The Maquis Plotline, what should have been done?

[fek'lhr1]

Althought I love it for it's quirky characters and the struggle back home I am always dissapointed when watching Voyager that the Maquis plot always seemed to fall by the wayside. It felt a lot like a rebel orginization seemed to slip into federation ways almost seemlessly. Sure Chakotay and Janeway fought but it took just a few episodes to smooth things out.

I would have liked to see more tensioun throught the series not just the begining.

 

[BillJ]

Althought I love it for it's quirky characters and the struggle back home I am always dissapointed when watching Voyager that the Maquis plot always seemed to fall by the wayside. It felt a lot like a rebel orginization seemed to slip into federation ways almost seemlessly. Sure Chakotay and Janeway fought but it took just a few episodes to smooth things out.

I would have liked to see more tensioun throught the series not just the begining.

Unfortunately, a territorial dispute has little meaning when your seventy thousand light years from home. Deep Space Nine already had the religious angle taken.

 

[Lynx]

Honestly, I don't know if they could have done so much more with it. Let's face it, those Maquis were about 30 persons while the Starfleet crew were about 140-150 (some casualties when the ship was brought into the Delta Quadrant). So there were no possibilities that the Maquis could have taken over Voyager. Not to mention tha the Maquis ship was destroyed so Voyager was their only way to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, unless they preferred to stay with the Kazon or the Ocampa.

Their leader Chakotay, who they obviously trusted and respected, agreed to Janeway's suggestion about "one crew, a Starfleet crew". So what could they do, except trying to do the best of the situation.

What could have been done in the series was to show more about characters like Dalby, Henley, Chell and Geron who obviously had some problems adjusting to Starfleet life. I would have liked to see more about what happened to them and how they developed. In the Voyager books they show up in some stories.

There was also one character in one of the Voyager books ("Incident At Arbuk") called Paul Fairman, sort of seedy guy who actually managed to smuggle a portable replicator with him to Voyager when the Maquis ship was destroyed. In the book, he persuaded Neelix to get him a power supply and then he tried to start a black market with replicated food (of course Neelix fooled him later on and he lost the replicator). I would have loved to see Fairman in the series, coming up with some scemes and how janeway, Chakotay and the whole crew (including the Maquis) would have reacted to that.

 

[nx1701g]

Honestly, I don't know if they could have done so much more with it. Let's face it, those Maquis were about 30 persons while the Starfleet crew were about 140-150 (some casualties when the ship was brought into the Delta Quadrant). So there were no possibilities that the Maquis could have taken over Voyager. Not to mention tha the Maquis ship was destroyed so Voyager was their only way to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, unless they preferred to stay with the Kazon or the Ocampa.

We did see the Maquis take over the ship though in Season Seven.


I would've liked to have had more conflict than we saw.

 

[Anwar]

We never saw HOW the Maquis took over the ship, just Seska's reprogrammed scenario. She probably just rigged it so they'd take over no matter how unlikely.

I think the conflict could last one season, maybe a little into S2. But no more than that, because anymore after that is just ridiculous.

 

[Danny99]

I think there should have at least been some Maquis going "Hey, I don't want to be in Starfleet!"

What are they going to do, put them off the ship?

 

[Mansa40]

I agree. I really like episodes like The Void or the one where Chuckles goes after Seska alone. In cases like this we see how the Maquis really dont do things like everyone else. But as it was the show really incorperated everyone into the Starfleet crew easily. I would like to have seen more Starfleet antipathy as well. IN DS9 and TNG many Starfleet types had a burning, and in my opinion irrational, hate of the Maquis but this was not shown in Voy as much.

 

[flemm]

I think a season would have been about the right amount of time to spend on the initial tension and conflict between Starfleet and the Maquis. After a year of shared hardship, I think it is reasonable to suppose that a working relationship would have been reached and even that strong bonds would have been formed, at least in some cases.

I don't think you would have ever wanted the solution to be so simple as everyone melding into a standard Starfleet crew, however. It should never have been Starfleet business as usual out there in the Delta Quadrant, that is what is interesting about the premise of the show. But you could have had some basic agreement and understanding reached by the end of the first season.

 

[Michael]

The Maquis Plotline, what should have been done?

In short, anything. Because, why introduce the whole thing to the series when you're not going to do anything with it? Granted, there was the occasional reminder that, yes, there are indeed people among the crew that were originally not Starfleet officers. But considering the dramatic possibilities of the whole Maquis storyline, they never even scratched the surface.

