Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang (episode)
When holographic mobsters takeover of Vic Fontaine's lounge, Bashir, O'Brien, and Vic's other friends plot to run Vic's rival out of business and restore the program to normal.

Summary

Teaser

While in Vic Fontaine's holosuite club, Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir try to convince Vic to join them in their Alamo program. Vic declines, and instead offers to sing a tune to get them into a "Texas state of mind." In the middle of Vic's Alamo rendition, however, there is a flash in the program and he is suddenly booed off the stage, as a new, raunchy act emerges from behind the curtain, stealing Vic's show. Confused and in a state of disbelief, Vic gets shuffled by the crowd; when the crowd parts, he is confronted by Frankie Eyes, a gangster with an axe to grind against Vic. Frankie abruptly informs Vic that he has recently purchased the hotel, casino, and lounge. Vic, who is no longer welcome in the club, is being replaced with a new act.

O'Brien requests that the computer remove the two new, offending characters from the program, but nothing happens. So he tries to freeze the entire holosuite program, again to no avail. Frankie is accompanied by a thug, Tony Cicci, who begins to get physical with Vic, as Frankie demands Vic leave the premises. To defuse the situation, Vic agrees to leave peacefully, while Frankie checks out his new casino. Bashir and O'Brien discuss how to fix the errant program, and one solution is to completely reset it but this would also reset Vic and wipe out his memory, making him forget everything he has experienced with the crew since he was activated. They agree to find another, less destructive way to save their holographic friend.

Act One
Back in Ops, the crew members debate the true value of a holodeck "friend," with Worf arguing that Vic is merely a hologram, and should be treated as such, even if he is a talented entertainer. O'Brien, Nog, and Kira all argue that Vic is much "more than just a program." Bashir soon learns that the new adversarial holosuite character has been implanted purposely by , the designer of the program, as a jack-in-the-box, a character buried very deeply within the program storyline designed to shake things up (in order to keep Bashir's interest), and not easily removed. Felix warns Bashir that the jack-in-the-box is also period-specific, meaning that it must be beaten with 1962 means and methods. In other words, Frankie would need to be shot with a period weapon and not a phaser. However, simply killing the gangster is not an option as the mob could retaliate against Vic, and if Vic were to die his pattern would be wiped from the simulation. Captain Benjamin Sisko emerges from his office and asks what everyone is talking about. The crew explain what's happened to Vic, but are surprised when Sisko isn't at all interested and orders them all back to work. Nog promises O'Brien his help, since Vic's counsel helped him deal with losing his leg and saved his Starfleet career. Kira also promises her support, as well as Odo's, since they both owe Vic for his help in finally bringing them together.

Later, Sisko and Kasidy are enjoying a quiet, romantic dinner in the captain's quarters when Kasidy broaches the subject of Vic's dilemma. Sisko is surprised to find Kasidy coming to Vic's defense insisting that Vic is more friend than program, and asks her to change the subject. Kasidy asks Ben why he's never been to Vic's, but he isn't willing to discuss the issue further, and Kasidy decides to drop it. Back on the holosuite, O'Brien and Bashir go to room 107, Vic's room in the hotel, only to find Vic beaten and bruised, and still shaky on his feet.

Act Two
With three bruised ribs and a sprained wrist, Vic explains how he was roughed up as a warning message to speed up his departure. Frankie is a childhood rival from Vic's youth, whom Vic used to beat mercilessly in street stickball, playing as children. O'Brien and Bashir promise Vic they will hatch a plan to end the jack-in-the-box threat.

Kira and Odo begin infiltrating the revamped casino and club, now crawling with gangster clientèle; Vic's band has been replaced by a number of sultry, burlesque dancers and blues musicians. Odo, enchanted by the action on-stage, befriends Cicci and the other gangsters at the bar. Kira, meanwhile, is approached by Frankie, who takes an obvious interest in her. Kira accompanies Frankie to the roulette table to distract him, while Odo endears himself to Cicci by effortlessly stretching his changeling arm, in what appears to be the best bar trick ever concocted. In this way, Odo learns from the henchmen that Frankie is merely a pawn of Carl Zeemo, a big-time gangster who is behind the purchase of the hotel.

