vic Fontaine holoprogram) Felix Fritz".[http://www.brianseidman.com/snw.php]
I just watched Time's Orphan the other day and yes indeed "Chester" does appear much to Keiko's chagrin. Seems like she wasn't a fan of Miles various pets and may have pulled a Lady Sirella once or twice.
The baseball programs could have been created on-site and not transferred through Federation removable memory media. Fritz might have created Bashir's version of Vic specifically for Quark's holosuites. The old DS9 is more than likely very obsolete technology even by current Cardassian standards, and finding something compatible from them might be a problem. However, I'm just speculating. I don't really know much about this computer I'm using now.
No, they were specifically said to be the programs Sisko and Jake had brought with them. Felix. Not Fritz. Do we know that the holosuites are part of the station's technology? They're part of Quark's commercial establishment. I would've thought that he bought them and had them installed. I mean, what use would a mining station have for holosuites as part of its basic infrastructure? Okay, Memory Alpha says the holosuites were Cardassian technology, but it makes more sense to me that they'd be commercial equipment purchased by Quark.
Vic's immediate future is firmly in David R. George's more-than-capable hands, but what kind of story about holographic intelligence could not include at least a mention of our favorite lounge singer?