Just how did Reg Barclay get to where he was?

[infinix]

I'm sure people have discussed this before, but I missed it and I was just reminded of this by another thread. I understand why a character like Reg was needed. But the way the Starfleet Academy was depicted, only the best and the brightest and the most well adjusted made it through.

Reg might have been smart enough to enter, but his behavior certainly showed that he wasn't Starfleet material. Since its almost impossible for someone to accidentally slip through the crack, is the only explanation left that Reg used to be a normal functional adult, but became less so as he progressed in Starfleet?

If that's the case, why would Picard/Riker select someone like Barclay to be a part of the crew, and how was it that he wasn't transferred to a star base or back on Earth the second time (first time might be too harsh) he lost grips with reality?

 

[Tomalak]

Well I've got a theory that "Starfleet Academy" we see in San Francisco is just where a tiny minority of officers go, the cream of the crop, who pass the rigorous entrance exam, and get fast-tracked to success. Obviously we see more of these people because we follow the Enterprise, the flagship.

There are still plenty of ordinary officers who went through training in one of any number of Starfleet Academies dotted around the Federation, probably focusing more on one speciality, like engineering. Barclay was evidently a gifted engineer, just not great at interpersonal relationships. I also think being on the Enterprise was part of the problem - more pressure, lots of other brilliant minds, a very large crew. It would be easy for someone like him to keep his head down, not get integrated into the group, not make friends. Consequently he chose to hide in the holodeck, because no one was making the effort to reach out to him.

He's not an outgoing person, so if others aren't willing to engage him, then he doesn't stand much change. And frankly it doesn't help when people like Wesley, his boss in engineering Geordi, and even the captain call him "broccoli". We see when they do find a way to harness his skills and integrate him into the group, they get the best out of him.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, first of all Reg looked to be man in his mid-40s so assuming he graduated SFA when he was in his early 20s he spent over 20 years in Starfleet and only managed to get two promotions (from Ensign to Lieutenant (J.G.) and then to full Lieutenant.) So he obviously wasn't standing out as an officer to anyone and his two lousy promotions were either from moments of rare brilliance or from just "well, we gotta do it sooner or later" type promotions. (Picard being in his late 50s/60s in the Q-Present in "Tapestry" having only gotten one promotion doesn't count as an indication of Starfleet promotion practices given it was a Q-ran reality.)

So on his promotions alone he wasn't standing out.

He may of had a degree of something to offer in his various posts, I mean he apparently good enough to not get killed on his first away mission, right?

The Enterprise was something different and this may have been were his various neuroses came out or went into full-bloom. Pre-Enterprise he may not have been "that bad."

Riker also suggests when talking to Picard that his previous CO(s) may have been talking Barclay up just to get him off their ships. He pretty much failed his way to the top because no one wanted to deal with him but he wasn't bad enough to push him to the bottom as he had "something" to offer.

He was an engineering officer so for all we know he mostly just did grunt work inside of jefferies tubes cleaning plasma residue off of EPS taps.

 

[Kelthaz]

But the way the Starfleet Academy was depicted, only the best and the brightest and the most well adjusted made it through.

Yeah, that was retconned pretty quickly given how dumb that idea was.

Reg might have been smart enough to enter, but his behavior certainly showed that he wasn't Starfleet material.

Not StarFleet material according to that idiotic test Wesley was put through, but he's just a socially awkward engineer. Definitely employable.

Since its almost impossible for someone to accidentally slip through the crack

Where are you getting that from? We've seen several examples of people and entire colonies (Tasha's) falling through the cracks on Star Trek, so why is it so hard to believe that Reg could get through life without getting treatment for his social ineptness?

 

[Tomalak]

He may of had a degree of something to offer in his various posts, I mean he apparently good enough to not get killed on his first away mission, right?

Well we see in later episodes (when Geordi has befriended him) he's a really valuable member of the crew, so I'd assume in his previous posts he was in a smaller team with other people who were more supportive. It's only Riker's speculation that his previous CO gave him a glowing report to offload him, and it doesn't seem very likely to me. He is a talented officer, and evidently they knew how to get the most out of him on the Zhukov. Geordi's just a dick in Hollow Pursuits. Doesn't Picard have to order him to get to know Barclay?

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

The more important question is why nobody managed to diagnose (and possibly treat) his apparent personality disorders in all those years. At least until Counselor Troi came around. Starfleet Medical really fumbled the ball on this one. Aren't there psych evaluations during the Academy or something like that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidant_personality_disorder

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, that's what's odd too. You'd think they could give him a medication or something to "cure" his various anxieties. You'd also think that conditions like hypochondria would be long gone in the 24th century.

 

[Tomalak]

It could simply be that he had them under control previously, as he was in the right environment to bring the best out of him. His initial experience on the Enterprise was obviously awful, but later on he got them under control and became a huge asset. It was the same in his Voyager appearances - once he got to know Commander Hawkins and made friends, he settled in and wasn't anxious any more.

 

[Trekker4747]

It probably takes a while for the pharmacy at his new post to get all of the paperwork regarding his medication(s) so he goes a while without it and flips the fuck out.

