the thing i like about O'Brien is that he is not only the regular guy, but also the character shows what a regular can be in the Star Trek universe. What i mean is: Picard is the best example of humanity in 24th century, but also Picard seems to be greater than human, while O'Brien, still being a regular guy, shows how also a regular guy can fulfill the idea to be a better human being, in its own way
Picard was a arrogant snob who send others to make all the dirty work and needed the information spoon fed to him and took forever to reach a decision. A better example was Sisko, a complete character with flaws and real problems who can be a warrior and a diplomat without a whole security escort to protect him.
@@RealengoPrimordialDemon what? Commanding others is the role of a captain. What on earth do you mean he "makes others do the dirty work for him"? He regularly puts his life on the line and actively participates in missions. But also, commanding a starship with a significant civilian population during peacetime is very different from commanding a custom built warship during wartime, or defending one of the most important strategic bases in the alpha quadrant. The enterprise crew are explorers, not warriors. That's literally the point of the show
@@lizardlegend42 the crew of the Enterprise D was a bunch of pussies with plot armor. Also Sisko was the commander of a space station with a larger civilian population and he was afraid to get his hands dirty during war time or in peace time. Picard was and is a snob.
O'Brien is likely the nicest significant male character in Trek - he never really did anything with negative intentions while most characters at various time acted douchebaggy at times. He kind of like the EVERYMAN of Trek.
But remember O'Brien was very wary of, did not like the Cardassians, because he'd been in the "Battle of Setlik III," I think it was called, along the Federation - Cardassian border. He didn't later act badly toward the Cardassians, but he didn't like or trust them, and bad-mouthed them often, until during the Dominion War, things were bad enough he mostly didn't. So I'd agree, he was mostly always an everyday, decent guy, but he wasn't perfect either. I don't recall if they established quite when he was in that battle, before or during his time on the Enterprise-D.
@@benw9949 It was definitely before Enterprise-D because they had that Cardassian episode on TNG where they talked about the war with them. Far as I know he transferred straight from the that ship to DS9. Come to think of it, the war was already ending during TNG, or it was over already? Just a few minor skirmishes.
@@MisogynyMan I believe it was over during TNG in large part due to the existence of the neutral zone which was a compromise made to fully end the war.
The thing i found interesting about O'Brien is that despite how nice he is the hostile feelings he has towards Cardassians which he never 100% gets over, some might see that as anti star trek but it is human and shows the psychological trauma of war.
My favorite Miles O'Brien moment was when he spotted Q on DS9. All we got was a "Bloody hell!", but while we'll never know the exact profanities he muttered on the way to tell Commander Sisko, we KNOW he muttered them 😆
The rank confusion of Chief O’Brien was a result of Gene Roddenberry, not wanting enlisted in Starfleet. I’m glad they finally came up with enlisted, rank, insignia in DS9.
I loved that episode. Not just seein O'Brien go through that unimaginable hell and getting out the better man, but also how restrained it was. Everyone on DS9 was supportive of him, no matter how hard he lashed out, even the imaginary guy he's murdered. Because the writers knew that trauma doesn't need any secondary villain.
O'Brien epitomizes Deep Space Nine's nature as not a Star Trek show, but a show about normal people living in the Star Trek universe. Like the episode were he is uncontrollably bouncing back and forth in time. Everyone treats it as annoying and it's not even the most important thing the captain is dealing with that morning.
Who doesn’t love O’Brien? I still can’t watch “The Wounded” from TNG and not get choked up when he and his former commander sing together. Colm Meaney was a real catch for Star Trek: he’s great in anything!
DS9 is by far my favorite Trek and O'Brien is a huge part of that. One of the best aspects of DS9 was how O'Brien and Sisko were both engineers, family men and really good fathers making them radically different than any of the other characters in Trek.
Hmm. I didn't know O'Brien was a NCO turned officer. I do wonder how many times you can put a character through hell until they stop being the everyman and become larger than life. I personally never saw O'Brien as the everyman since he had been through so much but keep pushing forward and the hell he went through never seem to leave lasting pain. So I saw him as unsung hero who could be counted on thick or thin.
@@edkwon At one point O'Brien asks Bashir if he's giving him an order, which is funny because Bashir is a wet-behind-the-ears junior lieutenant and O'Brien is a seasoned senior NCO.
