Ok, I'm going through a sort of DS9 re watch at the moment and something has struck me which I hadn't given too much thought to before.
On the Enterprise we saw O'Brien on a periodic basis, initially on the bridge then more frequently as "transporter chief". It wasn't until much later that the character was rounded out beyond being a semi regular background face, apparently due to Colm Maeney's reluctance to sign a regular contract. For most of the series however he was portrayed largely as a functionary with little input, crucially not being all that prominent in either engineering or tactical roles ("Redemption" I think being the only time we see him in his old post of tactical officer)
We learn in "The Wounded" that he had served as tactical officer (again, way outranking his role on the E) on the Rutledge and was heavily involved in the Cardassian War. This is later expanded on throughout DS9, including back referencing to the Setlik III massacre mentioned in TNG to make him the "Hero of Setlik III" where he apparently led a near legendary counter action.
Throughout DS9 we see him very rapidly move back to this previous (unseen) level of prominence, becoming Chief of Operations (which also incorporates being the Chief Engineer) and one of Sisko's most trusted officers, bearing in mind at this point we could easily describe Sisko as being one of the most influential people in the federation given the diplomatic and strategic importance of DS9. Frequently his past experience as a soldier (being one of the few SF characters we ever hear actually described as such) is used as a plot point and much more senior officers frequently defer to him in such situations.
So here's my suggestion for an in-universe narrative for the character:
Prior to the Cardassian War he was a very successful officer on the Rutledge, reaching tactical officer despite not holding a commission, but the events of Setlik left him scarred. He had no desire to leave SF but was unable to carry on with his previous role due to the things he had witnessed. SF being unwilling to simply dismiss him gave him a compassionate break, they gave him a lower level role on their prestigious flagship, recognition of his service with (hopefully) much less stress and responsibility. He would continue to serve and hopefully make better use of his talents later but for the meantime would stay largely below decks and away from the worst of the action.
As he increasingly found his feet again and began to outgrow this more menial role SF looked for ways to re purpose him. DS9 was not at this stage considered to be as major an assignment as it became so he was given an opportunity to develop and use his skills on a larger canvas again.
The difficulty for me with this theory is how little of it seems to transpose onto the TNG portrayal. If he was capable of re engineering a starbase, using unfamiliar tech, from the ground up why was he so bypassed by the engineering team on the E? Why did we not more frequently see him engaged with Data and Geordie as an equal in all but title, being consulted on ways to jury rig their tech as we see him do so often later on? Why does Worf pay him so little notice in TNG only to embrace him so readily as a brother in arms on DS9?
I get that the producers in some ways re invented the character for the new show and a lot of backstory was put into TNG series 7 to ease the transition but it just seems there is a jarring disconnect between the two.
On the Enterprise we saw O'Brien on a periodic basis, initially on the bridge then more frequently as "transporter chief". It wasn't until much later that the character was rounded out beyond being a semi regular background face, apparently due to Colm Maeney's reluctance to sign a regular contract. For most of the series however he was portrayed largely as a functionary with little input, crucially not being all that prominent in either engineering or tactical roles ("Redemption" I think being the only time we see him in his old post of tactical officer)
We learn in "The Wounded" that he had served as tactical officer (again, way outranking his role on the E) on the Rutledge and was heavily involved in the Cardassian War. This is later expanded on throughout DS9, including back referencing to the Setlik III massacre mentioned in TNG to make him the "Hero of Setlik III" where he apparently led a near legendary counter action.
Throughout DS9 we see him very rapidly move back to this previous (unseen) level of prominence, becoming Chief of Operations (which also incorporates being the Chief Engineer) and one of Sisko's most trusted officers, bearing in mind at this point we could easily describe Sisko as being one of the most influential people in the federation given the diplomatic and strategic importance of DS9. Frequently his past experience as a soldier (being one of the few SF characters we ever hear actually described as such) is used as a plot point and much more senior officers frequently defer to him in such situations.
So here's my suggestion for an in-universe narrative for the character:
Prior to the Cardassian War he was a very successful officer on the Rutledge, reaching tactical officer despite not holding a commission, but the events of Setlik left him scarred. He had no desire to leave SF but was unable to carry on with his previous role due to the things he had witnessed. SF being unwilling to simply dismiss him gave him a compassionate break, they gave him a lower level role on their prestigious flagship, recognition of his service with (hopefully) much less stress and responsibility. He would continue to serve and hopefully make better use of his talents later but for the meantime would stay largely below decks and away from the worst of the action.
As he increasingly found his feet again and began to outgrow this more menial role SF looked for ways to re purpose him. DS9 was not at this stage considered to be as major an assignment as it became so he was given an opportunity to develop and use his skills on a larger canvas again.
The difficulty for me with this theory is how little of it seems to transpose onto the TNG portrayal. If he was capable of re engineering a starbase, using unfamiliar tech, from the ground up why was he so bypassed by the engineering team on the E? Why did we not more frequently see him engaged with Data and Geordie as an equal in all but title, being consulted on ways to jury rig their tech as we see him do so often later on? Why does Worf pay him so little notice in TNG only to embrace him so readily as a brother in arms on DS9?
I get that the producers in some ways re invented the character for the new show and a lot of backstory was put into TNG series 7 to ease the transition but it just seems there is a jarring disconnect between the two.
