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sshbpodcast · 1 month

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Character Spotlight: Miles O’Brien

By Ames

Though he was introduced in The Next Generation (in the pilot episode, no less!), Miles Edward O’Brien doesn’t really get to stretch his legs until he gets promoted to chief engineer in Deep Space Nine. Not much room in the transporter room, I’m afraid. As Star Trek’s most epitomic everyman, the chief isn’t some magic-powered alien or augmented human or even a pinnacle of futuristic ethics. Hell, it’s his flaws that make him more relatable than most other characters in the franchise, and he remains one of the most popular crewmembers all around!

Is it Colm Meaney’s approachable yet nuanced performance? Is it the strength of the writing of DS9? Or do we just love watching a grown man suffer in the way only O’Brien can? Find out below as your hosts of A Star to Steer Her By shine this week’s spotlight on the chief, and listen to this week’s banter over on the podcast (beam over to 55:13). Jaysus!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

They say you will be doing this manually, sir. No automation. O’Brien shows up in the first TNG episode, “Encounter at Farpoint,” though he doesn’t get a name yet. And even though Picard orders Riker to reattach the saucer section as a test of his skills, frankly O’Brien does almost all of the work. Riker really only tells O’Brien to reattach the two sections and he just goes and does it while Riker gets all the credit. No respect, I tell ya!

The minstrel boy to the war has gone For most of TNG, O’Brien is stuck in the transporter room, but he gets to use those abilities to beam over to the Phoenix in “The Wounded”! Even through shields! Now that’s impressive on its own, but there’s more. Despite his predilection towards hating the spoonheads, he talks Captain Maxwell out of destroying a Cardassian supply vessel and surely inciting another war.

I’ve been doing this for twenty-two years and I haven’t lost anybody yet One more great use of transporter chief O’Brien comes when Barclay is exhibiting transporterphobia in “Realm of Fear.” Though most of the crew view Barclay’s eccentricities as irrational, O’Brien remains understanding and patient throughout, and works with Reg to figure out what’s really going on in the pattern buffer and save the crewmen trapped in there.

Now you are Tosk as well, O’Brien Our overall favorite Miles moment from the show is probably how he stands up for Tosk in “Captive Pursuit” and helps him escape from his hunters. In one of our best examples showcasing when it’s a good idea to disobey the Prime Directive, O’Brien makes a statement by taking off his combadge to go do what’s right, saving the life of a subjugated person.

I’ve met some Cardassians I didn’t like, and I’ve met some I did O’Brien starts off “Cardassians” being racist about letting Rugal play with Molly or share their table, but it’s commendable how he warms up to the boy. They find common ground. Granted, it’s in how much they hate Cardassia, but it’s something. But it’s truly a great moment when he bonds with Rugal: someone who’s had no choice in life and whose future is being decided for him.

I want to die on my feet Here’s a quick badass moment from O’Brien. When he’s already dying from the bioweapon in “Armageddon Game” and the T'Lani and the Kelleruns are about the execute him to get rid of all people with knowledge of the harvesters, Miles requests that they allow him the dignity of dying on his feet instead of slumped in his own filth. There’s something powerful about that.

He’s their commander. They trusted him. He can’t leave them. This one’s controversial since “Hippocratic Oath” is so multifaceted in a lot of ways. Last time, we commended Julian for his humanitarian (Jem’Hadaritarian?) attempts to save our Dominion enemies from their ketracel-white addiction. Well, O’Brien is there to save Bashir from himself when the doctor’s attempts fail and a bunch of rabid alien soldiers are ready to tear the humans apart.

That boy’s life is in our hands and I won’t let anybody give up on him O’Brien’s friendship with Quique Muniz culminates in some beautiful scenes in “The Ship.” Muniz is dying a whole lot and O’Brien never gives up on him, even battling (verbally and physically) with Worf over how to handle his approaching death. And when the inevitable does occur, it’s all the more heartbreaking when Worf joins in the ritual ak’voh.

