[Nate the Great]

OPAKA: Don't deny the violence inside of you, Kira. Only when you accept it can you move beyond it.
KIRA: I've known nothing but violence since I was child.
OPAKA: In the eyes of the Prophets, we are all children. Bajor has much to learn from peace.
KIRA: I'm afraid the Prophets won't forgive me.
OPAKA: They're just waiting for you to forgive yourself.

There's a lot to unpack here.

O'BRIEN: It's the third planet.
DAX: No, look, it isn't. We're picking up something from its moon.
O'BRIEN: Laying in a new course, full impulse.

I don't like it when they imply that all intrasystem trips can be done on impulse. It'll still take some time at a quarter of the speed of light to get anywhere.

BASHIR: Isn't that a bit like assisting a jailbreak?
SISKO: I don't need you to interpret the prime directive for me, Doctor.
BASHIR: Yes, of course. I only meant
SISKO: Whatever crimes they've committed they've paid for a hundred times over. They've been altered somehow and been abandoned by their world. I believe the Federation would recognise them as separate and unique.

Thank goodness we're skipping the ethical dilemma. Picard would've wasted hours agonizing over this one.

SISKO: The Federation is made up of over a hundred planets who have allied themselves for mutual scientific, cultural and defensive benefits. The mission that my people and I are on is to explore the galaxy.

Over a hundred and fifty planetary governments, you mean. It has to be well over five hundred actual planets by now.

And to be perfectly frank, YOUR mission isn't to explore, it's to do everything short of breaking the Prime Directive getting Bajor into the Federation. Including protecting them from the Cardassians if necessary. And futhermore, there should've been a dedicated starship exploring out here in the Gamma Quadrant by now.

BASHIR: The analysis is very clear. Once the microbes have restored a body after death, that body becomes permanently dependent on them for all cellular functions.
SISKO: Permanently?
BASHIR: It gets worse. The designers made them environment specific. If the microbes are removed from this ecosystem, they'll stop functioning.

Are these things microbes or nanites? Organic or technology? You seem to have skipped some exposition.

OPAKA: I didn't know how or why, but when we came through the wormhole, I knew I wouldn't be returning. You must tell our people, Kira, that I have answered the call of the Prophets.

Imagine the situation from the Bajoran perspective. Had this been Winn I'd suspect assassination, but not Opaka.

BASHIR: Anything that can be programmed can be reprogrammed. If I could disable the mechanism in these microbes, they should no longer function when someone is killed, and these people would finally be able to die.

And yet he won't find a solution, just like he never actually turned the Blight innoculation into an actual cure.

SISKO: Opaka, if we can ever find a way
OPAKA: My work is here now, Commander. But your pagh and mine will cross again.

No, they won't, at least in the series. Her return was in the novels.

The Fiver

Opaka: Very, very, very prettyful. Now why don't we all chill in dis here hood, yo?
Sisko, Bashir, and Kira: ...?
Opaka: Look, some joker sent the Prophets an OCD of gangsta rap. Just ignore it.

I have to assume that "OCD" is a typo.

Bashir: She's dead, Ben.
Kira: By Grapthar's Hammer, You Shall Be Avenged!

Have I mentioned lately how much I don't like Galaxy Quest? Because I REALLY don't like Galaxy Quest!

Also, it's GraBthar.

Shel-la: Note the hair.
Sisko: Wow. Any man who can look worse than Picard and Ted Koppel combined is a man to be respected.

Ted Koppel was the anchor for Nightline. Wowwy must be a fan.

Shel-la: Ennis good. Nol-Ennis bad.
Sisko: But you're exactly the same.
Shel-la: No! Don't you see? I'm bald on the left and hairy on the right; their leader is bald on the right and hairy on the left!

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield did this premise way better than this.

Memory Alpha

* I forgot the similarity with Day of the Dove, which also did the premise better.
* First destroyed runabout. The production staff cheated by using a Type 6 shuttlecraft nacelle for the debris. You'll remember that the Type 6 uses the boxy nacelles with the hexagonal cross-section, completely unlike a runabout's. They didn't have any Enterprise-D debris around to use instead? The nacelles are more similar!
* The necklace that Opaka gave to Molly only appears in a novel. I wish that they'd done more with that.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Bashir says that Opaka's back is broken, yet does chest compressions. Oops.
* Even though She-La says that they don't use directed energy weapons, their props sure ACT like directed energy weapons!
* Phil points out many ways that these guys can kill each other in ways that the nanites can't possibly heal.
* Phil is quick to point out that despite the advice of "The Passenger" Bashir uses a tricorder to declare Opaka dead!
* Phil brings up the nacelle thing as well and lists some episodes that made use of the Type 6 shuttle debris.