“Battle Lines” 30th-anniversary reflections
A joy ride to the Gamma Quadrant turns deadly for Kai Opaka. At least until she springs back to life. Along with Sisko, Kira, and Bashir, the spiritual leader of Bajor finds herself marooned on some sort of prison colony where it is impossible to die and warring factions fight in an endless cycle of conflict. Die once on this moon and, well, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. But for Kai Opaka, that’s okay, because she has found a new calling, a new charge from the Prophets.
In this episode of The Orb, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 30th-anniversary retrospective that will take you through all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one episode at a time. In this installment, we discuss “Battle Lines,” how Opaka’s new calling changes not only her life but also Kira’s, why it was necessary to remove Opaka from her role on Bajor, what the story says about conflict, punishment, and redemption, and more.
Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Opaka’s Influence (00:03:07)
A Necessary Transition (00:13:14)
The Futility of Conflict (00:16:31)
Fear Leads to Suffering (00:20:37)
Reasonable Punishment (00:24:41)
Ambiguous Redemption (00:28:41)
Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:32:39)
Closing (00:37:38)
Hosts
C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing
Production
C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer)
119: The Other Side of the Glass
118: Devilishly Smart
117: A Flashpan Love Affair
116: Untitled Bashir
115: Kind of Like a Jazzcat
114: Life Is Way Bigger Than 140 Characters
113: Path through Hell
112: The Goodmiral
111: Temporal Bluetooth
110: Sleeping with the Enemy
109: A Spiritual Hat Trick
108: Never Turn Your Back on Boushh
107: A Merit-Based System
106: Removable Sideburns are Kind of Awesome
The Orb of Mail: I’m Just Here for the Free Blood Wine
105: Playing Ouija Board with Troi
104: While Running an Errand for DS9...
103: A Different Kind of Honor
102: An Emotional Malaise
The Orb 101: Oh, We’re Movin’ Along...
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