Michael Eddington

Species:	Human
Affiliation:	Maquis (formerly Federation Starfleet)
Rank:	Lieutenant Commander
Occupation:	Former security officer
Status:	KIA (2373)
Died:	2373
Spouse(s):	Rebecca Sullivan (widowed)
Played by:	Kenneth Marshall

"I called him a traitor once, but in a way, he was the most loyal man I ever met. He was a Maquis, right up to the bitter end."

– Benjamin Sisko, 2373 ("Blaze of Glory")

Michael Eddington was a Starfleet security officer assigned to space station Deep Space 9. He became disillusioned with Starfleet and the Federation, and joined the Maquis, becoming a leading member. Eddington was captured, but was later killed during a special operation while serving his sentence. He was of Canadian descent.

Starfleet career

Eddington with Sisko in 2371

When Eddington joined Starfleet, he did so with the long-term goal of someday becoming a captain. (DS9: "The Adversary") He was stationed to DS9 in 2371, as the station's Chief of Starfleet security, after first contact with the Dominion. This was done in part to increase Starfleet control of the station's security operations, as Starfleet did not have full confidence in the current security chief, Constable Odo. Consequently, Eddington's deployment to DS9 was despite strenuous objections from Commander Sisko, the station's commanding officer.

In compliance with a request from Romulan Subcommander T'Rul, who had likewise been newly assigned to DS9, Eddington commissioned a security detail of two officers to guard the USS Defiant, which had just been brought to the station by Sisko. Eddington then attended a meeting of the station's senior staff along with T'Rul and, after she stormed out, he declared that, unlike her, he was there to make friends, introducing himself to Major Kira Nerys and Constable Odo. Though Eddington's assignment to DS9 posed a considerable annoyance to Odo, Eddington was tasked with accompanying the Defiant and its crew on a mission to find the Founders of the Dominion. (DS9: "The Search, Part I")

An illusory Eddington breaks up a dispute between Bashir and a Jem'Hadar

In a simulation created by the Founders, Eddington was presented as a tool of Admiral Nechayev. As such, he rigidly enforced the terms of a treaty between the Federation and the Dominion, against the will of the Deep Space 9 senior staff. He firstly broke up a bar brawl between Julian Bashir and a Jem'Hadar soldier, sympathetically assuring the Jem'Hadar that he wouldn't allow such a situation to happen again and then allowing the Jem'Hadar to go freely, even though he had been the initial attacker. After Commander Sisko was arrested, Eddington could be found overseeing the security office, as Odo was absent. While on duty there, Eddington was visited by Bashir, Garak, and Jadzia Dax, who asked to see Sisko. Eddington refused the newcomers access, advising them to instead consult Admiral Nechayev. He was rendered unconscious by Garak, who sneakily administered him with a hypospray dosage in the interests of expediency. (DS9: "The Search, Part II")

Eddington worked closely with Odo from that point on, coordinating security operations aboard the station. According to Eddington, he even considered Odo a friend. When Commander Sisko defied direct orders from Admiral Toddman not to pursue a joint Tal Shiar-Obsidian Order fleet intent on destroying the Founders, Eddington was ordered to sabotage the USS Defiant's cloaking device, a task he completed without damaging any of the ship's weapons systems or the engines. He then freely admitted his deed to Sisko, Major Kira, and Chief O'Brien. Whereas the sabotage severely frustrated the latter officer, Eddington was not relieved of duty, as he assured Sisko that he had been issued no further orders from Toddman, that he intended to subsequently fulfill his duty to the commander as chief security officer on the Defiant, and had ensured the craft was still able to protect itself from the Jem'Hadar. Once the cloak was repaired, more than three hours later, Eddington participated in battle from a station on the bridge, as the Defiant combatted numerous fleets of Jem'Hadar ships in order to rescue Odo and Garak from amid the fray. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")