This is how an engineer plays kotra You don’t see a lot of scenes between Garak and O’Brien throughout the show. Now some of that is probably that they don’t like sharing Julian’s attention, but the rest is that there’s no trust between the Cardassian spy and the hero of Setlik Three. We get to see them stand off in “Empok Nor” and O’Brien impresses by outsmarting the homicidal Garak using his engineering skills!

Good cat, Chester! Even when infiltrating the Orion Syndicate (for reasons), O’Brien tries to do the right thing. He tries to tip Bilby off in “Honor Among Thieves” when he has entrapped him, though that does neither of them any good. But even more importantly, Miles agrees to take in Chester, who is a pretty cat and a good cat, and your SSHB hosts here have to give him credit for that.

The cause of death was the Orion Syndicate In fact, O’Brien was so dedicated to his sorta father figure that when Bilby’s widow has vanished in “Prodigal Daughter,” he goes looking for her. Without asking or informing anyone, which probably wasn’t the brightest move, but this is Miles we’re talking about. And without him, we’d never have solved her murder case at the hands of Ezri’s messed up family’s business.

You gotta friend in me Just as we did in the Julian spotlight, we’ve got to close out on O’Brien’s sweet friendship with the good doctor. Bashir, who never looks before he leaps, frequently finds himself needing the constant support and level head of someone like Miles when he does asinine things like leap into Sloan’s head in “Extreme Measures,” even when it’s a bad idea, as we've discussed before.

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Worst moments

Don’t phaser the messenger I’ll avoid citing marriage to Keiko as a Worst Moment because that’s mean, but the way they got married in “Data’s Day” was painful to watch. The audience’s first impression of their relationship is one in which both parties refuse to communicate over something as important as their marriage, and make Data (of all people!) act as their middleman. What a terrible start!

Sweetheart, I’m not a fish Don’t worry, there’s more to drag about how Miles and Keiko’s relationship was depicted in TNG. In the very next episode, “The Wounded,” we see just how they clearly didn’t know each other before deciding to get hitched. Neither likes how each other eats. Guys, you can hate each other’s food because, ya know what, food replicators exist! Order your own potato casserole!

I hate what I became because of you We give Miles a lot of grief on the podcast for his systematic racism. Which is fair – he certainly is quick to hate on other races on occasion. We see this explored interestingly in “The Wounded,” for which we already gave him credit for transcending his racism above, but not before he snaps at Daro and blames the Cardassians for Maxwell’s actions before knowing if he was even right or not.

Grapevine says Chief O’Brien and the missus are having problems But let’s move on to when Miles makes it to the main credits in DS9. As expected, we’re starting off with more Keiko drama. We learn in “A Man Alone” that Keiko was none too pleased about being uprooted (cuz she’s a botanist, get it?) from the Enterprise, and they argue about it publicly at Quark’s. In front of everyone. Do they never communicate before major life changes?

I suppose you’d be happier if I was miserable? I’m sorry that there’s more Keiko drama to include. I didn’t do this on purpose. In “Fascination,” Keiko is finally doing actual botany work and feeling useful doing a long term study on Bajor, and yet she and Miles end up fighting (again, in the middle of Quark’s!) about extending her assignment. And to make matters worse, Miles insinuates she’s having an affair! Dude! Stop.

They call me Smiley Smiley O’Brien is almost indistinguishable from our universe’s Miles (they’re both inherently good guys who suffer enormously), so I’d say it’s safe to include kidnapping Sisko in “Through the Looking Glass” and coercing him into pretending to be mirror Sisko on the naughty list. What a bold move! The Terran Resistance is lucky to have him even if we the audience are getting sick of mirror land.

They’re killers. That’s all they know how to do. Jake may have included saving Dr. Bashir in “Hippocratic Oath” on his Best Moments list, but we’ve also got to reprimand O’Brien for sabotaging Julian’s attempt to cure the Jem’Hadars’ addiction. It’s not just in order to save his friend’s life. Miles states up and down that Goran’Agar is not to be trusted because he’s a Jem’Hadar and starts spewing all the old propaganda again, like a racist.

