Like or Dislike - Vic Fontaine

[Destructor]

This is hard for me to answer. The first time I watched DS9, I really did not like Vic. I thought he was awful.

Doing a rewatch with my wife, I still think the song bits are overlong, but I generally like Vic, and I *really* like 'It's Only a Paper Moon'.

 

[The Colonel]

I dislike him, it was a very "Voyager" thing to do, making a 60's lounge singer hologram a regular character. I admit that James Darren does a good job and the character has some good moments. But, I'm a hardcore holodeck hater. I watch Star Trek for a vision of the future not to watch people from that future clown around in a low budget recreation of the past. I don't find any novelty or entertainment in that, if I want a story set in the past I'll watch Masterpiece Theater. There really is not a single holodeck episode that I like.

 

[Psion]

Like.

I enjoyed the way they used him throughout Nog's war experiences. And I certainly liked the way the various characters related to him. He was a Guinan character.

The only problem was the way he stepped on Ezri's toes. She was a new Dax and needed development time. Plus, with her background as a counselor, some of the work done with Vic should have gone to her. On the other hand, I'm not sure Nicole had the acting chops or presence to carry some of the scenes James Darren did.

More than anything else, Vic was quirky and unexpected. He not only contrasted with the 24th century, his Rat Pack Vegas perspective contrasted with ours as well. His Mirror Universe appearance was a great WTF moment, too. I love it when questions are raised ... they're fodder for more story lines.

 

[JD5000]

I like Vic - how can't you, he's one cool cat. From an analytical standpoint I thought the character's placement in the story was bizarre and irrelevant to the overall plot.

If someone can clue me in how 1960's Las Vegas is congruous to a plot on a space station in the late 24th century as it's provided to us within the story, please do. I totally missed it if it was even present in the first place. I saw no similarity between the points about the mid-20th century that were made on screen in the script, and the future being described. Every lesson that we were supposed to learn from that period in human history has been learned by humanity 400 years later. according to the show. At least a century ago (in the fictional future).

I think it would have been interesting to listen in on the writer's discussions about incorporating the Vegas scenario into the plot, because it really has absolute nothing to do with the overall story arc. Quark's is Vegas on the fringe of Federation space, basically Jackpot NV, and represents that just fine without Vic's place in the holosuites. Were they trying to accentuate that minor theme of the show? If so, why?

Overall, I think that the Vic episodes were unnecessary to the overall plot line, and I would have preferred to see more about the Gamma Quadrant at that point in the series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Loved him, loved the album:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ1MI1zPJvY[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQuLWY5tde0[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5QC22i7ZKo[/yt]

 

[EnsignRedshirt]

I love Vic. The lounge brought a place for the crew to escape from the horrors of war and I thought it worked really well.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Fontaine, and particularly his duet with Sisko, introduced me to swing music and later prompted me to give Frank Sinatra a try. The rest is history.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Meh I don't hate Vic Fontaine. He reminds me of a lot of people I know here in Jersey lol.

I liked the episode with Nog...and the one where they all fight Frankie Eyes.

 

[Mage]

Really liked Vic. We had just enough of him though, any more and it would have become to much. For me, they found the right balance.

 

[Echtzeit]

I didn't like Vic very much. Not really into that 50s thing.

 

[Worf'sParmach]

I think Quark's character suffered because of Vic. It's Only a Paper Moon could have been a really good Quark/Nog episode. Nog decides to go back to just working in the bar and says the who Starfleet thing was a mistake. Quark, who initially was against him going to Starfleet is the one who convinces him to face what's happened and go back. Character development for both of them.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I actually like Vic.

Just the songs and performances given to him came off a bit cheesy for me.

 

[Kirby]

Loved Vic and his music, but like someone said upstream, Mirror Vic was was a really bad idea.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Mirror Vic was just a brief gag, I'm not sure why anyone would think it was horrible.

As for Vic Prime, I dig his character and his music. If you can't enjoy such cool music, then you're a square.

 

[Lucky]

I like him. I'm not a super big fan, but I didn't mind his appearances and enjoyed many of them.

 

[doubleohfive]

On the balance of things I fall on the liking Vic side of things. Though thanks to Vic we also had Mirror Vic, which I think was one of the 'stupid' moments of DS9.

It absolutely amazes me how now, 15 years after the fact, people still --still!-- think that was "stupid."

Consider:

Noonien Soong fashions at least a half dozen androids, most in his own image, another in the image of his late wife.

Consider:

The holodeck is used repeatedly throughout the later series and films to recreate images of everyone. Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Crusher, Troi, Worf, Wesley, Barclay, Sisko, Odo, Kira, Jadzia, Ezri, Bashir, Quark, Rom, Nog, Weyoun, Damar, Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, Kim, Tuvok, Torres, Neelix, Seven, Kes, even Spock himself gets a hologram done up in his likeness ("This is Ambassador Spock of Vulcan...")

Lo and behold, the seminal hologram of the franchise, The EMH aka The Doctor on Voyager, was programmed and based on the image and likeness of its creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. Who also, by the way, later went on to try to make the LMH in Bashir's likeness.

So.

When considering that Vic Fontaine is a holographic program as created by Bashir's friend Felix, I ask you, fellow Trekkies, is it not simply within the realm of possibility that the template for the likeness of Vic Fontaine was based on a real person in the 24th centuray named Vic Fontaine?

Is it not possible Felix then actually knows this person in the prime universe?

And further is it not possible then that this real-world Vic Fontaine would also find his way into the rebellion in the mirror universe, the way Tuvok, Jennifer Sisko, and every Ferengi from Bajor to Cardassia did?

Mirror Vic was just a brief gag, I'm not sure why anyone would think it was horrible.

As for Vic Prime, I dig his character and his music. If you can't enjoy such cool music, then you're a square.

Yes. This. Precisely this.

 

[jmiller]

I personally believe there was maybe one too many Vic Fontaine appearances. Instead of Tongo, or Dabo, or just a gathering at Quark's, they used Vic as the backdrop. I could've done without an entire song every time he appeared also.

 

[TheSubCommander]

I liked Vic Fontaine, but I think they used him a little too much, too.

 

[milquetoast]

I never understood the hate for Vic or Mirror Vic. I thought Mirror Vic was a nice touch and that one was not lingered on. Just a small bit. Trek series always seemed to have to have a 'know-it-all' character and when Jadzia died they had to find someone to fill that role on DS9.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Vic would have been fine if they tempered the amount the crew was obsessed with him.

Like, when Jadzia dies they have Worf going to the holodeck to listen to Vic and smashing tables. Really, WORF?! Why would Worf have any interest in Vic at all? Every single time something bad happens to a character in season 7 that bums them out they go right to Vic's. And in Siege when the Jem'Hadar are about to attack, Julian Bashir thinks Vic Fontaine is the one thing that will make them less stressed out? And really, Quark consents to having an entire holodeck singularly devoted to the Vic Fontaine program? How the hell can Bashir afford that?

Left to the occasional appearance for background, Vic would have been fine. The amount they used him was annoying, ridiculous, forced, and zero percent believable.