Opinions on Michael Eddington

[Bad Thoughts]

Other than being another concept that was developed to late to be truly useful, I had no problem with Eddington as the Maquis leader. (Presumably, no one is quibbling about the earlier stories when he was the SF toadie.) He resembled a personality type who I've encountered many times: someone who becomes concerned with an injustice, but somehow transforms themselves into vigilant activist and social critic. One bit of information becomes a lens through which the entirety of politics and society are viewed. The bit that really drove that point home concerned food: untainted by the Federation, the Maquis grew their own, genuine food, and it tasted significantly better. Eddington used that fact in order to appeal to Sisko. What went unvoiced by Sisko was that he was not prevented from getting fresh food because of the Federation. Such people are also very polemical, offering lots of debate points when they do not have the experiences that can speak to the same hardships.

What I found to be a problem was that there was little effort to show the Maquis actually being led by Eddington. The Maquis story had been largely stagnant since the original DS9 and TNG episodes, not really being developed by Voyager. Eddington then betrays Sisko, appears as a hologram on the bridge of the Defiant, then goes on a road trip with Sisko. Nothing was ever offered that showed how Eddington impacted the Maquis. Yes, Sisko had a few rhetorical quips about leading people over the cliff, but that hardly is an adequate substitute. We needed to see Eddington lead.

 

[Jono]

I thought Eddington was a very flawed individual and in a way that was why he was interesting. Not sure how much I believe in him fighting the good fight or whether he was just a middle aged man seeing he had reached the heights of his career, being dissatisfied and seeing a chance where he could reach those now clearly unobtainable dreams. Be someone. Be a legend.

Eddington was pretty gungho about a Maquis state, but I do wonder if it really had any hope. Once they took that step they would probably lose the protection the DMZ offered. The Cardassians (and anyone else) would be free to openly war them without the Federation being obliged to step in. Sure the Cardassian Union is weakened, but what could the Maquis do if the Cardassians sent in half a dozen Galors and started to systematically go from planet to planet bombing them to dust? I find it hard to see the state surviving without a guarantee of protection from the Federation (they could go to the Klingons, but that's just asking to be annexed).

 

[DonIago]

I do think there was a missed opportunity, and potential ambiguity created, as to whether Eddington was the leader of the Maquis or simply a leader of the Maquis.

As I've said before, while I thought the actor did a poor job of it, I would have liked to have seen Eddington and Hudson get into a few arguments over how the Maquis should proceed, with Hudson offering a more tempered view to contrast with Eddington's radicalism.

Hell, given DS9's track record it could have even ended with Hudson surrendering to Sisko having acknowledged that under Eddington's leadership the Maquis have lost their way. Or if they wanted to go substantially darker than usual, with Eddington arranging for Hudson's ship to suffer an unfortunate accident to remove him and his moderate views from the picture.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I sympathize with the Maquis cause and there's no clear answer to whether the Federation had the right to seize their land and barter it off in a treaty.

Eddington however cared more about his self-conception than he did about the cause or people.

Kira hated the Cardassians but was willing to work with them and admit when she was wrong. Eddington discarded any idea that didn't fit the story he told about himself.

 

[Voth commando1]

I don't see why a Maquis state wouldn't succeed, dispense with any legal norms the federation would have, maybe get a biological weapon to target Cardassians, play politics with the Klingons, and make overtures with the romulans, Eddington seems like a guy that could do it.

 

[LJones41]

Eddington was pretty gungho about a Maquis state, but I do wonder if it really had any hope.

Anything is possible.

I don't think there was a real clear answer to the whole Maquis/DMZ situation. I guess the show's writers decided to use the Dominion War to end the matter with one whole sweep.

The Maquis story had been largely stagnant since the original DS9 and TNG episodes, not really being developed by Voyager.

I don't see how Voyager could have resolved the matter, since the series was set thousands of miles away in the Delta Quadrant.

 

[Voth commando1]

Anything is possible.

I don't think there was a real clear answer to the whole Maquis/DMZ situation. I guess the show's writers decided to use the Dominion War to end the matter with one whole sweep.




I don't see how Voyager could have resolved the matter, since the series was set thousands of miles away in the Delta Quadrant.

True about Voyager there were say 40 or so Maquis out of crew of 140. They were outnumbered and Janeway got Chakotay to keep them in line.

Honestly to all the people who complain about Voyager and the Maquis what did you want to happen? A real mutiny? Which would have resulted in the main cast divided and people dying. Constant conflict or tension for seven seasons straight? That would have gotten irksome. They were 70,000 light years away.

It be like I dunno confederate and Union soldiers whisked to China

Or WW2 Nazi and American soldiers whisked to the moon(alien base).

Or Greek and Persian soldiers whisked to Britain or Africa.

There is no way in any of these cases these people would influence the conflict their peoples are having a great distance away.

 

[Paradise City]

I like Eddington alot. He's a cool character. I wish they did some more stuff with him. He's wrongheaded certainly but a cool character.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I don't see how Voyager could have resolved the matter, since the series was set thousands of miles away in the Delta Quadrant.