It was a very weird experience to see Colm Meany, then at the height of his TNG everyman status, suddenly pop up in Steven Seagal vehicle 'Under Siege' as Stereotypical Irish Bad Guy. Bit of a wrench at the time.
you forget the bashir holodeck ep where he played 'Falcon' eye patch and all ;) (ps i love the eps where the cast can just ham it up for a bit and just enjoy themselves)
I really wanted to like that episode, but it felt way too by-the-numbers to me. Glad other people enjoyed it, because it's definitely not bad. It just didn't hit for me.
Colm Meaney got really lucky when was cast on TNG. The actor's arc parallels what happened with his character. An everyman schmo extra actor who just did the best he did with what he had and was liked by the powers that be and rode it to become one of the greats.
Its kind a sad that none of the main characters/heroes that we love. Could never find a solid relationship or were probably never meant to have a significant other. That's why I love Miles O'Brien relationship between him and Keiko. It was the best representation of most relationships between spouses. Plus his raport between him and Julian was pretty damn good.
Indeed no secret to anyone. The reason Miles O'Brien is a fan favorite is that he is just us, the audience, a hard working, diligent everyday, family man. And the fact he went from a mere extra actor and background character to one of the most beloved actors and characters from the entire franchise makes us like him even more. His marital problems, his hate for the Cardassians, his guilty for killing, his initial loath and later friendship with Bashir, everything was brilliantly written, and superbly played by Colm. Also, I believe that his uniform change from red to gold was addressed (in the canon or on the expanded universe, not sure) as his own request of being decommissioned from his bridge position to take a more "hands-on" position as uncommissioned engineering officer.
I love the O'Brien and Bashir friendship. I.M.O one of the funniest scenes was when Nog let someone borrow the captains desk. Kira: "That's not the captains desk!"...Bashir: "He's going to paint it"! 😂
Miles is the guy who keeps the wheels turning behind the scenes. A part of the team, but not the person you meet/see when you walk in. He is the person who's presence you feel everywhere without knowing it.
I like that there was at least an "everyman" character that wasn't an academy graduate to show more range in members of Starfleet. More proof that DS9 and it's creative team were the best, IMHO.
The worst writers of DS9 did to the character of O'Brien was to make him deal with Keiko, luckily after so much suffering they moved Keiko and the kids off the station.
I think one of the greatest advices I have ever heard regarding writing is. Write how you see it not how someone else does. Having input is good, but ultimately it comes from your mind not theirs.
O'Brien actually mentions his choice of changing from the red uniform of Command to the gold of Engineering, mostly due to his experience in the war against the Cardassians. Which works for his first appearance in the pilot episode of Next Gen.
Note: Keiko was a Starfleet officer in sciences or medical on TNG, but at some point, she appears to have dropped out, probably to have her daughter, and so on DS9, she is frustrated with her options, and becomes a teacher. It would have been interesting if they'd kept her in Starfleet and she bounced around on various duties, while raising their kids, and perhaps she could have been leading more than one other teacher. She could've been given various assignments as needed, to have a non-redshirt character, or to show the heightened risk if supporting characters got threatened in an episode. It felt like she was shunted aside, as if a woman couldn't be a working mother. It could have introduced both stresses and strengths for Miles and Keiko, both struggling to get through their days, both as working officers and as a couple and as parents raising their children in a risky environment. (And be it noted, military or not, kids can and do get raised in very risky environments, whether military brats or everyday life, working class or well-off.)
LOVE a good synth wave. Just went and followed Gunship. I think you might love the group Dance With The Dead. They’ve got a similar 80s synth vibe with some more modern spins.
I always thought he was the same character, but unnamed until later. The changes in rank, you either have to hand-wave away, or else maybe he did something to get demoted, or something about his contract / commission changed. -- Apparently in TOS, Roddenberry had intended a loose rank structure, not a full military approach, with almost everyone graduating from Starfleet Academy, or some university, and having at least some minimum of astronaut / cosmonaut training, so that everyone graduated as an ensign (no stripe) or a lt. jr. grade or lt. sr. grade if they got an advanced (post-grad.) degree, such as doctors or some scientists and engineers. The TOS Starfleet Tech Manual (Franz Josef) shows a crew complement for the Enterprise, with "ensigns" as specialists and technicians and crewmen in the lowest positions, and lieutenants for officers and assistant chiefs of departments. This could be taken either way, as evidence for ensign as the lowest rank, or for a system for non-commissioned and enlisted officers such as we have today.