During a ceremony on Deep Space 9 that was held to celebrate Sisko receiving a promotion to the rank of captain, Eddington congratulated Sisko, referring to himself as "someone who is obsessed with rank and title." He next accompanied the Defiant and its other crew members on a mission to patrol the Tzenkethi border. Eddington first formally announced the captain's arrival on the bridge and later met with Sisko privately, in the ship's mess hall. There, Eddington was assigned by Sisko to be personal guard for Ambassador Krajensky. Eddington dutifully agreed to do so, even if the ambassador had to be escorted off the bridge for his own safety but had qualms about that. Despite a pleased Sisko then dismissing him, Eddington turned back to make another approving comment on the recent promotion, although Sisko believed it didn't count for much. In reply, Eddington mused that everyone who entered Starfleet aimed to eventually become a captain, that he himself once had that ambition, but that the possibility of him achieving it was now highly unlikely, due to him "wearing a gold uniform." Although Sisko advised Eddington he could transfer to command division, Eddington rhetorically asked, half-jokingly, about who would then protect Krajensky, a remark which elicited a laugh from Sisko. Eddington was again dismissed, and gratefully left, this time.

Eddington is suspected of being a Changeling

On the Defiant's bridge, Eddington was present when a Changeling infiltrator revealed it had replaced Krajensky. Since the intruder managed to hurriedly escape from the bridge, Eddington took part in extensively searching for the invader aboard the Defiant, a mission that he speculated grimly about and in which he was temporarily partnered with Odo, though the whereabouts of the intruding shapeshifter remained unknown. After Odo explained that blood tests could determine who was a Changeling and blood tests of the crew were therefore ordered, Eddington was eager to be done with his. The sample extracted from him appeared to show he was a Changeling as well. Despite protesting the results, he was to be placed into custody, but the test was proven to be false when it was determined that the Changeling had impersonated Doctor Bashir and administered the screening test itself, when the real Bashir attempted to burst out of a set of quarters he was apparently locked in. After watching Odo chase after the other Changeling, Eddington returned to duty. He was continuing to serve on the bridge when the intruder was finally caught and killed by Odo. Eddington later learned, and relayed to the senior staff when they were all back aboard DS9, that Starfleet Security suspected Krajensky had actually been abducted or possibly killed. (DS9: "The Adversary")

In 2372, Eddington assisted a trio of Trill scientists from the Trill Science Ministry, headed by Dr. Lenara Kahn, with efforts to create an artificial wormhole. During a failed second phase of the experiment, he was slightly wounded in an explosion and fire that occurred following a plasma leak in main engineering aboard the Defiant. Eddington was unable to rescue Dr. Kahn from the fire and when Lieutenant Commander Dax arrived with a damage control team of two engineers, he reported the blaze was so out of control, it couldn't be put out with fire extinguishers that the engineers were equipped with. He instead recommended venting the room into space before the fire engulfed the warp core and thus caused a warp core breach, though Dax was determined to retrieve Dr. Kahn. He helped her do so, then vented the compartment to space, and sped out of engineering, the last crewman to leave the area. (DS9: "Rejoined")

Later that year, Eddington was left in command of the station when Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Lieutenant Commander Dax, Chief O'Brien and Lieutenant Commander Worf were absent. Upon their return, the runabout Orinoco was sabotaged by the True Way organization and was destroyed. However, the transporter patterns of the five officers were stored in the transporter buffer through quick action taken by Eddington, who wiped all computer memory to create space necessary to store such a complex set of information. In order to maintain their integrity, the computer deactivated all non-vital systems, and stored the patterns in one of numerous holosuites which were at Quark's, where they appeared in a secret agent program simultaneously being run by Julian Bashir and Elim Garak. Eddington assisted Odo, Quark and Rom in successfully rematerializing the five officers, despite the holosuites in Quark's being extremely complicated and poorly maintained. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")

Several weeks later, Eddington was on leave from Deep Space 9. His absence was covered by Worf, as he temporarily commanded the station's Starfleet Security detachment while Eddington was gone. (DS9: "Crossfire")

