Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Miles O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Male |
| Home planet: | Earth |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | USS Rutledge tactical officer USS Enterprise-D helmsman, transporter chief Deep Space Nine chief of operations USS Defiant chief engineer Starfleet Academy instructor |
| Rank: | Senior Chief Petty Officer |
| Portrayed by: | Colm Meaney |
Senior Chief Petty Officer Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe. He first appears as a flight control officer in Star Trek: The Next Generation's pilot episode. He subsequently appears as a transporter operator in TNG and as Deep Space Nine's chief of operations in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In DS9's finale, O'Brien is set to leave the station to teach at Starfleet Academy.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
In the DS9 episode "Bar Association", O'Brien jokingly claims to be a direct descendant of Irish High King Brian Boru. Later in that episode, he speaks more seriously of ancestor Sean Aloysius O'Brien, who participated in the Coal Strike of 1902 in Pennsylvania, and was shot, then dumped into the Allegheny River.
Miles O'Brien was born in Killarney, Ireland, Earth in September 2328.[1] His father, Michael O'Brien, wanted him to be a cellist, and he was accepted to the Aldebaran Music Academy (DS9: "Shadowplay"). However, a few days before he was scheduled to start classes there, he joined Starfleet.
"The Wounded" establishes that O'Brien served as tactical officer aboard the USS Rutledge and that he was emotionally scarred by the Cardassians' massacre of hundreds of civilians on Setlik III.
O'Brien's first appearance is as the battle bridge flight controller in TNG's pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint". In almost all of his subsequent TNG appearances, however, he is a transporter operator. One exception is "Redemption, Part II" (TNG), in which he serves as tactical officer in Worf's absence.
The O'Brien character transfers from the Enterprise to Deep Space Nine in DS9's pilot, "Emissary", to serve as the station's chief of operations. He simultaneously works as chief engineer aboard the USS Defiant, which is assigned to Deep Space Nine starting with "The Search" (DS9).
Miles marries Keiko Ishikawa aboard the Enterprise in "Data's Day" (TNG). They have a daughter, Molly, who is delivered by Worf in "Disaster" (TNG). After the family's relocation to Deep Space 9, the O'Briens have a son, Kirayoshi, delivered by emergency surrogate Kira Nerys in "The Begotten" (DS9).
In "Hard Time" (DS9), O'Brien is convicted of espionage on Argrathl and sentenced to a 20-year simulated incarceration, compressed within his mind. In the simulation, a man named "Ee'char" was his cellmate, and eventual friend. O'Brien killed Ee'char in a fit of rage thinking that Ee'char was hiding food from him. However, O'Brien later realized that Ee'char had been planning to share it with him. When O'Brien returns to DS9, he feels such intense guilt that he nearly attempts suicide. Julian Bashir intervenes and arranges for O'Brien to receive counseling.
Although Bashir initially irritates O'Brien, the two characters eventually become best friends. In particular, they frequently play darts and fight historical battles on the holodeck.
At the end of Deep Space Nine, O'Brien and his family depart the station to move back to Earth, where Miles is to serve as an engineering professor at Starfleet Academy.
[edit] Mirror Universe and alternate versions
In the DS9 episode "Whispers", O'Brien was replaced by a clone created for the purpose of assassinating a diplomatic party. This was not revealed until the end of the episode, however, and the clone was unaware of his true purpose and believed that the entire crew was conspiring against him as they tried to keep him away from the delegation. The episode was shown mostly from the clone's perspective, and the real O'Brien did not appear until the clone was dying after being shot.
In "Crossover", Julian Bashir encounters a Mirror Universe version of Miles O'Brien working as a Terran slave in Terok Nor's ore processing facility. The mirror Benjamin Sisko does not like the name "Miles", so he refers to mirror O'Brien as "Smiley". Mirror O'Brien helps Bashir and Kira escape from their mirror universe captors, and Mirror Sisko subsequently invites "Smiley" to join his crew. In future DS9 Mirror Universe-related episodes ("Through the Looking Glass", "Shattered Mirror", "The Emperor's New Cloak"), O'Brien and Bashir's Mirror Universe counterpart are leaders of a Terran resistance that eventually captures Terok Nor and builds their own version of the USS Defiant.
In "Visionary" (DS9), O'Brien has an accident in which he is poisoned by radiation and experiences several time shifts. He witnesses various future events, including the station's destruction, five hours before they happen. To find out exactly what is happening, and to save the station, he deliberately subjects himself to more radiation to time shift to the future. However, the radiation kills him, and his future counterpart travels to the past to inform the crew of a nearby cloaked Romulan warbird planning to destroy the station.
[edit] Rank
O'Brien's exact rank is ambiguous for most of the character's existence. At various points in TNG, he wears black silver-rimmed insignia (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"), black gold-rimmed insignia (DS9: "Emissary"), or lieutenant insignia ("Redemption, Part II"). Sergey Rozhenko calls him an enlisted crewman in "Family" (TNG). Eventually, O'Brien receives a distinct senior chief petty officer's insignia and his rank is emphatically identified in "Hippocratic Oath" (DS9).
[edit] Trivia
- O'Brien is the only character who appears in both TNG's and DS9's series premieres and series finales.
- O'Brien keeps a pet spider named Christina, which he found on Titus IV (TNG: "Realm of Fear").
- O'Brien likes to drink Jamaican blended coffee, double strong double sweet.
- A running gag which was observed during the run of DS9[2] was that O'Brien would be put into an episode that involved severe anguish for him almost once a season. Episodes such as "Visionary" and "Hard Time" are cited among examples of this.
[edit] References
- ^ Okuda, Michael & Denise, Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future New York: Bantam Books (1996): Appendix B
- ^ Altman, Mark A. and Gross, Edward. Trek Navigator. 1998
[edit] External links
- Miles O'Brien article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- StarTrek.com: Miles O'Brien
| Regular characters on Star Trek | |||
| The Original Series | Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand | ||
| Animated Series | Arex | M'Ress | ||
| The Next Generation | Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | Pulaski | ||
| Deep Space Nine | B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn | ||
| Voyager | Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes | ||
| Enterprise | Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather | ||