It was nice to finally see a Star Trek Character from the Ranks, as a retired Senior NCO (Non Commission Officer) I always laughed at Star Trek depiction of the Officers being the experts, with them being able to be a Soldier one day, a Scientist the Next and a Mechanic the day after that. When anyone who has ever served will tell you that the Officers may give the Orders, but it is the NCO's that get the work done. Officers are just there to get in the way and to take the credit when the work is finished. Lawrence Tierney Warrant Officer (Ret) Canadian Armed Forces.
I always justified the discrepancy between his uniform rank and being called “chief” as more of a title, like Transporter Chief or Chief Engineer, and after a while the writers just went with it.
Perfect timing! Looking forward to watching this! :) Finished DS9 for the 'who know's how many' time this evening and was thinking about what an awesome character O'Brien is, both in Next Gen and DS9. Love him, brings so much to the show :) X
Does this apply to The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain, a movie about a Welsh town visited by English cartographers where every character is either Welsh or English?
DS9 is easily not only my favorite Trek, it’s one of my favorites of all TV. Miles is a good share of the reasons. I remember that Colm wanted a larger role on TNG. Worf and Geordi weren’t going anywhere, so security chief and chief engineer were out. When DS9 cane around and they worked out that he’d become Chief. It was a risk since if DS9 didn’t work out it might have been hard to return him to the Enterprise. Fortunately, partly due to Miles himself, it was a smash hit
I just rewatched STNG... I am pretty sure they called him Lieutenant in the Far Point episodes. Can't remember which one. They called him Chief, but he was always treated as an officer would be treated, with the apparent same responsibilities etc... I also heard somewhere he requested his uniform on DS9 be cut in a way he could roll up his sleeves, they are almost always up in the show...to show he was a "workin man".
O'Brien does some incredible things as chief engineer on a refitted cardassian space station. He figures out how to transport between universes, well his counterpart does. But he is just as impressive as any other chief engineer.
The lore that I heard, is the writers saying : Hey that Colm guy is a good actor, let's write things for him! And the crew being like : Hey that Colm guy is really nice and fun. And the rest is the most important person in history.
Dunno why but i always enjoyed seeing Miles and that he moved, like Worf - trough the ranks ships and seasons - maybe because im also an electromechanical enginee? - it took me a while to understand what a NCO is because in switzerland with our militia system we have by that definition basically ONLY NCO's in our army, everybody starts out as a NCO and some very few that choose to join the prof. Military will be "Commissioned Officers" as they then go trough the additional training. Since Starfleet mostly only has CO's having a guy that is quick in adapting to new situations bounce arround as a nco... why not? If i was a captain and i had a person in my crew that could fill various key roles with a high reliability, i would always choose him to fill those roles unless i had someone dedicated.
All lover’s of O Brien should check out a Facebook group “Roddy Doyle’s Star Trek”, which takes traits of the characters Meaney played in adaptations of that novelists works, and transposes them into the Star Trek setting.
I think Colm Meaney is the best actor that ever appeared in Trek (and yes, I am including Christopher Plummer and Whoopi Goldberg in that list). Apart from O'Brien, his performance in "The Snapper" is one of the finest things I have ever seen.
I think the problem was that in Roddenberry's vision Next Gen Starfleet was all officers... and then somebody realised that a crew of 500 officers is a bit pointless so O'Brien ended up as "Other Ranks". By the end of DS9 though it's clear that he's something analogous to a Commonwealth Warrant Officer Class One, he doesn't have a commission but his effective rank is equivalent to a lieutenant or Lt. Cdr.
@@stamfordly6463 I believe he's a Master Chief Petty Officer by the end of the series. He seems to be the senior most NCO on DS9. Star Trek seems to (mostly) use US military ranks.
Did you ever notice that whenever there was a TNG movie, writers would have elaborate explanations to justify Worfs presence but not O'Brien's? Not only was he excluded but nobody would even ask Worf how O'Brien was doing or tell him I said"hello". The Defiant, EMH and Janeway were allowed cameos in a TNG movie but Miles burned every bridge apparently on the enterprise.
That's the actor's doing, apparently he wanted to keep his Trek career separate from his movie career. So O'Brien never appeared in the TNG films, even when it would have made perfect thematic or narrative sense....
I think that Miles is the Star Trek character that I would get along best with ... probably because I am most like Julian (but without all that genetically engineered super human stuff).
@10:30 when you start addressing the question of 'pleasing the fans' there's a big difference between worrying about constant fan service which would be terrible for everyone involved and 'writing for yourself' when you're working on someone else's property. It takes a special kind of narcissist to think their pet idea is worth trading the characters and the impact of the story that came before them. I don't know many who think freeing the horse cats was a good trade for the arcs of Anakin and Luke, but that's about the most valuable thing we got out of that new trilogy.
