Star Trek: 15 Best Holodeck Moments
8. Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang - The Big Rollers Are In
This episode has several honours. It was the last standalone story filmed for Deep Space Nine. It was also one of the few malfunctioning Holodeck stories where none of the main characters were in jeopardy. They simply help Vic for the sake of it.
Sisko's speech about the position of coloured people in the era that Vic's program was set in was particuarly interesting in several ways. Isiah Lavender III, author of Race in American Science Fiction, remarks that this scene is extraordinary as Sisko is not explaining himself to a white outsider, but to Kassidy, who is of course a woman of colour.
The two of them speak about their different experiences, though both can understand where the other is coming from. They are both able to look back on the period, in this example the '60s, and discuss how the universe has changed. This, Lavender points out, was a freedom afforded to these characters in the '90s that earlier characters like Sulu and Uhura hadn't been able to do.
Quite apart from the cultural importance of the episode, it was a loving tribute to Ocean's Eleven, both the Sinatra and Clooney versions. It also allowed Avery Brooks the chance to show off his musical strength, singing along with James Darren at the close of the episode. He remembers the scene as being a blast to film and one of his favourite memories.