You can buy alcohol cheap from a store in real life, along with all the ingredients to make drinks, yet people still go to bars where cocktails cost more than a meal. They’re not going just because of superior bartending skills, they’re going as part of the experience of drinking with other people. Because on DS9, your other option is basically to drink in your quarters, which is no fun.
There are more options for food on DS9, but people still go to Quark’s for the atmosphere. It’s lively and fun, which is probably hard to come by otherwise on a remote space station.
cybervseas@lemmy.world 11 months ago
No one said the replicator can perfectly create the most delightful and exquisite flavors and aromas associated with the task thing. Also the bar is like a real bar in a way, you’re not paying for just the food/drink but also the atmosphere.
Also also it’s a Bajoran station, so maybe Quark has to pay an energy bill even for using the drinks replicator.
Also also also Quark makes the point that he had programmed the drinks replicator to be even better than a regular one, so you’re also paying for that.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 11 months ago
I think Sisko threatened to charge Quark for rent and utilities in one episode as a way to get Quark to do something Sisko wanted.
Quark may be billing Starfleet for his services, but I’m sure he understands how to be in the good graces of his cop landlord.
cybervseas@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’m pretty sure that’s the episode where Quark becomes an arms dealer.
Which also has Avery Brooks’s creepiest line in the series; the way he says “Works for me!” gives me chills. Serial killer vibes.
GraniteM@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Having seen Avery Brooks give panels at cons, I can confidently say that all the times when Sisko got space madness or was holosuite transformed into a Bond villain or was otherwise acting like a madman… all of those performances are the real Avery Brooks, and the stolid, restrained, level-headed Sisko is the character that Avery Brooks uses his formidable acting skills to pretend to be.
teft@startrek.website 11 months ago
It’s the strike episode. “Bar Association”
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It was because they’d given him the supplies he needed to restart the bar after the FCA revoked his business license. So they were threatening to take back the equipment and start charging him rent again if he continued to do arms deals on the station.
MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Great point.
And to be clear, by “programmed” we mean “installed weird sketchy dark web firmware, some of which he happened to write and sell himself” and by “even better” we mean “breaks lot of Federation food safety rules in fun ways”.
SatyrSack@lemmy.one 11 months ago
I think this is the main part. Things cost money on DS9 because the energy used to run the replicators is a finite resource, given that they are in such a remote location.
MarmaladeMermaid@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Same reason Nelix is the chef on voyager. Replicators don’t make something out of nothing.
aredditimmigrant@endlesstalk.org 11 months ago
This makes much more sense. On my first run through of ds9 and this has been bothering me
Maalus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Also, you can get groceries and make your own dinner. Why would you ever go to a restaurant?
Going to a bar is most likely about the atmosphere, the people there, just as much as it is about the alcohol
aredditimmigrant@endlesstalk.org 11 months ago
Why a restaurant for the service.
Between my wife and I we can make a lot of good staples (roasted chicken, beef and potatoes, etc.) but we’re not masters of the kitchen by any stretch.
You go to a restaurant to have someone else make the dinner and hopefully they are better than you are to make something tastier. As a side you don’t have to deal with cleaning dishes.
That and hopefully they have a good wait staff to liven up things
PutangInaMo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Quark doesn’t pay for anything on the station. That was clarified in the series when Sisko threatened to charge him for it all. Forgot the episode though.