O'Brien was an awesome character. I hated how the writers got their jollies out of constantly putting him through the ringer. The B5 writers did the same thing to Garibaldi.
0:50 - the different uniforms can be explained with the Season 2 color swaps done on Geordi and Worf. The different rank insignia could have just as well been due to starfleet not having thought through enlisted ranks with their overabundance of officers.
I've always thought one of STar Treks failings was every one is an officer. That just cannot work. One element of why I liked the movies is the Enlisted crew members on set. Granted it turns out most of those wer officers. Which is dumb, but they still had them.
Anytime I hit something out of frustration to make it work and my wife says that's not gonna work, I show her the scene where Miles hits the top of some computer in DS9 and it magically starts working.
When I watched TNG as a teenager, I disliked the chief, finding him quite boring. Now that I turned 40, and watch TNG on bluray, I am now appreciating the character.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
The Operational Capacity of Deep Space Nine with EVERYONE: 100%.
The Operational Capacity of Deep Space Nine with ONLY Miles O'Brien: 99.99%.
99% of people used that meme wrong. congratulation on being the 1% the used it right.
In Miles We Trust.
A fellow subscriber? Good choice sir 🖖
@@Sh_rib Rowan's a hero. Content goals.
Yes!
I'd offer O'Brien a Coffee; Jamaican Blend, double strong double sweet!
Or a Scotch, single malt...Neat!
the thing i like about O'Brien is that he is not only the regular guy, but also the character shows what a regular can be in the Star Trek universe. What i mean is: Picard is the best example of humanity in 24th century, but also Picard seems to be greater than human, while O'Brien, still being a regular guy, shows how also a regular guy can fulfill the idea to be a better human being, in its own way
Picard was a arrogant snob who send others to make all the dirty work and needed the information spoon fed to him and took forever to reach a decision. A better example was Sisko, a complete character with flaws and real problems who can be a warrior and a diplomat without a whole security escort to protect him.
@@RealengoPrimordialDemon what? Commanding others is the role of a captain. What on earth do you mean he "makes others do the dirty work for him"? He regularly puts his life on the line and actively participates in missions.
But also, commanding a starship with a significant civilian population during peacetime is very different from commanding a custom built warship during wartime, or defending one of the most important strategic bases in the alpha quadrant.
The enterprise crew are explorers, not warriors. That's literally the point of the show
@@lizardlegend42 the crew of the Enterprise D was a bunch of pussies with plot armor. Also Sisko was the commander of a space station with a larger civilian population and he was afraid to get his hands dirty during war time or in peace time. Picard was and is a snob.
Before miles we wondered if enlisted even existed in Starfleet.
O'Brien is likely the nicest significant male character in Trek - he never really did anything with negative intentions while most characters at various time acted douchebaggy at times. He kind of like the EVERYMAN of Trek.
Didn't execute any crewmen. Didn't allow any civilizations to die. No terrorism.
You're right he's not bad.
But remember O'Brien was very wary of, did not like the Cardassians, because he'd been in the "Battle of Setlik III," I think it was called, along the Federation - Cardassian border. He didn't later act badly toward the Cardassians, but he didn't like or trust them, and bad-mouthed them often, until during the Dominion War, things were bad enough he mostly didn't. So I'd agree, he was mostly always an everyday, decent guy, but he wasn't perfect either. I don't recall if they established quite when he was in that battle, before or during his time on the Enterprise-D.
@@benw9949 It was definitely before Enterprise-D because they had that Cardassian episode on TNG where they talked about the war with them. Far as I know he transferred straight from the that ship to DS9.
Come to think of it, the war was already ending during TNG, or it was over already? Just a few minor skirmishes.
@@MisogynyMan I believe it was over during TNG in large part due to the existence of the neutral zone which was a compromise made to fully end the war.
Even the Mirror Universe O'Brian seemed like a decent guy
They should have thrown him on Voyager.
Activate the emergency engineering hologram, Miles appears and saves the day.
I've always like Miles O'Brien, one of the best written characters especially in DS9
Pro tip: watch movies on flixzone. Me and my gf have been using it for watching a lot of movies during the lockdown.
@Carl Kaiden definitely, I've been using flixzone for months myself :D
@@kyreeforest4868 yeah and colm was acthully in sin city Dame to kill for
@@kyreeforest4868 you ever notice how much colm meant and John c rreiley looks alot like
im pretty sure that is why the majority of the viewers are here :)
"O'Brien Must Suffer" was very much a trope on DS9. Poor guy.
