#045 - Next, we shoot at the replicators until they can make rainbows.
Seriously, this scene from the pilot. Miles just kicks the damn thing. That’s the actual thing that happens: the transporter is confusing, so he kicks it, and then it works.
Which, look, I am willing to go out on a limb and support the idea that the station is in disarray and the equipment is all in not great shape thanks to the Cardassian evac, so maybe there was a loose connector under there? A feed off an EPS conduit, whatever the hell those things are? So maybe a rough shock and a millimeter of resulting nudging put into place a cord or a plug or a chip or something that needed reseating. I will go there; I will wave that hand for you, show.
But it’s still cartoonish. It’s like, “okay, we’re doing a little set piece about a heist here, lots of moving parts and multiple players, what we need is…slapstick? Yeah, let’s do some slapstick.”
It’s a bit weird, tonally, is all.
Also, I’m really making an assumption with that aboot joke, that Canadian regional dialectal quirks in English would (a) still exist as such four centuries in the future and (b) would survive exposure to the magical goddam Universal Translator and (c) that people would still meaningfully recognize it when they’ve been exposed to a whole quadrant full of weird alien linguistic phenomenon. And also, yes, (d) it’s really more like “a boat” in any case but shut up.
But maybe O’Brien, as a (however gently) lilting Irishman, is more aware than the average human of accents and perceptions thereof. Maybe in the future, being Irish has gone back to being one of the crappier class determiners in Future Western society? Hmm.
Also I have no earthly idea whether O’Brien had ever been to Canada by season three of Next Generation. That’s called artistic license. I am an artist. I was done working on the strip when that issue occurred to me, so I blew it off.
With art.
If somebody wants to investigate Torontogate and report back, that’d be keen. Maybe there’s a memory-alpha.ca?
tk
Unearthing this discussion in the original comments, about Miles and Keiko and Canada and the (I think eventually recurringly-referenced) canonical one-time Miles TNG girlfriend Mitzi:
Plutor: Back to the question at hand: Has the Chief ever been to Canada? It’s possible. We know, for instance, that Canada still exists as a geographical region (if not a political one). The rat bastard Michael Eddington claimed his family was from Canada (and he owned, for a while, a lucky loonie). And in “The First Duty”, Wesley mentions Calgary, indicating it’s a popular ski destination for cadets. Sadly, Miles never went to the Academy (damn enlisted men) so this doesn’t help his position much.
It's Raining Florence Henderson: Well, LARP Trek Miles flat out says he’s “never even been to Canada.” And, of course, it’s LARP Trek Keiko-as-Miles who makes the “aboot” joke. So, the real questions are 1) Has Keiko ever been to Canada? 2) Could Miles be lying about never having been to Canada? 3) If so, why? Is he maybe hiding a Canadian girlfriend from his past? 4) Since “Canadian girlfriend” is code for “imaginary girlfriend,” would a fan-fic version of a fictional character hiding an imaginary girlfriend still pick up a centuries out-of-date stereotypical vocal tic? and 5) Where do Canadian men’s imaginary girlfriends come from?
Me: All good points. And to the notion of Miles’ possible real-in-the-show secret Canadian girlfriend, he does at some point early in season 3 of TNG mention not being sure about his future prospects with “Mitzi”, so it’s possible Mitzi herself was a Canadian crewmember and that this odd “aboot” thing from Keiko was in fact a knowing little tweak on the woman she’s replacing in Miles’ life.