Life with the Maquis

File:Maquis Raider 2373.jpg

Eddington's Maquis raider

In late 2372, Eddington defected to the Maquis by using his position within Starfleet to hijack a shipment of class-four industrial replicators headed to the Cardassian Union from the Federation. He diverted the attention of Captain Sisko by raising suspicions about the business activities of Kasidy Yates, who was involved in supplying the Maquis with non-military supplies during meetings in the Badlands. Sisko led the Defiant into the Badlands personally to arrest Yates. Aboard Deep Space 9, Eddington incapacitated Major Kira, and covertly assumed temporary command of the station with falsified orders from Starfleet Command. He organized a detachment of Starfleet security officers who were to perform their tasks without the assistance of the Bajoran security force. The replicators were transferred aboard a Vulcan freighter which was in Maquis service, and Eddington placed Lieutenant Reese in temporary command of the station. By the time the Defiant returned, Eddington and the replicators had disappeared into Maquis territory. (DS9: "For the Cause")

By 2373, Eddington had risen to become an important leader of the Maquis rebels in the Demilitarized Zone, and Starfleet continued to search for his whereabouts. Captain Sisko arranged to meet with an informant named Cing'ta at a Maquis settlement on Marva IV to acquire information on Eddington. However, the Maquis were able to uncover the activities of Cing'ta, and Eddington had him marooned on an inhospitable planet in the Badlands. Eddington then confronted Sisko on the surface and attempted to communicate the demands of the Maquis to be granted recognized autonomy, to no avail. Upon returning to his raider, Eddington initiated an attack on the Defiant that inflicted heavy damage, because vital systems were disabled by a latent computer virus that Eddington had installed before his defection. Similar viruses were located aboard Deep Space 9 and deactivated by Odo. Following this incident, Starfleet opted to remove Captain Sisko from the mission to capture Eddington, and assigned it to Captain Sanders of the USS Malinche instead.

File:Eddingtonandrebecca.jpg

Michael Eddington and Rebecca Sullivan on Athos IV in 2373

At relatively the same time as these events were transpiring, two Bolian freighters carrying several thousand tons of selenium and rhodium nitrite were reported missing near the Badlands. With some chemical restructuring, these two substances could be used to create cobalt diselenide, a nerve agent that is harmless to most humanoids but deadly to Cardassians. Eddington initiated a biogenic weapon campaign to poison the atmospheres of all Cardassian colonies in the Demilitarized Zone, succeeding in doing so at his initial target, Veloz Prime. He was also responsible for an attack against the Malinche that left it adrift. The Defiant returned to the chase, pursuing the Maquis, and accurately predicted the next targeted Cardassian colony, Quatal Prime, which Eddington attacked instead of committing a more logical raid on Panora. The Defiant arrived at the location too late; the cobalt diselenide devices had already been detonated in the atmosphere. Eddington disabled a fleeing Cardassian transport, and this action forced Sisko to look to the aid of the Cardassians before he could pursue the fleeing Maquis. Sisko, determined to prevent the destruction of further Cardassian colonies, detonated a trilithium resin device within the atmosphere of the Maquis colony on Solosos III, and threatened to perform the same action on every Maquis colony in the Demilitarized Zone. In order to spare the other Maquis worlds, Eddington turned over the remaining biogenic weapons and surrendered to Starfleet for court martial. (DS9: "For the Uniform")

When Starfleet uncovered communiques indicating that the Maquis had initiated a devastating attack against Cardassia shortly before the organization had been destroyed by the Dominion, Eddington was released into the care of Captain Sisko. The two men journeyed to Athos IV, a small planetoid in the Badlands where the missiles had supposedly been launched from. It was learned that the attack was a ruse engineered to allow Eddington to rescue the survivors of the Maquis, but the Dominion had previously uncovered the location. The Jem'Hadar had located the base and captured it, inflicting significant casualties on the Maquis survivors. A dozen prisoners were kept under surveillance, but together with Sisko, Eddington was able to gain entrance to their cell and help liberate these few survivors. Included among the prisoners was Rebecca Sullivan, the wife of Eddington whom he had married two weeks before his capture. Unfortunately, the couple were once again sundered, as he was killed by Jem'Hadar soldiers while covering the escape of Sisko and the other survivors. The last thing Eddington did before he died was call out his wife's name. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory")

Interests

Eddington was particularly fond of the novel Les Misérables. He saw himself as the hero, Valjean, pursued by the inflexible policeman Javert, whom Eddington envisioned as his former commander, Benjamin Sisko. (DS9: "For the Uniform")

Eddington had a valued family heirloom in the form of a Canadian one dollar coin he called his "lucky looney", which had been in his family for over two hundred years. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory")

