Did Kai Opaka ever come back?

[Neo]

I was so heartbroken when I saw what happened to her in The Battle (I think that's the name of the episode). Its a shockingly good episode IMHO. In fact, I've been thoughroughly enjoying ALL of DS9's Season 1 episodes. I'd even go so far to say that they have a certain rebellious, risque charm about them that wasn't quite as present in the later episodes.

In any case, Kai Opaka's death was VERY well done, and I almost started crying as I saw Kira's reaction. Poor Opaka - she has such a good heart, and at the end of the episode she tells Sisko that their spirits will cross paths again. Did that ever actually happen? I don't seem to remember an episode where Opaka came back - so was she perhaps referring to Sisko becoming a prophet? And therefore their spirituality would be one in the same?

 

[Dave]

'Battlelines'

Originally posted by Neo
so was she perhaps referring to Sisko becoming a prophet? And therefore their spirituality would be one in the same?

That lets them off the hook. I think it would have been good if her spirit had crossed paths with Sisko's again.

She did die on that moon, she could only remain alive if she remained there, so could not really come back in person.

I'm surprised that it did not become a shrine for Bajorans to visit. Or that Kira never went back to visit her.

 

[Matsuo_Basho]

I doubt she would have liked the idea of a shrine in rememberance of her.

I can't understand why she was written out of the series in the first place. Opaka was one of the best characters IMO. There would have been so many chances of interesting interaction between her and the other caracters. Just imagine how many good scenes the difference in character between her and Winn would have made!
I was terribly disappointed when she was left on that moon and never reappeared until she died.

 

[Dave]

HIja' jIyaj! And Welcome to ASciFi.

I agree that more Opaka-Winn conflicts would have been good, but most fans were negative about the Bajoran political stories, and I guess TPTB thought that an evil Kai would give more possibilitites than a benevolent one. A pity though, Kai Opaka did seem genuinely spiritual.

 

[Matsuo_Basho]

But during the last 4 seasons DS9 became more and more political. Just think of all these episodes dealing with the Dominion war or those about the Cardassian occupation.

Generally, I'd have liked to learn more about the different planets, every day life and the different cultures (including their religions).
Trek as a whole deals almost exclusively with humans and their culture. However, humanity is supposed to be only one of thousands of peoples in the Federation.
With Kai Opaka's death the writers missed a wonderful chance to create a whole series of new story arches. Opaka might have been a perfect ambassador to the gamma quadrant in general and the Founders specifically.

 

[Dave]

But many, many fans thought that DS9 dealt with Bajor too much in the first few season though.

I didn't -- I think the trilogy 'The Circle', 'The Homecoming' and 'The Siege' was some of the best of the series.

But, many fans think it was more 'Bajor: Terok Nor' than 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'. The formula was different, no voyages of exploration, no strange new worlds, no opening log entry with stardate, Cardassian alien technology instead of familiar Federation displays. There were episodes when Starfleet officers only were a part of the B story -- you can spot them as they usually end in an emotional outburst by Kira.

There are very good real life reasons why this is so -- when Michael Piller was asked to produce a new scifi series about a space station, the studio was originally against setting it in the Star Trek universe (I think they just wanted something to compete with 'Babylon 5' which was also on the drawing board at Fox.) The Paramount studio chief told Rick Berman "No, I don't care if it's Star Trek. I [just] want another science-fiction show I can say is being created by the guy who's been bringing you Star Trek: TNG for the last five years."

It was going to be set during medievil times on Earth originally. Ultimately, by setting it in the same time frame as TNG they could more easily develop all the Bajoran background and spirituality, and of course use all the established aliens. I think the decision to switch it was an easy one to make.

It was only later, when they had a ratings crisis we began to get the Defiant and Klingon stories, and the final 'Dominion War' stories.

I liked DS9 and it was always very different to the other series, but they were acutely aware that some Star Trek fans did not, and had to address that fact.