I was talking about resolving the Maquis story? No, not at all.

 

[DonIago]

I don't see why a Maquis state wouldn't succeed, dispense with any legal norms the federation would have, maybe get a biological weapon to target Cardassians, play politics with the Klingons, and make overtures with the romulans, Eddington seems like a guy that could do it.

Dukat still would have sent in the Jem'hadar to squash them.

 

[Paradise City]

There's a couple of plot problems with the Maquis and the person of Eddington. There's a couple of leaps one has to make. Namely the plentiful nature of the Federation, relocation should be a doddle.

But I don't think it's the writers intent that the colonists are up in arms for the laughs. We're to take it that the colonists have worked hard and the stakes are genuinely high. I see the Maquis through this prism.

We're to take it that moving away from the frontier is tough and can't be readily done (why bother moving from earth to a godforsaken planet near an unstable warzone in the first place one has to ask as well?) . We are to take it that the Federation sold them out or at least the senility of a stilted and cut off bureaucracy dropped them in it and left them open to aggressive Cardassian harassment.

And one having made these leaps, the Maquis aren't an unreasonable response per say. Either as a below-the-radar vigilante outfit to defend Federation (ex?) citizens from harassment or if they have sufficient force to maneuver political forces to the negotiation table to win some semi-autonomy (like Hong Kong today). If the Maquis set themselves a goal too high and they are on a course that ends with them all dead, the Maquis are ultimately a bad thing of course.

As for Eddington the Maquis commander, I think he's a magician of a tactician but given to delusion in strategy and the results of his strategic direction is basically them all dead.

That said, a Maquis State did seem a possibility given the partial collapse of the Cardassian state and ongoing patronage from the Klingons. A Maquis state would be useful for the Klingons to have a local force there to permanently watch the Cardassians and divide their resources.

The Dominion surprise changed all that and wrecked everything of course

I liked the Eddington character. I liked how he began Admiral's pet as he sabotaged the Defiant in whatever episode that was before winding up as this legendary robin hood in total revolt. I sympathise with his fundamental motivations whilst deploring his decent into a vortex of vainglorious lunacy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I sympathize with the Maquis cause and there's no clear answer to whether the Federation had the right to seize their land and barter it off in a treaty.

Probably because that's not how it happened.

Remember, it was those colonists' idea to live in the DMZ, under Cardassian supervision. For the Cardies' part, Gul Evek - the officer Picard negotiated with in "Journey's End" - seemed to be amenable to it. It was the Cardassian colonists (aided by corrupt officials such as Legate Parn) who stoked the flames, so to speak.

Does raise an interesting point, though: Was it really so one-sided? Of course there were Cardassians in the DMZ harassing the humans. But perhaps it also went the other way around? Meaning, there may have been innocent Cardassian colonists who were being harassed by humans, out of...I dunno, racial hatred? (like what many of the Maquis seemed to harbor against the Cardassians)

About the treaty: It was a treaty of peace, between the Federation and Cardassia, intended to conclude a long and bitter struggle. Were it not for that treaty, the war would start up all over again. That's the main reason the Federation went after the Maquis like they did: not because of this "no one leaves the Federation" horseshit, but because the Maquis were going to start a war. Why should the Federation put up with that?

As for handing over the land: It was the Federation's land to hand over. Problem solved.

@DonIago: I always assumed that Eddington was leader of his local band of Maquis, but not leader of ALL of them. That's the problem with groups like this: they generally don't believe in authority, so it's hard to have one person leading the entire bunch of them.

It's also why I was amused by the concept of a "Maquis state".

 

[DonIago]

Maquis oligarchy?

Do we know whether Eddington was always intended to defect to the Maquis, or whether that was a decision made to give the Maquis a face (presumably TPTB weren't going to bring Hudson back, which may have been a blessing) and up the stakes for Sisko?

...for just a second there, I imagined how things might have turned out if it had been Kassidy in Eddington's place.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Maquis oligarchy?

Do we know whether Eddington was always intended to defect to the Maquis, or whether that was a decision made to give the Maquis a face (presumably TPTB weren't going to bring Hudson back, which may have been a blessing) and up the stakes for Sisko?

...for just a second there, I imagined how things might have turned out if it had been Kassidy in Eddington's place.

The idea came later, and was planted by that quote I mentioned.

 

[Voth commando1]

Probably because that's not how it happened.

Remember, it was those colonists' idea to live in the DMZ, under Cardassian supervision. For the Cardies' part, Gul Evek - the officer Picard negotiated with in "Journey's End" - seemed to be amenable to it. It was the Cardassian colonists (aided by corrupt officials such as Legate Parn) who stoked the flames, so to speak.

Does raise an interesting point, though: Was it really so one-sided? Of course there were Cardassians in the DMZ harassing the humans. But perhaps it also went the other way around? Meaning, there may have been innocent Cardassian colonists who were being harassed by humans, out of...I dunno, racial hatred? (like what many of the Maquis seemed to harbor against the Cardassians)

About the treaty: It was a treaty of peace, between the Federation and Cardassia, intended to conclude a long and bitter struggle. Were it not for that treaty, the war would start up all over again. That's the main reason the Federation went after the Maquis like they did: not because of this "no one leaves the Federation" horseshit, but because the Maquis were going to start a war. Why should the Federation put up with that?

