o'brien star trek next generation

Chief O'Brien's Tragic Star Trek Timeline Explained

Senior Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien has led a storied life. He joined Starfleet at 17 years old , and by the time he settled down to teach engineering to cadets who outranked him the second they graduated, he'd served for 30 years. This jack-of-all-trades and certified transporter wizard can beam a radioactive MacGuffin through an ion storm in the middle of a swirly blue temporal distortion, keep a mishmash of Federation, Cardassian, and Bajoran technology running for seven seasons, and is an expert in starship combat, to boot. O'Brien doesn't need to be an officer to command respect.

However, O'Brien's rise from random bridge guy to main cast member wasn't all a shiny Galaxy -class ride set to heroic music. Star Trek loves to torture its engineers, after all, and our mild-mannered transporter chief has a biography that would make a Vulcan weep. Get the violins ready because we're about to dive into Chief O'Brien's tragic Star Trek timeline.

Chief O'Brien saw the horrors of war early on

O'Brien served aboard the USS Rutledge early in his career, when Starfleet was embroiled in the Federation-Cardassian War. During the conflict, the Cardassians came to believe that the Federation had established a military base on Setlik III, and they set out to destroy it. According to Memory Alpha , all they found was a civilian colony, but they attacked anyway, killing most of the colonists.

The Rutledge was the first Federation ship to arrive, leaving O'Brien to witness the bloody aftermath firsthand as the crew worked to rescue the remaining survivors amid Cardassian patrols. O'Brien saved 13 people by repairing a field transporter and beaming everyone away, but he truly distinguished himself when he led a group of two dozen against a regiment of Cardassians, an offensive which would change him forever. As he was protecting a group of civilians, two Cardassians ambushed O'Brien. He managed to knock one out, but he had to shoot the other ... with a phaser he didn't know was set to maximum.

O'Brien had never killed anyone before and was haunted by the incident for years to come. He was decorated for his valor in the colony and became known as the " hero of Setlik III ," but he didn't relish the title, merely tolerating it. O'Brien came to resent Cardassians and would later recount that he hated the person he became after the massacre.

He had to face down his former captain

By the time of the Next Generation episode " The Wounded ," the Federation and the Cardassians have signed a peace treaty, and a newly married O'Brien is serving on the Enterprise . The transporter chief's honeymoon gets tossed on its head, however, when he learns that Captain Benjamin Maxwell, his commanding officer during the war, has gone rogue and is attacking and destroying Cardassian ships. The Enterprise is tasked with entering Cardassian space and finding Maxwell's ship, the Phoenix , and bringing it home, a mission tailor-made to dredge up painful memories.

Maxwell's wife and children were killed in the Setlik III massacre, so it doesn't take long for accusations of revenge to fly. O'Brien, however, refuses to believe that his former captain doesn't have a good reason for what he's doing, and when the Enterprise crew finally catches up with Maxwell, the captain claims that the Cardassians are preparing to start another war. Captain Picard , however, is there to stop Maxwell from kicking off a conflict and orders the rogue officer to follow the Enterprise back to Federation space.

En route, Maxwell suddenly takes the Phoenix off toward another Cardassian ship, telling Picard that he'll destroy it if the Enterprise crew doesn't board it. In a bid to keep the two captains from trading photon torpedoes, O'Brien pulls some transporter magic and beams onto the Phoenix through its shields. There, he finally manages to talk Maxwell, who'd already killed more than 600 Cardassians , into surrendering.

Chief O'Brien took his own family hostage while possessed

O'Brien leads a generally happy life on the Enterprise , but he wouldn't be O'Brien if something bad didn't happen to him every now and then. In the TNG episode " Power Play ," he's called upon for more transporter voodoo, in this case to beam a stranded away team up from a stormy planet. He succeeds in doing so ... but gets possessed, along with Data and Troi, by imprisoned alien lifeforms hoping to free their comrades.

The aliens are quite intent on moving the Enterprise into position to rescue their buddies, but they're not very patient and try to take over when they don't get what they want. They end up in Ten-Forward, the Enterprise' s fancy space pub, where they take hostages, including O'Brien's wife, Keiko, and his newborn daughter, Molly.

After the Enterprise has moved to their desired location, the aliens each take a hostage (with O'Brien choosing Keiko) to a cargo bay, where the chief's transporter knowledge will be used to beam the rest of the prisoners on board. They're ultimately foiled, and it's revealed at the end of the episode that O'Brien was conscious the entire time he was possessed but was unable to do anything as he terrorized his own wife and daughter.

He almost succumbed to a biological weapon

O'Brien receives the promotion of his life after five years aboard the Enterprise . He goes from being the "beam me up" guy to the chief of operations of Deep Space Nine, the Federation's newest secondhand outpost. Of course, taking an everyman like O'Brien and making him the chief engineer in a Star Trek series is like dressing someone in sheet metal and having him run through a thunderstorm carrying a steel pole. Case in point: the DS9 episode " Armageddon Game ."

In this outing, O'Brien and Dr. Bashir are helping two alien races, the Kelleruns and the T'Lani, destroy their stocks of biological weapons, along with all knowledge on how to create them. Neither of them were informed that this process includes killing everyone who helped to dispose of the weapons, leaving the duo quite confused when soldiers storm in and kill all the extras just as the last batch is being eradicated. O'Brien gets gassed by a bioweapon in the mayhem, but he and Bashir escape, leaving the two to sneak and fight their way to freedom as more soldiers hunt them, all while O'Brien gets sicker and sicker. Eventually cornered, Bashir and a nearly dead O'Brien end up facing an impromptu firing squad just before Sisko swoops in to save the day.

O'Brien was kidnapped and replaced by a duplicate

In literally the next episode after almost dying from an alien bioweapon, our beleaguered hero gets kidnapped. In " Whispers ," O'Brien is helping the Paradans — who've been locked in a civil war for several years — prepare for peace talks, but then the Paradan government takes him and replaces him with a replicant . This copy has all of O'Brien's knowledge and memories and doesn't know what he is ... but he's also programmed to assassinate the rebels' diplomatic delegation. The Paradan rebels, however, are wise to the government's plan and warn Deep Space Nine before Fake O'Brien returns.

When the replicant gets "home," things aren't right. No one seems to trust him, he's kept from working on anything pertaining to the peace conference, and he realizes that he's being surveilled. He concludes he's run afoul of some massive conspiracy once Sisko and Kira try to arrest him, after which the replicant escapes.

O'Brien's duplicate ends up making his way back to Parada II, where he finds Sisko and Kira meeting with the rebels, but just as he thinks he's about to stop whatever they're plotting, he gets shot. That's when it's revealed that Sisko and Kira were there to pick up the real O'Brien, who now gets to watch himself die. The replicant's last words to his real counterpart are "Keiko ... tell her I love ..." Cheerful.