Just leave a Yelp review, dude While it’s always sadistically fun to watch O’Brien suffer (Colm Meaney does it so well!), it’s also rough to see just how poorly he recovers in an episode like “Hard Time.” Miles is suffering hard from PTSD and guilt and he takes it by attacking Quark. Even worse, he nearly beats Molly when she’s annoying him, which is shocking coming from Miles. Please, seek professional help.

All the time you were holding out on me Later in “Hard Time,” we learn what was on Miles’s conscience the whole time. While in his memory jail, he gets paranoid enough of his cellmate Ee’Char that he murders him in cold blood over a couple orts of food that Ee’Char wasn’t even hoarding for himself. Even though none of it was real, the knowledge that Miles could be pushed to kill an innocent man is a huge blow for him.

It gets worse. There’s a view. We ragged on this plotline in the Kira spotlight as well, but there’s enough discomfort to go around. Those weird, unnecessary feelings Miles develops for a pregnant Kira in “Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places” are just a bad plot device. It feels forced to make two people get romantically awkward just because they’re in proximity with each other. Just lazy.

There’s no hiding from the Syndicate Does it make a ton of sense to force O’Brien to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate in “Honor Among Thieves”? Especially in the middle of the Dominion War? Maybe not, but he does a decent job winning the trust of Liam Bilby using his engineering skills and general good nature. In fact, he does such a good job that he certainly gets Bilby killed in Starfleet’s scheme, like a little rat.

Molly and the Hendersons It is just deplorable how “Time’s Orphan” treats the developmentally stunted Molly O’Brien, and the most shame belongs to Miles and Keiko. What parent would give up on their trauma-ridden child after just a few days and release her into the dangerous wild to live like an animal? I am appalled that not once did anyone float another option to aid in Molly’s rehabilitation, but even more appalled that getting rid of her was the proposed solution.

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And that’s the way the Alamo crumbles. Keep your eyes here for more character spotlights! DS9 certainly has a lot more to cover, so make sure you’re subscribed to our Tumblr, follow along with us on the podcast over on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts, sing us an Irish ballad on Facebook and Twitter, and replicate up a nice potato casserole!

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sshbpodcast · 2 months

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Character Spotlight: Julian Bashir

By Ames

We’re practicing some real frontier medicine this week on A Star to Steer Her By as we shine our spotlight on Dr. Julian Bashir. He starts off the show as kind of a wide-eyed tactless prig – but he’s cute, so we can forgive him a little – and grows into a sort of tempered, moralistic prig you can’t help but want to play games on the holodeck with. When he’s not creeping on women, anyway, which he does. A lot.

So grab your racquetball racquet, work on your best totally-not-really-Bond voice, and get ready to walk the thin line between medical ethics and medical malpractice with us! Scroll on below for our best and worst moments from our dear doctor, listen to our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:00:03), and learn the difference between a preganglionic fiber for a postganglionic nerve.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

I’m not going to let you die Having the symbiont removed is fatal to a Trill host, but Julian keeps Jadzia alive after Verad steals the Dax symbiont in “Invasive Procedures.” It’s a good moment for the good doctor, especially considering he mostly creeped on Jadzia up to this point, to see him stand up to a Klingon in order to care for her and to work with Quark on a scheme to get the symbiont back!

My best friend, Elim What this constantly humping puppy really needed early in the show was someone to temper his boundless enthusiasm, and that person was the enigmatic and utterly captivating Garak. So when Garak is in danger of dying due to his brain implant in “The Wire,” Bashir is the loyal friend who goes so far as to track down Enabran Tain to find a way to save his book club buddy.

He may look like Bareil, he may even talk like Bareil, but he won’t be Bareil The most important character trait of Dr. Bashir – and any Starfleet doctor, for that matter – is his unwavering moralistic attitude. We get a good taste of this in “Life Support” when he refuses to turn Bareil into a Frankenstein’s monster no matter how much Kira wanted him to. Bashir attests that there would be no more humanity (Bajoranity?) left and he stands by that.

