So what if instead of O'Brien coming over from TNG...

[JustKate]

^ I vote for both. Hey, we're dreaming here, right?

 

[Mysterion]

A Barclay on DSN character arc might have had some possibilities.

On the Enterprise he was the odd man out, the anomaly. On DSN he'd just be one more misfit-toy in a group of misfits. We would have seen him develop into this very capable, but still a bit off engineer, confident in his own way. Plus, imagine the stuff with Barclay and Rom fixing problems on the station. Woulda been pure gold.

I agree. I think the DS9 writers could have done some amazing things with Barclay. But I do like the everyman and family man perspectives that O'Brien brought to the show, too, so it's difficult to say I'd rather have seen Barclay than the Chief.

Agreed. O'Brien and his personality was a very integral piece to what DSN became, and it wouldn't have been the same show without him.

On the other hand, I can see DSN working, in a different way, with Barclay instead.

 

[Nightdiamond]

I can see the possibilities with having Lt Barkley on DS9, but I don't know how long Barkely would have lasted as chief engineer on a station like DS9. It would have been interesting to see.


But I think they would have overdone the 'nervous and stuttering' routine, at leat in the first few seasons, as if that was the only trait Barkely had.

But if they brought over Barkely, then Obrien would have gotten stuck in that somewhat one dimension role on TNG.

Obrien really shined on DS9, I'm glad.

 

[Skywalker]

A Barclay on DSN character arc might have had some possibilities.

On the Enterprise he was the odd man out, the anomaly. On DSN he'd just be one more misfit-toy in a group of misfits. We would have seen him develop into this very capable, but still a bit off engineer, confident in his own way. Plus, imagine the stuff with Barclay and Rom fixing problems on the station. Woulda been pure gold.

I agree. I think the DS9 writers could have done some amazing things with Barclay. But I do like the everyman and family man perspectives that O'Brien brought to the show, too, so it's difficult to say I'd rather have seen Barclay than the Chief.

Agreed. O'Brien and his personality was a very integral piece to what DSN became, and it wouldn't have been the same show without him.

On the other hand, I can see DSN working, in a different way, with Barclay instead.

Same. I can even see a friendship between Barclay and Bashir working out well, too, though in that case it would probably be the confident, outgoing and adventurous Bashir bringing the nervous and neurotic Barclay out of his shell.