Reminds me of Chekhov who was always screaming in episodes
The thing i found interesting about O'Brien is that despite how nice he is the hostile feelings he has towards Cardassians which he never 100% gets over, some might see that as anti star trek but it is human and shows the psychological trauma of war.
Kirk felt the same about Klingons "for killing his boy"
My favorite Miles O'Brien moment was when he spotted Q on DS9. All we got was a "Bloody hell!", but while we'll never know the exact profanities he muttered on the way to tell Commander Sisko, we KNOW he muttered them 😆
O’Brien: *suffers*
O’Brien: “BLOODY CARDASSIANS!”
He said it more in italics than capitals.
*Cardies
but it *was* the cardies
- & Miles knew it all along.
@@crosseightyeight spoon heads
Accurate.
The rank confusion of Chief O’Brien was a result of Gene Roddenberry, not wanting enlisted in Starfleet. I’m glad they finally came up with enlisted, rank, insignia in DS9.
O'brien was my favourite DS9 character. 'Hard time' was a superb p.t.s.d study and Colm knocked it out the park.
I loved that episode. Not just seein O'Brien go through that unimaginable hell and getting out the better man, but also how restrained it was. Everyone on DS9 was supportive of him, no matter how hard he lashed out, even the imaginary guy he's murdered.
Because the writers knew that trauma doesn't need any secondary villain.
O'Brien epitomizes Deep Space Nine's nature as not a Star Trek show, but a show about normal people living in the Star Trek universe. Like the episode were he is uncontrollably bouncing back and forth in time. Everyone treats it as annoying and it's not even the most important thing the captain is dealing with that morning.
A great character. Miles has always been one of my favourites
Who doesn’t love O’Brien? I still can’t watch “The Wounded” from TNG and not get choked up when he and his former commander sing together. Colm Meaney was a real catch for Star Trek: he’s great in anything!
The Wounded is one of my favorite episodes.
DS9 is by far my favorite Trek and O'Brien is a huge part of that. One of the best aspects of DS9 was how O'Brien and Sisko were both engineers, family men and really good fathers making them radically different than any of the other characters in Trek.
Hmm. I didn't know O'Brien was a NCO turned officer.
I do wonder how many times you can put a character through hell until they stop being the everyman and become larger than life.
I personally never saw O'Brien as the everyman since he had been through so much but keep pushing forward and the hell he went through never seem to leave lasting pain. So I saw him as unsung hero who could be counted on thick or thin.
I'm kind of surprised you didn't know he was an NCO, because they bring that up A LOT throughout his run on DS9
@@edkwon I just not of remember it.
@@edkwon At one point O'Brien asks Bashir if he's giving him an order, which is funny because Bashir is a wet-behind-the-ears junior lieutenant and O'Brien is a seasoned senior NCO.
I think the very definition of an everyman is somebody who goes through alot and pushes forward.
He wears lieutenant pips, inconsistently, on early TNG. Later, by 'Family', they've decided he's a CPO (or rather, Ronald Moore decided)
It was a very weird experience to see Colm Meany, then at the height of his TNG everyman status, suddenly pop up in Steven Seagal vehicle 'Under Siege' as Stereotypical Irish Bad Guy. Bit of a wrench at the time.
you forget the bashir holodeck ep where he played 'Falcon' eye patch and all ;) (ps i love the eps where the cast can just ham it up for a bit and just enjoy themselves)
He also got the best line in the film. 'i bet they f*"+ing love you now!'
He was great in Hell on Wheels too.
he was also in stargate.
@Villiam Hofgaard his poor car (Maloy's...)
One of my favourite episodes is 'Honor Among Thieves.' I just felt so bad for O'Brien's moral dilemma, knowing what a decent man he is.
Me too.
I really wanted to like that episode, but it felt way too by-the-numbers to me. Glad other people enjoyed it, because it's definitely not bad. It just didn't hit for me.
Colm Meaney got really lucky when was cast on TNG. The actor's arc parallels what happened with his character. An everyman schmo extra actor who just did the best he did with what he had and was liked by the powers that be and rode it to become one of the greats.
I’d love to see a piece on Legate Damar. His screen time with Weyoun was some of the most entertaining Star Trek of all time.
Its kind a sad that none of the main characters/heroes that we love. Could never find a solid relationship or were probably never meant to have a significant other. That's why I love Miles O'Brien relationship between him and Keiko. It was the best representation of most relationships between spouses. Plus his raport between him and Julian was pretty damn good.
