A missed opportunity for Vic Fontaine

[Lynx]

Kes' departure allowed Neelix to grow up and become a more serious character, without all the jealousy issues he had when Kes was still on the ship.

I wonder if people would have liked the Voyager holodeck episodes more if they'd had an entertainer like Vic (not identical, but the idea of a singer in a venue). Most of the holodeck programs we saw were either created by Tom or the Doctor or one of Janeway's stupid gothic romance novels.

Neelix was much better in the early seasons, the same for Paris, Chakotay, Torres, Tuvok and Kim.
In later seasons they were nothing more than moving images in the background.

As for Kes, the show lost a lot when she was dumped.

I think that Vic could have been good for Voyager in many ways.

As for Janeway's novels, I still wonder what secrets the creepy Lord Burleigh had.
Was his wife chained in a padded cell at the fourth floor?
And the obnoxious children? Were they like the children in Children Of The Corn?
Maybe a missed opportunity for the Voyager "writers" to come up with a scary holodeck episode?

 

[Pikirk_Janesisko]

Neelix was much better in the early seasons, the same for Paris, Chakotay, Torres, Tuvok and Kim.
In later seasons they were nothing more than moving images in the background.

As for Kes, the show lost a lot when she was dumped.

I think that Vic could have been good for Voyager in many ways.

As for Janeway's novels, I still wonder what secrets the creepy Lord Burleigh had.
Was his wife chained in a padded cell at the fourth floor?
And the obnoxious children? Were they like the children in Children Of The Corn?
Maybe a missed opportunity for the Voyager "writers" to come up with a scary holodeck episode?

Well, I never thought about that, it seems to me that Vic Fontaine would've fit more into Voyager's tone really. On DS9 he looks so out of place.

I always thought Neelix was overhated, he's annoying sometimes, but at least has more depth than a hologram (no pun intended ).

 

[Lynx]

Well, I never thought about that, it seems to me that Vic Fontaine would've fit more into Voyager's tone really. On DS9 he looks so out of place.

I always thought Neelix was overhated, he's annoying sometimes, but at least has more depth than a hologram (no pun intended ).

I agree on Neelix.
OK, he's a bit weird and so but he can be funny sometimes too. I like him!
I always found his interaction with Tuvok funny to watch.
And Jetrel showed the depth of the character. Great episode!

 

[Timewalker]

Neelix was much better in the early seasons, the same for Paris, Chakotay, Torres, Tuvok and Kim.
In later seasons they were nothing more than moving images in the background.

You usually say you haven't seen anything that came after the 3rd season, so I am naturally wondering how you would have formed these opinions.

Well, I never thought about that, it seems to me that Vic Fontaine would've fit more into Voyager's tone really. On DS9 he looks so out of place.

The thing to remember about the regular holodeck programs on Voyager is that Tom Paris had a fascination with mid-20th century pop culture. That's why he was into black and white science fiction serials, how he knew about the truck they found floating in space, his misuse of slang in the 20th century (he was out by 30 years), and his enjoyment of TV cartoons.

I'm not sure which decade Vic Fontaine is supposed to be from. If it's before 1950 or so, it becomes less likely that Tom would have been familiar with this sort of entertainment. So if Vic Fontaine were part of the holodeck database, someone else would have had to add him.

One thing I am sure of - he would have made a great ship's counselor (a role the writers tried to fob off on Tuvok, Chakotay, and Neelix, to mixed results at best.

 

[kkt]

I'm not sure which decade Vic Fontaine is supposed to be from. If it's before 1950 or so, it becomes less likely that Tom would have been familiar with this sort of entertainment. So if Vic Fontaine were part of the holodeck database, someone else would have had to add him.

Vic is mentioned as being from 1962 a couple of times. That also fits with when the Rat Pack were performing in Vegas.

NOG: Where's your computer?
VIC: Right here. (A pencil.) It's nineteen sixty two. What do you want from me?

- It's Only a Paper Moon

 

[Timewalker]

Vic is mentioned as being from 1962 a couple of times. That also fits with when the Rat Pack were performing in Vegas.


- It's Only a Paper Moon

Thanks. So it's entirely plausible that Tom would have heard of Vic's type of music and entertainment. Whether or not he would have personally liked it is another matter.

But even if you're not into that type of music, Vic himself is a very likeable character, and would have made an excellent unofficial ship's counsellor.

 

[E-DUB]

Was it ever authoritatively stated as to if Vic was an actual (in universe) person or simply a product of the holoprogram author?

 

[Lynx]

You usually say you haven't seen anything that came after the 3rd season, so I am naturally wondering how you would have formed these opinions.

I have actually seen seasons 4-6 up to a certain episode and Endgame.

I stopped watching the show for two years after Kes was dumped but decided to give it another chance two years later. I rented VHS tapes from seasons 4 and 5 to catch up with what I missed.

But after a certain episode in season 6 which I found downright insulting, I stopped watching the seres. However, I made an exception for Endgame by deciding to watch it one minute before it was aired on TV. A mistake since the episode was horrible.

Since then I've watched seasons 1, 2 and 3 a couple of times. I bought season 4 on DVD a year ago but have only watched a few episodes of it.

I still think that Vic Fontaine could have been useful on Voyager, however due to the problems I had with watching DS9 for many years, I didn't know much about Vic back then so I would probably have missed a possible appearance on Voyager if it had been in seasons 4-7.

Due to stupid policies from some TV stations in my area, I could only watch season 1 of DS9 in 1997-98. After that, I had some years with constant DVD problems before I got the chance to watch all episodes of DS9 in the right order.

Maybe it was luck for me after all. The later seasons of Voyager, Star trek Enterprise and the NuTrek movies were about to ruin my interest in Star Trek but DS9 brought my interest back.

 

[dupersuper]

Was it ever authoritatively stated as to if Vic was an actual (in universe) person or simply a product of the holoprogram author?

He was treated like a sapient being. Felix supposedly made him special, and he had control of his program: able to pop in to Kira's meditation program and hail Odo on his communicator and whatnot.

 

[E-DUB]

He was treated like a sapient being. Felix supposedly made him special, and he had control of his program: able to pop in to Kira's meditation program and hail Odo on his communicator and whatnot.

You misunderstand the question, perhaps I was unclear. Let me restate. In actual Trek universe circa 1960s, was there an actual Vic Fontaine actually playing Las Vegas?

 

[dupersuper]

You misunderstand the question, perhaps I was unclear. Let me restate. In actual Trek universe circa 1960s, was there an actual Vic Fontaine actually playing Las Vegas?

Oh, sorry. I'm guessing no.