Kai Opaka? Why not?

[RobertScorpio]

I'm probably butchering her name, but I think they should have brought Kai-opaka back. Or, at least, they should have made some refence to her, or shown her in flash back, at the end. They just kind of dropped the ball with her I thought.

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I'd have liked if she returned in the seventh season. Perhaps helping out Sisko in his path that the Prophets layed out for him.

Yeah, they missed an opportunity there, indeed.

 

[erastus25]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that they left the door open to do just that. If that's true, I'm not sure why they didn't. Would have been kind of cool to have some kind of power struggle between them.

 

[Ezri]

She was on the show only a few times. And I would say after seven years I would question her return. Second, during the last season she was on the other side of the wormwhole and I would really question why and how she came back without help from the enemy. It would be to freaking weird if she came back and I would not trust her. Just to rebuild that trust, would take a few episodes to answer that question and there was just not the time to do that.

 

[NKemp3]

The show should have rid itself of most of the unnecessary clutter of season 7, push that final ten-part arc up to the middle of the season and use the last six to eight episodes to sort all of the post-war stuff, including Bajor's joining the Federation. That would have given TPTB a perfect opportunity for an Opaka cameo.

 

[Defcon]

Spoiler: DS9 Relaunch books

She was brought back in the DS9 Relaunch books. First she appears in the Gamma-Quadrant but later she comes back to Bajor. You can find more infos on the Opaka Sulan site on Memory Beta.

 

[Kira Nerys]

Yes that was a missed opportunity I wanted to see the character again.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Spoiler: DS9 Relaunch books

She was brought back in the DS9 Relaunch books. First she appears in the Gamma-Quadrant but later she comes back to Bajor. You can find more infos on the Opaka Sulan site on Memory Beta.

I will have to give the RELAUNCH series a gander...

And I agree with your review of Kirk's Crucible..I read it while waiting to be picked, and never was, for jury duty...It was pretty good but not as good as McCoy's book, just as you said.

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Chuckling]

That would have been good. It would have been a nice touch to bring her back to accompany Sisko as he joined the Prophets himself.

 

[Damask]

My own thoughts is that once Sisko was revealed to be the Emissary, Opaka became the last true Kai. The role of the Kai was over and Opaka was given another task by the Prophets.

Though I do like that Opaka was like the Prophets messenger. The one person who really had an effect on Sisko until his mother was revealed. I really liked the actor who played her too.

 

[RobertScorpio]

My own thoughts is that once Sisko was revealed to be the Emissary, Opaka became the last true Kai. The role of the Kai was over and Opaka was given another task by the Prophets.

Though I do like that Opaka was like the Prophets messenger. The one person who really had an effect on Sisko until his mother was revealed. I really liked the actor who played her too.

Did they not like her performance? I agree that of all the recurring guests who should have been on that last episode SHE would have been high up on that list..

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Therin of Andor]

Did they not like her performance? I agree that of all the recurring guests who should have been on that last episode SHE would have been high up on that list.

If I recall correctly, it was at first intended to feature Kai Opaka heavily throughout DS9's run, but the producers weren't getting quite what they imagined from the actress and they ended up with that story where Opaka was actually killed, then resurrected by nanites that could not function away from the planet she was on.

Also, Louise Fletcher was getting rave reviews as Winn Adami, and the actress was enjoying playing the role, even though she was primarily known as a movie actress, so Winn's mission to become the new kai became far more attractive and compelling to the writers than finding a quirky way for Opaka to return.

The novels have the benefit of longer word counts to craft a not-too-complicated way for Opaka to become a viable character again, and they have introduced some clever things in that regard. There really wasn't time to bring her into "What You Leave Behind", which already had heaps of other loose ends to tie up.

 

[Saul]

I certainly expected and would have liked to have seen the character return. Her relationship with Sisko held a lot of weight and importance towards his role as a spiritual leader. I was disappointed that she never came back since they did dangle that carrot in front of us.