Back in Vic's hotel room, the gang (which now includes Kasidy and Ezri Dax) begins planning the fall of Frankie Eyes. Vic explains how Frankie's business works by him paying "skim" money to the big boss every month – so the simplest, most effective way to get rid of the gangster is to steal the casino's holdings, and deny Zeemo his payoff.

Act Three
The main stash of mob money is locked in a safe in the casino countroom, guarded by two countmen and a guard. 

The gang begins reconnoitering the casino to develop a plan: Frankie shows Kira to the countroom, where large amounts of cash are accumulated and stored in the safe. Kasidy, playing her part as a casino gambler, continually tries to strike up a conversation with the countroom guard, distracting him from his duties. Odo introduces Ezri as someone new in town, whereby Cicci immediately hires her as a cocktail waitress. Vic appears on the casino floor, pleading with Cicci to allow him to see Frankie. Frankie, accompanied by the cool-acting Kira, rebuffs Vic's advances rather insultingly, and leads Kira toward the poker table.

Sisko is upset that Kasidy and the majority of his senior staff are involved in the caper, calling the entire affair "nonsense". Kasidy defends their actions as friends helping out friends in need, and Ben tells her that his discomfort has nothing to do with the fact that Vic Fontaine is a hologram. When pressed, Sisko further explains that he feels uncomfortable with the setting (Las Vegas 1962), because the racial strife of the era meant that people of color were never allowed to be customers at a place like Vic's lounge, only as entertainers or janitors. Kasidy responds by explaining that Vic's program is not designed to contain any of the racial tensions of 1960s United States of America and neither she or Jake have ever felt uncomfortable there. Ben tells her that's the lie… the 1960s were a hard time for people of color (a life, as Benny Russell, he personally experienced) with the civil rights movement still in the early stages and he doesn't want to pretend that it wasn't. Kasidy defends this and tells Sisko that she believes they can act out how things could, and should, have been, almost in a Utopian-type environment, where one's only limitations are "the ones we impose on ourselves." This has a noticeable effect on the captain.

In the hotel room, the senior staff realize that in order to pull off their plan, they need another person helping. With Worf and Quark most likely unwilling to help them, the gang begin to worry until, to their surprise, Sisko enters the room promising his support, having been swayed by Kasidy's argument.

Act Four
In Vic's room, the "crew" go over their plan once more:
Kira keeps Frankie preoccupied; while he is busy flirting with her, he will become oblivious to what happens on the casino floor — and therefore, the countroom;
Vic and Sisko (in the guise of "high rollers") will attract a lot of attention at the gaming tables (and therefore draw attention away from the countroom) by throwing around a wad of cash;
At precisely 11:45 pm, one of the countmen (Al) leaves the room to phone his mother, and is gone for exactly eight minutes, while the other countman (Howard) has a martini brought in. Ezri (as the cocktail waitress) delivers a drink to Bashir (sitting at poker table three), who, with some sleight-of-hand while tipping her, slips a few drops of ipecac into the martini meant for Howard. Ezri then delivers the drink tray with the martini on it to the countroom.
Once Ezri leaves the countroom, Kasidy runs up to the guard outside the countroom and tells him O'Brien stole her chips. O'Brien plays innocent, and together they create enough of a disturbance to keep the guard away from the door for at least two minutes.
As soon as Howard takes a sip of his martini, the ipecac will cause violent nausea, and Howard will come flying out of the countroom "at warp speed"; with Yates and O'Brien keeping the guard distracted, Nog enters the now-empty countroom, dressed as a maintenance worker. Using his superior Ferengi hearing, Nog will crack the safe. 
As soon as Nog opens the safe, the drink tray Ezri left on the table will shape-shift back into Odo, morphing part of himself into a suitcase. While Odo transfers the contents of the safe to the suitcase, Nog removes his maintenance uniform to reveal a security guard uniform.
Finally, Nog and Odo will then carry the million dollars out of the casino, (taking care not to draw attention to themselves) and dump the cash into the garbage cans outside.

