I saw this on Spike the other day, and I have to admit I have rather mixed feelings. I think the basic story concept was good, but the execution was lacking. The focus is on Barclay and his work on a project designed to allow Starfleet to finally communicate with Voyager, with Deanna Troi having been invited to see him on Earth before the Enterprise-E departs. Reg has an idea to establish two-way communications via a small artificial wormhole, but his supervisor doesn't think it's viable because some of Barclay's other ideas in the past didn't work out, and the project lost time and effort.
The main problem, IMO, is how the writers use Barclay. The story is supposed to be about his difficulty in relating to others and his feeling that he interacts with a computer better than with a fellow crewmember. These quirks were established pretty well on TNG, and made for some decent eps. But I'm glad the writers also established that despite his neurotic tendencies, Reg is still a very intelligent and capable engineer. It established some depth for the character.
Barclay's been running simulations to test his theories, and he's slowly started to realize that his desire to communicate with Voyager and help the crew is turning into an obsession. That's a nice idea, but I have trouble believing it when the Voyager crew in these simulations seem more interested in complimenting Barclay's "underappreciated" skills than actually helping him find ways to solve the communication issues. If he feels more comfortable with them, it only seems to be because they're programmed to think he's a genius. Troi at one point (as well as Barclay's superior) wonders if his obsession could be a relapse into his addiction with the holodeck from TNG, and it does seem more like that the way it's presented.
I dunno. Jammer likes the ep and gave it a full four stars, but I'd probably only give it two at best.
I do agree with him that it was nice to have an ep from the perspective of Starfleet rather than Voyager, but I still think they could have done things better. And it's somewhat unfortunate that Marina Sirtis isn't really much more than a cameo, as she's sympathetic to Barclay but doesn't do much beyond listen.
The main problem, IMO, is how the writers use Barclay. The story is supposed to be about his difficulty in relating to others and his feeling that he interacts with a computer better than with a fellow crewmember. These quirks were established pretty well on TNG, and made for some decent eps. But I'm glad the writers also established that despite his neurotic tendencies, Reg is still a very intelligent and capable engineer. It established some depth for the character.
Barclay's been running simulations to test his theories, and he's slowly started to realize that his desire to communicate with Voyager and help the crew is turning into an obsession. That's a nice idea, but I have trouble believing it when the Voyager crew in these simulations seem more interested in complimenting Barclay's "underappreciated" skills than actually helping him find ways to solve the communication issues. If he feels more comfortable with them, it only seems to be because they're programmed to think he's a genius. Troi at one point (as well as Barclay's superior) wonders if his obsession could be a relapse into his addiction with the holodeck from TNG, and it does seem more like that the way it's presented.
I dunno. Jammer likes the ep and gave it a full four stars, but I'd probably only give it two at best.
I do agree with him that it was nice to have an ep from the perspective of Starfleet rather than Voyager, but I still think they could have done things better. And it's somewhat unfortunate that Marina Sirtis isn't really much more than a cameo, as she's sympathetic to Barclay but doesn't do much beyond listen.
