Should they have used Chief O' Brien in a TNG movie?

[Sybok Was Wrong]

Chief O'Brien was a terrible character- for some inexplicable reason Rick Berman really liked Colm Meaney in that role and had to get him on DS9, but he brought nothing to that show, that another actor or character couldn't have done much better.

Chief O'Brien was supposed to be some kind of "everyman", but he was woefully out of place on DS9 and his motivations for dragging his poor wife and child to some dump of a station is inexplicable, except forcing his wife and child to endure his need for being distant. Distant from love; distant from connections. Distant from his own emotions.

He belonged faceless, under the radar on the vanilla Enterprise. His wife should have left him long ago, their marriage was a virtually constructed loveless sham. I think she was a pretty unhappy person. I think he was almost numb to emotions, except anger- he could be short with people, and kick computer consoles. He was emotionally disconnected. Once they got off the Enterprise, Keiko saw what kind of life he envisioned for her. He put his needs before her happiness. "You could open a school. You could do some gardening". Nice.

O'Brien didn't have any true friends- he was lame , and hung out with Bashir but it felt like a friendship out of proximity convenience. He made more time for Bashir than Molly or Keio seemingly, which was further proof of having his priorities all wrong. What does it say when even Worf loathes your visits to his quarters? The guy lacked direction- his career decision making should have raised all kinds of red flags for Keiko. And may I say, Keiko was no prize as well? Water finds its own level.

So, no, they shouldn't have used O'Brien in the movies. He would have just brought things down. There's a reason why you never see anyone dressed as Miles for cosplay.

 

[A Chimpanzee & 2 Trainees]

A secondary role wouldn't be so bad. That was kind of his role on TNG but because he is a movie star find away to give him a big moment or scene. Maybe someone asks him to guard the transporter room in "First Contact" and you play it as a joke.

I think if you have him in the movie, he needs to be more than the butt of a joke. It would need to both be short, and fit into the larger story. it may be a bit of a stretch, but how about this for an idea...

This guy is the hero of Setlik 3, after all. If he were to be hypothetically in FC by way of the Defiant, then he should put some of his combat skill to good use. He goes with Worf to the bridge, walks down with the away team to the transporter, with a quick walk and talk segment en route. The away team beams down, he's left alone in the transporter for a couple seconds when he notices some bloody fool must be playing with the environmental controls because it's getting hot down here. After a quick check of a nearby console, he notices the problem is widespread, and goes down to engineering to see if he can lend a hand. The borg force their way into engineering and soldier OBrien has a short scene showing off his combat ingenuity, rescuing a handful of engineering officers there from assimilation, leading them back up to safety, where he's told by Worf to form a makeshift security team as a last line of defense on deck 5. his next and last scene - instead of that nameless security officer - is telling Picard and Worf that their position is being overrun just before the self destruct order is given.

 

[Jayson1]

I think if you have him in the movie, he needs to be more than the butt of a joke. It would need to both be short, and fit into the larger story. it may be a bit of a stretch, but how about this for an idea...

This guy is the hero of Setlik 3, after all. If he were to be hypothetically in FC by way of the Defiant, then he should put some of his combat skill to good use. He goes with Worf to the bridge, walks down with the away team to the transporter, with a quick walk and talk segment en route. The away team beams down, he's left alone in the transporter for a couple seconds when he notices some bloody fool must be playing with the environmental controls because it's getting hot down here. After a quick check of a nearby console, he notices the problem is widespread, and goes down to engineering to see if he can lend a hand. The borg force their way into engineering and soldier OBrien has a short scene showing off his combat ingenuity, rescuing a handful of engineering officers there from assimilation, leading them back up to safety, where he's told by Worf to form a makeshift security team as a last line of defense on deck 5. his next and last scene - instead of that nameless security officer - is telling Picard and Worf that their position is being overrun just before the self destruct order is given.

I think this idea also works. Basically your replacing the scene with the engineers who first encounter the Borg with a more enhanced version with O'Brien basically having the first action scene of the invasion. Also with Geordi on the surface and Data being held captive he could sort of serve as the tech guy who gives characters, updates on what the Borg are doing and whatnot.

Jason