Even in the 24th century health-care still sucks.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

It probably takes a while for the pharmacy at his new post to get all of the paperwork regarding his medication(s) so he goes a while without it and flips the fuck out.

Even in the 24th century health-care still sucks.

That's certainly one possible explanation.

 

[Sorak]

This started off from my post on the 'having sex with holograms' thread right?

 

[infinix]

This started off from my post on the 'having sex with holograms' thread right?

*cough* *cough*

I have no idea what you are talking about....

 

[Xerxes1979]

Because he is smarter than normal regarding technology. He was an engineer not an ambassador.

I think if you look at Silicon Valley you will find all sorts of social "disorders" that are tolerated because the work done by eccentrics is highly valuable and highly profitable.

If everyone was "normal" the development of our civilization would be greatly retarded.

Is Starfleet a meritocracy or a military hierachry? How good of a boot licker to need to be to get promoted? That is the real question.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I don't recall, did his personality quirks ever impact on his job performance?

 

[Trekker4747]

I don't recall, did his personality quirks ever impact on his job performance?

Eh, it sort of hampered his ability to communicate effectively. There's the scene where he's trying to fix the antigrav machine and he stammers on where to begin before LaForge pretty much tells him to get his ass over there and just do it. During the engineers meeting he stammers on his suggestion on the problem(s) with the computer system, getting shown-up by Wesley in the process; and then it takes him a while to get to the point of his idea on the "solution" during the final climatic scene on what is going wrong with the ship.

So, yeah, his communication skills weren't likely doing him any favors in job performance. Couple that with the holodiction making him late for his shift and that his phobia of the transporter made him ill-qualified to go on away missions and, yeah, you got a guy with not the greatest work performance.

He's either mostly an "alone in the office type" or the "grunt work type" but on the Enterprise it seemed Geordi was able to, mostly, get the "most" out of him.

 

[indolover]

Barclay must have been about 40, yet was a Lt. Jg for all that time. That shows he couldn't hack any further responsibility.

I'm surprised that most engineers in Starfleet don't have autistic traits. OK, Geordi, Chief O'Brien, or even B'Elanna certainly didn't. However, given the technical nature of the work, I can see if there were more autistic engineers than say doctors, helms officers, tactical/security officers or even COs/XOs in Starfleet.

 

[lau03143]

Barclay must have been about 40, yet was a Lt. Jg for all that time. That shows he couldn't hack any further responsibility.

I'm surprised that most engineers in Starfleet don't have autistic traits. OK, Geordi, Chief O'Brien, or even B'Elanna certainly didn't. However, given the technical nature of the work, I can see if there were more autistic engineers than say doctors, helms officers, tactical/security officers or even COs/XOs in Starfleet.

I'm an engineer and I can pretty much guarantee as a profession, Engineering have a lot of people that could be on the Autistic spectrum. Its the nature of the job! Having to check and re-check drawings, calculations, schematics... can be come quite an obsessive thing.

A quick search on the web pulled up this report into the links between Autism and Engineering:

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/docs/papers/1997_BCetal_Engineer.pdf

An intersting read, but no real revelations.

Barclay is clearly a very intelligent individual (as seen on TNG and VOY) which some social problems, which have clearly hampered any real further progression in Engineering (and there are plenty of examples of this engineering firms all over the world!).

 

[Sorak]

This started off from my post on the 'having sex with holograms' thread right?

*cough* *cough*

I have no idea what you are talking about....

Haha, okay!

By the way, I agree with who said that he's an engineer, not a counsellor or a diplomat. He's definitely a capable engineer, sometimes he's a borderline genius (think of VOY 'Pathfinder') so, if he's not asked to be charming and particularly communicative, he's definitely Enterprise material. His holoaddiction no doubt emerged while aboard the Enterprise, before he was only a shy, socially awkward yet brilliant engineer who got through the ranks and managed to be transferred to the Enterprise.

One hypothesis on how did he get to be transferred to the flagship, for example, is that he specialized on a very relevant, singular, rare subject for which there was need on the Enterprise. Something like: "Okay, we need an expert on (say) Temporal Mechanics, this guy here Barclay has written a thesis on it, let's get him."

 

[Tomalak]

I'm surprised that most engineers in Starfleet don't have autistic traits. OK, Geordi, Chief O'Brien, or even B'Elanna certainly didn't.

I'd say Geordi did, he wasn't great at understanding human interactions, which is why he could never get women. He just saw them as a code to crack - get the right set of variables and they'd fall in love with him. The talk with Guinan in Booby Trap shows this - "yeah but I wasn't trying with you."

 

[Sorak]

I'm surprised that most engineers in Starfleet don't have autistic traits. OK, Geordi, Chief O'Brien, or even B'Elanna certainly didn't.

I'd say Geordi did, he wasn't great at understanding human interactions, which is why he could never get women. He just saw them as a code to crack - get the right set of variables and they'd fall in love with him. The talk with Guinan in Booby Trap shows this - "yeah but I wasn't trying with you."

Is that the episode where he takes that ensign on an embarassing, awkward, ridiculous date on the holodeck? If I were that girl I'd just want to be vaporized, assimilated, abducted by the Caretaker, anything to leave that room expeditiously...