Who or what are the Maquis? In which series do they appear? I’ve heard the Federation sold them out? Were they rebels fighting some alien government or somesuch?
The Maquis showed up in STNG in the 7th Season.
Essentiially they are Federation Colonists who, after a treaty between the Cardasians and Federation, Found their planets under the control of the Cardasians. Instead of moving to the Federation side of the Boarder they took up arms to “protect” their colonies. First they fought the Cardasian colonists moved to their planets but soon they extended their war to attacking freighters, then Military vessels etc.
The problem with this scenario is that In 3D space the boarders could have been drawn to allow the planets to reamian in Federation space. Oh well.
In theory, the concept of the Maquis formed the backbone of the conflict for the series “Voyager”. The Voyager vessel was chasing a Maquis vessel in the opening episode of the show, both were thrown into the Delta quadrant (by some sort of Badlands space anomolie) and damaged, and the two crews were combined. The idea was that this would provide endless fodder for conflict and drama. The reality, of course, was a bland touchy-feelie show where everyone got along. Great opportunity lost.
I believe the name “Maquis” comes from an actual rebel organization in France during one of the World Wars.
Go Enterprise!..TRM
How do you figure? I mean, the Kardassians wanted those planets for their own colonists.
Heh. The Federation sucks. I’m with Maquis - I’d be nuking Every Fed. Planet in sight.
SPOILERS for various TNG and DS9 episodes below:
As part of the peace treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians, the border between their spheres of influence was formalized. This meant that certain colonies of each “nation” were on the wrong side. The original plan was a forced relocation, where those colonists on the wrong side of the border would have to give up their homes, but Capt. Picard aranged a deal whereby they could give up their former citizenship and become citizens of the other side and remain. (see TNG episode “Journey’s End”) Therefore, there were several colonies made up mostly of humans that were now cardassian worlds. The whole area on both sides of the border became ostensibly a demilitarized zone.
This was an inherently unstable situation, and several of the former Federation colonists formed the Maquis. (see DS9’s “The Maquis”) This was a freedom-fighting group meant to protect the human colonies from oppression by their cardassian rulers, and also to stop the illicit arms supplies to cardassians in the DMZ from the cardassian government. (see the pre-Maquis TNG episode “The Wounded,” during which the Federation discovered that the cardassians were mobilizing in violation of the treaty) The Federation and the cardassian government often worked together to stop Maquis terrorrism (several DS9 episodes), but throughout this process the Federation learned that the cardassians probably were supplying their people in the DMZ with weapons and maybe more. (see DS9’s “Defiant,” starring Jonathan Frakes as Tom Riker, Will Riker’s transporter clone from the TNG episode "Second Chances) During this period the Federation also suffered some losses to the Maquis, such as when an early opportunity to nip the group in the bud was sabotaged by Ensign Ro (TNG’s “Preemptive Strike”) or when DS9 security officer Michael Eddington stole several industrial replicators meant as humanitarian relief for cardassians during the Cardassian-Kligon War. (see DS9’s “For the Cause,” which also revealed that Sisko’s girlfriend, Cassidy Yeates, was helping the Maquis; for more Eddington see DS9’s “For the Uniform”)
Around this time a Maquis ship captained by Chakotay was chased into a region of space known as the badlands by the Federation ship Voyager. (see Voyager’s “The Caretaker”) The two ships were transported to the Delta Quadrant where the Maquis fighter was destroyed. The crews merged in an effort to get home, so members of the Maquis were present in all that series’ episodes, although little was made of the Maquis/Federation distinction. For a few exceptions, see Voyager’s “Learning Curve,” “Shattered,” and “Repression.”
After the cardassians joined the Dominion, things changed for the Maquis, who all of a sudden became a lot more vulnerable than they had been when fighting the fragile Cardassian Empire. Most of the group was wiped out by this alliance, and Eddington conned Sisko into rescuing the rest in “Blaze of Glory.” That’s pretty much the last we saw of the Maquis, as many were dead and their homes were now concretely in Dominion hands.
–Cliffy
Geeze, can the Federation say “abandon your own people?”
Geeze, can the Federation say “abandon your own people?”
simulpost monster!
The best part about Voyager was after seven years of touchy feely Fed/Maquisness, Suddenly 7 of 9 goes Fox Mulder with some Federation/Cardassian conspiracy to conquor the Delta Quadrent, and some of the Maquisers fall for it, due to a case of bad writing. The first two seasons had good Fed/Maquis dissention at times, but it went away as the series got more bland.
Yeah, in recent rewatchings of the first couple seasons of Voyager I was surprised how good some of it was, but I think the Kazon were just so damn goofy looking that no one has good memories of what was actually a pretty neat story arc.
As for abandoning their people, it’s a charge the Maquis levelled, but it isn’t very accurate. The colonies in the DMZ were originally planned to be evacuated – it was the colonists themselves who demanded to be allowed to stay.
–Cliffy
Minor nitpick: Ro had been promoted to Lieutenant by the time she deserted.
The Maquis had potential, but their handling on Voyager was a complete waste. After the first season, did it matter in the least who came from where? They all wore uniforms and they were all competent at their jobs (Torres as a fix-anything chief engineer after completing two years at the Academy? Puh-leeze! It’s Wesley, redux).
Voyager failed dramatically for the same reason Phantom Menace did: dumbing it down for the kiddies and nicing it up for the… well, somebody must have wanted it to be nice all the time.
“The colonies in the DMZ were originally planned to be evacuated – it was the colonists themselves who demanded to be allowed to stay.”
I still say the same. Those peple had built lives and homes. Let the Cards and Feds fight - I wouldn’t care. The Feds should have formed a treay w/ Cards establishing a moratorium on new colonization, formal limits to the borders so that neither side can lay claimto any area, and no military presence.
One might accuse me of being a Federation apologist, and they’d be right, but presumably such a treaty was off the table – the reason the Fed. and the cardassians had been at war (and it was a brutal one) was because of border confusion. The choices appeared to be either let the cardassians have those planets, or watch as they were cleansed militarily – something the cardassins admitted they would do, and something they, at that point, had the military strength to do, whereas the Fed. didn’t have the kind of muscle necessary to defend them.
–Cliffy