Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
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| Miles O'Brien | |
 Miles Edward O'Brien |
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| Species | Human |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Home planet | Earth |
| Affiliation | Starfleet |
| Posting | USS Rutledge tactical officer USS Enterprise-D transporter chief Deep Space Nine chief of operations USS Defiant chief engineer Starfleet Academy instructor |
| Rank | Senior Chief Petty Officer |
| Portrayed by | Colm Meaney |
Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before DS9, he appeared as a recurring character in Star Trek: The Next Generation. O'Brien is the only major Star Trek character who is Irish.
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[edit] Back story
The back story of the character states that Miles O'Brien was born in Killarney, Ireland, Earth in September 2328.[1] His father, Michael O'Brien, wanted him to play the cello, so he pursued this and was eventually accepted into the Aldebaran Music Academy (revealed in DS9 episode "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.
In the DS9 episode "Bar Association", O'Brien jokingly claims to be a direct descendant of real-life Irish High King Brian Boru (according to Irish tradition, all people with the surname "O'Brien" are descendants thereof). Later, he speaks more seriously of fictional ancestor Sean Aloysius O'Brien, who participated in the Coal Strike of 1902 in Pennsylvania, and was shot, then dumped into the Allegheny River.
[edit] Story on The Next Generation
O'Brien's first appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation is as the battle bridge flight controller in The Next Generation premiere episode "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.
O'Brien marries Keiko Ishikawa aboard the USS Enterprise-D in the TNG episode "Data's Day". They have a daughter, Molly, who is delivered by Worf in "Disaster". A few years after Miles is transferred to DS9, they have a son, Kirayoshi, delivered by surrogate Kira Nerys in episode "The Begotten".
[edit] Story on Deep Space Nine
The character of Miles O'Brien was transplanted from TNG to DS9 at the beginning of the latter show. In the story, Miles O'Brien transfers from the Enterprise-D to Deep Space Nine, in the DS9 premiere episode "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 in the episode "The Search".
In "Hard Time" (DS9), O'Brien is convicted of espionage on Argratha and sentenced to a 20-year simulated incarceration, compressed within his mind. In the simulation, a man named "Ee'char" is his cellmate, and eventual friend. O'Brien kills Ee'char in a fit of rage, thinking that Ee'char was hiding food from him. However, O'Brien later realizes 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 in the holosuites.
In the DS9 episode "Whispers", O'Brien is replaced by a clone created for the purpose of assassinating a diplomat. The clone is unaware of his true purpose and believes that the entire DS9 crew is conspiring against him as they try to keep him away from the delegation. The episode is shown mostly from the clone's perspective, and the real O'Brien does not appear until the clone is 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 counterparts 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 it happens. 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.
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] Rank
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 a Chief Petty Officer 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] References
- ^ Okuda, Michael & Denise, Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future New York: Bantam Books (1996): Appendix B
[edit] External links
- Miles O'Brien article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- StarTrek.com: Miles O'Brien
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