Appendices

Appearances

• DS9:
  • "The Search, Part I" (Season Three)
  • "The Search, Part II" (simulation only)
  • "The Die is Cast"
  • "The Adversary"
  • "Rejoined" (Season Four)
  • "Our Man Bashir"
  • "For the Cause"
  • "For the Uniform" (Season Five)
  • "Blaze of Glory"

Background information

Origins

At least part of the motive behind the invention of the Eddington character was that the writing staff of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine wanted to create a Starfleet officer to fill in as a regular character, for whenever Miles O'Brien actor Colm Meaney left to do a film and thereby necessitated the omission of O'Brien. Ronald D. Moore named the character after Paul Eddington, a role played by Kirk Douglas in the 1965 film In Harm's Way. Douglas' character is one of the heroes of the movie, but is an extremely unpleasant individual. Moore later remembered, "For some reason, I thought, 'Yeah, that's Eddington.' It just created a tone in my head." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 160) According to Moore, Eddington's character was not developed initially with a Maquis affiliation in mind. (AOL chat, 1997) "When we created Eddington," recollected Ira Steven Behr, "we wanted Joe Professional on the station. He didn't have to be a villain, he was just another professional who didn't have to be a nice guy." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 253) Behr elaborated, "Eddington was supposed to be a benign adversary for Odo. He was supposed to be the greatest security officer that Starfleet had, and he was going to step on Odo's toes." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 340)

Actor Kenneth Marshall auditioned for the role of Eddington. "I was interested in the part because it was a recurring character," he said, "something I hadn't done on TV before: a chance to play a rôle that could develop and go somewhere." He initially didn't have much details on which he could base his performance as Eddington. "I just went in with what was written on the page," he clarified, "a dedicated, very by-the-book Starfleet officer. There was much more to be discovered." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51) Auditioning for the part was nothing out of the ordinary for Marshall, and he immediately felt a rapport with the character. Marshall was called back for a second read-through with the DS9 producers and Director Kim Friedman. He was hopeful about securing the role and was extremely surprised when he thereafter heard nothing from the studio for a long while. "I remember thinking, 'Well, darn. That was a lot of fun. I really like those people and I like the role,'" he related. "'It would have been nice to get that job.' So I just didn't think about it any more." After waiting a while to find out if he had been given the part, Marshall received word that he had been. "It was out of the blue that I got a telephone call from my agent telling me that I was hired," he explained. (TV Zone, Special #28, p. 20) When he was first cast as Eddington, neither Marshall nor the writer-producers were certain about how the character would develop. "When I was cast they said that this would probably be a recurring character," Marshall recalled. "I had no idea where he was going to go, which is kind of the interesting thing about doing a character like that." Marshall was left with the opportunity of creating a backstory for Eddington, as the writers didn't flesh out the character to that extent. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 52)

Kenneth Marshall was delighted with how Eddington is first depicted, in DS9 Season 3 premiere "The Search, Part I". (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 164) "I like the fact that Eddington starts out as the [Starfleet] officer's officer," the actor noted. "He's very bright, well-trained, has an impeccable record and is supposed to be terrific at everything he does." (TV Guide, Special #28, p. 22) Marshall recognized the episode's director, Kim Friedman, from his call-back audition and was glad that she oversaw his first appearance on the series. (TV Zone, Special #28, pp. 21-22 & 20) "Kim Friedman took great care in introducing the character," he enthused. "She was very specific about how Eddington should handle himself with the crew." For instance, Friedman advised Marshall not to act in an unfriendly way towards Odo, as "the fact that he was there was threatening enough." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 164) Eddington was indeed viewed with distrust by viewers, when he made his on-screen debut. ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51)

Developing the Starfleet character

Kenneth Marshall pointed out that, although they initiated conflict and tension between Eddington and Odo in "The Search, Part I", the DS9 creative team eventually took Eddington's relationship with the shapeshifter in "a different direction from that." The actor went on to muse, "We always had more of an amicable relationship than the other way around [....] You would have thought at the beginning with Eddington, that he'd probably be doing more scenes with Odo." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 53) Marshall was disappointed that, following the initial setup, Eddington's conflict with Odo wasn't explored by the writers. ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51)