Indeed no secret to anyone. The reason Miles O'Brien is a fan favorite is that he is just us, the audience, a hard working, diligent everyday, family man.
And the fact he went from a mere extra actor and background character to one of the most beloved actors and characters from the entire franchise makes us like him even more.
His marital problems, his hate for the Cardassians, his guilty for killing, his initial loath and later friendship with Bashir, everything was brilliantly written, and superbly played by Colm.
Also, I believe that his uniform change from red to gold was addressed (in the canon or on the expanded universe, not sure) as his own request of being decommissioned from his bridge position to take a more "hands-on" position as uncommissioned engineering officer.
Thought I’d just let you know, Colm is pronounced Colum. Colm Meaney is a bit of a hero of mine. Enjoyed the video too
I love the O'Brien and Bashir friendship. I.M.O one of the funniest scenes was when Nog let someone borrow the captains desk. Kira: "That's not the captains desk!"...Bashir: "He's going to paint it"! 😂
1:20 Not to be "that guy", but Aloysius is actually pronounced "Allo-ish-us".
Miles is the guy who keeps the wheels turning behind the scenes. A part of the team, but not the person you meet/see when you walk in. He is the person who's presence you feel everywhere without knowing it.
thank you. Miles has always been one of my favorite characters
Poor Molly O'Brien. At some point both of her parents were mind-controlled by aliens who then threatened her life.
I like that there was at least an "everyman" character that wasn't an academy graduate to show more range in members of Starfleet. More proof that DS9 and it's creative team were the best, IMHO.
Pretty short, but it sure does get to the point! Great video as usual man!
Or just plain and simple like Garak.
@@RFEM520 You're not wrong!
"BLOODY CARDASSIANS!"
Did you ever return to Cardassia?
The worst writers of DS9 did to the character of O'Brien was to make him deal with Keiko, luckily after so much suffering they moved Keiko and the kids off the station.
Well Picard referred to him as Chief O'Brien in the last epidode of TNG.
I think one of the greatest advices I have ever heard regarding writing is. Write how you see it not how someone else does. Having input is good, but ultimately it comes from your mind not theirs.
Lol. I loved how even Miles children would bust on him about his love of Julian.
I checked out Gunship based on your answer to the music question. So glad I did. It soothes the 80’s cyberpunk fantasist in me.
So excited for your episode in The Sojourn, Rowan! The crew has sung it's praises a lot so I'm sure it'll be fantastic!
TNG's episode "The Wounded" is one of my favorites, probably in my Top Five TNG episodes. I go back to it frequently.
O'Brien actually mentions his choice of changing from the red uniform of Command to the gold of Engineering, mostly due to his experience in the war against the Cardassians. Which works for his first appearance in the pilot episode of Next Gen.
Note: Keiko was a Starfleet officer in sciences or medical on TNG, but at some point, she appears to have dropped out, probably to have her daughter, and so on DS9, she is frustrated with her options, and becomes a teacher. It would have been interesting if they'd kept her in Starfleet and she bounced around on various duties, while raising their kids, and perhaps she could have been leading more than one other teacher. She could've been given various assignments as needed, to have a non-redshirt character, or to show the heightened risk if supporting characters got threatened in an episode. It felt like she was shunted aside, as if a woman couldn't be a working mother. It could have introduced both stresses and strengths for Miles and Keiko, both struggling to get through their days, both as working officers and as a couple and as parents raising their children in a risky environment. (And be it noted, military or not, kids can and do get raised in very risky environments, whether military brats or everyday life, working class or well-off.)
She was one of the many civilian science specialists on the D.
LOVE a good synth wave. Just went and followed Gunship. I think you might love the group Dance With The Dead. They’ve got a similar 80s synth vibe with some more modern spins.
I always thought he was the same character, but unnamed until later. The changes in rank, you either have to hand-wave away, or else maybe he did something to get demoted, or something about his contract / commission changed. -- Apparently in TOS, Roddenberry had intended a loose rank structure, not a full military approach, with almost everyone graduating from Starfleet Academy, or some university, and having at least some minimum of astronaut / cosmonaut training, so that everyone graduated as an ensign (no stripe) or a lt. jr. grade or lt. sr. grade if they got an advanced (post-grad.) degree, such as doctors or some scientists and engineers. The TOS Starfleet Tech Manual (Franz Josef) shows a crew complement for the Enterprise, with "ensigns" as specialists and technicians and crewmen in the lowest positions, and lieutenants for officers and assistant chiefs of departments. This could be taken either way, as evidence for ensign as the lowest rank, or for a system for non-commissioned and enlisted officers such as we have today.
