Alliances are an integral part of Star Trek and our modern world, and many of them are showed in great detail in the Next Generation and beyond series. Which parties had the strongest / most sucessful / most honorable alliance?
What Makes a Good Alliance?
- Thread starter Sisko4Life
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The Feddies and Klingons work great as allies if they happen to be in an alliance (like the Dominion War) that allows both to play into those "things" that they have.
The Feddies got to defend secular liberal democracy in space. The Klingons got to fight, die honorably, drink barrels of bloodwine, and most importantly, win.
The Rommies just spoiled everything.
The Cardie/Dom alliance was also good in the same way - it allowed the Cardies to indulge their "thing," which it to pretend they are still a great, fearsome power. And it allowed the Dominion to go all berzerk on their "thing," namely crazed paranoia that someone is threatening the Founders.
The Feddies got to defend secular liberal democracy in space. The Klingons got to fight, die honorably, drink barrels of bloodwine, and most importantly, win.
The Rommies just spoiled everything.
The Cardie/Dom alliance was also good in the same way - it allowed the Cardies to indulge their "thing," which it to pretend they are still a great, fearsome power. And it allowed the Dominion to go all berzerk on their "thing," namely crazed paranoia that someone is threatening the Founders.
I agree. I personally think the Cardassian / Dominion Alliance is probably the most successful alliance in all of Star Trek (under Dukat of course). This was mainly because the Cardassians are quite technologically advanced but never had the resources to strike fear into their enemies, or make themselves stronger. The Dominion gave them that opportunity, while the Cardassians provided the BEST staging ground in the entire quadrant for an invasion. Dukat's leadership made the alliance work simply because he was very confident and kept Weyoun and the Dominion from taking advantage of the alliance. I hate to say it.. but it was a good time for Cardassia (then Damar ruined it, with a little help from Sisko!)
I think the Fed-Klingon-Romulan alliance is the most fascinating alliance Trek has attempted, but the Romulan angle was sorely underused. Other than "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" (I shouldn't be able to recite that title from memory 
) the Romulan part of the alliance was never really explored with much depth. They were around nominally during the opening two-parter of DS9 S7, but I've always wished that the Romulan observer from "The Search" had stayed on as a recurring character aboard the Defiant observing Starfleet's use of that forbidden cloaking device. Instead, she just sort of disappeared, and during the war we didn't see much Romulan involvement during the battle scenes. Probably a budget concert, but still pretty annoying.
Also: the Firefox spell-checker accepts "Klingon" as real word, but not "Romulan."
) the Romulan part of the alliance was never really explored with much depth. They were around nominally during the opening two-parter of DS9 S7, but I've always wished that the Romulan observer from "The Search" had stayed on as a recurring character aboard the Defiant observing Starfleet's use of that forbidden cloaking device. Instead, she just sort of disappeared, and during the war we didn't see much Romulan involvement during the battle scenes. Probably a budget concert, but still pretty annoying.Also: the Firefox spell-checker accepts "Klingon" as real word, but not "Romulan."
Meh, I hated the Federation - Klingon - Romulan Alliance. The Klingons and Romulans just snapped at each other while the Federation stood in the middle saying "stop it." Meh, Maybe I'm just a huge Cardie / Dominion fan! Although I definately appreciate the Fed / Klingon alliance it was great.
I much prefer the Fed / Klingon alliance because theirs was one of principles, as well as their own interests. The Romulans only got involved because of their own vested internal interests. Earth and Qo'noS both really felt that it would be terrible for the Alpha Quadrant to just allow the Dominion free reign. They were against them from the start, while the Romulans were with everybody else (Ferengi, Tholian, Breen, etc.) just looking out for #1.
Not that I blame them. They are Romulans.
I also got a sense that the Feds and Klingons really worked in synchronization much better. As an above poster noted, the Romulans (esp. because of their bigotry towards Klingons) didn't really seem to fit.
In the end though, it's good they did get involved. Not because they helped the war effort, but because leaving them out of it would have left them in too strong a position should the Alliance have prevailed (their original goal).
Not that I blame them. They are Romulans.
I also got a sense that the Feds and Klingons really worked in synchronization much better. As an above poster noted, the Romulans (esp. because of their bigotry towards Klingons) didn't really seem to fit.
In the end though, it's good they did get involved. Not because they helped the war effort, but because leaving them out of it would have left them in too strong a position should the Alliance have prevailed (their original goal).
I've liked watching some of the impromptu alliances between Cardassians and Federation citizens...while their governments wouldn't endorse it, I've liked the interplay between the characters involved. Even going all the way back to Picard and Macet working together, there was something really interesting about that. (Though I wanted to slap Picard for claiming that Macet couldn't understand real loyalty, at the very end. Macet just understood there's a point where you may have loyalty to the memory of what someone was, but you've still got to cut them loose when they go too far.)
Obviously nothing tops the Cardassian Resistance--the interpersonal dynamics going on there were something to behold when Kira showed up!
Obviously nothing tops the Cardassian Resistance--the interpersonal dynamics going on there were something to behold when Kira showed up!
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