{"id":5195,"date":"2016-09-22T05:53:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T05:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/113-Battle-Lines"},"modified":"2016-09-22T05:53:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T05:53:48","slug":"113-battle-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/22\/113-battle-lines\/","title":{"rendered":"1.13 &#8212; \u201cBattle Lines\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        \n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1.13 &#8212; \u201cBattle Lines\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Plot:<\/strong> A visit to DS9 by the Kai Opaka, Bajor\u2019s spiritual leader, and tour of the wormhole go awry when a runabout holding Kai Opaka, Sisko, Kira, and Bashir crash lands on a planet populated by combatants who strangely cannot die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thoughts:<\/strong> \u201cWhen you cease to fear death, the rules of war begin to change.\u201d There\u2019s a lot to like in this episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For one thing, Kira has more to do in the teaser than she has been given in several previous episodes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are many fine visual touches, from the new special effects employed travelling through the wormhole, to deft cuts and visual flourishes employed by the director, especially the transition from the downward motion action of the crashing roundabout to the upward pan revealing the crash site on the surface of the moon in the Gamma Quadrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While I am swooning over Kira\u2019s scenes with Opaka confronting violence and the need for self-forgiveness, I can\u2019t miss my second favorite line in the teleplay: \u201cI don\u2019t need you to interpret the Prime Directive for me, Doctor.\u201d Sisko is right on and red hot responding to a moral imperative he considers to be more inflexible than Starfleet regulations. It feels like a real moment that reveals the story, Sisko, and Bashir all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I also love the casting of Jonathan Banks as the rebel leader, Golin Shel-la. You may recognize him from his role as Mike in <em>Breaking Bad<\/em> (2008-2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The premise of two factions fighting endlessly as an example to prevent war reminds me of the Original Series episode \u201cA Taste of Armageddon.\u201d Memory Alpha points out that the premise is perhaps more similar to \u201cThe Day of the Dove.\u201d Either way, this is more than a retread. I hope that Kai Opaka\u2019s promise that she will see Sisko again is kept. I want to see where this goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I do have a criticism. O\u2019Brien and Jazdia Dax\u2019s scenes play out as O\u2019Brien, the experienced and creative hand, explaining things to the innocent Jazdia, who continually asks questions because she has no idea what is going on. An ignorant character asking questions of an informed one is an efficient and reliable way to deliver exposition in a constructed scene. But with Dax on board, isn\u2019t O\u2019Brien the inexperienced one? The writer could at least have given Jazdia the solution, and these scenes would come off as only half as sexist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4.5 of 5 nanobytes of resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Battle_Lines_(episode)\" class=\"embedly-card\" data-card-recommend=\"0\" data-card-width=\"100%\">http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Battle_Lines_(episode)<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n      ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>        1.13 &#8212; \u201cBattle Lines\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-5195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek-relive-the-majesty-ds9-episode-threads","tag-kevin-black"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}