Of course now you need to update this to mention his love of sweet corn. He’s always got that stuff on his collar.
O'brien was such a welcome change from the smug self satisfaction that infected so many TNG characters.
It was nice to finally see a Star Trek Character from the Ranks, as a retired Senior NCO (Non Commission Officer) I always laughed at Star Trek depiction of the Officers being the experts, with them being able to be a Soldier one day, a Scientist the Next and a Mechanic the day after that. When anyone who has ever served will tell you that the Officers may give the Orders, but it is the NCO's that get the work done. Officers are just there to get in the way and to take the credit when the work is finished.
Lawrence Tierney
Warrant Officer (Ret)
Canadian Armed Forces.
I always justified the discrepancy between his uniform rank and being called “chief” as more of a title, like Transporter Chief or Chief Engineer, and after a while the writers just went with it.
O'Brien is a great character and it made total sense to put him on DS9.
Perfect timing! Looking forward to watching this! :) Finished DS9 for the 'who know's how many' time this evening and was thinking about what an awesome character O'Brien is, both in Next Gen and DS9. Love him, brings so much to the show :) X
Thanks for the heads up of Gunship too. Started listening to them about 60 seconds ago and them seem FREAKIN' awesome. Right up my alley !
If Star Trek was a European show, he would've been called Kilometers.
TNG and DS9 are Irish movies. The defining aspect of Irish movies are they star Colm Meaney
Does this apply to The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain, a movie about a Welsh town visited by English cartographers where every character is either Welsh or English?
He also convinced DS9 writers to include him saying "bollox" in one episode. Legend!
re: The Sojourn, Rowan, you were right it was a good episode
DS9 is easily not only my favorite Trek, it’s one of my favorites of all TV. Miles is a good share of the reasons. I remember that Colm wanted a larger role on TNG. Worf and Geordi weren’t going anywhere, so security chief and chief engineer were out. When DS9 cane around and they worked out that he’d become Chief. It was a risk since if DS9 didn’t work out it might have been hard to return him to the Enterprise. Fortunately, partly due to Miles himself, it was a smash hit
0:12 Yes! The best part of the end of that episode.
I just rewatched STNG... I am pretty sure they called him Lieutenant in the Far Point episodes. Can't remember which one. They called him Chief, but he was always treated as an officer would be treated, with the apparent same responsibilities etc... I also heard somewhere he requested his uniform on DS9 be cut in a way he could roll up his sleeves, they are almost always up in the show...to show he was a "workin man".
Tuvok's rank also seems to bounce around from episode to episode...between Lt Cmdr and Lt
O'Brien does some incredible things as chief engineer on a refitted cardassian space station. He figures out how to transport between universes, well his counterpart does.
But he is just as impressive as any other chief engineer.
Just wanna say that M O'B rules.
The lore that I heard, is the writers saying : Hey that Colm guy is a good actor, let's write things for him! And the crew being like : Hey that Colm guy is really nice and fun. And the rest is the most important person in history.
All hail O’Brian!
Dunno why but i always enjoyed seeing Miles and that he moved, like Worf - trough the ranks ships and seasons - maybe because im also an electromechanical enginee? - it took me a while to understand what a NCO is because in switzerland with our militia system we have by that definition basically ONLY NCO's in our army, everybody starts out as a NCO and some very few that choose to join the prof. Military will be "Commissioned Officers" as they then go trough the additional training. Since Starfleet mostly only has CO's having a guy that is quick in adapting to new situations bounce arround as a nco... why not? If i was a captain and i had a person in my crew that could fill various key roles with a high reliability, i would always choose him to fill those roles unless i had someone dedicated.
All lover’s of O Brien should check out a Facebook group “Roddy Doyle’s Star Trek”, which takes traits of the characters Meaney played in adaptations of that novelists works, and transposes them into the Star Trek setting.
O`Brian was so Irish. I loved finally seeing Irish in space, that were not drunk or with terrible accents.
I think Colm Meaney is the best actor that ever appeared in Trek (and yes, I am including Christopher Plummer and Whoopi Goldberg in that list). Apart from O'Brien, his performance in "The Snapper" is one of the finest things I have ever seen.
They never figured out O’Brien’s rank insignia in TNG. He was usually a lieutenant in TNG, according to his pips.
I always assumed he got a field commission while on the enterprise but that was retracted from what ever Thomas Riker mentioned in DS9
This led to O’Brian eventually leaving the enterprise. My guess-Riker hit on Keiko and O’Brian punched the man.