This Star Trek hero was framed by the Cardassians

Chief O'Brien takes a much-needed vacation in the DS9 episode " Tribunal " ... or at least he tries to. Everything is squared away for his absence from the station, and he even crosses paths with an old friend from the Rutledge , Raymond Boone, on his way to his shuttle. But then, as he and Keiko are en route to their destination, the Cardassians show up to arrest O'Brien, stunning him in front of his wife and carting him off.

On Cardassia, O'Brien is stripped naked, has a molar pulled from his mouth, and is repeatedly prompted to confess to charges he hasn't even heard. Eventually, O'Brien learns that he's been accused of smuggling weapons to the Maquis, Federation rebels who remain hostile to the Cardassians despite the peace treaty, and that the Cardassians who arrested him found photon torpedoes in his runabout's cargo bay.

O'Brien's execution is already scheduled, and the trial is a mere formality. He's just been declared guilty when Sisko enters the courtroom with O'Brien's old buddy Boone, except it isn't Boone. The real Boone was killed years earlier and replaced by a surgically altered Cardassian spy , who recorded O'Brien's voice when they "bumped into each other" and used it to steal the photon torpedoes and frame him, all part of a Cardassian ploy to discredit the Federation and increase their own negotiating clout. O'Brien, with a dead friend to mourn, is released.

O'Brien died (but kept on serving)

For most people, watching themself die would be a life-changing, traumatic experience. For O'Brien, it's Tuesday. In " Visionary ," the chief finds himself briefly time-jumping a few hours into his future. While Dax and Dr. Bashir work to figure out the cause, a few more time shifts ensue, which give O'Brien a chance to do things like help himself in a Klingon bar fight and witness and subsequently prevent his own assassination, until a jump lands him in the morgue, standing over his own corpse. Luckily, Dr. Bashir is there to tell the chief that his autopsy revealed previously undetected damage to his nervous system due to the time shifts, information which O'Brien can relay once he shifts back.

Everything's going to be okay ... until O'Brien jumps forward one last time and finds himself piloting a shuttle full of evacuees away from Deep Space Nine as it explodes. To save the station, Bashir fashions a device that blasts O'Brien with radiation and sends him back to the future, a bit before DS9 blows. O'Brien wakes his future self up, and the two quickly figure out why the station blew when a Romulan Warbird decloaks and attacks. Dying from the radiation, O'Brien gives Future O'Brien the device so the latter can go back, warn everyone, and save the day.

He was given 20 years of prison memories

The universe's next gut punch comes in the form of the DS9 episode " Hard Time ," in which O'Brien once again finds himself arrested, this time by the Argrathi. The chief is wrongfully convicted of espionage, and his captors have a very efficient correctional system. They implant the memory of a 20-year prison sentence into O'Brien's mind before the rest of the DS9 crew even knows what happened. In real life, only a few hours have passed, but as far as O'Brien is concerned, he's just spent two decades growing old and gray in a dark cell. He had one friend while incarcerated, his cellmate Ee'char, but near the end of his sentence, after the years had frayed his mind, O'Brien killed his friend for hoarding food, only to realize that Ee'char had been saving it for both of them.

And then he's suddenly back at DS9 with 20 years of unremovable prison memories. O'Brien tries to adjust but understandably can't get over what happened. He becomes ever more irritable and violent before finally almost hitting his daughter. After this, he runs off to a cargo bay, finds a weapons locker, and takes out a phaser, ready to commit suicide. Thankfully, Bashir talks him down.

O'Brien lost another friend

As detailed by Memory Alpha , during his time on Deep Space Nine, O'Brien becomes good friends with another crewman, Enrique Muniz. Sadly, this friendship doesn't last long. In " The Ship ," Sisko, Dax, Worf, and O'Brien are surveying an alien planet, and they find a crashed Jem'Hadar vessel. With the main cast members are several other personnel, including Muniz, so you can probably guess where this is going. Another group of Jem'Hadar soon show up and destroy the DS9 crew's runabout, and our heroes are left holed up in the crashed Dominion ship.

During a firefight, Muniz receives a minor wound, which isn't enough to stop him from saving O'Brien from an infiltrating Jem'Hadar soldier. Muniz's wound won't stop bleeding, though, and it becomes apparent that the weapon that hit the crewman had poisoned him with some sort of anticoagulant. As O'Brien watches helplessly, his friend's condition deteriorates, with Muniz beginning to hallucinate that he's a child again, visiting a carnival with his dad. By the time the Defiant arrives to rescue O'Brien and the others, poor Muniz has died.

He just can't catch a break with Cardassians

Chief O'Brien simply can't catch a break when it comes to Cardassians, as seen in the episode " Empok Nor ." O'Brien, Nog, and four Starfleet crewmen are sent to the eponymous abandoned space station to salvage parts. Along for the ride is DS9's resident tailor/spy Garak, who's there to disarm booby traps. The party's presence, however, awakens two Cardassian soldiers — left to guard Empok Nor — from stasis. They've been shot full of some serious mind-altering drugs, and they waste little time destroying the intruders' ship and killing two crewmen.

Garak, a clothier with no shortage of deadly skills, goes after the soldiers while the rest try to contact DS9. He kills one but is exposed to the drug. The other soldier takes out a third crewman and is about to kill the fourth when Garak dispatches him as well ... right before slaying the final crewman himself.

Garak proceeds to go full supervillain, taking Nog hostage and taunting O'Brien about the Setlik III massacre before O'Brien agrees to fight the Cardassian hand-to-hand on the station's promenade, where Garak has hung the bodies of the dead crewmen. Garak proceeds to beat the Starfleet out of O'Brien, but the chief manages to stun him with a strategically set-down tricorder rigged to explode. O'Brien, despite presumably acquiring a whole new pile of Cardassian-based PTSD triggers, later agrees to testify that Garak wasn't responsible for his drug-fueled rampage.

O'Brien had to betray a friend

O'Brien's résumé is further expanded in the DS9 episode " Honor Among Thieves ," in which he's recruited by Starfleet Intelligence to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate, the biggest organized crime outfit in the Alpha Quadrant, to learn the identity of a mole the Syndicate has in Starfleet. Posing as a down-on-his-luck engineer named "Connelly," O'Brien utilizes his space handyman skills to earn the trust of a few Syndicate operatives, including Liam Bilby , for whom he does several jobs.

Things become more ominous when O'Brien is asked to repair several Klingon disruptors and subsequently witnesses the Syndicate meeting with a representative of the Dominion. At this point, O'Brien's assignment changes to finding out what's going down, and he discovers that the Dominion wants the Syndicate to assassinate a Klingon ambassador in order to destabilize the Federation-Klingon alliance. O'Brien passes this information on to his handler, who immediately warns the ambassador, but there's a problem. A genuine friendship has formed between O'Brien and Bilby, who's supposed to carry out the assassination and is now walking into certain death.