Without the money, Frankie has no skim money to pay Zeemo his cut, and everything will return to normal.

The entire caper should take, by Sisko's estimate, eight minutes; Bashir unabashedly predicts it will take only five. They will need to carry out their plan the following night, as Frankie's big boss Zeemo will arrive the night after to collect his skim money. The crew spend their remaining time practicing their various grifts to cut their execution time down to minimum.

The following night, all decked out in 1960s period attire, the eight participants march through the Promenade into a half-empty Quark's into Vic's, turning many an eye in the joint. Quark, who has traditionally viewed Vic as competition, and has never gotten close, remarks, "I'm telling you, Morn… something's going on at Vic's that we don't know about."

Their plan underway, Kira enters to distract Frankie. Bashir orders his vodka martini (stirred, not shaken) from Ezri. Vic encourages Sisko to loosen up the purse-strings, so as to appear the part of high-roller; he reluctantly increases his wager from $100 to $2,000. Kira lures Frankie into a private table in the restaurant, away from the action.

When a rogue customer accidentally spills Ezri's drink tray, Bashir saves the moment by grabbing another drink, tainting it with ipecac, and handing it to Ezri for delivery. Their plans take another turn for the worse when the regular countman is not there, replaced by an acerbic, insulting man. After a brief repartee, Ezri manages to trick the new countman into gulping down the drink, while Sisko and Vic do their thing at the tables. Yates and O'Brien easily distract the guard (perhaps too easily, as O'Brien will soon discover), so Nog slips into the countroom when the countman scrambles to the restroom.

Nog, who was unprepared to find the safe employing an auto-relock tumbler, has a much more difficult time trying to cracking the lock. In the meantime, all the other participants stretch out their parts, so as to give Nog more time. With Kira slowly nursing her drink, Frankie is surprised to have a guest… the big Mr. Zeemo himself, arriving in town a day early to collect his money — the very money Nog and Odo are trying desperately to get their hands onto in the countroom. Kira, stalling for time, exclaims what an honor it is to meet him, to which Mr. Zeemo replies matter-of-factly, "I know."  Nog, still struggling with the safe, is informed by Odo that they've expended their allotted eight minutes.

Act Five
Bashir, folding a winning full house hand, walks away from the poker tables to intercept the second countman, re-routing him away from the countroom by telling him that Frankie is waiting for him outside. Vic causes a scene by pretending familiarity with Mr. Zeemo's escort, a young blond beauty, only to be escorted away himself by Cicci. As a last resort, Sisko begins throwing money around – literally. He casts handfuls of cash into the air here and there, causing a sensation (and quite a disruption) on the casino floor.

In the countroom, Nog finally unlocks the door to the safe. Odo begins putting the safe's million dollars into his "briefcase" of an arm, while outside O'Brien, carrying on the act for too long, gets arrested for stealing. Leading O'Brien away to a holding cell, the guard is instructed to perform a strip search on the poor chief. Yates pretends to break down, to keep the 's head turned at the last minute, while Odo and Nog flee the countroom, making their escape. Their flight takes them, with the money, past Mr. Zeemo, astounded at seeing all the money floating around the casino floor.

It is a different story in the countroom, however, as there is no money in the safe, much to the shock of Frankie. Not being able to produce the cash, and appearing to have squandered the money like confetti on the casino floor, Frankie is escorted out drearily, past the burlesque show, past the blues band, and right past the co-conspirators, all neatly lined up at the bar in order: 
 Bashir, the drink-doctorer,
 Nog, the safecracker,
 Dax, the cocktail waitress,
 Odo, the bag-man, 
 Kira, the decoy,
 Sisko, the high-roller,
 Yates, the victim,
 and, of course, Vic.
(O'Brien, the falsely-accused patsy, is not present as he is being strip-searched) 

As Frankie is led through the curtains, presumably to meet his doom, the ambiance in Vic's lounge immediately returns to how it was before the Jack-in-the-Box upset everything. Vic offers a glass of the bubbly to each of his co-conspirators (each of his friends) when suddenly O'Brien appears, putting his jacket (and, presumably, clothes) back on after his encounter with the guards. Vic agrees to accompany O'Brien and Bashir on their Alamo program any time they desire – "coonskin cap and all". Vic and Sisko conclude the heist adventure by together crooning the duet "The Best Is Yet to Come" to the delight of all.

