Summary
A huge part ofStar Trek: The Next Generation’s success was its superbly balanced core crew. That said, the senior members of the USS Enterprise-D didn’t win over fans on their own — they were bolstered by a fine complement of supporting characters. The enigmatic bartender Guinan, the ever-reliable Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, and transporter miracle worker Miles O’Brien all added depth to the voyages of Enterprise-D… And then there was Reg Barclay.
Played by Dwight Schultz, better known to audiences at the time as Captain ‘Mad Dog’ Murdoch inThe A-Team, lower decker Barclay only made 12 appearances inStar Trek. But the nervous, prone-to-error but brilliant engineer became a fan favorite. WhenST:TNGfinished, the character couldn’t be contained, and Barclay went on to play a vital role inStar Trek Voyager.
Barclay Was The Enterprise’s Most Relatable Crew Member
Reginald Endicott Barclay III was first introduced in the third season episode “Hollow Pursuits.” His impressive, over-the-top name was intended to reinforce a defining inferiority complex. InThe Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine. Vol. 16, the episode’s writer Sarah Higley explained that she originally wrote the character to be a prankster who exposed the weaknesses of the seemingly perfect Enterprise crew.
At Paramount’s request, Barclay pivoted to a more relatable character. He still highlighted the perceived perfection of his crewmates but through the prism of an understandable fallibility. The junior lieutenant was hesitant, uncomfortable, and often stressed, which affected his speech fluency. In short, his relatable character filled a void inST:TNG. He became more endearing on his first appearance when his polar opposite, the boy genius Wesley Crusher, disparagingly nicknamed him ‘Broccoli.'
Barclay was a lovable character, but Schultz’s casting was perfect, and the character’s return only hinged on the show’s writers finding the right hook. The actor may have toldStar Trek: The Official Monthly Magazinethat he didn’t foresee Barclay’s popularity, but it was guaranteed by the franchise’s dedication to honoring and developing the character’s traits and themes.
“Hollow Pursuits” found Geordi La Forge concerned about one of his underperforming engineers. The awkward Lt. Barclay seemed to be spending most of his time in a holodeck filled with variants of the Enterprise’s senior crew he felt comfortable around. In Barclay’s distortion,Counsellor Troi displayed an unexpected sideas the Goddess of Empathy, and Riker a comically short musketeer. The crew struggled to understand how they could help Barclay, but Picard’s instincts that La Forge should develop and support him are proved right. The lieutenant overcame his lack of confidence to save the Enterprise from contamination that had infected the matter/anti-matter injectors.
On his second appearance in season 4’s “The Nth Degree,” Barclay was possessed by an alien probe that granted him fast-accelerating superintelligence. A curious spin on a first contact story, it was the result of the inverted space exploration of the Cytherians. The aliens dispatched the probes to upgrade the technology of other species so they could come to them. The Enterprise made contact with the aliens after Barclay modified the Enterprise to travel to the heart of the Milky Way through subspace. As the crew weighed up the vast amount of new information it would take decades to decipher, Barclay returned to his usual self, albeit with full memories of his transformation.
Barclay appeared twice inST:TNG’s sixth season. “Realm of Fear” found him confronting his fear of transporters. When he was convinced he had seen creatures in the matter stream, Barclay confronted his phobia to make contact with the lifeforms and discovered they were missing crew from the USS Yosemite. This would foreshadow his later role in helping the crew of the USS Voyager.
Returning to the holodecks he probably should have been banned from using, “Ship in a Bottle” found Barclay inadvertently reawakening theself-aware hologram Professor Moriartyfrom Season 2’s “Elementary, Dear Data.” Of all of hisST:TNGstories, Barclay had the least involvement in this story, although his appearance added weight to its theme. True to his history and character, it’s left to Barclay to double-check that he’s not in a simulation at the end of the episode.
Barclay’s final appearance on the Enterprise was inseason 7’s scariest episode“Genesis.” Unlucky as ever, Barclay contracted Urodelan flu only for the cure to mutate into a virus that devolved the crew of the Enterprise. Barclay, who writer Brannon Braga described as a “nervous and wiry guy” in theSeason Seven Episode Guide, had the indignity of becoming a humanoid spider before Picard and Data could save him and the crew. Barclay’s unfortunate legacy continued when Doctor Crusher named the virus Barclay’s Protomorphosis Syndrome.