O'Brien visits Bilby, reveals his true identity, and warns him that the Klingons know he's coming. He urges his shocked friend to turn himself in or go into hiding, but Bilby chooses to go through with the assassination attempt and die so that the Syndicate will look after his family rather than kill them.

O'Brien nearly lost his daughter in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

It's a good thing O'Brien's a workaholic because his days off are clearly cursed. In " Time's Orphan ," he, Keiko, Molly, and his baby son, Kirayoshi, are enjoying a picnic on Golana, and everything's good until they hear Molly scream. She's wandered into a nearby cave, and O'Brien finds her hanging from the edge of a cliff, dangling over an alien time travel device. Molly falls before her father can save her, and then the portal deactivates. O'Brien and a science team get the time portal running again and beam Molly out, but they're met by a feral teenager, not an eight-year-old. Molly has been stuck in the past for ten years.

On Deep Space Nine, Molly has an understandably difficult time adjusting. Slowly, she makes progress, eventually uttering the words "mommy" and "daddy," but things take a turn for the worst when Molly freaks out and assaults several people in Quark's bar. Not wanting to see their daughter institutionalized, the O'Briens make a heart-wrenching decision — to send her back through the portal and then destroy it to keep her safe. After a last tearful goodbye, Molly tells her parents she loves them. On the other side, though, she finds herself back at the same point in time she was originally sent to when she was eight, and she sends her younger self back through the portal to her parents, an act which erases teenage Molly from existence.

Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)

Fictional character from the star trek universe / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

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Summarize this article for a 10 year old

Miles Edward O'Brien is a character in the Star Trek franchise, portrayed by actor Colm Meaney . O'Brien appears occasionally in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and is a main cast member of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . O'Brien was originally the transporter chief of the USS Enterprise -D . He was later promoted to chief of operations of Deep Space Nine . Being portrayed in 225 episodes overall, O'Brien is the Star Trek character with the second most appearances in the Star Trek franchise, second only to Worf ( Michael Dorn ). [1]

O'Brien is the only major Star Trek character described as both ethnically Irish and born in Ireland; Colm Meaney, the actor who portrays him, is Irish.

O'Brien is also the only regular cast member in Star Trek to be a non-commissioned officer .

Colm Meaney Weighs In On O'Brien Coming To Star Trek: Picard - Exclusive

The first season of  Star Trek: Picard brought back a number of characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation , including William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Data (Brent Spiner), along with notable Borg guest star Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) and even Star Trek: Voyager crew member Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). So it stands to reason that more characters from previous Trek shows could potentially join Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) for the series'  upcoming second season , right?

Seven of Nine is already confirmed to come back, and  Whoopi Goldberg is slated to return as Guinan, but other callbacks to The Next Generation , Voyager, and/or  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine remain under wraps for now. One character fans would like to see in  Star Trek: Picard season 2  is Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney), whose illustrious career included a stint as both the Enterprise 's Transporter Chief on The Next Generation and Chief of Operations for the title space station on Deep Space Nine .

When  Looper asked in an exclusive interview with Colm Meaney whether there have been any discussions yet about O'Brien appearing on  Picard , the actor gave an honest answer: "There's no talking that I'm aware of, no." As for whether he'd be interested in returning as the character, Meaney said, "If there's a good and valid reason for him to pop up, and it makes dramatic sense and all that, yeah."

Chief O'Brien holds a notable distinction in Star Trek history

Chief O'Brien made his debut in the very first episode of Star Trek:  The Next Generation , entitled "Encounter at Farpoint," although his actual name wasn't given until the season 2 entry "Unnatural Selection." His character was developed further over subsequent seasons, with O'Brien appearing in more than 50 Next Generation episodes until he moved over to Deep Space Nine , where he was a regular cast member for the entire 176-episode run of the series. He closed out his Star Trek involvement to date on the DS9 series finale "What You Leave Behind."

Along with Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn), O'Brien is one of just two characters who joined the Deep Space Nine  cast from The Next Generation. His 225 total appearances across both shows are the  second most in the entire Star Trek franchise , behind only Worf himself, who's also shown up in several of the movies.

It's an impressive feat, but Meaney admitted that he has "no idea" what to say about the milestone. "I was only ever recurring in Next Generation . I wasn't a regular on the show, so I only became a regular when I went over to DS9 , which was '92 to '99, I think. So I only did seven years really as a regular, the same as anybody. All those shows did seven years, pretty much," he explained. "So I don't think of it that way. I probably did a lot of Next Generation , a number of episodes certainly, but always as a guest."

Meaney has residences in both Los Angeles and Spain, and he's spent the last year in the latter country to ride out the pandemic — but as a result, he hasn't gotten a chance to watch any episodes from the first season of Star Trek:  Picard yet. Still, he told  Looper he'd be willing to board the series if the chance arises.

"If there was an opportunity for O'Brien to show up, sure," he affirmed. "I'd be happy. I'm very fond of Patrick. It would be lovely to see him, lovely to work with him again. But no, there's no talking [about it] that I'm aware of."

Meaney is currently promoting  his latest movie  Pixie , which is out in theaters and on digital and on demand now. The second season of Picard is tentatively slated to premiere sometime later this year.

Star Trek Glossary: Every Starfleet Rank And Job Explained

"Star Trek" is, first and foremost, a workplace drama . It just so happens that the workplace is a high-tech, faster-than-light space vessel exploring distant regions of the galaxy. Working on a starship is a fine job indeed. Many classic "Star Trek" episodes deal with rank, the chain of command, and how certain captains employ their unique managerial styles to inspire the officers beneath them. The main characters in "Star Trek" mostly all belong to Starfleet, a military-like organization that uses naval ranks and nautical vocabulary to describe a starship's operations. 

To give the shows a touch of realism, the makers of "Star Trek" have (mostly) been careful to point out that a starship is a massively complex machine that requires hundreds of people to operate correctly. Additionally, the day-to-day logistics of running a starship require departments within departments, each one run by its own miniature team of officers, and with each team making sure that every small piece of equipment is operating at peak efficiency. Ideally, a starship can't be flown by a single person or even a scant bridge crew (I will happily ignore, however, the times that it was; those times don't count). 

Trekkies take a great deal of delight in tracing and detailing the various ranks and departments on board an average Starfleet vessel, mostly because it makes it easier to imagine actually working there someday. Yes, we know it's fictional, but so much detail had gone into rank, operation, and propriety on "Star Trek" that many viewers can picture where they might be able to practically work, what their rank might be, and whom they would answer to. 