Memorable quotes 
"Maybe there's a pointer fault in the holosuite's parameter file."
 - O'Brien, attempting to explain the sudden changes in Vic's

"What's a hollosweets?"
 - Cicci, trying to understand O'Brien's technobabble

"We cannot ignore the truth about the past." 
"Going to Vic's won't make us forget who we are or where we came from. It reminds us that we are no longer bound by any limitations. Except the ones we impose on ourselves." 
 - Sisko and Kasidy, on historical accuracy

"Miles… You thinking what I'm thinking?" 
"That depends on what you're thinking."
 - Bashir and O'Brien

"Mr. Zeemo, it's an honor to meet you."
"I know."
 - Kira and Zeemo

"Robbing casinos isn't part of any Starfleet job description I've ever read."
 - O'Brien

"So, where are you from again?"
"Bajor."
"That's in Jersey, right?"
"Right."
 - Tony Cicci and Odo

"If you guys screw up, I'm the one who gets buried in the desert."
 - Vic Fontaine

"You call this a cheesesteak? I wouldn't feed this to my parole officer."
 - Tony Cicci

"Once he takes a sip of his drink, Howard will come flying out that count room at warp speed."
 - Bashir

"I'm telling you Morn, something going on in Vic's that we don't know about."
 - Quark, as both he and Morn watch the station staff along with Kasidy Yates walk by

"Vodka martini. Stirred, not shaken."
 - Bashir, a play on the favored drink of James Bond (who took his drink "shaken, not stirred")

"Now, that's more like it."
 - Vic, after his Holosuite resets back to normal

"Uh-oh…!" 
"What do you mean, uh-oh? We don't have time for uh-oh!"
 - Nog and Odo, after the former discovers opening the safe will take longer than expected

"Where have you been?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
 - Bashir and O'Brien, after the latter returns from possibly being strip-searched

Background information

Story and script
 The working title of this episode was "Buduh-bing Buduh-bang". (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library)
 This episode was a pet project for Ira Steven Behr for some time; "I'd wanted to do a caper show for years, but I'd never been able to pull it off. It was now or never – and with Vic Fontaine and a holosuite version of Las Vegas within reach, all the elements seemed to be in place." ()
The script borrows from (and parodies) the 1960  crooner's film, , starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and . ()
 Ira Behr had wanted Avery Brooks to sing on the show for some time, and after shooting this episode, Behr commented, "It's just jaw-dropping how good he is." () Previously, Brooks had briefly sung in the episodes ,  and .
 Of Benjamin Sisko's controversial racial commentary in this episode, Behr explains, "We didn't want the audience, especially the younger audience, to think that 1962 Las Vegas was a place where you had a lot of black people sitting in the audience at nightclubs, or enjoying themselves at hotels and casinos. That just didn't happen. So by having someone of Sisko's historical understanding questioning that fact, we could clarify before we got him to Vic's that he's well aware that Vegas was very, very, very white." ()
 By the time this episode aired, Behr was well aware that there had been something of a fan backlash against Vic Fontaine; some fans loved him, but others disliked the concept of the character. Behr specifically wrote Sisko's role to act as a surrogate for the fans who wouldn't accept Vic, with the idea being that if Sisko could be won over, then anyone could be won over. ()
 The Vic/Sisko duet at the end of the episode, "The Best Is Yet to Come", refers to the nine-part series finale. In the production order, the "Final Chapter" commenced right after "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang" with "Penumbra." ()
 The final draft for the script was completed on . (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library)