I think the problem was that in Roddenberry's vision Next Gen Starfleet was all officers... and then somebody realised that a crew of 500 officers is a bit pointless so O'Brien ended up as "Other Ranks". By the end of DS9 though it's clear that he's something analogous to a Commonwealth Warrant Officer Class One, he doesn't have a commission but his effective rank is equivalent to a lieutenant or Lt. Cdr.
@@stamfordly6463 I believe he's a Master Chief Petty Officer by the end of the series. He seems to be the senior most NCO on DS9.
Star Trek seems to (mostly) use US military ranks.
Did you ever notice that whenever there was a TNG movie, writers would have elaborate explanations to justify Worfs presence but not O'Brien's? Not only was he excluded but nobody would even ask Worf how O'Brien was doing or tell him I said"hello". The Defiant, EMH and Janeway were allowed cameos in a TNG movie but Miles burned every bridge apparently on the enterprise.
That's the actor's doing, apparently he wanted to keep his Trek career separate from his movie career. So O'Brien never appeared in the TNG films, even when it would have made perfect thematic or narrative sense....
LOVE Gunship - especially The Mountain :-)
That's hilarious, it took me a minute to realize that the video wasn't about Data's brother!
I agree.
O'Brian and Bashir friendship was the best.
Ngl but a spin off Prequel showing O'Brien's experiences during the Federation Cardassian war would be amazing
I think that Miles is the Star Trek character that I would get along best with ... probably because I am most like Julian (but without all that genetically engineered super human stuff).
Crow: How much Brien is in this?
Tom: Miles o'Brien!
And then when I saw him in “Get him to the Greek”, it shattered everything
In Star Trek history we always love the engineers from the original series to Deep Space Nine to I believe even discovery
@10:30 when you start addressing the question of 'pleasing the fans' there's a big difference between worrying about constant fan service which would be terrible for everyone involved and 'writing for yourself' when you're working on someone else's property. It takes a special kind of narcissist to think their pet idea is worth trading the characters and the impact of the story that came before them. I don't know many who think freeing the horse cats was a good trade for the arcs of Anakin and Luke, but that's about the most valuable thing we got out of that new trilogy.
O'Brien was an awesome character. I hated how the writers got their jollies out of constantly putting him through the ringer. The B5 writers did the same thing to Garibaldi.
I wonder, was O'Brian the inspiration for Chief Tyrol in the BSG rebooted series?
He was a good man, a union man. CHIEF MILES FOOKIN O'BRIEN
Just how many traumatic ptsd inducing experiences did O’Brien go through
He is the most likable charakter in ALL of Star Trek. He deserved better than be tormented by each and everyone else. Especially by his wife.
Great video about a great character
Miles Stan for life, thanks for the video.
It's hilarious that the actor that played o'brien and the actress who played keiko hated each other guys lol
I love Gunship too! They are awesome. So glad to find a fellow fan! 😎
I love how you didn’t read *any* of the quotes correctly word for word 😅
0:50 - the different uniforms can be explained with the Season 2 color swaps done on Geordi and Worf. The different rank insignia could have just as well been due to starfleet not having thought through enlisted ranks with their overabundance of officers.
Wouldn't it be nice too get him back, perhaps running DS9 or something?
I've always thought one of STar Treks failings was every one is an officer. That just cannot work. One element of why I liked the movies is the Enlisted crew members on set. Granted it turns out most of those wer officers. Which is dumb, but they still had them.
Anytime I hit something out of frustration to make it work and my wife says that's not gonna work, I show her the scene where Miles hits the top of some computer in DS9 and it magically starts working.
O’Brian & Bashir were not equals. Bashir was a ranking officer and could and did give O’Brian orders.
Gunship is a great shoutout! Nice!
Alternate title: ''Why Miles O'Brien Is Awesome''
Omg i read this as Love Evolution and i was like WHAT.
O'Brien ... the Only Enlisted Man in Star Fleet!
Re: regular friendship on Star Trek - they must have forgotten Geordi and Data.
When I watched TNG as a teenager, I disliked the chief, finding him quite boring. Now that I turned 40, and watch TNG on bluray, I am now appreciating the character.
I can picture Al Bundy playing Miles O'Brien
Smiles O'Byron always was my favourite. ofc i have ultrasafe transporter to toshley's station.
Hey we have Rabbi Yossel Koslov (Theodore Bikel) playing worf father I never noticed that till just now
Miles "can I have food" obrien