By Ben “Zombie” Bedgood

(STAH stands for Star Trek Alien Highlight. O’Brien is not an alien. Just…read and enjoy)

Ok so this STAH article is a little different. Instead of focusing on one alien race it has to do with Chief Engineer Miles O’Brien.

For some strange reason the writers either hated the character of Miles O’Brien or hated actor Colm Meaney. During the airing of Deep Space 9 many of the fans developed the phrase of OMS (O’Brien Must Suffer. I can hear you asking yourself “O’Brien must suffer?” Yes, he must suffer.

Who is Chief Miles O’Brien? He was about the most average guy in the universe. He served aboard the Enterprise with Captain Picard. He was an engineer, a really good one in fact might have given Scotty a run for his reactors if they ever had the chance to meet. He fought in the Cardassian War for the Federation. During those battles he was just a soldier, he wasn’t a commander, wasn’t part of major engagements. He was just the most average guy you could meet who did his job and kept his head down.

After serving on board the Enterprise Miles transferred to Deep Space 9 as Chief engineer. In every season of Deep Space 9, there are at least two episodes where it seems the writers felt the need to throw horrible stuff at O’Brien. No one really knows why the writers felt the need to torment the equivalent of that nice guy who lives up the street who let you borrow his weed eater last summer. Some believe it was a matter of “God I have no idea what to do for a script this week… Let’s eff with O’Brien!”

Here’s a list of some of O’Brien’s low-lights:

• Taken captive by the Cardassians and framed for a crime
• Infected by a biological weapon, when the other person in the room was not infected.
• Tormented by an alien pretending to be Rumpelstiltskin who wanted to steal his child.
• Even on something as simple as crawling through a Jefferies tube with another person. Halfway through the tube a fire breaks out and O’Brian is the only one injured.
• There are even a number of episodes where instead of inflicting pain on O’Brien directly the writers go after his wife and child.

Once you know to look for the OMS moments in the show, you can’t miss them. For some reason the writers saw fit to subject him to every sadistic idea they came up with. Through it all he never gave up, kept doing his job and was loyal as ever to the end of the series. Chief Miles O’Brien… I salute you sir. You have been through hell and back and I would be honored to play a game of darts with you!