Production
  was filmed before this episode, but this episode was broadcast first. As such, this episode was the last standalone  episode to be shot. The reason for the switch was that Paramount were very impressed by "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang", which also cost a lot to film, and wanted it to air during February sweeps. Ronald D. Moore commented "The studio wanted to do 'Badda-Bing" before 'Inter Arma' in the air date schedule because they spent so much money on 'Badda-Bing'. It became just such a handsome show that they wanted it in the February sweeps". (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, No. 162 #4/5, p. 55)
 For the role of Carl Zeemo, Ira Behr states, "We wanted an actor who would carry the weight of history to any film buffs who were watching the show. Marc did a million film noir gangster movies. And he was perfect as the character." ()
 Robert O'Reilly (better known for his role as Gowron) portrays the replacement accountant. He was credited here as Bobby Reilly to help hide the fact that it was the same actor. O'Reilly commented "Ira Steven Behr and I talked about it and we thought it would make a fun trivia question for the fans if I showed my face once without the Klingon make-up. I was even billed as Bobby Reilly, which is the name I went by in the early sixties when this episode supposedly takes place. Initially, I wanted my billing to be a goodbye name, you know, and Ira said, 'Well we're not sure whether or not this going to be your last episode'. I thought it would be amusing if I used Cy O'Nara, which would have summed up my farewell nicely, but Ira emphasized, 'Don't do that because you'll probably be back as Gowron'. Good thing I listened to him". ("Hail to the Chief", TV Zone special #34)  O'Reilly had in fact played a holographic character out of Klingon make-up before in .
 Art director Randy McIlvain says he studied both Milestone's  and the 1964  movie , starring  and , for inspiration in designing the casino. ()
 Despite the fact that the crew would not have been in any actual danger in attempting the caper, the 30-second promotional spot suggested that they would be "history" if they failed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library)

Music
Avery Brooks commented on singing in the episode: "It was the writers idea.  They asked "Avery how would you like to sing in an episode?" Fortunately, I was alive and well and doing a myriad of things long before Star Trek ever occurred to me.  Even though I grew up living with television (many people have in the world), it certainly wasn't the center of my life. The fact of the matter is that I´ve been a musician, soul. I grew up playing woodwinds. I've performed with some of the greatest musicians in the world, a long line of them. So, this little ditty in 'Badda Bing, Badda Bang' when I went to the studio to record it, well, first of all let me tell you this: The composer called me up and said "We need to talk about keys.  We got to talk about which key to do it in.' I said: 'Well, whatever key you want it to be in.' Anyway, he started to play on the piano over the phone and asked 'How is this key?' I was sitting on my own keyboard and I was playing along with him (but that didn't register, by the way). Then we got to the studio, they asked me 'Do you need the lead sheet, do you need the music?', I said 'No, I'm okay.' I could sing this. Yeah. So I guess the people were surprised. That's also the power of television that we sometimes believe that what we see is perhaps the only dimension to a human being. But it wasn't my idea to sing this song. Had it been my idea to sing I would have sung something that had a lot more swing". 
 On , second-take footage of the duet between Avery Brooks and James Darren (as Sisko and Vic respectively) was shot by A-camera. Recalled Darren, "I love the duet with Avery. We're having a good time, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Man, Captain Sisko is singing with me. Is this, like, too much? Where the hell did this come from?" (What We Left Behind)
 The keyboardist of Vic's band plays a  instead of the usual piano during the mob's interregnum, lending a notable change of mood to the music.
 The music played when the crew walks into Quark's to get to the holosuite casino is a re-orchestrated version of the  main theme. Portions of this arrangement can also be heard at various points in the episode. The music played in the casino at the beginning of the episode, after Frankie Eyes takes over, is an arrangement of .