Barclay Met His Star Trek Hero
Reg Barclay’s popularity has been suggested to lie in the mirror he holds up to fans. Once intended to be a malicious and spiteful character, he instead morphed into a lovable character who made mistakes but overcame his difficulties to earn the respect of his peers. That didn’t mean he didn’t continue to make significant missteps throughout his story — after all, what fan wouldn’t if they were aboard that ship?
It was fitting that Barclay had a small comic cameo inThe Next GenerationfilmStar Trek: First Contactand acted just like a starstruck fan. Part of the crew thrown back to the 21st century, Barclay joins the Earth-based contingent ensuring Zefram Cochrane’s Phoenix can make its fated warp journey and initiate first contact with the Vulcans. When Barclay shows La Forge a copper coil he thinks could replace the Phoenix’s damaged warp plasma conduit, he can’t keep his eyes off his hero, telling him:
Dr Cochrane, I know this sounds silly, but can I shake your hand? Thank you Doctor, I can’t tell you what an honor it is to work with you on this project. I never imagined I’d be meeting the man who invented warp drive…
Of course, being Barclay, he gets told off by La Forge, and helps rattle Cochrane so much he tries to run away from the strange new world that’s landed on his head.
Barclay’s Was Integral In Bringing The USS Voyager Home
Barclay appeared inStar Trek: Voyagermore thanST:TNG, deservedly earning a role in the show’s epic finale. He first appeared in the second season when his history was lightly retconned to have him take temporary leave from the Enterprise between the seventh season ofST:TNGandFirst Contactto work on theEmergency Medical Hologram(EMH) program at Jupiter Station.
In Season 2’s “Projections,” Barclay appears as a vision in the Doctor’s mind and attempts to convince the hologram that he is actually his progenitor Lewis Zimmerman, the only real being in a complex simulation ofUSS Voyager. True to Barclay’s previous stories, the scenario turns out to be the result of a malfunctioning holodeck.
Barclay had been promoted to lieutenant by Season 6’s “Pathfinder” and assigned to the project of the episode’s title. Starfleet had learned the USS Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant in Season 3’s “Message in a Bottle” and was attempting long-distance communication with the ship. Troi visited the project’s facility and caught up with Barclay just as the lieutenant became obsessed with a holographic reconstruction of Voyager and her crew.
After overstepping the mark with Admiral Paris, Barclay was removed from the project but proceeded to test his unproven theory that he could communicate with Voyager through an artificial micro-wormhole. Fortunately for Barclay, his experiment worked, and he was let off the hook when temporary communication was established between the ship and Starfleet. Aboard the Voyager, Barclay was made an honorary crew member.
Barclay’s historic link to the EMH, leading to fantastic scenes between Schultz and Robert Picardo’s Doctor, would prove integral to his cameos in the Delta-Quadrant-based show. In Season 6’s “Lifeline,” Barclay called on Counselor Troi and some typically underhand tactics to have Dr. Zimmerman reconcile with Voyager’s EMH and confront a serious illness.InStar Trek: Voyager’s seventh season, “Inside Man” saw Barclay’s attempts to send interactive holograms to the Voyager hijacked by a treacherous ex-girlfriend in league with Ferengi who hoped to profit from Borg technology. Barclay beat the plot thanks to, once again, some subterfuge and the support of Counsellor Troi. Later that season, Barclay accomplished 11 minutes of daily live communication between the errant ship and Starfleet in “Author, Author.”
While Barclay missed out on a role inST:TNG’s epic finale “All Good Things,” he was present and correct at the end of Voyager’s journey. In “Endgame,” Barclay appeared in the alternative future of 2404 as a commander and lecturer at Starfleet Academy who facilitated Admiral Janeway’s mission to change her past. Fans then saw him getting a fine send-off in 2378 continuity when he took his place alongside Admiral Paris as the Voyager returned home. As it stands, that’s Barclay’s final appearance in the franchise, although his story has continued in canonically-disputed novels, short stories, and comics.
There have been few characters like Reg Barclay inStar Trek, if any. His arc crossed series and a film to stay true to the character dogged by confidence issues, social insecurity, and the merging of reality and artificiality. Growing into the brilliant engineer fans had long appreciated him to be, Reg Barclay’s journey remains a wholly satisfying part of the franchise. He showed a different side of Starfleet, his peers, and superiors and paved the way for characters likeStar Trek: Discovery’s Sylvia Tilly.