Kenneth Marshall felt "The Die is Cast" contained moments that were important to the character development of Eddington, including the fact he accompanied the Defiant crew on a mission even though he had sabotaged their cloaking device. "I think [that] said an awful lot about Eddington's character," Marshall commented. "He's definitely somebody who did things by the book, but like the crew, he could separate what needed to be done from the rules and regulations." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51) On the character's actions in "The Die is Cast", Marshall elaborated, "[Eddington] was doing what he felt was right. He was following orders. This is a place where Eddington can grow as a character. Sisko, Kira, Dax and the rest have been together for years; they're a unit. If the rules have to be bent, they'll bend them – they know what they have to do to get a job done. But Eddington comes from the outside and is used to having things done a certain way. He's less inclined to take things into his own hands; he prefers to go by the book. That's a good source of conflict. After 'The Die is Cast', we weren't sure where they were going to take my character. Were they going to give me a chance to redeem myself in future episodes? Or would I continue to be a problem?" (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine Vol. 15)

In light of Eddington's actions in such episodes as "The Die is Cast" and "The Adversary", Kenneth Marshall was starting to get a sense of the character's rebellious nature. Marshall observed, "The way Eddington is written always presents the idea that he's a threat in some way [....] Eddington has been trained to take command eventually. I think he's a natural commander, like an actor who can play Hamlet but doesn't have the box-office name, so he plays Horatio. But he's going to be the best damned Horatio you ever saw." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 253) The actor additionally stated, "It was interesting because the producers purposely didn't let you know where Eddington was going [....] All of a sudden they began to throw all of these little decoys and pieces of bait out to the audience." (TV Guide, Special #28, p. 22)

While directing "The Adversary", Alexander Singer deliberately emphasized Kenneth Marshall's performance as Eddington, due to the character playing a major part in the story. "It was obvious that he should be covered with close-ups," recalled Singer. "Beyond this episode I couldn't say, but for the course of this show, I treated him like a regular member of the cast." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 252)

Though Eddington had been invented in an effort to provide some competition and conflict for Odo, Ira Steven Behr found that, by the time of "The Adversary", Eddington was seeming too similar to Odo and that their similarities were constricting them both. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 340)

Although "The Adversary" shows Eddington was misidentified as a Changeling, public opinion nevertheless became wary that he was a member of that species, to the puzzlement of the DS9 staff writers. Stated Ira Behr, "After 'The Adversary', everyone on the Internet was convinced that Eddington was a changeling, even though we went out of our way to show that he wasn't. We all looked at each other and said, 'There's no way this guy is ever gonna be a changeling!'" Behr laughed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 253)

Transforming the character

As Eddington developed, Ira Steven Behr routinely kept Kenneth Marshall updated, which the actor appreciated. "I remember Ira Steven Behr would call me up," he said, "and explain to me, 'Well, this is what we're going to do now. I hope you understand why we're making this change and why we've decided to go this route.' Whenever this happens is generally for the good of the show and to make the character more interesting." (TV Guide, Special #28, p. 22)

While Ira Behr and the other DS9 internal writers were writing the script for "The Adversary", they discovered they could take the Eddington character in a new direction. The writers took their cue from the scene in "The Adversary" wherein, although Eddington admits to Sisko that he joined Starfleet with the ambition of becoming a captain, he implies he won't have a chance to realize that hope. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, pp. 340-341) Kenneth Marshall correctly suspected that the writing of Eddington was influenced by this scene, which also turned out to be particularly memorable for the actor. "I just think that they sensed that [pairing Eddington with Sisko was working well], picked up on it, and maybe that helped them as far as the direction they wanted to take the character," Marshall postulated. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 53) Concerning the finding that Eddington could be altered, Ira Behr recalled, "We started to see more about him. What if this guy who we originally conceived to be as true blue as possible suddenly realizes that there's something better out there?" Thus, Behr, who was an executive producer and the show runner on DS9 by this point, and the series' other staff writers began to think of Eddington as a character whose loyalty, at some point, was torn between his Starfleet aspirations and something else. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 341)

