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Hilarious Meme about O'Brien

There is some uncertainty about that, but since everyone called him "Chief", which up until then everyone just thought it was because he was the chief transporter operator, they decided to retconn him as an a non-com starting Season 6 to lay the foundation for DS9.
You can read all about it in his memory-alpha article:
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miles_O'Brien#Problematic_Rank_History

O'Brien was said to be a non-com as early as "Family" in the fourth season when Worf's adopted father greets O'Brien as a fellow enlisted man saying something to "can you imagine my son becoming an officer?!"

As I recall that was considered a mistake at the time.

No, it was conscious decision because they wanted to show the world of the enlisted men in Starfleet. The rank pips are hard to argue for but at the time they didn't have enlisted man rank pips so maybe we could argue that the Lieutenant pips also meant some grade of non-comm and to know the difference you just had to... "know?" Or maybe it was acceptable to call that person a lieutenant?

I also, on some levels, felt maybe O'Brien may have been the COB of the ship.
 
O'Brien was said to be a non-com as early as "Family" in the fourth season when Worf's adopted father greets O'Brien as a fellow enlisted man saying something to "can you imagine my son becoming an officer?!"

As I recall that was considered a mistake at the time.

No, it was conscious decision because they wanted to show the world of the enlisted men in Starfleet. The rank pips are hard to argue for but at the time they didn't have enlisted man rank pips so maybe we could argue that the Lieutenant pips also meant some grade of non-comm and to know the difference you just had to... "know?" Or maybe it was acceptable to call that person a lieutenant?

I also, on some levels, felt maybe O'Brien may have been the COB of the ship.

Eventually O'Brien got one open pip (the kind used for junior grades), when they decided officially he was a non-com in S6.
 
Whether it was a mistake or not in "Family" is debatable. However, what's not debatable is when he actually got the rank pips of an enlisted man, rather than an officer. That happened in Season 6's "Realm of Fear." According to Ronald D. Moore, at that point the conscious decision was made because they wanted the plot point of Lieutenant Barclay being able to give O'Brien an order.
 
I figure O'Brien fills his time by beaming small objects from people's quarters to random locations around the ship.
 
***beep**
OBRIEN - O'Brien here
RIKER - You know those crates of supplies we brought back from Starbase 224?
OBRIEN - Yes, Sir..?
RIKER - the supplies were contaminated with some kind of rodent like parasite
OBRIEN - Nothing on there for me I hope?
RIKER - No, the shipment was perishable consumable delicacies for the diplomatic convention. Anyway, when we opened it the rats, or whatever, got out and made for the nearest Jefferies tube. Can you find them and beam them into space?
OBRIEN - As per Starfleet regulations I cannot do that, but I can beam them to the brig if you want
RIKER - Well .. just get RID of them!
OBRIEN - Yes Sir

OBRIEN (muttered) Sheesh, does no-one scan cargo anymore??
 
What I liked about the comic strips was not just the jokes themselves, but the style. There is a very Garfield-esque style to it all!

Ouch man, ouch. Way to damn with faint praise.
Not intended as faint praise at all. I am a child of the 80's, and Garfield was something I read endlessly. I also watched a lot of films with very little dialogue, wherein facial expressions and subtle changes ere the key to understanding the meaning of the events. And, with humor, in particular, understatement is vital, otherwise a joke would seem corny as it's being delivered. The cartoonist who illustrated these understood that, as did Jim Davis in his prime. I will agree that eventually Garfield ran out of steam, but there was a time when it was really just amazing.
 
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