Reception and awards 
 Ira Steven Behr commented "It didn't matter to us that the regular characters weren't in jeopardy. None of us wanted to do the old 'Holosuite-is-malfunctioning-and-we're-all-gonna-die' thing. We just wanted to do a show about helping this hologram." In fact, Behr saw the story as something of a commentary on how invested Star Trek fans can become in the characters; "In the same way that viewers have invested in the artifice of Star Trek and care about characters who aren't real, we decided to do a show about our characters caring about Vic." ()
 Behr also commented "I don't think the fans of Star Trek realize just how difficult a show like  or "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang" is. They think that , , a very socially conscious show or a show of a very sensitive drama, those are the shows that are the toughest to do. But in a series like this, to do light, successful humor, romance, is incredibly hard on every level. Not just the writing, but just production-wise and everything. I think part of the reason that we love them so much is because we know just what kind of sweat and blood went into them, to make them seem so fluffy, and so light and clever, whenever they are working, those qualities". (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, No. 162 #4/5, p. 55)
Behr was ultimately very pleased with the episode: "It was one of the best-directed shows we have ever done. Mike Vejar did a spectacular job. I thought it was one of the best-cast shows we ever did. I thought Robert Miami and Mike Starr were fabulous in it too. The extras, the sets and the montage editing were fabulous. It was one of the most expensive shows we have ever done. Just look at the camera work on that show, and look at the production values on that show. Of course there weren't a lot of aliens and a lot of space battles. Don't be fooled. That was a tough show." (Cinefantastique, Volume 29 Number 6/7)
Hans Beimler commented: "We don’t always do cool very well in Star Trek. We do thoughtful, we do interesting, but cool, really cool, we don't do that often. Star Trek is more thoughtful, and has more character- driven pieces, and is more science fiction, ultimately, and has more other things to it. That’s one of those moments, where that is as cool, and our cast, and Avery, and everybody, looks as cool as you can possibly be'". (Cinefantastique, Volume 29 Number 6/7)
 Nana Visitor was a big fan of this show, as she felt that although Kira was acting in a somewhat unusual manner, the role was very much in keeping with Kira's backstory; "She must have done it with so many Cardassians when she was doing terrorist work. I mean, as a terrorist, a woman would have to get used to the fact that using her sexuality to charm men and to trick her way in was one of her strengths. That's a reality."  () This would seem to recall the second season episode , where she flirts with a Cardassian guard, causing him to lower his defenses and allowing her to knock him out.
 James Darren enjoyed the episode, particularly working with Avery Brooks. Darren commented "Avery's so hip. He's a killer actor and terrific singer and he plays the piano like you wouldn't believe. Avery's a neat guy and singing that duet with him in that episode was such a blast. Every time I had something to do on Deep Space Nine, whether it was a single scene or a full episode about Vic, it was a treat. I was hungry for more to do on the series only because I loved it so much". ("Class Act", TV Zone special #34) 
 This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series.
 De Witt Douglas Kilgore wrote about the scene where Sisko discusses his issues with the Vic Fontaine program: "The situation is remarkable not only as a scene in Star Trek but also in the world of commercial television. Sisko is not explaining himself to a white outsider, human or alien, but to a woman from his own background. He includes her in his historical concerns through his use of the possessive pronoun our. And Yates responds in kind, putting forth a different perspective from within their shared community of concern. Rank and gender introduce complicating dynamics, but the communal rhetoric renders the debate as internal, indicative of how black people position themselves both in the productive reality of the show and in the fictive future of its narrative. Crucially, these black characters are allowed to remember and to speak in a way that was unavailable to Uhura and Sulu two decades earlier. The production environment for racial representation has changed that much at least". ("The Best is Yet to Come: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Reform Afrofuturism", Black, Black and Brown Planets: The Politics of Race in Science Fiction)

Trivia
 Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode, although his character is mentioned.
 The comment that Frankie makes to Kira about the fact that there isn't a statue of Bugsy Siegel in Vegas is the same as the comment that  makes to  in  about  (the fictional "Siegel").
 Unlike the other songs Vic sings on the show, the "Alamo" song he sings near the beginning of this episode is not an old standard; it was written specifically for the show.

 Vic Fontaine was given a coonskin cap to wear when Bashir and O'Brien tried to get him to join their simulation. He claimed he didn't look good in buckskin (referring to the period clothing that accompanied the Alamo), but later changed his mind and said he'd see them there, "coonskin cap and all." (DS9: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang") The coonskin cap seen in this episode was provided by stuntwoman Leslie Hoffman. (source: Leslie Hoffman) 
 O'Brien's role as the innocent patsy, getting strip searched, is another example of how O'Brien must suffer.