Kenneth Marshall believed that changing Eddington from working as a security officer into carrying out engineering duties in DS9 Season 4 entries "Rejoined" and "Our Man Bashir" was because Worf joined the show as a regular character in the fourth season and, with his addition to the series, there were too many security officers in the show. "I didn't mind the change in job responsibilities and it was great having the chance to work with Colm Meaney," Marshall stated. (TV Guide, Special #28, pp. 22-23)

Kenneth Marshall found it "interesting" that, even though Eddington's relationship with Odo was originally established as involving tension, Eddington collaborated with Odo in "Our Man Bashir" without any personal difficulties between them. ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51)

In response to the viewers' incorrect suspicion that Eddington was a Changeling, the producers chose to transform the character in a different way. "We said, 'Let's make him a Maquis,'" remembered Ira Behr. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 253) During the development of DS9 Season 4 installment "For the Cause", it was Ronald D. Moore who suggested establishing Eddington as the new leader of the Maquis, fulfilling the spark of an idea the writers had concocted while scripting "The Adversary". "We took the character to the point where he's capable of doing questionable things to achieve some greater morality," observed Ira Behr. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, pp. 340 & 341) Due to the mistaken belief that Eddington was a Changeling, Behr hoped that, when he was eventually revealed as a member of the Maquis in "For the Cause", the notion of Eddington being a shapeshifter, an idea which severely frustrated Behr, would finally be put to rest. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 119) However, Behr also stated, "It seemed to us that people would expect that [Eddington was a Maquis]." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 339)

The revelation that Eddington was a member of the Maquis came as a complete surprise to Kenneth Marshall. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, pp. 52 & 53; TV Zone, Special #28, p. 22) "Boom, Eddington's a Maquis," he exclaimed. "This revelation added a bit of anxiety to the character. After all, he's got to feel some kind of loyalty towards Starfleet and the way they do things. Part of him was experiencing the pang of having betrayed his uniform, so for him there was this natural sense of loss." (TV Guide, Special #28, p. 22) Marshall's total surprise at learning of the character alteration was because the change wasn't discussed with him prior to Marshall receiving and reading the script of "For the Cause". "Ira Behr [then] called me and told me why they were doing it, why they thought it would be an interesting choice to make for Eddington," Marshall reported. In hindsight, he pondered, "It actually all makes good sense in a way. To get to the level where he's gotten in Starfleet, the sophistication and life in the Federation has developed to such a level that I think it becomes easy to lose touch with what's real and organic in life. You see this happen all the time. People have these little epiphanies. They wake up and they realize this isn't really what life should be all about. Maybe it should be about something else. It should be about more personal, caring things. I think he was ripe to attach himself to this cause because of that [....] It certainly made his character more interesting than if he just continued on the station as security chief when you have Worf, who was also a security chief, and Odo." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, pp. 53 & 52) Since viewers had begun to see that Eddington was possibly not so antagonistic as they had first suspected him to be, they were additionally shocked to discover he was actually leader of the Maquis. ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51)

Following his work on "For the Cause", Kenneth Marshall was unsure when Eddington would returrn. This was because, as was typical of the DS9 creative staff, they didn't tell him when the character would be back. Nonetheless, Marshall thought the frequent unpredictability of the situation kept it "exciting." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 53)

Penultimate appearance

An attempt to take Eddington full circle from the events of "For the Cause" was made in DS9 Season 5 outing "For the Uniform"; whereas the former episode culminates in him escaping from DS9, the latter episode ends with him entering custody aboard the space station. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 418) The installment turned out to be a favorite of Marshall's, not only due to it how it defined Eddington and his motivations, but also how it developed his relationship with Sisko. (TV Guide, Special #28, p. 22)

The use of Les Misérables in "For the Uniform" provided some convenient dramatic shorthand in establishing Eddington's personality. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 418) Kenneth Marshall found it appropriate that Eddington saw himself as Jean Valjean, commenting, "It showed that Eddington's obviously well read. He was a thinker and like Sisko said, a romantic." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51) Another classical influence on how the character is portrayed in "For the Uniform" was Robin Hood or, more precisely, a scene in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood, in which Robin takes Maid Marian to see masses of starving people. This is very similar to when, in "For the Uniform", Eddington forces Captain Sisko to observe the hungry, run-down Maquis. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, pp. 418-419)

