posted
Why has o'brien's rank decreased of the years. Especially when assigned to a non-federation base, where one has to pay for his meals in the promenade, has his rank decrease would result in a decrease of pay.
When he was aboard the rutledge he was the tac officer, which usually has a Lt. at that station. When at conn on the enterprise he had a rank of Midshipman (half a pip), why did he have a decrease in rank? Did something happen to him to have a decrease in rank?
Speculation:
Was he a member of the SEAL team, when he landed on Selkirk III he lost his team, court martialed, reduced in rank, only to become either a cook or yeoman or Transporter techinian. And the only person that would have him serve aboard his ship was picard (RE: "Under Siege" movie staring Steven Segal)
During his time on the enterprise, his rank steadly grew to a Lt. JG, but when transfered to DS9 he was reduced to Mid, then to Master Chief.
Did the writers mess up, when on the enterprise he was reffered to as (transporter) Chief, could they have mistaken that for his rank.
Please comment.
And why aren't there more non-comms on DS9 and Voyager?
[This message has been edited by Brown_supahero (edited November 27, 1999).]
posted
In 2378 a group of O'Brien's students travel back in time and through a series of mishaps manage to get young academy hopeful Miles O'Brien's application rejected. So O'Brien enlisted instead and was NEVER a Lt. JG. In this revised history (we saw the original timeline in TNG) he may have still been the tactical "officer" on the Rutelide. Note that titles such as Command Duty Officer, Officer in Charge etc, are misleading because on smaller commands it is often enlisted personnel filling these positions (of course New Orleans are not what I call a small ship, but that isn't cannon, the Rutelidge could have been an Oberth). I get a clear impression that TPTB see O'Brien as alway having been enlisted, so I really don't think its possible to come up with a plausible explanation for this question.
A midshipman is a rank for cadets(officer candidates) who are serving on a ship. O'Brien was not ever intended to be a midshipman. A screw up with the rank pips? Yes and no. If we believe the Ency about a half pip being the ensignia for a warrant officer then having a midshipman bear the same insingia is confusing but not inaccurate (they are roughly at the same place on the rank totem pole). The inconsistancy comes in when we consider that Miles O'Brien is for sure a (senior?)Chief Petty Officer not a Warrant. What I wonder is when O'Brien wore the half pip did the producers intend him to be a CPO and just change their mind on the insignia later (half pip makes more sense as a WO insignia) or were they going to have him be a Chief Warrant Officer at the time. I know many of my friends used to think he was a warrant officer before it was finally stated that he is a CPO, so I guess they did kind of give that impression. What do you think?
The First One
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed
Member # 35
posted
Rutelide? That has got to be the worst spelling ever. . . 8)
It's a balls-up, pure and simple. Colm Meaney was hired to play some anonymous officer (in Command red, I believe?) on the E-D. They obviously liked his work, so brought him back, but this time as a security officer. And in Operations yellow he's remained ever since, in his role as Transporter Chief and then Ops Chief on DS9.
It might just be possible that the officer on the Battle Bridge in "EatF" WASN'T Miles Edward O'Brien!
posted
O'Brien was promoted when he went to DS9... Keiko says so - she didn't want to leave DS9 when they were having problems adjusting to life on the station cause Miles would loose his promotion...
Although I was watching Dramatis Personae last night and O'Brien (the altered O'Brien) has assigned two guards to Sisko's quarters. So O'Brien must hold SOME clout within the chain of command.
------------------ "What's an Oprah" - Teal'c, Stargate-SG1
posted
O'Brien does have Ensigns serving under him despite being a CPO of some sort. But that's a chain-of-command thing, not a seniority thing. As far as seniority goes, Lt (j.g.) Bashir always outranked him, just like Lt. (j.g.) Barclay did in late TNG.
I agree with Frank that the half-pip should be considered some sort of general NCO identifier. Perhaps enlisteds in formal occasions aren't allowed to wear their chevrons so as not to have more brass on them than the officers have? (O'Brien's dress uniform in DS9 still retains the half pip after this duty uniform moves over to the chevrons) Serving aboard the Federation Flagship could then be considered "formal occasion", explaining his half-pip there. And the times we thought he wore a full pip or even two full pips were simply optical errors, lens flare and the like.
There's no doubt of it now - Paramount wants us to believe that every appearance by Colm Meaney was an appearance by Chief O'Brien, including the early TNG appearances as stand-in Conn (acceptable in the undermanned E-D of "Farpoint") and Security (acceptable in light of O'Brien's "soldier" past) guy. I have no problem with that, as long as I can pretend the full pips and twin pips were costuming errors and not an indication of officer status.
posted
There's a bigger mistake than the pips (which I also can overlook). Riker called him Lieutenant once or twice in TNG.
TPTB have said that O'Brien was always intended to be a non-com, though. As far as the Dramatis Personae situation, Sisko probably made him his aide and made it very clear that O'Brien was in charge.
As far as being in charge in Engineering on the Defiant and DS9, he is the chief engineering officer. Regardless of rank, he is in charge in that area. Just like the person in command of the ship outranks everyone else regardless of rank (except the CO and XO should they become available again). Navy guys, am I right?
posted
In "Dramatis Personae" one might also surmise that O'Brien was taken over by somebody who used to be the equivalent of a Lieutenant Commander, while the officer guards were possessed by former crewmen...
As for Riker calling O'Brien a lieutenant, he could simply be mistaken because he's used to seeing an officer of Lieutenant rank at the transporter console. It's not as if he personally knew O'Brien in those early episodes (both in 2nd season IIRC).
posted
heh heh maybe its was Riker's nickname for him - either being a complete bastard - in rubbing in the fact that O'Brien wasn't a commisioned officer or his 'bedroom name' LOL!
Riker: "Cheif! Bring in the Liutenant!"
in walks Cheif O'Brien in a complete leather starfleet uniform - including Ferengi whip... *grin*
Whats a bet that Riker never said "Liutenant" in the presence of others...
Andrew
------------------ "Its a CLOCK!" - Sisko, "Dramatis Personae" DS9.
Topic Closed
or his 'bedroom name' LOL!
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