Was Barclay an indicator...

[RobertScorpio]

Yeah, what is it with people that they can't believe there's actually people out there who are good and competent?

Does everyone have to be as screwed up as we are here on 21st century Earth?

You and I and everyone else posting here live on 21st century Earth. All of the good and competent - and every other kind - of people we will ever know live here on 21st century Earth.

No one lives in the "Star Trek Universe," and no one ever will.

Unless the universe of Star Trek exists in another reality and GR and Berman and JJ are all 'connected' to it with their creative minds...you never know...maybe Frank Grayson lives in all of us!!!

Rob

 

[Kirk1980]

Ah, the witticisms of Starship Polaris.

Thanks for the humor.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

...but it's unbelievable for someone with Barclay's mental issues to function even in the 21st century...

If by "functioning" you mean hold a professional position, be promoted and so forth...you live either a fortunate or sheltered life not to have dealt with more than a few Barclays.

The only thing Barclay indicates is that the writer - a freelancer, BTW, not one of the staff - set out to write an eccentric misfit. She succeeded just fine.

^^ Completely agree with that!

 

[Hermiod]

Yeah, TNG seems to be suffering the retroevaluation curse TOS has... it was made 22 years ago, therefore it MUST be stupid, right?

Plus fraking one.

Yes. His character may have a been a bit over-the-top but it was very very interesting to see an imperfect character that had major issues.

I felt his crewmates let him down. I felt his so-called friends were too a bit too cruel about him, to the point where O'Brien and Worf were still talking about him in DS9.

He's the sort of guy you give a lab with a bunch of graduates to and say to him "go invent something" - doesn't matter what it is. He shouldn't have been wasting his time fixing holodecks and patching up EPS conduits.

 

[Kirk1980]

Hermiod....you'd give Barclay...people...to work with? Are you sure that's a good thing?

 

[Hermiod]

Hermiod....you'd give Barclay...people...to work with? Are you sure that's a good thing?

Not with. They'd be working for him. He'd be their boss.

 

[cultcross]

I felt his crewmates let him down. I felt his so-called friends were too a bit too cruel about him, to the point where O'Brien and Worf were still talking about him in DS9.

I agree - the attitude towards Barclay was often one of condescending arrogance or annoyance, even from the counsellor. It seemed the crew had a hard time interacting with a crewmember who wasn't as awesome as they obviously felt they were.

 

[Kirk1980]

I felt his crewmates let him down. I felt his so-called friends were too a bit too cruel about him, to the point where O'Brien and Worf were still talking about him in DS9.

I agree - the attitude towards Barclay was often one of condescending arrogance or annoyance, even from the counsellor. It seemed the crew had a hard time interacting with a crewmember who wasn't as awesome as they obviously felt they were.

Yeah, I felt that was kinda odd given their empathy with just about everyone else... did this guy do anything else we're not aware of perhaps that engendered such annoyance?

 

[cultcross]

I felt his crewmates let him down. I felt his so-called friends were too a bit too cruel about him, to the point where O'Brien and Worf were still talking about him in DS9.

I agree - the attitude towards Barclay was often one of condescending arrogance or annoyance, even from the counsellor. It seemed the crew had a hard time interacting with a crewmember who wasn't as awesome as they obviously felt they were.

Yeah, I felt that was kinda odd given their empathy with just about everyone else... did this guy do anything else we're not aware of perhaps that engendered such annoyance?

Well early on it seemed to be implied that he was pretty bad at his job as well as being a bit of a social outcast. However, after the Hollow Pursuits problems he was later played as being essentially quite excellent at his job, just a bit strange. And the attitudes to him didn't really change at all.

 

[JustKate]

All I gata say is I loved Barklay. Every time he showed up on screan Id get a bit of a smile and say.... What now?

Me, too, me, too! I love Reg. Besides, you can get tired of all those perfect people in Star Fleet -- Reg is kind of an Everyman that way. Sometimes the writers exaggerated a bit too much for comic effect, but there isn't an episode (except maybe that one where everyone de-evolves and poor ol' Reg becomes an arachnid) that features him that I don't like at least partly because of Reg.

 

[CoveTom]

I don't find Barclay to be either annoying or unbelievable. He strikes me as a very believable example of someone who is intelligent, professionally competent, able to function in his job well enough to receive promotions, but who is simply socially inept as many people are. Perhaps in many ways he was one of the more realistic humans portrayed on TNG.

But I also disagree with this popular notion that the characters on TNG were portrayed as 'perfect humans' with no flaws. This notion has come mostly from Ron Moore, who likes to talk about how constrained the writers were by Roddenberry's dictum of perfect humans who lacked conflict. Yet I see no evidence that such a dictum, if existing, was ever followed to any serious degree. I think our TNG heroes have plenty of flaws and conflict and come across as quite believable humans.

 

[JustKate]

I didn't get that notion of "too perfect" from Ron Moore -- I couldn't have since I don't actually read that many interviews with Trek folks. My main interest is the shows themselves, and that's predominantly where I get my ideas about the show. So I got it the idea of "my, but there are a lot of pretty darn perfect people in Star Trek" from watching the shows themselves, so if you disagree, you're going to have to blame me, not Ron Moore.

And they are pretty darn perfect -- not absolutely perfect, of course, since that would be dull, but they are in perfect shape physically, they are emotionally stable -- and the proof of that is how much of a fuss is made when someone falls short of that ideal -- they play well with others, they are brave, they are clean, they perform their duties, etc., etc., etc. Sure, somebody slips up now and then, but not very dang often -- far less often than they would in real life.

And that's fine. If I wanted to see how a real military unit behaves, I'd join a real military unit.

However, I definitely should qualify that "perfect" opinion. It's not that the main characters have no flaws, and it's not that I don't find them human, but they were all cast in the heroic mold. Well, I mean, they had to be -- in real life, people are usually a mix of heroes and cowards, good guys and bad guys, but that doesn't make for very interesting drama. So in drama, people tend to be predominantly one or the other. It's a lot more clear-cut out there in TV World than it is here in Reality City.

And that's what makes Reg special. He, like the other main characters, was heroic when he had to be, but if you compare him to the other main characters, he was a lot more like...well, like some of us. They allowed him to be geeky, a thing which they didn't allow many regular characters. And that was really cool. After all, a person can be qualified and competent and brainy and still be geeky. I expect we all know people like that, and I also suspect that we all know a lot more people like that than like, say, Riker. And frankly, I like people like Reg more than I like people like Riker anyway.