At this point in the original run, I was still resisting Deep Space 9 : "attempts a substantive episode, but there's really no moral question here, no decision to be made ... a ripoff of 'Day of the Dove.'"
Well, Jonathan Swift and Paths of Glory both predate "Day of the Dove." And there is a moral question, if nothing new: how do we stop hating? "Battle Lines" has no answers, except to leave Kai Opaka on the planet as possible savior. Note these alien fighters seem to have no spirituality of their own; perhaps it fell to their all-encompassing conflict.
The point of the episode, of course, is combatants who've long forgotten what started the war. In turn, they seem forgotten by those who cast them into exile. Still, it's interesting Brokeback Mountain will use the name Ennis. For Baby Boomers, Nol-Ennis evokes the grassy knoll of JFK assassination lore.
I've vaguely dreaded reviewing this episode, ever more pointed. Its gloomy, blasted prison is the American civic landscape. We tear at each other in the press, then ask leading questions of strangers to distinguish Ennis from Nol-Ennis. Some disingenuously hope for progress, as generations turn, but any student of history knows we are cursed with immortality.
Kai Opaka shows up later in the series, but I won't bother checking. We know it's eternal dusk, and the Ennis and Nol-Ennis are at each other's throats.
** It's no coincidence this episode defines the Federation as non-military (per the DS9 Companion, Rick Berman imagined more of a trading alliance). Sisko describes an alliance for mutual scientific, cultural and defensive benefit. **
The point of the episode, of course, is combatants who've long forgotten what started the war. In turn, they seem forgotten by those who cast them into exile. Still, it's interesting Brokeback Mountain will use the name Ennis. For Baby Boomers, Nol-Ennis evokes the grassy knoll of JFK assassination lore.
I've vaguely dreaded reviewing this episode, ever more pointed. Its gloomy, blasted prison is the American civic landscape. We tear at each other in the press, then ask leading questions of strangers to distinguish Ennis from Nol-Ennis. Some disingenuously hope for progress, as generations turn, but any student of history knows we are cursed with immortality.
Kai Opaka shows up later in the series, but I won't bother checking. We know it's eternal dusk, and the Ennis and Nol-Ennis are at each other's throats.
** It's no coincidence this episode defines the Federation as non-military (per the DS9 Companion, Rick Berman imagined more of a trading alliance). Sisko describes an alliance for mutual scientific, cultural and defensive benefit. **
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