Unfortunately, a territorial dispute has little meaning when your seventy thousand light years from home. Deep Space Nine already had the religious angle taken.

Honestly, I don't know if they could have done so much more with it. Let's face it, those Maquis were about 30 persons while the Starfleet crew were about 140-150 (some casualties when the ship was brought into the Delta Quadrant). So there were no possibilities that the Maquis could have taken over Voyager. Not to mention tha the Maquis ship was destroyed so Voyager was their only way to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, unless they preferred to stay with the Kazon or the Ocampa.

Their leader Chakotay, who they obviously trusted and respected, agreed to Janeway's suggestion about "one crew, a Starfleet crew". So what could they do, except trying to do the best of the situation.

People keep bringing up these things as if they were set in stone when they originally wrote the show. The territorial dispute is no longer relevant to the Maquis when they are seventy thousand light years from home? Well, then make it relevant! The Maquis were just 30 persons? Well, then change that! Chakotay agreed to Janeway's suggestion to make it one crew? Have him not agree to it!

It's not like these things were predefined by some unknown and couldn't be changed, no. The writers chose to establish all these things and not do anything with the whole concept. I just don't get why they established it in the first place.

 

[fek'lhr1]

I have the same feeling as ncc-1701
The maquis was supposed to be another factor in the chaos. You are away from home in a strange quadrant and now you've got a band of rebels who don't see the federation in a good way.
It would have been just as easy to write Chakotay in as an ex-rebel leader turned federation officer and I think we would have had the same level of tension we see on the show.

 

[Kegg]

People keep bringing up these things as if they were set in stone when they originally wrote the show. The territorial dispute is no longer relevant to the Maquis when they are seventy thousand light years from home? Well, then make it relevant! The Maquis were just 30 persons? Well, then change that! Chakotay agreed to Janeway's suggestion to make it one crew? Have him not agree to it!

This is the biggest problem with the Maquis conceptually. Sure, they could have opposed Janeway, but they had no intellectually relevant basis to do so - it'd be just a simple power struggle. At least Seska had a real ideological alternative to Janeway's acts, in the 'let's do the pragmatic thing rather than the right thing' approach.

They needed the other group to be people who fundamentally disagreed with the Federation on some kind of issue or ideology. As it was, the issues the Maquis had only had value when it came to DS9 - and unsurprisingly that's where they wound up being best used... though it's even more bitterly ironic it's Eddington rather than any Voyager character who gives the Maquis the closest they ever get to a genuine ideological objection to the Federation by comparing them to the Borg.

In many ways, Seven was their way of compensating for the lack of a Maquis subplot. Unlike the Maquis she didn't wear the Starfleet uniform, which kept her distinct (also there were other reasons for this naturally) and she also often had a different point of view than the one normally given by Starfleet. The only different point of view the Maquis got to have is they were unconventional or they didn't take orders well, or other rather tame variations that make them seem less like a rebel faction and more like marginally malcontented but competent officer material.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think there should have at least been some Maquis going "Hey, I don't want to be in Starfleet!"

What are they going to do, put them off the ship?

No. All the Maquis joined Starfleet because Chakotay ordered them to. That's the reason. He was a reasonable person whom they would listen to. If they didn't like Janeway, they'd trust him. If he says join, they join. Remember what he said when he caught two of the Maquis plotting? "If I ever hear you talk that way again, I will personally throw you in the brig for MUTINY!" That's the end of it, really.

If Chakotay had been the type to *not* cooperate with Janeway, he would have taken the Val Jean and left with the rest of the Maquis. He would never have allied himself with the Starfleet crew in the first place.

 

[crouteru]

I wrote a fan fic a few years ago about a hostage situation in engineering with a few Maquis members demanding Janeway and the other senior Starfleet members be put off the ship. Chakotay and B'Elanna became caught in the middle because they had accepted the Starfleet crew, but didn't want to betray their Maquis friends. It took place during season one and included Seska, Michael Jonas and Dalby (from Learning Curve). I realise a similar plotline occured as a holo novel in Worst Case Scenario, but I felt a real situation like that might have made a great episode that dealt with the Starfleet/Maquis issue.

 

[fek'lhr1]

I think there should have at least been some Maquis going "Hey, I don't want to be in Starfleet!"

What are they going to do, put them off the ship?