For the laypeople reading, however, here is a brief rundown on the ranks, jobs, and positions one might encounter in "Star Trek."

The Starfleet ranks calling the shots

Here is the central chain of command withing Starfleet, listed from top to bottom.

At the top of Starfleet are the admirals. Admirals typically serve in official positions and don't usually command starships. They are essentially the management that starship captains have to report back to. The head of Starfleet — Commander in Chief — bears the top rank of Fleet Admiral . 

Below Fleet Admirals are just regular Admirals , which are plentiful in "Star Trek." 

Vice Admirals serve below them (the officer picture above bears the rank pips of a Vice Admiral), followed by Rear Admirals . 

A lesson: don't trust Admirals .

We don't see too many Commodores on "Star Trek," but they are the rank in between Captain and Admiral. 

Below the Commodores are Captains , who, as we all know, tend to command starships. The Captains can give orders to any officers on their ship. Captains tend to be the central characters of "Star Trek" shows, so we already know James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), and, most recently Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) on "Strange New Worlds."

Directly below the Captains are Commanders . A ship's first officer is a Commander, as are a few other key figures on a ship like a Chief Medical Officer or a Counselor. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are Commanders.

Immediately below the Commanders are Lieutenant Commanders , who also tend to serve notable executive functions on a starship. People of lower ranks can indeed become members of a ship's senior staff (the "main" officers on a ship that spend the most amount of time on the bridge), but Lieutenant Commanders tend to be the lowest-ranking officers who still command their own departments on a ship.

The Starfleet ranks taking the orders

One might note that Starfleet officers wear color-coded uniforms. The colors represent the general departments in which they work. In the original series, officers on the command track wore gold uniforms, medical officers and science officers wore blue, and red was reserved for those who worked in engineering, security, or operations. In the era of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," red and gold uniforms switched .

There must, of course, be grunt workers and mid-managers below the department heads listed above, and that's where the lower-ranking, junior officers come in. 

Mere Lieutenants are immediately below Lieutenant Commanders. They may lead special projects or work on the bridge, but they take more orders than they give. 

Below them are officers ranked Lieutenant (Junior Grade) , followed by  Ensigns . To become a Starfleet officer, one must spend at least four years at Starfleet Academy. Graduates are typically promoted to the rank of Ensign and given their first assignments immediately. "Star Trek: Lower Decks" is all about Ensigns and Junior Grade Lieutenants like Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome).

Not every officer on a ship graduates from the Academy, however. One can enlist in Starfleet and become a Petty Officer. These people have their own subset of operational concerns, usually zeroed in on specific areas of the ship like the transporters, food services, or basic security. 

The Petty Officers have their own ranking system, starting — highest first — with Master Chief , then Senior Chief , followed by Chief , then Petty Officer First Class , and finally Petty Officer Second Class . Yeomans are petty officers who take care of paperwork for officers. Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meany) was a transporter expert. 

Other specialists — historians, botanists, etc. — can be Petty Officers. 

Back at Starfleet Academy, meanwhile, Cadets have their own ranking by year. Freshmen are 4th Class , sophomores are 3rd Class , juniors are 2nd Class , and seniors are 1st Class . For a large portion of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) was a cadet. This was after he already held a position as Acting Ensign , a provisional rank given in the field.

Starfleet Command and Bridge positions

One might have noticed watching the original "Star Trek" that Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) always sits at the same station on the bridge of the Enterprise, as does Sulu (George Takei), Chekov (Walter Koenig) , and Spock (Leonard Nimoy). This is because they have been assigned one of the many official bridge positions on a Starfleet vessel. The positions must be filled, regardless of an officer's rank. 

The Commanding Officer on a starship is usually the captain. The (non-capitalist) buck stops with them. 

Answering directly to the captain, and communicating most directly with the crew is the Executive Officer or the First Officer, usually bearing the rank of commander. 

Third in command is the Second Officer , who can also hold other operational positions; on "Star Trek: Voyager," for instance, Tuvok (Tim Russ) serves as both Second Officer and Security Chief. 

Sitting in front of the captain and piloting the ship are the Helmsman at conn to the captain's right and the Operations Officer at Ops to the captain's left. 

The Helmsman may also be officially the ship's Navigation Officer , an expert in spatial physics and stellar cartography. Expert pilots likely sit at the conn, but also may be selected to pilot smaller, supporting crafts like shuttles or runabouts. These officers are sometimes appointed the Chief of Flight Control . Example: Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) on "Voyager."

In charge of hailing vessels, translating, and sending coded messages is the Communications Officer . On the original series, Uhura was a dedicated Communications Officer, while on "Next Generation" and beyond, other officers took on communications as part of their jobs. Worf (Michael Dorn) served as both Communications Officer and Security Chief.

Starfleet Science and Medical positions

Most Starfleet vessels are devoted to research and explorations, and there are multiple departments — and corresponding commanding officers — tasked with overseeing the details. 

A ship's Science Officer is in charge of research and serves as coordinator of all the ship's specialized science fields. Science Officers must have a head for numbers and objective detail. On the original "Star Trek," Spock served as the Science Officer and the Executive Officer. On "Voyager," Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) served as a Science Officer, and she only held the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer. 

A ship's Chief Operations Officer is like the Science Officer but oversees the technical aspects of the ship, including engineering, the engines, the life support, and other vital systems. Like the Science Officer, it helps that the Chief Ops Officer has a mind for technical details. On "Next Generation," Data served as Chief of Ops and worked closely with the Chief Engineer (which we'll get to in a minute).

Also, because a ship is full of biological organisms, it's important that their health be maintained. Every ship has a medical department overseen by an indispensable Chief Medical Officer , the only officer on the ship who can give orders to the Captain. Each medical department also has a network of experts and nurses, including the Head Nurse like Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) on "Strange New Worlds" or Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake) on "Next Generation." There may sometimes be a Head of Surgery , or perhaps a dedicated pathologist or epidemiologist. For the most part, though, the Chief Medical Officer takes care of many of these things themselves.

Starfleet Security and Combat Positions

Starfleet vessels are dedicated to peace, diplomacy, and study, but there are still violent, antagonistic species in the galaxy, and Starfleet isn't always on the best terms with them. As such, each Starfleet vessel requires experts in on-ship security, ship-to-ship tactics, and weapons operations. 

Every ship will have a Chief of Security , responsible for confronting intruders, enforcing the on-ship laws, and perhaps throwing ruffians into the ship's brig. The Chief Security Officer often also serves as the Strategic Operations Officer , who sits at the tactical position and fires weapons at the captain's command. Worf and Tuvok were in charge of these positions on their respective shows. They tend to go on the most away missions, keeping the other officers safe. They are the only officers on the ship who are always armed. Odo (René Auberjonois) served as chief of security on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," but he wasn't a Starfleet officer. He worked for the Bajoran government, and they implemented a different military system altogether.