Kenneth Marshall enjoyed playing a hologram of Eddington in "For the Uniform", as it gave him the freedom to run through the relevant scenes simply. "It was pleasant to do that," he reminisced. "I liked it a lot." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 52)

Final appearance

For a long time before the writing of fifth season two-parter "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light", Eddington was imagined as being featured in an ultimately abandoned DS9 story, "with him in the brig and showing how he breaks out," Ira Behr stated. The writing staff intended to compel the audience into rooting for Eddington as the installment progressed, though the idea was eventually dropped because the writers, admitted Behr, "weren't confident that the fans were really behind the character." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 422)

Fans were, however, caught up in Eddington's rivalry with Sisko in "For the Uniform" and that depiction of the conflict between them was one factor that motivated the writer/producers, thereafter, to once again bring the character back, in subsequent fifth season offering "Blaze of Glory". (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, pp. 52 & 58) Kenneth Marshall noted, "I think they realized, 'We've got a good thing here. Let's run with the ball while we've got it.'" However, Marshall was surprised by how quickly Eddington was brought back to the series. "I don't know why," he confessed. "I just thought it would probably be longer before they returned to that story line." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 53)

The portrayal of Eddington in "Blaze of Glory" was overseen by Director Kim Friedman, reuniting her with Kenneth Marshall. Playing the character in "Blaze of Glory" was considerably more challenging for Marshall than when he had played the role in "For the Uniform", as it involved much more activity. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 54)

Audience feedback to the depiction of Eddington in "Blaze of Glory" (and the episode itself) was extremely positive. Kenneth Marshall declared, "I got a response like I never had before from that particular show." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 54) Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who co-wrote "Blaze of Glory" with Ira Behr, commented, "Ken Marshall does a really nice job as Eddington [....] I really like Eddington. He's a uniquely Deep Space Nine character, in that he's a guy who we got to know as a secondary character who turned out to be a lot more important, and grew through the course of the series." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 58)

In "Blaze of Glory", the DS9 writing staff opted to "finish Eddington off," in Ira Behr's words. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 418) "We tried to give him a heroic death," continued Behr. "I told Ken we'd give him a 'Steve McQueen' death. Right out of The Sand Pebbles. You know: 'You let the woman go and you stay behind.'" Eddington was killed off because Behr felt there were too many continuing plot threads toward the end of the fifth season and consequently decided to put an end to the Maquis on the series. Hence, the character's death came about as an attempt to essentially tidy the storyline. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 456)

Even though "Blaze of Glory" was designed to be Eddington's last appearance, the writers still felt it was important to add several humanizing aspects to his persona. For example, the writers chose to establish that he was married, a fact which surprised Kenneth Marshall. "That was strange," he laughed. "They give me a wife and then they immediately take her away from me. I liked it, though. It was a way of deepening his commitment to the cause, to show that he's not just doing it because he sees himself as Valjean." Marshall and the viewers additionally learned Eddington was Canadian, a detail the writers included impulsively. As well as DS9's creative team having a few connections to Canada, the series had many fans in that country. "And the fact that of all the semiregulars, it's poor Eddington who buys the farm just seemed like a very Canadian thing," Ira Behr remarked. Added Robert Wolfe, "So we thought, what the heck." Wolfe concluded, "You just know he's going to die because he doesn't have his 'lucky loony' with him." "Blaze of Glory" also reveals Eddington had a passion for growing vegetables, particularly tomatoes, which was actually based on Wolfe's mother having the same interest. Like Eddington, however, she had also found difficulty with raising them, due to their environmental conditions having to be precisely right. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 457)

Though Ira Behr did give Eddington a valiant death scene, Behr was left unsure about whether the character's final moments were as emotionally fulfilling as possible, reckoning that he would have made the scene longer if more production time had been available. "But I had to deal with the fact that A, he wasn't a regular character, and B, there'd have been a part of the audience we couldn't sustain with an elongated scene," Behr explained. "And, of course, your head is spinning with those unanswered questions about how we feel about Eddington." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 458)

