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James "Vic Fontaine" Darren has passed
(lemmy.world)
His portrayal of the self aware hologram Vic on DS9 was always a highlight for me. In the midst of an ongoing war epic, they'd sprinkle in moments for Fontaine to cheer/distract the crew and audience. His beautiful voice helped Nog through the loss of his leg and the PTSD incurred from battle. He got Odo to remove the proverbial stick from his ass. Plus, he helped to orchestrate a ridiculous heist on the holodeck in order to save his program. He will be missed.
He allways felt completely out of place, it felt as he was forced onto the series rather than growing naturally.
I am absolutely not calling him a bad character, or anything bad, but his sudden arrival and continued reappearance was jarring to me.
That being said, my complaints about him are all writing related and not his fault
Yep, did a full rewatch last year and nothing against the James but that felt so forced. Nog moving in and those two doing an odd couple / romantic friendship thing was pretty decent though, but that's about it. Wish they'd given him a better intro instead of forcing a character out of nowhere.
I mostly liked the character— it was his singing that I couldn’t stand. His voice sounded like several tons of gravel slowly sliding out of the back of a dump truck onto asphalt, mangling some of the best crooner tunes, the originals which were sung with Sinatra’s silky smooth voice. I always skip past any time he sings— it’s unbearable.
He’s a fine actor, though. I really liked the episode with Nog and helping him with his PTSD. Some of the other writing was problematic, but not his fault.
I felt that way too, until it clicked for me that music has a history in war of keeping morale up, and that's a messy relationship.
So I've reconciled Vic as being meant as a stand-in for a missing traveling 'support the troops' musician. Vics "what the hell did you all bring me to life, here in the middle of a war, for?!" sort of maps messily to the experience of a musician drafted during WWII and put directly into an army band.
I'm curious if the theory holds up to closer inspection on my next watch through.
Thank you, that is a good way of looking at it, Starfleet sent DS9 the program to keep morale up on the frontlines, yeah that makes sense.