Eddington: Opinions?

[Roundabout]

I remember in TNG "Preemptive Strike", the episode showed a Maquis colony. The colony didn't look like some make-shift settlement. It looked like a small permanent town. The inhabitants looked like they were settled there for the long term, and they did not appear to be people who were ready to move at the first hint of trouble.

From what I understand of the Maquis, those settlements in the DMZ were their homes. These weren't transient people.

I wouldn't be surprise if some of the Maquis on that planet managed to survive and escape Sisko's attack, though. I would guess that the ones that might have quick access to transport ships and might be ready to move on a moments notice would be the fighters. I find it hard to believe that ordinary colonists would have immediate access to transport ships or be prepared to leave on hardly any notice.

And some colonists would probably refuse to leave in any case. Those that would fight and die on their land. Those types would have been casualties of the biogenic attack.




As for the biogenic weapon that Sisko launched against the Maquis, I don't know it works. I can only go by what was shown and said during the episode.

 

[Farscape One]

Given that the Cardassians weren't said to have casuslties, just evacuating, I think Sisko picked a material that would do the same job... get rid of the colonists, but give plenty of time to evacuate.

 

[Orphalesion]

I remember in TNG "Preemptive Strike", the episode showed a Maquis colony. The colony didn't look like some make-shift settlement. It looked like a small permanent town. The inhabitants looked like they were settled there for the long term, and they did not appear to be people who were ready to move at the first hint of trouble.

Oh I wasn't talking about transient makeshift settlements, but yes, small, permanent towns. And I just looked up the matte painting for the town you mentioned...and it's *very* small, same with the other Marquis colony shown in "Marquis Part 1" which was a re-use of the colony Data interacted with in "Ensigns of Command" and very centralized.
It would be relatively easy to alert the bulk of the population of evacuation plans at short notice.

Also I didn't mean like they were in a constant state of being able to leave at any second, but that I assumed that when Sisko made his ultimatum whoever was in charge in the colony informed the civilian colonists that they should get ready to move at short notice if them calling Sisko bluff goes bad.
Something like "Hey everybody, there's no need to panic yet. Please stay in your houses for now, but just to be sure pack up your necessities and ready yourselves to run for the ships if I give the signal. Somebody make sure that the kids and old folks are looked after, just in case. But don't worry that Starfleet p___ isn't going to go through with his threat anyway."
We can also assume that they had the means to move their population, otherwise Sisko's ultimatum would have been pointless to begin with.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

VOY: Kes, Chakotay, Janeway

You are just trolling here right

 

[Lynx]

You are just trolling here right

I can give you my word of honor that I'm absolutely serious here.

Otherwise, check with my friends on the Voyager forum. They will tell you the truth.

 

[Orphalesion]

It's not the topic of the thread. But I thought Kes had a lot of potential which they just never developed properly. Handled correctly she could have been one of the strongest (as in narrative strength) characters on the show.
Compare that to Neelix, Harry or Chekotay (imo) where the only way to improve them is to jettison them from the show and replace them with different characters.

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

Harry is good..... i dont really care about neelix, but Harry!.. Harry is good.

 

[Ocanain]

I think many overlook that Eddington isn’t too different than most Captains we see in the Federation except his lower rank motivated him a step too far. In this way he is like a pseudo Captain. So many times Captains step outside the ethical confines of the Federation to play a saviour role based on their own morality whether it be interpretation of the prime directive or other imperatives. Sisko comes to mind when he manipulates Romulus into declaring war against the Dominion.

Early on he demonstrates how fiercely he defends the values of the Federation and he continues this through the show, just not through the structure of the Federation itself. In the end he even finds himself forcing the Federation to follow its’ own values.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Theres a bit of a god complex in all the Starfleet captains we have seen.

 

[at Quark's]

Theres a bit of a god complex in all the Starfleet captains we have seen.

I think I understand what you mean. Don't let Jean-Luc hear it, though. He might get angry

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Theres a bit of a god complex in all the Starfleet captains we have seen.

I disagree.

Eddington was motivated purely by his own ego. Everything he did was to serve himself, nothing more.

Other Trek captains served the greater good: upholding the values of the Federation, peaceful relations with other cultures, exploration of the unknown, that kind of thing. Eddington didn't care about any of that - only about himself, about how HE would be remembered. Eddington wanted to go down in history as a revolutionary hero, and didn't care about anything else but that.

 

[Sidewinder]

I disagree.

Eddington was motivated purely by his own ego. Everything he did was to serve himself, nothing more.

