ST:TNG - What's up with O'Brien?

Cafe Society
1

Okay, so I’ve been watching my old Star Trek: The Next Generation tapes, and I’m growing more and more perplexed about the character of Chief Miles O’Brien. I think there’s more to this guy than meets the eye. I missed the last few seasons of Deep Space Nine, so maybe my questions were addressed there. Unfortunately, I don’t currently have access to those seasons. So maybe y’all could help me out.

First off, is O’Brien an officer? I think I saw, at least once, pips on his collar indicating the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Yet I can’t remember ever hearing him called anything but “Chief”.

It’s been made clear that, prior to his serving on the Enterprise, O’Brien fought in the Cardassian War.

During his tour on the Enterprise, he served primarily as Transporter Chief.

In the episode where the Enterprise is tracking down a StarFleet ship whose Captain has gone rogue and is attacking Cardassian outposts and ships, we learn that O’Brien once served as that Captain’s tactical officer. And indeed, In the TNG episodes “Redemption” and “Redemption Part 2” we see O’Brien serving as Picard’s tactical officer after Worf resigns his commission to fight in the Klingon civil war. The tactical position is typically filled by a security officer, so it would seem that O’Brien also has some security duties on the Enterprise. Now that I think about it, isn’t O’Brien usually armed with a hand phaser?

O’Brien eventually transfers from the Enterprise to Deep Space Nine, where he serves as the station’s Chief Engineer!!

Finally, I remember an episode of DS9 in which O’Brien goes off on some sort of highly classified covert mission. The episode where he was temporarily replaced by a robot double that fooled everybody but his daughter.

So what’s the deal with this guy? He seems to be a Jack of all trades:

Soldier
Transporter Chief
Tactical Officer
Security Officer (unconfirmed)
Chief Engineer
Spy/Intelligence Operative

All that from an apparently mild-mannered guy. Any help here?

2

Here is his official biography. He’s a non-commissioned officer, and once lamented that he’d have to salute Quark’s feaky little nephew (Not sure if he ever did, though).

3

Are you saying there might be a continuity error in Star Trek?

4

O’Brien’s character wasn’t well-developed early in NextGen. When the dust settled he was a CPO (or Star Fleet equivalent) and a many-many years veteran in the service. He’s done a lot of things and seen a lot of action.

5

I recall an interview with Colm Meaney in which it was mentioned that it wasn’t until his (IIRC) second year on the show that anyone bothered to name his character. It pissed him off, to, because when he read the script, he thought he’d been replaced.

6

That he was a soldier in a military organization (don’t start with that Starfleet isn’t a military BS) isn’t surprising… after all, he served as one in the Dominion War too, alongside everyone else in the fleet.

It’s also completely within character for him to be the Chief Engineering Officer (discounting the rank) on DS9 since he was transferred there before it became important. Remember, he was a transporter chief on the most important and prestigious ship in the entire fleet and that obviously takes a little bit of technical know-how but isn’t an important enough position to transfer to something much higher so he is put on a backwater station that’s falling apart.

His being an operative was also explained by his technical know-how. They needed someone with enough knowledge of electronics to be able to be of use to the Syndicate and it was his sabotaging of a comm relay in the bar that he was able to show his skills in the first place. They just took someone with the right skills and used him because, I assume, Starfleet Intelligence was understaffed at the time.

Being a tactical officer is a little harder to explain but considering how people transfer from department to department pretty often in Trek (Picard came up through sciences; Riker through Operations; Sisko through Engineering; Worf through Security, et), I don’t see that as that big a deal either.

7

I asked a similar question [thread=130951]a couple years back[/thread] about enlisted personel in Star Trek.

8

Okay, this may be completely stupid but…

I had somehow got the impression that O’brien had been an NCO only while he served aboard the Enterprise and other posts. To go into more detail:

Part of the reason that the transfer to DS9 had been such a great opportunity for Mo’B (Miles O’Brien) was that it had carried with it a field commission and promotion to the rank of ensign. While he was on DS9 he could be seen wearing an ensign’s collar pips.

No confirmation of that at startrek.com Wonder if I just dreamed it all up or something?? :wink:

9

He definitely was not an ensign while on DS9. If he wore an ensign’s pips, it was in the very early seasons when his character was still being fleshed out. In later seasons, he didn’t even wear a pip at all… he wore a chevron.

10

No, by the time he’s on DS9 O’Brien is clearly a senior NCO, and nothing like an officer.

11

Yeah! He works for a living!

Anyone else get the impression Berman and Braga never did a hitch in the service?

12

[Lucy Lawless] A wizard did it. [/Lucy]

13

[Stewie]Damn you, Tommy Tutone![/Stewie]

Because really, when am I gonna get another chance to say that? :smiley:

14

I know – there’s one scene during the Dominion War where Jake finds himself trapped in a foxhole with a grunt who talks about his time at Starfleet Academy. Me: “Uh, don’t they have enlisted men in the 24th Century?”

Of course, this isn’t limited to Trek. In the current hit comic “Supreme Power,” one of the major characters is referred to as “Corporal” and “Colonel” interchangeably – and given his job, he probably should be a captain.

–Cliffy

15

Hmmm… maybe there’s a starfleet basic training barracks right next to the academy? :smiley: Where else would starfleet do its basic training for enlisted grunts who sign up on earth? :wink:

16

How much Brien is in this episode?

Miles o’ Brien!

17

Thanks for the answers, everyone. Clears things up a bit. However, it seems to me that it’s a bit of a step down to go from Tactical Officer to Transporter Chief. Could it be that a posting on the Enterprise is so prestigious that it’s still really a step up, regardless of the status of actual position? I remember Riker once saying words to the effect that he would rather be First Officer of the Enterprise than Captain of his own ship.