Overview

Indeed, after Eddington's final appearance in "Blaze of Glory", many fans were not sure how morally righteous he had been. This degree of uncertainty was even shared by Ira Steven Behr, who conceded, "I still haven't figured him out. Do we like him? Do you not like him? Was he good? Bad? I'm not sure." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 28, p. 17) Behr was also unsure if Eddington had been "a pain in the ass." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 458) However, the executive producer did believe the role of Eddington had become "something quite interesting." Proclaimed Behr, "His character has evolved and grown." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 51)

Kenneth Marshall considers Eddington's Maquis arc to show that the character was "duplicitous but not diabolical. He did what he did for a cause he believed in. He had to be clever because of the nature of what he was doing, but it wasn't with malice. Down through history, there are lots of people who became misguided in their zeal for their causes, but in many cases their original motives weren't malicious." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 51)

Eddington's relationship with Sisko was enjoyable for Kenneth Marshall. "If you look back at the other episodes [prior to 'For the Cause' and 'For the Uniform'] and the scenes between the two characters you can see that there's a close bond between them. It's not necessarily what you'd call a father/son relationship because there's not that much of an age difference, but there's definitely a real mentor kind of thing that's going on with them," Marshall observed. "When that's betrayed, which is what Sisko feels, then this dramatic tension evolves that's very powerful. I don't know what it is, though, that makes it work. Maybe it's because of the way the characters are written or how Avery [Brooks, who plays Sisko] and I react off one another whenever we're doing a scene together. I also have a real life respect and admiration for Avery and what he can do, so that helps as well. I truly enjoyed the chemistry that developed between Sisko and Eddington, particularly in 'For the Uniform' and the last episode I did, 'Blaze of Glory'." (TV Zone, Special #28, p. 22) Marshall also remarked, "I loved working with Avery Brooks and the way Eddington brought out this dark side to Sisko. In many ways they're flip sides to the same coin. After all, how many times has Sisko broken the rules to do what's right? It gave the audience a chance to see them both in different terms." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch issue 37, p. 51) Indeed, the DS9 writing staff thought of Eddington, he having found his allegiance divided, as "a farther side of Sisko." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 341)

Kenneth Marshall was extremely pleased with how much care was taken over the writing of his own DS9 role, and the series in general. "There were something like nineteen different rewrites on some of my episodes," he related, "and it drove me crazy as an actor, having to unlearn the stuff I'd learned, and learning the new stuff the night before shooting. But because of [that kind of care], you get something good. You get something to sink your teeth into as an actor." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 457) Marshall further said, "I enjoyed playing this character, especially now that they've fleshed him out so much." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 52) Indeed, Marshall was "very grateful" that the team of writer-producers were able to develop Eddington to the degree they did develop him. (TV Zone, Special #28, p. 22)

Kenneth Marshall was also appreciative of Eddington's popularity. "People feel like they have a common bond with me because of the show," he observed, "and that's a great feeling. I really feel like I've become a part of our culture [thanks to Eddington]." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 52) He also remarked, "It's been pretty amazing to me because Eddington really has not had that much exposure on the show. It's not as if he was one of the regulars but people still recognise you." (TV Zone, Special #28, p. 20)

Even though Eddington dies in "Blaze of Glory", Kenneth Marshall hoped, due to having been pleased to play the character, that he might get a chance to return. "There are lots of ways that they could still go [with Eddington]," Marshall noted. "I could sit down and think of three or four different scenarios where he actually could [come back]." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, Nos. 6/7, p. 54) The actor remarked further, "You could say I'm still in denial. I'll never give up hope. After all, we know how incredible medical science is in Star Trek, they wave these little things over parts of your body and you're healed. I can think of three or four ways they could get around Eddington being shot, but the producers and writers will decide what they choose to do [....] Heck, he was just given a wife, and we didn't get much time to develop that angle." ("Marshall Decree", Dreamwatch, issue 37, p. 52)

Apocrypha

Eddington appeared in the novel Time's Enemy. Alternate versions of Eddington appear in the comic "The Looking Glass War" and the novel "A Gutted World" in Echoes and Refractions.

Eddington's mirror universe counterpart was depicted as a senior member of the Terran Rebellion in the novels Saturn's Children, Fearful Symmetry, The Soul Key and Rise Like Lions.

External link

• Michael Eddington at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

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