As mentioned above, basic security officers are not Starfleet Academy graduates, and typically serve as Petty Officers, answering only to the Chief of Security. 

Starfleet Engineering and Technology Positions

As mentioned above, the Chief Operations Officer coordinates the technical aspects of the ship, but the hands-on officer in charge of a starship's massive engine room is the Chief Engineer , the one who actually makes repairs and oversees all of the other repairmen. No ship can function without a Chief Engineer overseeing all of the other engineers on the ship, busily readjusting and calibrating the physical machinery used to make the Enterprise go. 

The Chief Engineer might oversee technical experts, such as Warp Engineers (who oversee the faster-than-light engines), Impulse Engineers (who oversee the sub-light engines), those who oversee shields, transporters, electrics, life support, food replicators, lighting, gravity, or just about anything with a technical component. Thanks to "Next Generation," Trekkies know all about a dedicated Transporter Chief . There will also be an officer dedicated to Environmental Controls (especially important if your ship hosts species from hotter or colder worlds than Earth), and one devoted to Computer Operations , which might be the "Star Trek" equivalent of the I.T. repair guy. Heck, one might even find an engineer devoted to Holography systems, an expert in repairing holodecks. 

"Star Trek" doesn't feature a lot of tool belts, but if it did, the Engineering department would wear them. 

Kudos to LeVar Burton, who played Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge on "Next Generation." More than any other actor, he needed to memorize Trek's well-worn, multisyllabic techno-jargon. He talked a lot about warp fields, phase coils, plasma inducers, dilithium crystals, and every other high-tech widget on the Enterprise. And of course, everyone loved Scotty (James Doohan) from the original series.

Other Starfleet Positions

All the above departments are devoted to the vital function of a Starfleet vessel and the health of a vessel's crew. There are also various ancillary positions on a ship devoted to either comfort or just basic organization.

In the days before replicators , Starfleet vessels required  Quartermasters or Supply Operations Officers to distribute physical objects to the crew. The Quartermasters would distribute emergency rations, spare uniforms, tricorders, and medical widgets. These would be the ones holding the stock clipboards. Despite "Star Trek" taking place in a technical utopia free of want, there are still only so many scanners and tricorders that can go around. Starships also require dedicated officers to oversee the cargo bays where shuttles and extra supplies are stored, hence a head of  Cargo Operations . 

Being the Waste Management Officer on a starship isn't too terrible, although one does have to clean out the poop filters occasionally. The poop is then salvaged, broken down, and converted into energy. That energy is used in a ship's food replicators. Yes, Starfleet officers eat their own poop . On "Lower Decks," Mariner is seen cleaning the waste filters out of the holodeck on the U.S.S. Cerritos. It's a gross job.

Not every ship has a specialized department for every situation, so other specialists may be called in as needed. During times of war or combat, for instance, a ship may be assigned an Intelligence Officer . This depends on the ship's current mission, of course. For diplomatic envoys, a ship may also be assigned a general Special Services officer to make sure negotiators and treaty signers are comfortable.

And, perhaps most importantly, many ships have a Counselor . On "Next Generation," Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) sits right on the bridge. On other ships, they have their own offices. They take care of a crew's overall mental health, serve as para-diplomats, and work with the Chief Medical Officer.

Which job would you want?

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Published Apr 29, 2024

29 Years Ago, Deep Space Nine Created The Coolest Trill Canon

From 'Facets' to Discovery, the zhian'tara abides.

StarTrek.com

As a metaphor for the spectrum of human experiences, the Trill are one of Star Trek 's most enduring concepts. But the literal, in-universe workings of the Trill also represent impressive world-building, all of which truly came into its own in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Yes, the Trill were invented for the 1990 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode " The Host ," but the most intricate and downright cool aspects of Trill culture were expanded throughout Deep Space Nine thanks to the stories of Jadzia Dax, Ezri Dax, and the Trill hosts that came before.

On June 12, 1995, one episode leveled-up Trill canon like no previous episode had before. Before this episode, without flashbacks, or characters reminiscing, previous Trill hosts were hard for the audience to access. But, right at the end of Season 3, the Deep Space Nine episode " Facets " changed everything.

"Facets"

Today, Star Trek: Discovery inherited quite a bit of useful lore from "Facets," and the recent episode, " Jinaal ," even gives us touches of what made "Facets" so compelling to begin with. Here’s why this groundbreaking DS9 episode is so utterly fantastic, and influential to this day.

On the surface, "Facets" is a wacky sci-fi set-up in which Jadzia asks to "borrow" the bodies of her best friends. But instead of a Freaky Friday (or " Spock Amok ") style switcheroo, "Facets" is a deeper story, all about Jadzia meeting her previous hosts, physically , instead of those memories just existing inside of her.

Luckily, this doesn’t require her symbiont to be moved out of her body, because the zhian'tara  — a nifty Trill ritual — allows the the personality of one of Dax's previous hosts to be "temporarily removed from the symbiont and imprinted," via telepathy, onto another person. Jadzia Dax chooses the seven people she's closest to on the space station, and then, we, briefly, get to see other Daxes in the bodies of Quark, O’Brien, Bashir, Sisko, Kira, Odo, and Leeta.

While Odo merging with the personality of Curzon Dax is the most dramatic, and enduring aspect of "Facets," the significance of this episode cannot be overstated not just for the creation of a very profound Trill ability, but because this episode snuck Leeta (Chase Masterson) into the Star Trek family forever.

At the time "Facets" was written, Leeta had only appeared in one episode previously, very briefly in the episode " Explorers ." But, suddenly, in the penultimate episode of Season 3, "Facets" retroactively established that Leeta, someone who worked at the Dabo tables in Quark's bar, was very good friends with Jadzia Dax.

"I thought I was only going to be in one episode," Chase Masterson revealed in 2020, on the DISCO Nights podcast . "It was my second episode! Suddenly, I got a call from wardrobe that I was going to be Emony Dax, and I was like, 'What’s that mean?'"

In the episode, Masterson plays Leeta, of course, but, through the zhian'tara , also plays Emony. In the Trek timeline, Emony was an Olympic gymnast who lived in the 23rd Century, and, as we later learned in " Trials and Tribble-ations " was also cozy with Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. So, thanks to "Facets" and the zhian'tara , not only did we get details about Emony Dax, but also, later, a connection between DS9 and The Original Series . And even though we never saw Leeta and Dax growing closer on-screen prior to this episode, bringing Chase Masteron back as Leeta had a massive impact on Star Trek fandom. "It kinda meant I was in the group," Masterson remembers. "I felt lucky and of course, it changed everything."