Other Trek captains served the greater good: upholding the values of the Federation, peaceful relations with other cultures, exploration of the unknown, that kind of thing. Eddington didn't care about any of that - only about himself, about how HE would be remembered. Eddington wanted to go down in history as a revolutionary hero, and didn't care about anything else but that.

If that were true, he'd have never gone back for Rebecca. He'd have killed Sisko and found someone else.

Instead, he used Sisko to find and save the rest of the Maquis and his wife from the Dominion, trading his life in the process.

 

[kkt]

Maybe if they'd had some more scenes with Eddington and his wife I'd have found their relationship more believable and Eddington more sympathetic.

 

[Gelnon]

i really liked Eddington.
To me, a great characer that added a counterpoint to Sisko wthout being a villain,
i was rooting for Eddington... i wanted him to live and continue his fight.
Deep down somewhere, i think Sisko liked him too.

He did, if i remember he said to Dax that he thought Eddington was one of the most honourable men he'd known for sticking to his principles even if they contravened Siskos

 

[JesterFace]

Eddington felt like one of those "I know better" people, everything he thought was right, if someone didn't agree with him they were wrong.

 

[at Quark's]

Eddington felt like one of those "I know better" people, everything he thought was right, if someone didn't agree with him they were wrong.

So in essence, a character trait that would make him work as a Star Trek captain A captain should (I think) be an efficient leader, one who knows how to maximise the potential of his crew, and not admit on occasion he was wrong. When we look how it actually works in Star Trek, however ...

.... the Captain is nearly always right. When underlings of the captain cast have different ideas and persist in them, they are usually shown to be misguided and can be forgiven, sometimes after doing penance. The captain may even say: 'I might have done the same as you, but you still shouldn't have done it' . When superiors of the captain (or rank equals, or even Starfleet itself) have different ideas and persist in them, they are evil and are to be brought down / corrected (granted- they aren't part of the cast). If the captain him(/her)self is wrong or shown persisting in his(her) own ideas despite the orders of his (her) superior officers, it's usually still portrayed as the heroic or 'right' thing to do, as it turns out- instances in which he/she are not vindicated in some way at the end exist but are quite rare (perhaps there are even relatively more of those in DS9).

I believe there even is a quote from Eddington somewhere before he betrayed Starfleet that he he'd always wanted to make Captain (which doesn't seem to be an uncommon dream in Starfleet) and had an unhealthy obsession for ranks. So probably, he had part of the psychological profile that would make him suited to have ambitions for the captaincy, and part that made him completely unsuited.

Then, his egoism. I agree that there's a more than a healthy amount of it in his behaviour- I think we can safely call it egotism- it's also one of Sisko's rightful criticisms on him. It's true too he performed insidious, nasty, violent, terrorist actions. And yes, he had put the particular Starfleet ideals to rest as being naive. But all that in itself doesn't prove he only cared for himself and that he didn't truly believe in the Maquis cause, too. There are terrorists in the world today that do the same kind of nasty stuff Eddington did, and while some of them are shown to be completely cynical in their actual beliefs, others truly believe they are doing it For The Only True Faith.

 

[Voth commando1]

Personally I was always an Eddington fan and admirer.

He stands as a foil for Sisko and the Federation in general. Not to mention, from what we hear was a capable commander and leader in his own right. Before Sisko caught him using less than above board means, he was on the verge of victory in the DMZ.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Episodes should have shown Eddington as a capable leader and a person the crew could trust, but there wasn't a moment where I thought the crew could trust him. He was a foil from the start but if there were forethought to making him a threat there would've been one. He was part of the filler episode to complement their 24 episodes season, the show can't always be about the GREAT Dominion which were the most dangerous threat ever in the small world of DS9.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

His motivations were sympathetic, but he made everything about him. He put the story he was telling about himself above the cause and the lives he was responsible for.

Back in season 2, it was Quark who spelled out the optimal strategy for the Maquis. Use the stalemate to broker a truce. If they had followed his advice, they might have had Federation protection when the Dominion showed up.

 

[at Quark's]

His motivations were sympathetic, but he made everything about him. He put the story he was telling about himself above the cause and the lives he was responsible for.

Back in season 2, it was Quark who spelled out the optimal strategy for the Maquis. Use the stalemate to broker a truce. If they had followed his advice, they might have had Federation protection when the Dominion showed up.

Possibly. But given the power of the Dominion, even that might not have made much of a difference, as the Federation was very nearly defeated (and would have been, had the Prophets not interfered). Also, the Dominion showing up and allying with (in reality annexing) Cardassia was of course a turn of events nobody had foreseen.