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Thoughts on Vic in DS9

Hawkeye_90

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
What are your thoughts on Vic? I really liked those episodes. I thought the oceans 11 episode was really creative. I also thought the PTSD episodes with Nog were interesting, maybe they got a bit much, but I think it was really innovative for the time because no one talked about PTSD.
 
Vic is one of my favorite characters. I know, some consider him as a cheap Frank Sinatra copy. But he is more than that. Nog went through a lot during the Dominion War and Vic helped him along. Nog needed his time. People need treatment to remain fit for duty in times of war and crisis. Of course Nog had friends like Jake and Ezri. It's not always professional counseling that helps.

Only MU Vic was odd. He was not a hologram and killed off. No explanation. Maybe Mirror Vic was a real person who exists in the primary universe and is the template for holograms.

Badda Bing Badda Bang was one of the best DS9 episodes.
 
I liked Vic, but then again I like the crooners from the 60s. Vic, a cheap Frank Sinatra, no - a potential member of the Rat Pack, yes. Besides that, when he was on the screen, he brought an interesting dynamic and perspective to the table.
 
Not being a big fan of holodeck episodes or the lounge jazz milieu, I can take or leave Vic the hologram. Vic, the station personality, had some decent stories, and I am not sure that he needed to be a hologram to help out Nog. Too many Sinatra cliches for my liking.
 
I hate Vic. He is my least favourite aspect of DS9. I don't like the "magical Holodec" episodes I hate swing music, I hate that hole early 20th century flair. And the sentient AI was done to death in ST.

Badda Bing Badda Bang was, to me, one of DS9's most horrible and superfluous episodes, along with every Cube of Time episode and Dax (the episode)
 
I liked Vic, but didn't like the music. Not a fan of swing and I wish they'd cut it short or focused less on it. I don't mind that it was there; it was the right music for its purpose... just... no big numbers please.
 
Didn't mind him as a background holographic character (even a self aware one) but was less interested when they brought him to the forefront and started making him the focus of an episode. Dressing him up as a mincing homosexual cyber punk in the mirror universe was a step too far. Every time they turn that damn holodeck on, it results in sentient life (Stafleet should have a word with someone about that)
 
I hated Vic. I guess if he were just established and not used as the central focus of episodes, he would have been fine. But it just didn't make sense to me how obsessed the characters were with him or that Quark would agree to devote one of his holodecks entirely to him. The only time I actually like the way he was used was when Nog lost his leg.

He brings a campy element to the show that's more at home on Voyager than DS9.
 
I love the music and I love Vic. He's one of the coolest aspects of the latter part of the series.

... when they brought him to the forefront and started making him the focus of an episode.
... the central focus of episodes ...
What episodes are you talking about? I don't recall any episodes where Vic is the "central focus" of an entire episode.
 
I love the music and I love Vic. He's one of the coolest aspects of the latter part of the series.

... when they brought him to the forefront and started making him the focus of an episode.
... the central focus of episodes ...
What episodes are you talking about? I don't recall any episodes where Vic is the "central focus" of an entire episode.
It's Only A Paper Moon is focused predominantly on Vic and Nog, and he is a major player in His Way and Badda Bing ... .
 
I love the music and I love Vic. He's one of the coolest aspects of the latter part of the series.

... when they brought him to the forefront and started making him the focus of an episode.
... the central focus of episodes ...
What episodes are you talking about? I don't recall any episodes where Vic is the "central focus" of an entire episode.
It's Only A Paper Moon is focused predominantly on Vic and Nog, and he is a major player in His Way and Badda Bing ... .
Yeah, but the "central focus"? No.

Nog is the "central focus" of "It's Only a Paper Moon", Kira and Odo are the "central focus" of "His Way". "Badda Bing" is what I would call an ensemble show, no particular character is the "central focus" of the episode.
 
I like Vic as an entertainer, but not as a counselor. They should have professional counselors for that.

Did he ever claim to be a counselor?

Sometimes people like Guinan or Vic are better suited to help people with problems. The point is, they are no professionals. A counselor is a psychologist analyzes people. Some people don't like the professional psychobabble. They are more comfortable with civilian advisors.

There was Ezri. She was well-meaning. But Vic helped Nog. It doesn't mean Ezri is a bad counselor. Going to Vic for advise was just Nog's way of dealing with his crisis. And it wasn't really advise he was looking for, but distraction.
 
The entire episode takes place on the holodeck, in his program. I would call that the central focus. The moment he's introduced he basically becomes Guinan for the whole crew, and it does not make any sense. In His Way, yes, the focus is Odo and Kira, but their decision process revolves around advice from Vic, and that's what's obnoxious.

Even Worf goes to Vic when he's angry about his dead wife not getting into Stovo'kor. WORF. Bashir plays his music when everybody's preparing for a Gem'Hadar attack. Vic got forcefully shoved into episodes he had no business in, and that's what made him annoying.

Vic should have been a source of entertainment for the crew, not 1960s crooner Guinan.
 
"It's Only a Paper Moon" is probably the best ST episode ever, two recurring characters get center stage and more character development than main characters from other series.
 
I love Vic, but then I love Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and the like. Vic was a good character, and was a big part of one of my favorite DS9 episode, "It's Only A Paper Moon."
 
Vic is the kind of person that you would want to talk to. That alone makes all the difference.

No, he ain't. I would not want to talk to a smarmy lounge singer from the 1930s. Ever.

And I hated that philosophy Star Trek sometimes had that "people rather talk to their bartender than their counselor"
No, Gene; not everyone. I don't have a bartender, I don't enjoy drinking or the bar scene. When I have a problem its either a friend or a counselor.
 
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