Fans who attend conventions and events like Star Trek: The Cruise are fully aware of just how active and integral Masterson is to modern Trek fandom. As a co-founder of the  Pop Culture Hero Coalition , Masterson helped create an anti-bullying program which is the only social emotional learning program used by the YMCA nationwide. Would any of this have happened if Chase Masteron hadn’t been brought into the family in "Facets"? It seems unlikely!

Masteron remembers "Facets" as an "intense episode," and it's that intensity which made it such an important part of Star Trek history. In fact, the emotionally-charged nature of "Facets" is part of what made Discovery ' s recent zhian'tara episode so compelling.

"Jinaal"

When Dr. Culber takes on the memories of the titular “Jinaal," we certainly get shades of Curzon Dax in Odo's body. Jinaal is direct, jovial, and more than a little evasive. Like Curzon inhabiting Odo's body, there's a ticking clock in play, a time limit to how long Jinaal can stay in Culber's body without the effect becoming more permanent.

Both Jinaal and Curzon are also hiding part of their motivations, keeping a past memory to themselves, for fear of what the current members of Starfleet might do with it. In "Facets," Curzon was keeping a very personal memory close to him, the idea he was in love with Jadzia. For Jinaal, he's not too sure Starfleet in the 32nd Century can handle the power of the Progenitor tech.

Somewhat appropriately, and in a sense, with a poetic connection, Jinaal Bix was a Trill working for Starfleet back in the 24th Century during the Dominion War; very close to the same timeframe that Jadzia had her zhian'tara in "Facets."

Did Jinaal Bix know Curzon Dax, or even Jadzia Dax? While we don’t know the exact answer to that question, Discovery ' s recent return to the zhian'tara , and to a storyline that honors Deep Space Nine isn't just fan service. It creates a meaningful connection across generations and centuries, which, appropriately, is exactly what the Trill do, too.

In Star Trek , the Trill teaches us that we're never too old — or too young — to learn something new.

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Ryan Britt is the author of the nonfiction books Phasers on Stun! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World (2022), The Spice Must Flow: The Journey of Dune from Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023), and the essay collection Luke Skywalker Can’t Read (2015). He is a longtime contributor to Star Trek.com and his writing regularly appears with Inverse, Den of Geek!, Esquire and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, Maine with his family.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

'Star Trek: The Next Generation': The Cast Now!

Posted: May 2, 2024 | Last updated: May 5, 2024

'Star Trek: The Next Generation': Where Is The Cast Now?

"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship 'Enterprise'. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!" Wow! What an amazing cult classic! "Captain Picard" and his crew, consisting of both human and alien beings, traveled the galaxy on mysterious adventures audiences had never seen before! Since the series ended in 1994, the franchise and the original crew itself have changed a lot! Let's take a look at the crew members and what they're up to today!

"Deanna Troi"

"Deanna Troi" was a half-human, half "Betazoid" being who served under "Captain Picard's" command aboard the 'USS Enterprise-D' and 'USS Enterprise-E'. She served as the ship counselor, helping her fellow crew members with their various problems.

Marina Sirtis

After the series ended, Marina Sirtis moved on to star in all of the Star Trek spin-off films including Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Much like the other stars on this list, Sirtis also starred in dozens of series later on in her career, such as NCIS, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and Grey's Anatomy. She is currently married to rock guitarist Michael Lamper.

"William Riker"

"William Thomas Riker" is probably most known for his longest campaign as an officer under "Captain Jean Luc-Picard" aboard the 'USS Enterprise-D'. Later on in the series, he accepts the promotion as Captain aboard the 'USS Titan'. "Riker" is romantically linked to "Deanna Troi," the starship's counselor.

Jonathan Frakes

Johnathan Frakes played the role of "William Thomas Riker" on the hit series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Before he went to space, he had already starred on a few popular shows like Hart to Hart, Highway to Heaven, The Fall Guy and many more. After the series ended, he moved on to star in several different television and movie productions such as well as all of the Star Trek feature films all the way up to 2002! He also hosted the show Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. Frakes is currently married to actress Genie Francis whom he met on the set of the TV mini-series North and South. The couple have two children.

"Lt. Commander Data"

"Lore" and "Data were both "Soong-type" androids created by "Doctor Nooniain Soong" and "Juliana Soong" at the Omicron Colony. "Lore" was the pure embodiment of A.I. having the first successful positronic brain. Due to his robotic nature, he had abilities the rest of the crew did not possess such as super strength and speed. "Lore" began feeling superior to his fellow crew members leading to him trying to destroy them. After a long and bitter conflict, "Lore" was eventually shut down and replaced by his brother "Data".

Brent Spiner

After The Next Generation, Spiner also went on to star in all of the Star Trek feature films. Since then, Spiner has starred in a number of different animated TV series such as Family Guy, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Star Wars Rebels. Brent has also appeared in smash hit series like The Big Bang Theory and Criminal Minds.

"Dr. Beverly Crusher"

"Dr. Beverly Crusher" is the crew's doctor aboard the 'USS Enterprise-D', and later 'USS Enterprise-E'.

Gates McFadden

Gates McFadden wasn't as active in show business as the rest of her co-stars after Star Trek: The Next Generation ended. However, she did star in all of the Star Trek feature films up until 2002. Over the course of her career, she also starred in a few other TV shows such as The Cosby Show, The Practice, and Mad About You. She is currently married to John Cleveland Talbot, and they have one son.

"Worf"

"Worf" is a Klingon (a fictional alien species) and is a Starfleet officer aboard the 'Enterprise-D', as well as the ships that came afterwards.

Michael Dorn

After the show ended, Michael Dorn moved on to star in several minor roles, like most of his co-stars. He also starred in all of the Star Trek films as well as numerous other movies such as Ali, The Santa Clause 2, Heart Of The Beholder, and Ted 2. As far as television goes, Dorn has made a name for himself in the animated TV show scene starring in series such as Family Guy, Winx Club, Transformers: Titans Return, Adventure Time and many more.

"Geordi La Forge"

"Geordi La Forge" is the pilot and chief engineer of the 'USS Enterprise-D' , and later the 'USS Enterprise-E'.

LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton hosted and produced the PBS kids show Reading Rainbow in 1983, before Star Trek: The Next Generation. Afterwards he starred in several different shows such as Murder, She Wrote and has also lent his voice to several different animated shows such as Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles.

"Wesley Crusher"

"Lieutenant Wesley R. Crusher" was the son of Lieutenant Commander "Jack Crusher" and "Dr. Beverly Crusher". After a long career on the 'USS Enterprise-D', he decided to leave the crew and join "Tau Alphan The Traveler" on his journey through space.

Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton was on Star Trek: The Next Generation for three and one-quarter seasons before leaving the show to pursue other projects. He made occasional appearances on the show, but eventually decided to attend acting school full time. He currently lives in Arcadia, California with his wife and two sons.

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard"

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard" is a Starfleet captain, archaeologist, and diplomat. During the series, he captains the 'USS Enterprise' (NCC-1701-D) with the help of his intergalactic crew! "Picard" himself played a large role in the series galactic history, discovering over 27 alien species throughout the entire franchise.

Sir Patrick Stewart

Sir Patrick Stewart's life was changed after playing the role of "Captain Jean Luc-Picard" in the hit sci-fi series. He would play the role of "Captain Picard" ever so often in spin-off movies like Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: First Contact. Stewart has also played a large part in the X-Men franchise as "Professor Charles Xavier". Because of his unique voice, he has been able to star as a voice actor in dozens of animated series and movies such as Family Guy, American Dad, Chicken Little, and Ice Age. Patrick currently live in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Sunny Ozell.

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The Minstrel Boy

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" The Minstrel Boy " was an Earth song that Chief Miles O'Brien often used as his "happy thought" in dire situations. His one-time captain , Benjamin Maxwell , and Will Kayden were also fond of the song. ( TNG : " The Wounded ").

The minstrel boy to the war is gone In the ranks of death you will find him His father's sword he hath girded on And his wild harp slung behind him "Land of Song" said the warrior bard "Tho' all the world betrays thee One sword, at least, thy right shall guard One faithful harp shall praise thee" The minstrel fell, but the foeman's chain Could not bring that proud soul under The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again For he tore its cords asunder And said "no chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and bravery Thy songs were made for the pure and free They shall never sound in slavery "

Background information [ ]

In "The Wounded", the song is both sung by O'Brien and Maxwell and used as a thematic overture.

The tune of "The Minstrel Boy" is played in the soundtrack of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seventh season episode " What You Leave Behind ". It can be heard playing during the scene where O'Brien takes one last look at his quarters and finds the figurine of William B. Travis .

The tune of "The Minstrel Boy" is also played in the soundtrack of the TNG episode " Hollow Pursuits ". It can be heard playing during the scene where Lieutenant Reginald Barclay is seen leaving the holodeck at the end of the episode.

The song was to have been included in DS9 : " Whispers ", where the Parada replicant of O'Brien would have sung it. The scene can be found in the shooting script. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion  (p. 118))

"The Minstrel Boy" is also sung by characters in the Star Trek novel Ishmael , as well as in the novelization of Emissary .

"The Minstrel Boy" is believed to have been written by Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852) to commemorate friends who had died in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 . The song has been used in many film and television productions including The Man Who Would be King (starring Michael Caine , Sean Connery , and Christopher Plummer ) and Black Hawk Down (which starred Tom Hardy ).

External links [ ]

• " The Minstrel Boy " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Minstrel Boy " at Wikipedia
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise Model Is Found After Being Missing for Decades

The 33-inch model surfaced on eBay after disappearing around 1979. An auction house is giving it to the son of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

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By Emily Schmall

The first model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series , has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the creator of the series, decades after it went missing.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Mr. Roddenberry wrote on social media on Thursday.

For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed.

“Red alert,” someone in an online costume and prop-making forum wrote, linking to the listing.

Mr. Roddenberry’s father, Gene Roddenberry, created the television series, which first aired in 1966 and ran for three seasons. It spawned numerous spinoffs, several films and a franchise that has included conventions and legions of devoted fans with an avid interest in memorabilia.

The seller of the model was bombarded with inquiries and quickly took the listing down.

The seller contacted Heritage Auctions to authenticate it, the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said on Saturday. As soon as the seller, who said he had found it in a storage unit, brought it to the auction house’s office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Mr. Maddalena said he knew it was real.

“That’s when I reached out to Rod to say, ‘We’ve got this. This is it,’” he said, adding that the model was being transferred to Mr. Roddenberry.

Mr. Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said on Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution. He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

“Whoever borrowed it or misplaced it or lost it, something happened somewhere,” he said. “Where’s it been?”

It was unclear how the model ended up in the storage unit and who had it before its discovery.

The original U.S.S. Enterprise, a 33-inch model, was mostly made of solid wood by Richard C. Datin, a model maker for the Howard Anderson Company, a special-effects company that created the opening credits for some of the 20th century’s biggest TV shows .

An enlarged 11-foot model was used in subsequent “Star Trek” television episodes, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum , where it was donated by Paramount Studios in 1974.

Mr. Roddenberry, who said he gave the seller a “reward” for its recovery but did not disclose the terms, assembled a group of “Star Trek” production veterans, model makers and restoration specialists in Beverly Hills to authenticate the find.

The group included a “Star Trek” art supervisor, Michael Okuda, and his wife, Denise, an artist on “Star Trek” television series and films, and Gary Kerr, a “Trek x-pert” who served as technical consultant for the Smithsonian during a 2016 restoration of the 11-foot model.

“We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood,” Mr. Roddenberry said.

“It was a unanimous ‘This is 100 percent the one,’” he said.

Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991 , kept the original model, which appeared in the show’s opening credits and pilot episode, on his desk.

Mr. Kerr compared the model to 1960s photos he had of the model on Mr. Roddenberry’s desk.

“The wood grain matched exactly, so that was it,” he said on Saturday.

The model went missing after Mr. Roddenberry lent it to the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979, Mr. Maddalena said.

“This is a major discovery,” he said, likening the model to the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” a prop that was stolen in 2005 and recovered by the F.B.I. in 2018, and that Heritage Auctions is selling.

While the slippers represent hope, he said, the starship Enterprise model “represents dreams.”

“It’s a portal to what could be,” he said.

Emily Schmall covers breaking news and feature stories and is based in Chicago. More about Emily Schmall

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93-Year-Old William Shatner ‘Might Consider’ Returning as Captain Kirk in New ‘Star Trek’ Project Through De-Aging: ‘It Takes Years Off of Your Face’

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William Shatner recently told Canadian Press that he wouldn’t rule out returning as Captain Kirk in a new “ Star Trek ” project if the script impressed him. While the actor’s age might pose an issue as Shatner turned 93 years old in March, that’s nothing a bit of de-aging technology couldn’t fix.

“It’s an intriguing idea,” Shatner said about returning as Kirk. “It’s almost impossible. But if was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it.”

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“[It] takes years off of your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are,” Shatner said.

Another issue around Shatner’s “Star Trek” return is Kirk’s death in the 1994 film “Star Trek Generations,” which is the last time Shatner appeared in the iconic franchise. He’s already brainstormed a plot device that could serve as a workaround and have his version of Kirk come back to life.

“A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it,” Shatner said. “‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here.’ There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!’”