As for handing over the land: It was the Federation's land to hand over. Problem solved.

@DonIago: I always assumed that Eddington was leader of his local band of Maquis, but not leader of ALL of them. That's the problem with groups like this: they generally don't believe in authority, so it's hard to have one person leading the entire bunch of them.

It's also why I was amused by the concept of a "Maquis state".

Eddington stated the Maquis colonies were going to unite under his leadership and he was going to declare independence.

 

[Guy Gardener]

1. We don't know if Eddington founded the Maquis, or if he was the supreme leader of the moment, or if he had only always ever been just a cell leader on par with Chakotay or Cal Hudson. If Eddington, was in charge of Starfleet Security for DS9/Bajor as of The Search, and Janeway misplaced Tuvok between The Jem'hadar and the Search, then Eddington was aware of what was about to happen to Chakotay (while studying up for his new job), and he allowed it to play out. Which either makes Chuckles bait or a sacrifice, or a little of both.

2. Was Eddington Chakotay's immediate and direct replacement? It's possible he was a nobody in the command structure until Voyager was lost, hells, he may not have even been Maquis until leaderless the body of the snake came looking for a new head.

3. Shouldn't Eddington or someone working for Eddington (who had not arrived on deep space nine yet) have been placed on Voyager to make sure that Janeway didn't just nuke (his peer) Chakotay from orbit... Otherwise why was she carrying those two planet killing tricobolt devices?

4. Kim was the Editor of the newspaper at the academy covering the Maquis' first movements. That seems like a very important voice to try and recruit, if he had seemed at all sympathetic, since Harry was in the area anyway, oh, and maybe whoever was in charge of "loyalty" should have seen to pushing Paris down a Turbolift shaft before he led a Star Ship to one of their key bases.

5. Was Eddington on the Defiant (IMDB says the actor wasn't working that day, but what the character was doing off camera is a horse of a different colour) in Past Tense? What changes did he make, or could he have made to history to subtly make things alittle better for his cause that none of the other 50 crew on the defiant might not have noticed when they all got home? Ditto for Thomas Riker. Either Tom Riker was working under Eddington's oblique orders, or Tom was Rogue and that is unacceptable to 'gang" mentality for some asshole king cock to come and shit all over Eddinton's Turf... If Riker even knew that Eddington was his boss?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Eddington stated the Maquis colonies were going to unite under his leadership and he was going to declare independence.

Eddington said a lot of things.

 

[Voth commando1]

Back to Kira even in prime verse there always seemed to be vanity, phoniness, wee bit of cruelty and of course arrogance.

Mirro verse Kira just has those traits without primeverse Kira's redeeming qualities.

Eddington seems to be fairly humble and honestly reminds me of the notion that if a cook were king or a common soldier got promoted to general they might be better than those that came before-new blood and perspectives and all that.

The Maquis keep their homes because presumably they've built something intangible there. Made friends, gotten married, had children, I dunno built communities with intangible benefits they don't want to give up.

Eddington seems like a guy that can lead those people, relate to them, fight for them and they'll fight for him. I would much rather be serving under Eddington than Sisko.

So yeah I like the character.

 

[DonIago]

Eddington seems humble? "For the Uniform" makes it pretty blatantly obvious that the guy has what the episode itself would refer to as a total Jean Valjean complex, despite having the opportunity to change his course at any time.

He was willing to launch the Federation into a war with the Cardassians and screw the consequences just to protect settlers who were fighting for "homes" that could have been re-created anywhere and any time they wished.

He may have started out humble, but by the end I believe his primary cause was his own ego and "fighting the good fight" while having utterly lost perspective on what the good fight actually was.

As a character in a story, I like him. He's well fleshed-out and his motives are understandable. As a person, he's reminiscent of certain politicians who enjoy making promises without fully thinking through the consequences.

 

[Voth commando1]

Eddington seems humble? "For the Uniform" makes it pretty blatantly obvious that the guy has what the episode itself would refer to as a total Jean Valjean complex, despite having the opportunity to change his course at any time.

He was willing to launch the Federation into a war with the Cardassians and screw the consequences just to protect settlers who were fighting for "homes" that could have been re-created anywhere and any time they wished.

He may have started out humble, but by the end I believe his primary cause was his own ego and "fighting the good fight" while having utterly lost perspective on what the good fight actually was.

As a character in a story, I like him. He's well fleshed-out and his motives are understandable. As a person, he's reminiscent of certain politicians who enjoy making promises without fully thinking through the consequences.

I wonder how much of that was his own ego and how much was just egging Sisko on further.

But he was genuine, and I would love to read about a defiant Eddington declaring a Maquis State on the Viewscreen after crushing the Cardassians, whupping the federation, and leading his troops to victory.