Miles O'Brien because his skills seem more versatile. La Forge has been a pilot and a chief engineer on screen and a captain in a possible future and briefly in the post Nemesis novels. O'Brien has been a tac officer, helmsman, and engineer.
Poll Geordi vs Miles...who'd be YOUR Chief Engineer?
- Thread starter Photon
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Look how many times LaForge saved the D from disaster. La Forge for good.
Sure O brien was fun at times but in reality he was just "the stock extra character we need from time to time to change the perspective of random episodes so we don't become a soap opera about riker and troi this season"
Sure O brien was fun at times but in reality he was just "the stock extra character we need from time to time to change the perspective of random episodes so we don't become a soap opera about riker and troi this season"
O'Brien, so we could play darts and drink whiskey. If La Forge was in charge all we'd have are episodes about his lousy sex life.
It depends what I was in command of, if it were the federation flagship then Geordi all the way, he is a good engineer plus I think he has slightly more in his bow when it comes to science and diplomacy, if it were an slightly older ship or an obscure alien space station somewhere than I feel O'Brien was more flexible in working with technology not of federation design and keeping it working.
If I have to work with either or, I would definitely choose O'Brien. Although LaForge is probably better technical engineer than O'Brien. O'Brien has much better people skills, and probably way easier to work with.
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O'Brien. I love Geordi, but nobody wields a coil spanner quite like Miles.
Geordi. He's a genius, and is intuitive to engineering. I'd choose B'Elanna right after him.
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This thread should have a poll. It's not too late to add one, right?
I'd choose Geordi. Depending on the situation, either could be the best bet, but Geordi can physically see micro fractures, feel it (through his visor somehow) when he enters certain fields, and he's willing to go that extra mile, like when Picard noticed something off about the engines, Geordi stayed up all night checking them without being asked to.
O'Brien's rank is Chief Petty Officer. After the Academy, Nog was commissioned as an ensign, while O'Brien mearly went into service. CPO is the highest rank non-commissioned personnel can have.
I'd choose Geordi. Depending on the situation, either could be the best bet, but Geordi can physically see micro fractures, feel it (through his visor somehow) when he enters certain fields, and he's willing to go that extra mile, like when Picard noticed something off about the engines, Geordi stayed up all night checking them without being asked to.
O'Brien's rank is Chief Petty Officer. After the Academy, Nog was commissioned as an ensign, while O'Brien mearly went into service. CPO is the highest rank non-commissioned personnel can have.
Hey? What about Senior Chief Petty Officer, and Command Master Chief, what are they... chopped liver???
Knew somebody would bring up Scotty almost immediately.
I don't know. As a Captain do you want somebody who's going to lie to you about how long everything takes?
I would go for Scotty (after all the regulations he wrote are still in use decades later) but next choice would be O'Brien.
And besides any half decent engineer will always say a task will take longer than it should take. After all something unexpected might come up so the repair takes longer than the estimate.
If you complete the Job quicker than the estimate you look good, if it takes you longer you look bad.
That's actually what always made me question Geordi's experience and ability to be CHIEF engineer, and made me wonder how qualified he truly was; he wasn't even in that department or working in the engine room, and then suddenly is CHIEF engineer? It always stunk of bad writing and making up qualities for Geordi as they went along, to me. Feeling that way already, and watching the way the character interacted with Scotty in Relics just made me hate him even more.
O'Brien started exactly in the same position Geordi was in the pilot. I don't think it would be necessary to see Geordi go through hoops to be Chief Engineer. No different for Worf suddenly being Chief of Security (Tasha died, but it didn't have to be Worf) or O'Brien being a transporter chief. The Captain promoted these officers for a reason; they're great, talented officers.
Geordi was great at making the systems work at peak efficiency and demanding the time to do necessary updates and overhauls, etc. He truly took ownership of the ship's engines. He made modifications that made the ship "his." He was also a great leader. Look at the time he put into Barclay and how tore up he was over his failures. O'Brien certainly had his moments, but day in and day out I'd take LaForge. Consistent. Professional. Passionate. Talented. Vote Geordi LaForge today!
Regardless of his title, O'Brien always seemed like more of a garden-variety maintenance guy. Put a florescent yellow vest and a hard hat on him and march him out to wherever the trouble is. LaForge had more of the attributes of a supervisor. True, Miles hadn't the difficulty with women that Geordi had, but outside of this, LaForge had more of an air of professionalism about him. Still in all, I would trust both Men to fix my replicator.
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