Michael Eddingtonnnnn....

[Pemmer Harge]

I like Eddington a lot. Not to say he wasn't a dangerous extremist, but he was a great character. A foe worthy of Sisko.

[PKTrekGirl]

The Eddington arc was great. Especially For the Uniform, which is one of my all-time favorite episodes of DS9.

Eddington was a villain...but he was a sympathetic one in the sense that...well, you'd be mad too if you were arbitrarily kicked out of your homes and told to move somewhere else...quite possibly away from family, friends and farms/business that had taken years to establish.

What he did was wrong, of course...but while the means were a serious problem, the ends he was shooting for where really not all that unreasonable.

So it wasn't a black & white issue of right and wrong. It was in the gray zone.

[Photon]

PKTrekGirl wrote:

---

So it wasn't a black & white issue of right and wrong. It was in the gray zone.

Which is another reason to love STS9

[trevanian]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

Probably. More than most of the Maquis, his actions could have personally led to war with Cardassia. He deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. He got an 'easy' death.

Not only that, but in general he was a jackass and a narcissist.

Geez, is this the general 9er 'tude? Eddington and Garak are the only really terrific recurring characters i remember from anything in the 24th century, and Eddington is certainly the only one with a sense of personal ethics I could find wholly admirable, a helluva lot more than any of the trek regulars.

Maybe it is good I don't come into this forum too often. I'll just admire Ds9 from afar while ranking it just under TOS and miles ahead of all the rest of aired Trek.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

trevanian wrote:

---

Geez, is this the general 9er 'tude?

I dunno, but it's definitely *my* "tude". I never liked Eddington after he turned traitor. (And yes, that is exactly what he was.) He was not a "noble" Maquis, like Chakotay. Eddington was in it for Eddington, nothing more. He had these revolutionary fantasies and was just out for personal glory. It was all to feed his ego - which, let's face it, is a big part of most of this guerrilla revolutionary shit anyway.

To put it another way, Eddington was to the Maquis what Dukat was to Cardassia. In both cases, it was all about *him*.

Photon wrote:

---

Which is another reason to love STS9

And another reason I didn't, because I don't believe in "gray zones".

[trevanian]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

I don't believe in "gray zones".

So that makes you a binar, not a human, right?

One of these years people are going to re-realize the world is analog, not digital, and that every issue contains shades of grey.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

trevanian wrote:

---

So that makes you a binar, not a human, right?

One of these years people are going to re-realize the world is analog, not digital, and that every issue contains shades of grey.

Perhaps. But I am not one of those people.

And even for those who are: Come on. Just look at Eddington and how he acted. Just because some of his goals might be looked upon by some people (not me) as being somewhat worthwhile, doesn't change the fact that he was a JERK.

Like I said, Chakotay is an example of a Maquis who was truly honorable and actually likeable. But Eddington? Give me a break. Eddington was a weasel and a loser. He was obsessed with himself, and with pissing off Sisko. Chakotay would have none of either of that. Indeed, Chakotay had the moral sense to talk some of his own ex-crew out of mutinying against Janeway. Eddington would have encouraged them, and thus there'd have been chaos. Eddington, like most revolutionaries, thrived on chaos (and ego); Chakotay actually had morals and principles.

[Admiral Shran]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

To put it another way, Eddington was to the Maquis what Dukat was to Cardassia. In both cases, it was all about *him*.

[RapidNadion]

trevanian wrote:

---

So that makes you a binar, not a human, right?

One of these years people are going to re-realize the world is analog, not digital, and that every issue contains shades of grey.

I sure hope you're right.

[DevilEyes]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

Like I said, Chakotay is an example of a Maquis who was truly honorable and actually likeable.

And very boring.

[He'sDeadJim]

ElfEars wrote:

---

And very boring.

Chakotay: Katherine, there's a class M planet only .5 lightyear from our location...we could go there and live forever and eat berries and bark and explore our inner animal....besides I'm afraid of the Borg, and Species 8472 and the Vidians, and the Voth and the Kazon and the..um uh the Hirogen and those mean old Benaens and that memory mo jo... and Seska said she wanted to cut off my tallywacker and make a Cardassian hot dog of it..and and..."

Janeway: STFU you coward..go to your quarters and assume the fetal position...launch torpedoes"

[Kinggodzillak]

Eddington was great, and I never really bought into this 'he was just in it for himself' thing that some have raised here. Yes, personal glory was a part of it but if he really had been that selfish he would never have surrendered to Sisko, or gone with him to rescue the Maquis 'missiles'.

The only problems I have with him come from before his time with the Maquis; we never knew what his own personal motivations were for joining them, and whether or not he'd been working for them all along. "Will knowing my personal motivation change anything at this point?" Well, no, but it might be nice...

Also, he wasn't featured regularly enough for it to be such a big reveal that he was working for them. Aside from a brief mention in Crossfire he hadn't even been seen for over two months by the time of FTC, and any casual viewer probably had no idea who he is. They would have just seen some random nobody saying "I have no feelings about the Maquis" and immediately suspecting him...

And it's not like not seeing Leeta or Kasidy or whoever else for months on end; this guy was a member of the senior staff so there was no reason we shouldn't have seen him every week, especially since he was apparently high enough up the food chain that Sisko recommended him for a promotion (presumably to Commander, which would have meant he would then outrank everyone except Sisko and Kira). Where was he during Way of the Warrior, for example? Did Odo just keep him buried in paperwork all the time?

[FormerLurker]

How long did it take you guys to recognize bald, puffy Eddington as full-haired, lean mean fighting machine Prince Colwyn from 'Krull'? Took me almost until Eddington was killed off.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I only recognized his name.

Although now that you mention it, watching Eddington get speared through the chest by a Glaive would have been fun to watch.

[FormerLurker]

I remember finally reading Ken Marshall's name in the credits for an episode Eddington was in and thinking "Wait a minute. Ken Marshall was Colwyn in Krull. What happened to his hair?"