First, do no harm… More of those morals are on display in “Hippocratic Oath” when First Goran’Agar asks Bashir to help cure the Jem’Hadar of their addiction to ketracel white. Julian sees not only how it could benefit the Federation to separate the Jem’Hadar from the Dominion, but also how it could benefit this whole race of real people who are suffering, and that is commendable.

And it would be less awkward if you had a chaperone Of course, Julian is more than just a genius doctor. He’s also part of a well-oiled team, and his relationships are at the core of any character. In “Rejoined,” Julian agrees without question to chaperone Jadzia and Lenara’s date because both Trills are afraid of the feelings that might come out if left alone together, and Julian is happy to act as wingman for his friend.

A year ago, I would’ve thought you were just trying to be a hero Starting Bashir off as such a naive, self-absorbed character gave him room to develop and it’s quite amazing to watch how his character grows over the seasons. By the time we get to season 7’s “Starship Down,” he’s able to reflect on how far he’s come when his first impulse is to keeping Jadzia warm when they’re stuck in a closet and not to feel her up instead.

A Blight-free baby It’s clear just how much Julian has matured as a character in “The Quickening.” Not only does he work tirelessly to try to cure the Teplan of the Blight and succeed in at least creating a vaccine to protect the next generation, but we see him facing failure for the first time (that he’d admit) when he can’t save Ekoria, something we don’t see a lot from TV characters of this era.

Surgery Under Fire Here’s an episode which starts with Bashir being his boastful, blathering self, then shifts abruptly to throwing him into the high-stress role of combat medic, all while Jake Sisko reports on the subject. The strength of “...Nor the Battle to the Strong” is portraying the different sides of Bashir, and the one that tries his hardest to protect Jake during a siege shines through the shelling.

What was one is now two While this episode is one of our least favorites – especially for Worf and Jadzia! – Julian actually comes across as progressive and supportive in “Let He Who Is Without Sin.” He and Leeta are vacationing on Risa, ostensibly to participate in the Rite of Separation, which looks to be a very adult, empathetic, and consensual way to break up with no bad feelings. My, how he’s grown!

It’s either a self-sealing stem bolt or a reverse ratcheting router, I’m just not sure We always love it when the doctors on this show put their foot down and prove what a badass they are. McCoy did it with Khan. Crusher did it with worm-neck Quinn. Pulaski did it every day of her BAMF life. And Julian gets to do it when he stands up to the Jem’Hadar who’ve imprisoned him in “By Inferno's Light.” Because Starfleet CMOs are tough as nails, baby!

Playing spies and being spies are very different things Like the mirror universe, the concept of Section 31 was great once and then got twisted and overused until we were rather sick of it. But when it was introduced in “Inquisition,” Section 31 was the bomb! And Julian was all the more brilliant for figuring out Luther Sloan’s layers of ruse. Even though being a spy should be a dream come true, he somehow resists the urge to join up.

It’s just that I like you a bit more. See? There, I’ve admitted it. No Bashir list would be complete without his adorable friendship with Miles O’Brien, encapsulated in all its glory in their bromance scenes in “Extreme Measures.” When Julian admits to Miles how much he loves him when they think they’re on the brink of dying, it’s just the sweetest thing. But then they go do something stupid, which you’ll see shortly…

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Worst moments

Plug that thing into your own warp core If you hadn’t seen any of Deep Space Nine before Bashir’s guest appearance on TNG in the episode “Birthright,” he’d seem like kind of a nut. This weirdo comes on board the Enterprise with some mystery tech that he promptly starts hooking up to the ship, pointing at everyone’s favorite android, and causing general chaos. Who is this dingbat and what is he doing on my show?

His clone gained consciousness and began a new life DS9’s characters seem more like the “let’s see what happens” types than those on other shows, and Bashir is just as culpable as anyone else (except maybe Sisko, who’s always a wild card). In “A Man Alone” he finds some goo lying around and decides (without asking anyone) to grow it into a fully sapient clone with absolutely no repercussions. This never comes up again. Julian is basically Dr. Frankenstein.