No. All the Maquis joined Starfleet because Chakotay ordered them to. That's the reason. He was a reasonable person whom they would listen to. If they didn't like Janeway, they'd trust him. If he says join, they join. Remember what he said when he caught two of the Maquis plotting? "If I ever hear you talk that way again, I will personally throw you in the brig for MUTINY!" That's the end of it, really.

If Chakotay had been the type to *not* cooperate with Janeway, he would have taken the Val Jean and left with the rest of the Maquis. He would never have allied himself with the Starfleet crew in the first place.

But we see Chakotay arguing with Janeway and even disobeying direct orders.
And I think we have seen numerous times and in every series that just because your captain tells you to do something it doesn't mean your personal beliefs and desires don't influence what you actually do. Especially in high stress situations like that in VOY, just because it is logical to conform doesn't mean that they are thinking logically.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I'm on the side of feeling it was a wise decision not to play up the conflict too much. I think that would have distracted to much from the other core idea of the show of this Federation ship being stranded light years from home. It would have turned the drama inward too much and maybe made it a little soap-opera-ish

The Maquis were criminals in name only. They were not bad or amoral people, but a group fighting on behalf of citizens of the Federation. They may have done things a little differently than Star fleet would, but that doesn't mean they would resort to criminal behavior. I don't think there is any reason to believe that on a moral level they all rejected Janeway's decision or for that matter that everyone in Star Fleet agreed with Janeway's decision. I think they were all rational people who had a common goal and realized cooperation was the best way to achieve it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

All the Maquis joined Starfleet because Chakotay ordered them to. That's the reason. He was a reasonable person whom they would listen to. If they didn't like Janeway, they'd trust him. If he says join, they join. Remember what he said when he caught two of the Maquis plotting? "If I ever hear you talk that way again, I will personally throw you in the brig for MUTINY!" That's the end of it, really.

If Chakotay had been the type to *not* cooperate with Janeway, he would have taken the Val Jean and left with the rest of the Maquis. He would never have allied himself with the Starfleet crew in the first place.

But we see Chakotay arguing with Janeway and even disobeying direct orders.

In some way it is the job of the first officer to provide an alternate viewpoint. The XO shouldn't agree with the captain on everything. Chakotay did disagree with Janeway many times, but he did it like a Starfleet officer would.

And I think we have seen numerous times and in every series that just because your captain tells you to do something it doesn't mean your personal beliefs and desires don't influence what you actually do. Especially in high stress situations like that in VOY, just because it is logical to conform doesn't mean that they are thinking logically.

Of course. But the fact remains, there was never a large scale Maquis rebellion, because they followed Chakotay's example. He speaks for the ex-Maquis on board, and they will do whatever he says. If he says cooperate, then they do, and no more talk of rebellion.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

And I think we have seen numerous times and in every series that just because your captain tells you to do something it doesn't mean your personal beliefs and desires don't influence what you actually do. Especially in high stress situations like that in VOY, just because it is logical to conform doesn't mean that they are thinking logically.

Of course. But the fact remains, there was never a large scale Maquis rebellion, because they followed Chakotay's example. He speaks for the ex-Maquis on board, and they will do whatever he says. If he says cooperate, then they do, and no more talk of rebellion.

[/QUOTE]

Also they're probably afraid he'll kick their ass like he did that Maquis who said he was ready to go along with Chakotay in event of a mutiny. I think Chakotay is a good example of what I was saying about the Maquis. He is a fundamentally moral and honorable man.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If the leader of the Maquis in the series had been Eddington, though...there would have been chaos. Eddington would have encouraged a revolt, and there'd be widespread bloodshed. Because Eddington was an irresponsible jackass, whereas Chakotay had a strong moral code and personal honor.

 

[Dingo]

Personally I think that the Maquis plotline works well for fanfiction purposes. I'm doing a side-story on Parallax covering the investigation on B'Elanna and Carey's altercation. The investigating officer is a Maquis and his Starfleet counterparts do not trust his objectivity. That is some tension I've written in my Lower Decks version of Parallax.

 

[ChaosAngel]

Honestly, I don't know if they could have done so much more with it. Let's face it, those Maquis were about 30 persons while the Starfleet crew were about 140-150 (some casualties when the ship was brought into the Delta Quadrant). So there were no possibilities that the Maquis could have taken over Voyager. Not to mention tha the Maquis ship was destroyed so Voyager was their only way to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, unless they preferred to stay with the Kazon or the Ocampa.

Well, personally I think that numbers don't really matter if you have enough planning before hand, the element of surprise and alot of stealth. At the very least they could they rebeled a little more...