Production history 
 Final draft script: 
 Premiere airdate:

Remastered version
Remastered scenes from the episode are featured in the documentary What We Left Behind.

Video and DVD releases 
 UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 7.8, 
This volume uses the production order for this and ; this episode was broadcast first but filmed second. It appears second on the video release.
 Star Trek - Music Box VHS collection
 As part of the DS9 Season 7 DVD collection

Links and references

Starring 
 Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko

Also starring 
 Rene Auberjonois as Odo
 Nicole de Boer as Counselor Ezri Dax
 Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf
 Colm Meaney as Chief Miles O'Brien
 Armin Shimerman as Quark
 Alexander Siddig as Doctor Julian Bashir
 Nana Visitor as Colonel Kira Nerys

Guest stars 
 Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates
 Marc Lawrence as Mr. Zeemo
 Mike Starr as Tony Cicci
 Robert Miano as Frankie Eyes
 Aron Eisenberg as Nog
 Bobby Reilly as Replacement Accountant
 Chip Mayer as 
 James Wellington as Al

Special guest star 
 James Darren as Vic Fontaine

Co-stars 
 Andrea Robinson as Blonde
 Sammy Micco as Croupier
 Jacqueline Case as Dancer
 Kelly Cooper as Dancer
 Michelle Johnston as Dancer
 Michelle Rudy as Dancer
 Kelly Sheerin as Dancer

Uncredited co-stars 
 Patti Begley
 George Colucci as 
 Amy Kate Connolly as casino patron
 Brian Demonbreun as sciences officer
 Steve Diamond
 Jasmine Gagnier
 Leslie Hoffman as casino patron
 Luther Hughes as Vic's bass player
 Paul Kreibich as Vic's drummer
 David B. Levinson as Broik
 Linda Madalone as casino patron
 Dan Magee as operations lieutenant
 Jenn Popovec as casino patron
 Mark Riccardi as casino patron
 Chuck Shanks as operations officer
 Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn
 Unknown performers as
 Four members of Vic's band
 Howard
 Max
 Twenty casino patrons
 Charlie Scott
 Six casino waitresses
 Two bodyguards

References 
Alamo; ; Asheville; athlete; auto-relock tumbler; Bajor; bandage; barn; Bashir 62; Battle of The Alamo; "beginner's luck"; Big Paulie; bikini; ""; black; blackboard; blackjack; black people; ; bow tie; briefcase; buckskin; bury the hatchet; busboy; capisce; ; career; casino; casino chip; champagne; character deletion algorithm; cheesesteak; chef; Civil Rights Movement; computer; coonskin cap; countman; craps; ; croupier; dealer; desert; D.I.; dice; dog; dollar; Dominion; ; Earth; ; Ferengi; flu; football; football team captain; footsies; .45 automatic; full house; furniture; gangster; garbage can; grandpa; green; hack; ; hatchet; high roller; high school; holodeck programs; hologram; holomatrix; holosuite; holosuite parameter's file; hotel; ice pack; ipecac; jack-in-the-box; jambalaya; janitor; Jersey; junkyard dog; Keno; ; Las Vegas (Vegas); Little Paulie; made man; martini; Miami; ; money; movie; "music to my ears"; Negro; "Night Train"; North Carolina; olive; parole officer; penny; parameter file; performer; phaser; Philadelphia; philosophy; pizza; pointer fault; poker; powder; pretzel; Promenade; Quark's; queen of hearts; rib; robbing; roulette; safe; Saltah'na clock; San Antonio; ; security guard; Seven Wonders of the World; shill; ; ; ; "skim"; skull; slot machine; South Philly; sprain; state of mind; stickball; stirring; ""; strip search; sucker; tax; Texas; tie bar; ; toast; ; visionary; vodka martini; waitress; ; ; wrist; wristwatch

Starship references 
; ; ; ; ;

External links 
 
 
 
 

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ja:アドリブ作戦で行こう！（エピソード）
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DS9 episodes