Current Events > Question for Star Trek fans. What did think of the Maquis. Spoliers

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I hated the very concept, of them. They live in a federation that gives them anything that they could ever want. And they are crying because they have to move. And moving would literally stop a war. Like I could never feel bad for them at all.

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They're fine. More human than I'd have expected from TNG.
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Ro Laren was hot

I never had a whole lot of sympathy for them. They settled areas that they already knew were disputed, then acted shocked and outraged when those disputes went against them
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I thought that they were boring. Their stories were uninteresting. It was a waste of my time

cjsdowg posted...

I hated the very concept, of them. They live in a federation that gives them anything that they could ever want. And they are crying because they have to move. And moving would literally stop a war. Like I could never feel bad for them at all.

Settler's mentality of building a place of your own, far from the centre of civilization. Then after a few decades, you get that taken away from you because of politics that feel very far away. I can imagine that would irk the average settler quite a bit, especially since all their efforts have been for naught. I think the episode Journey's End (TNG 7x20) is a pretty good example of that (even though that episode doesn't directly involve the Maquis).

To the Maquis it feels like they're being pushed around by people whose business they have nothing to do with. Although we see everything told from the Starfleet perspective, the Maquis are not used to politics and being told to just pack up and move because of exactly that just feels insulting and oppressive to them.

But yeah, although I understand their motives, I didn't think their storyline was particularly interesting compared to others. I guess the writers felt the same, which is why in DS9 the Maquis were killed off so easily by the Dominion.

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cjsdowg posted...

I hated the very concept, of them. They live in a federation that gives them anything that they could ever want. And they are crying because they have to move. And moving would literally stop a war. Like I could never feel bad for them at all.

Deep Space Nine expands on them. Basically the Federation ceded their territory to Cardassia, the same empire that enslaved their entire home planet inside of mines and factories. The Bajorans truly despise the Cardassians, Cardassia was akin to Nazi Germany in their treatment of the Bajorans.

Obviously it would be 'simpler' if they once again fled their home for the sake of the federation's treaty, but after years of horrific abuse and guerilla warfare they aren't emotionally ready to make that kind of concession.

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Doe posted...

Cardassia was akin to Nazi Germany in their treatment of the Bajorans.

Worse than that nazis
more like the Japanese to the Chinese during WW2

CloneTheHero posted...

worse than nazis? lol. didnt these a-holes kill millions of jewish in the most ridiculous ways.

Yes but Kiera mentioned how common it was to be [DS9 Spoilers] raped as a young child

To me, the Maquis provided a good glimpse into the underpinnings of the supposed utopia of the Federation. They were citizens following their dreams that were basically sacrificed for the greater good. But when the greater good comes at the expense of your home, people are going to fight that tooth and nail even if offered relocation (which they were).

It also provided a pretty interesting outlook into the mindset of Federation citizens as the mere thought of anyone wanting to leave the Federation was enraging to many of them, albeit oftentimes sloppily done. Almost like the Federation was built upon a core propagandist belief that no other society could possibly be better or that their's could have any flaws, an incredibly elitist view only rarely negatively portrayed by the showrunners.

It was also a result of the Federation needlessly fighting wars with one arm behind their backs. By all accounts, the Cardassian Union absolutely could not stand up to the full might of the Federation, and yet the war dragged on for years and countless suffered all because the Federation was never willing to meaningfully mobilize their forces, much less try to build up their martial strength (which they only half-assed attempted to do once they came into contact with an existential threat like the Borg, and even then they were still unprepared to fight the Dominion).

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

I never had a whole lot of sympathy for them. They settled areas that they already knew were disputed, then acted shocked and outraged when those disputes went against them

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I was looking for some information about this topic and just ran into this .. to me this just so great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf6rWH1H7iQ


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Why are the first 2 seasons for every Star Trek show always so bad?

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My first thought of Maqui, was Voyager when they merged into her crew... My second thought was Sisko basically gassing them all to death on that one planet with Defiant.

The_OD posted...

My first thought of Maqui, was Voyager when they merged into her crew... My second thought was Sisko basically gassing them all to death on that one planet with Defiant.

Don't fuck with the Sisko.

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Their methods weren't always great, and the episodes featuring them weren't always the best at bringing out the shades of grey in the situation, but I kinda think that they were in the right.

If nothing else, though, we can surely all agree that Eddington was a fantastic chararacter.

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