Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is an odd entry in the Star Trek franchise, as no one bravely goes anywhere and the series focuses heavily on war (something franchise creator Gene Roddenberry was explicitly against). Despite these apparent failures, Deep Space Nine is one of the best Star Trek shows ever made and has an incredible and diverse cast of characters that provide many unusual perspectives to the Star Trek series. Deep Space Nine also features characters from outside the Federation (including Bajorans from their nearby planet, a Cardassian tailor/spy, and a whole mess of Ferengi), which helps make the show feel unique from its more Starfleet-focused brethren.

Among the characters who brought some fun and sweetness to Deep Space Nine was Lita, played by Chase Masterson. Lita was a Bajoran who worked at Quark's (Armin Shimerman) bar as a dabo girl, in addition to occasionally selling gummy sticks (a sticky Bajoran treat) on the boardwalk. Although she began dating Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), she eventually married Quark's brother Rom (Max Grodenczyk), which meant she became part of the great Ferengi clan. But which episode stood out to Masterson the most?

In 2011, an article about StarTrek.com where she answered questions from fans, Masterson shared that her favorite episode to shoot was also one of the most fun to watch: Season 7's "Take Me Out to the Holosuite."

The Dominion War, which pitted Starfleet and the Federation against the forces of the Gamma Quadrant, was a controversial element of Deep Space Nine it was too dark for some audiences. Thankfully, though, there were a few episodes of pure fun to break things up. In Take Me Out to the Holosuite, the DS9 crew gets a chance to play sports on Earth against a team of Vulcans and really bond even more, both on and off screen. As Masterson explained:

“We all had fun with 'Take Me Out to the Holosuite,' in part because it was such a drastic change of scene—everyone wanted to get out of the studio, into the fresh air, and onto the baseball diamond. The episode itself was very upbeat, based on the "courage, teamwork and sacrifice of the Niners", as Sisko called it. It was an interesting parallel in that, halfway through DS9 Season Seven, we all had the same spirit - partly because we felt about how soon the show was going to end, I remember feeling a sense of gratitude that we were together, much like the Niners In the end, that episode was fun because, like, Max (Grodenczyk) is a great ballplayer a good pitcher So, to sell the crowd on the idea that he's awkward, he threw left-handed. Without naming names, even the most dignified members of the cast have given up a bit. Quite a bit."

While fans can guess who may have been cut some slack, Masterson declined to name names. In the episode, the generally intense Captain Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, learns to appreciate the game instead of focusing on winning, and Brooks likely had a similar reaction behind the scenes. There's a lot of joy on the faces of the cast that doesn't feel forced at all, and that makes this particular Deep Space Nine episode so much fun.

While the holosuite episodes often gave the Deep Space Nine cast and crew a chance to get some sun, they also gave the show's writers the chance to do all kinds of crazy things within the Star Trek universe. Indeed, Take Me Out to the Holosuite gives us plenty of great comedy moments, like the Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn) yelling “death to the opposition!” as he tries to intimidate a Vulcan batter, but it also allows some of the for the show's supporting characters to really shine. Rom, for example, gets his chance to be a hero despite what they mostly put him through the series (outside of Quark's amazing reunion rally), and it's kind of funny that Grodenchik is so good at baseball because Rom is no.

There are several other amazing holosuite episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, including one where the cast got to pretend to be knock-out James Bond characterswhich eventually led to several fantastic episodes loosely centered around a 1960s Las Vegas lounge singer Vic Fontaine (James Darren). Wherever the holosuit took the characters of Deep Space Nine, it was always guaranteed to teach us something new about them and our own world. In the case of Take Me Out to the Holosuite, we learned that Rom really rules and that winning isn't everything, and we had a lot of fun along the way. Great to hear the cast too.