Pathfinder

You don't have to love Barclay for this to be good. It's helpful if you've seen his TNG episodes, particularly his holodeck addiction.

This episode plays with that history and arguably depicts him relapsing into his addiction. That alone makes it compelling because it's a type of depth Trek or this era rarely reached into.

The climax is very good and I was extremely impressed with the remarkably restrained first contact. They could have very easily gone way over the top here and I bet they were heavily tempted to.

It's always great to see stuttering, socially awkward Reg Barclay in an episode.

Unfortunately, the forced character motivations hamstring the episode and keep it from becoming a really quality Voyager outing. Barclay has become obsessed with Voyager's plight (perhaps because they are stranded alone in the Delta quadrant, and he is stranded alone inside his hopelessly cringey social ineptness). He has developed a theoretical method of creating a singularity and using it to establish 2-way communications with Voyager. But his commanding officer, who otherwise seems patient and rational, refuses to allow Barclay to test this theory, or even to recommend it to higher-ups in Starfleet.

The burning question when watching this episode is then: WHY? Why wouldn't they let Barclay try? By all accounts throughout the story, there is absolutely no ramifications to trying... except to reach the stranded Voyager and finally establish full comms with them. One, of course, knows why this stubbornness exists.... to create drama as artificial as Barclay's wormhole! To make him struggle and finally prevail.... over nothing, really.

This really makes what is a watershed moment in the show a, well, a hollow pursuit.

Lieutenant Barclay is back and makes his second appearance on Voyager. Although even the writers seem to have forgotten that Barclay was previously seen in the episode "Projections." At the end of this episode, the doctor answers the question of whether anyone knows Barclay only by saying that he has read his patient file. In the said episode, however, he encountered Barclay on the holodeck when he himself was trapped in it due to a malfunction. Barclay tried to convince him that he was the real Dr. Zimmerman and was actually stuck in a simulation on Jupiter Station due to an accident.

In any case, this episode is refreshingly different than previous Voyager episodes. At the center is Barclay, a Star Trek character who is not part of the lineup for this series. We also see Deanna Troi again. The type of narrative is also different. Troi visits Barclay, who is obsessed with Voyager (he even named his cat "Neelix") and the idea to establish contact but has been relieved of duty by his superior because he got too involved in this project and also spent too many hours on the holodeck in a simulation of Voyager. We now see, on the one hand, flashbacks of these events up to the present time and, on the other hand, the events in the now that follow afterwards. Barclay disobeys his superior's orders and attempts to prove his theory of a communication channel through an artificially created wormhole. And although Barclay isn't exactly the most socially competent officer, he is still an engineering genius that should not be underestimated. He manages to make brief contact with Voyager and thereby rehabilitates himself with his superiors.

I still think that Barclay would have fit well into this series after his stay on the Enterprise. His very introversive nature but also his ideas for solving technical problems could have been an interesting plot element. He could have made a very congenial duo in engineering with the cold and gruff Torres. He would also have been the perfect candidate for all the episodes in which crew members were possessed by aliens.

I also don't know why some Star Trek fans have an aversion to Barclay. Basically, he embodies the spirit of Star Trek like no other. Although he is not the type of officer who is always in the spotlight and is basically just a normal and simple person, he is still an expert in his field. He always tries to solve problems through technology, following the vision of Star Trek that the future can be made a better place through technology and knowledge.

If you have kept with my reviews I tend to not tow the line with the rest. That is, episodes others say are the best, I cannot stand, and certain episodes people hate (The Thaw, for example) I love.

This one is the best I have ever seen, and I have seen them all up to now. This episode embodies everything that made me love Star Trek TNG, and Deep Space Nine. It uses an old character in a very appropriate way and even brings back his faults in a great way.

The resolution is excellent and I would watch this episode over and over again. If only the whole series had this kind of writing.

Reg Barclay tries to establish contact with Voyager and encounters resistance from the Starfleet chain of command.

Barclay and Deanna Troi are the main focus as he fights to get his idea recognised and suffers multiple setbacks that require the emotional support of his Betazoid friend.

The plot is somewhat frustrating, but when we conclude, there is a particularly uplifting feel-good moment worth all the effort to reach.

Dwight Schultz is as howlingly mad as ever playing a man who is either going insane or on his way to greatness. It's nice to see Marina Sirtis, but you feel she's there to hook the TNG fans.

This is an interesting perspective on Voyager's predicament from the other side of the galaxy, with one word of warning: see my review's title.