Variety exclusively reported in March that Steve Yockey, creator of the Max series “The Flight Attendant,” had signed on to write the script for “Star Trek 4.” The movie is being designed as the final installment for Pine and the cast. Several attempts to get a fourth “Star Trek” movie off the ground with this cast have failed over the years. One version of the project was to be directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) and written by Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”). Shakman left the project to direct Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four” instead.

Other “Star Trek” projects remain in development at Paramount as well. The studio is working with screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and director by Toby Haynes (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”) on an origin story movie, while a project with screenwriter Kalinda Vazquez (“Fear the Walking Dead”) that was first announced in 2021 also remains in development.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Disaster (1991), rosalind chao: keiko o'brien, photos .

Quotes 

Lieutenant Worf : Congratulations. You are fully dilated to ten centimeters. You may now give birth.

Keiko O'Brien : [groans]  That's what I've been doing.

Keiko O'Brien : [during a crisis]  I'm having contractions!

Lieutenant Worf : I believe that is not uncommon in the late months of pregnancy.

Keiko O'Brien : No, I mean contractions. I'm going into labor.

Lieutenant Worf : You cannot. This is not a good time, Keiko.

Keiko O'Brien : It's not open for debate. Like it or not, this baby is coming.

Lieutenant Worf : Dilation has gone to seven centimeters since the onset of labor. That did not take long.

Keiko O'Brien : That's easy for you to say.

Lieutenant Worf : [Worf is delivering Keiko's baby, and is urging her on with all the intensity and passion as if he was leading a typing class]  Push. Push, Keiko. Push.

Keiko O'Brien : [fed up]  I AM PUSHING!

Lieutenant Worf : My computer simulation was not like this. That delivery was very orderly.

Keiko O'Brien : Well, I'm sorry!

Keiko O'Brien : Worf, have you ever done this before? Delivered a baby?

Lieutenant Worf : Yes. No. I took the Starfleet emergency medical course. In a computerized simulation, I assisted in delivery of a human baby.

Keiko O'Brien : Sometimes it doesn't go by the book, Worf.

[Keiko is in labor] 

Lieutenant Worf : Congratulations, you have dilated ten centimeters. You may now give birth.

Keiko O'Brien : [groans]  That's what I've been doing!

Lieutenant Worf : Now, the last step would be to bear down. The child will come soon.

[Nothing happens] 

Lieutenant Worf : [confused]  Why hasn't it begun?

Keiko O'Brien : I don't know? It's not up to me, it happens when it happens.

Lieutenant Worf : The simulation was nothing like this. That delivery was well orderly.

Keiko O'Brien : [snaps]  Well, I'm sorry!

[Keiko suddenly begins groaning and grunting loudly and agonizingly] 

Lieutenant Worf : Did you feel an uncontrollable urge to push?

Keiko O'Brien : [Keiko nods with clenched teeth] 

Lieutenant Worf : Good. You are bearing down.

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I wish the breen had kept their helmets on in star trek: discovery.

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“Jelly Breens”: Star Trek Writer Deep Dives Into Discovery Season 5’s Breen Villains

Star trek: discovery debuts starfleet’s most advanced tricorder ever, star trek: discovery season 5’s betazoid is a marina sirtis counselor troi tribute.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors"

• "Star Trek: Discovery" reveals Breen's true form, undermining DS9 mystery of enigmatic warrior race.
• The Breen design in "Discovery" is a missed opportunity for alien creativity, as they just turn out to be green humanoids.
• L'ak's face reveal in "Discovery" challenges perception of secretive Breen aliens from DS9, adding complexity.

Star Trek: Discovery has finally revealed what a Breen looks like underneath all its armor, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Breen should have kept their helmets on. In Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors", written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan , audiences learn more about Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis), and their motivations for seeking the Progenitors' treasure. "Mirrors" also contains a number of reveals about DS9 's Breen aliens , including that L'ak himself originates within the Breen Imperium.

For the first four episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, audiences saw L'ak as a hulking green villain, determined to protect his lover Moll at any cost. Now, Discovery season 5, episode 5 reveals that audiences have been seeing the true face of one of the enigmatic Breen aliens from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . In DS9 , Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) stated that no outsiders had seen what a Breen looked like under their armor and lived to tell the tale. Barring Fred (J. Adam Brown) and his guards from Discovery season 5, episode 1, "Red Directive", this is no longer the case.

Star Trek: Discovery has reintroduced the Breen as season 5's villains, and writer Carlos Cisco gives behind-the-scenes details on creating the Breen.

Discovery’s Breen Reveal Undermines A Big DS9 Mystery

There's no question that updated 32nd century design of the Breen refrigeration suits is a great upgrade for Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . The loss of the helmet's odd beak from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine design makes them look sleeker and more like the armored warrior race that their reputation suggested. The main issue with the Breen in Discovery is that what's underneath the mask undermines the huge mystery that has surrounded the Breen since their introduction in DS9 . For years, Star Trek fans have speculated about what a Breen looks like underneath their armor, and now they discover it's a creature made of green Jell-O .

Worf's assertion that nobody had ever seen the face of a Breen and lived is undermined by Star Trek: Discovery season 5's love story . While the Breen remain secretive in "Mirrors", the very fact that L'ak shows his face out of love for Moll undermines the idea of an isolationist and secretive warrior race. Instead, it suggests that these implacable Star Trek: Deep Space Nine villains just need someone to love. This, combined with the confusing physiology of the newly-revealed Breen, means that the DS9 aliens in Discovery don't solve the mystery satisfyingly.

An abandoned plot for Star Trek: The Next Generation 's season 6 finale would have introduced the Breen as major antagonists for TNG 's final season.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Breen Design Is A Missed Opportunity

Star Trek: Discovery 's Breen design is a missed opportunity when compared to some of its other work in creating alien species. For example, Discovery season 4's antagonists, the non-humanoid Species 10-C felt alien in a way that Star Trek aliens had rarely felt since the days of TOS . With that in mind, Discovery could have really thought out of the box when it came to what was inside the Breen's refrigeration suits. Sadly, that isn't the case, as they're revealed to be that most enduring of sci-fi archetypes; the green man from outer space.

In an interview with The 7th Rule , Carlos Cisco spoke of the design of the Breen being inspired by " transparent deep sea fishes ."

The fact that the Breen are green humanoids is a missed opportunity, because the teases of the Breen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine always hinted that they may not be a humanoid species at all . Their lack of circulatory system and reliance on refrigeration suits implied they were potentially higher beings that forced themselves into a humanoid form. While that's sort of the case with the gelatinous beings that have " evolved " past a solid form in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, it's hard not to feel underwhelmed by the Breen turning out to be yet another humanoid alien species in the canon.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

• Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)