James Darren remembers “the good times” filming Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang”

James Darren as Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

MARCH 1, 2021 - Actor and singer James Darren played Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; part crooner, part therapist, and all hologram. Darren only appeared in seven episodes of Deep Space Nine, but his final appearance in “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang” is arguably one of the more memorable episodes of the series. Last week, to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of that episode, StarTrek.com published an interview with Deep Space Nine’s most famous lounge singer, getting all the details on his experience with the franchise.

Darren first joined the cast of Deep Space Nine toward the end of the sixth season with the episode “His Way”. Everyone on set was quick to welcome him into the fold. “The cast and crew made me feel as if I had been there for years,” Darren said, adding, “I didn’t feel like an outsider coming in. They were very considerate with me. I don’t know if it was because they liked me, Jimmy Darren — but they were just so kind [...] There wasn’t a single person who I didn’t have a good relationship with, whether it was on the set, on screen, or off.”

Fast forward to the end of Darren’s run as Fontaine. In “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang”, a programming issue in the holosuite allowed mobsters to take over Vic’s holographic lounge. In order to right this wrong, the DS9 crew join forces to outwit the mobsters and rob the casino, in a sequence of events reminiscent of the classic 1960 film Ocean’s 11. Ocean’s 11 starred the late Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., all of whom Darren was friends with. When the singer-turned-actor, then 62 years old, had a chance to “revisit” that era filming “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang”, all of those memories came flooding back. “It brought me back to that era that I knew so well,” Darren said. “The whole era was a special time of life, so I could see why Ira [Steven Behr] loved it so much. I remember the good times I had hanging out at the lounge at the Sands [Hotel and Casino] with Frank, Sammy, [and] Nancy [Sinatra] [...] I’d give up a year of my life to spend just a week back there, that’s how special those times were.”

Darren went on to discuss what it was like singing “The Best is Yet to Come” with Avery Brooks at the end of the episode. Citing Brooks’ musical talent, Darren said, “My favorite performance that I got to do on DS9 was the duet with Avery. I really had fun singing and interacting with him. Every feeling you saw on screen was real. It wasn’t our characters, it was Avery and I [...] To have that moment was great.”

To read the full interview with James Darren, visit StarTrek.com.