Not necessary, but not forbidden either It is uncomfortable how much Julian follows Jadzia around like a pervert, constantly making little comments (“I can think of better ways of keeping you up,” he says, like a creep) even though she’s expressed she has no interest in him. And even though it allows him to witness her kidnapping in “Dax,” I find it reprehensible for him to stalk her on her way home after she told him not to.

DS9 is not ADA-compliant The first time Bashir initiates a squicky relationship with a patient is in “Melora,” and it won’t be the last. Melora Pazlar is a fiercely independent Enaran, whose physiology is better suited to low-gravity worlds, and Julian tries to “fix” her to be more suitable to Earth gravity. But even grosser, he starts dating his patient, which would get his license taken away in today’s practices.

It’s a five-thousand-year-old battle warm-up For the first couple of seasons, Bashir is so insufferable that all the other characters complain whenever they are forced to spend time with him. And one of his most annoying displays of self aggrandizement comes in “Rivals.” Watching him showing off his exercises before destroying O’Brien in racquetball is just obnoxious as hell. It is hard to like this guy when he’s like that.

Life begins at thirty Clearly turning thirty makes you over the hill, even though in this advanced future, people are living in their hundreds. This is mostly a running gag on the podcast, but it is born out of Julian’s actual feelings in “Distant Voices” and he is such a little twerp about turning thirty that he comes off as even more obnoxious than he did when wrecking O’Brien in racquetball!

He’ll know he’s a Klingon You know how we gave Julian credit for seeing the line where to stop messing with Bareil’s brain in “Life Support”? Well he takes a dump on that line in “Sons of Mogh.” We gave Worf his share of the blame for eschewing familial responsibility for his brother, and Jadzia for coming up with the nonconsensual plan to wipe Kurn’s memory, and now we have to blame Bashir for carrying it out despite the poor ethics involved.

The no-win scenario Based on the projections of the mutants (sorry: augmented people) in “Statistical Probabilities,” Bashir straight up recommends to Starfleet that they surrender in the Dominion War to end the casualties. Come on, man! Don’t you know that “nobody can guarantee what’s going to happen tomorrow, not even an admiral from the future”? And who in their right mind would listen to Jack?

Turn that no into a yes Vic Fontaine is an incredibly polarizing character, but in “His Way,” he is problematic as hell. He psychically reads people’s circumstances, he interrupts people at work, he lies to both Kira and Odo, he won’t stop singing. And we have Julian to thank for forcing his character down our throats in this deeply uncomfortable episode that fails at being romantic and comes across as simply toxic. Hey, just like Bashir sometimes!

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti NO If Julian’s relationship with Melora made us uncomfortable because of the inherent power dynamic, get ready to be downright disgusted by what he does to Serena Douglass in “Chrysalis.” The augmented girl also becomes his conquest, both as a woman he can “fix” and as one he can woo. Her ability to consent in either case is questionable at best and utterly illegal at most.

Adding brain insult to brain injury All the close male friendship scenes in the world couldn’t negate the upsetting character assassination in “Extreme Measures.” How Bashir is capable of inflicting the kind of suffering he does on Sloan negates pretty much any accolades we gave him earlier for his sense of morals. This is simply despicable behavior that Bashir should never have even considered.

Ezri, why are you avoiding me? After we gave Ezri shit for falling for Julian last week, I went and reacquainted myself with all their scenes together in season 7, and Julian is SO gross to Ezri. He starts hitting on her in “Afterimage” when she is clearly suffering from trauma and she flatly turns him down. And then the final couple episodes of the series each have a cringey crush scene until they finally hook up in “The Dogs of War” and it just feels lazy! Bashir is rewarded for years of creeping and finally gets a girl. Not the girl, because she is NOT Jadzia. Just a girl. Vomit.

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Put it back in your pants, Julian, we’re done with this spotlight. This is what you get with such well-rounded characters like DS9 creates: people who have lots of strengths and flaws, and we’ll have even more to discuss in the coming weeks. But first, we’ve got to wrap our coverage of season 2 of Enterprise on SoundCloud, so keep your eyes here for our thoughts on that, keep paging us over on Facebook and Twitter, and tally up those racquetball points!

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