Was I One of the Only People Who Weren't Annoyed by Lt. Barclay?

[Paradise City]

Giving people two teaspoons of confidence syrup and suddenly you're transformed from an uncertain quasi-recluse into a dynamic twenty fourth century answer to Richard Branson - that's eugenics by other means. That's a quick fix. And why limit it to Barclay? Why not make everyone a hyper-dynamic go-getter? Troi, who is often featured with a long schedule of appointments, would be completely out of the job.

There should be no quick fix but a very gradual over-coming of one's own dark corners and insecurities under the steam of ones own effort. A personal journey of self improvement with support along the way. No short-cut brain surgery or confidence syrup just hard graft through which you come to a new understanding of oneself thus gaining confidence with the universe and the people around you. That's the real path to self development.

That's what disappointed me about Barclay's return on VOY. He hasn't really progressed much from his time on TNG. It would've been nice to see Barclay still being Barclay, with some insecurities yet with a new confidence and surrounded by people who actually regarded him as a serious person. It would've been nice to have seen him as an authority figure having overcome alot of his personal demons. But we didn't get much of that with his portrayal on Voyager. They kinda showed Barclay being treated as a flake but let's vindicate him later kinda deal. Which I found to be a bit predictable.

 

[Greg Cox]

Are you talking about the Reboot or the Original universe?

The original universe, of course. See: "Journey to Babel," "Shore Leave," and "Yesteryear."

Specifically, the Vulcan bullying thing is mentioned by Amanda as far back as "Journey to Babel" and shown onscreen in "Yesteryear" and we know that Finnegan picked on Kirk at the Academy from "Shore Leave."

 

[Vandervecken]

As to how Barclay got on the Enterprise: I have no doubt his scores on all kinds of social tests were abysmal, but he seems to be an outside-the-box-thinking engineering type with rather broad scientific knowledge and a deep streak of inquisitiveness. He's a problem solver. Military type organizations will put up with a lot of low military and social aptitude for that.

 

[LJones41]

I've always liked Reginald Barclay. He seemed a bit more real than the other crewmembers aboard the Enterprise. Perhaps that's why seemed to fit a lot better with the Voyager crew, who has always seemed more real to me - flaws and all - than borderline ideal.

 

[Nyotarules]

If Leonard McCoy can get thru the Academy with his latent Vulcan prejudices then why not Barclay? And McCoy made it to Admiral despite hurling racial slurs at a collegue for decades. That's an element of real life right there.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Whilst I sympathise with those who relate to Barclay's having been picked on, let us not forget, however, that "being picked on" is not the sole purview of nerds, geeks and the like. Indeed, TNG's Jean-Luc Picard - athletic hero, valedictorian and young studd - was bullied, growing up by none other than his very own kin! His brother, Robert, in fact. But otherwise, yes, when you see a jock bullying a nerd, the extremes stand out. And it's also considered something of a Rite-of-Passage, so to speak, during the teen years, especially. But some bullies grow up to be fine people, I'm even friends with a couple like that, myself. Robert Picard, in fact, he didn't come across as an ogre. You could just tell he was a good guy. He wasn't played as unlikeable, or overbearing, in any way. In fact, by the end of "Family," his love for his brother is well-demonstrated.

 

[UnknownSample]

There is still the idea that Barclay's "type" should not be pathologized, but is merely another expression of the diversity of the human genome, rather than a disease that needs a cure.

This may be relevant in a general sense, whether Barclay specifically fits this particular neurotype or not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_rights_movement

Will such discourse have a place in the 24th century, or will the majority still be forcing their paradigm on those who are different?

Kor

Yes, it's medicalizing a person's social difficulties, making him into some freakish "other", rather than someone like us, who's been formed by different, worse experiences that we haven't had to deal with. Even this interesting "neurotype" idea does that somewhat, with the prefix "neuro" and the assumption that he's so m e fundamentally different kind of human, so much so that it must be a disease caused by a gene.

People can have trouble dealing with this or that because they're human, vulnerable, and have been through some tough shit.

Let's see him as "us", not as the "other". Will they discover a self-consciousness gene? Maybe, but somehow I doubt it.

 

[maneth]

People on the autistic spectrum are different from the majority. Some are very high-functioning, but the most severe cases are badly handicapped, unable to learn to speak, and because many people on the spectrum also have trouble with fine motor control, they can't learn sign language either. But these are extreme cases.

I don't think that most cases of social awkwardness are the result of bullying. Rather, quiet and perhaps shy people tend to attract bullies, and this can make the situation worse.

Barclay was certainly an extreme case, they should have been more obvious in showing his superiority in some specific thing that made it possible for him to serve in Starfleet at all.

 

[at Quark's]

Even though I was frequently annoyed by Barclay (his nervousness, his escapes from reality, etc), and some Barclay scenes were just painful to watch, I still liked the idea of him being abord.... gave some counterbalance to the notion that everything and everyone is perfect on the ent-D until the nasty alien/crisis of the week comes along.

 

[trekshark]

One thing I thought, if Wesley hadn't been surrounded by over achievers (and maybe in another time and place), he might have been in Barclay's shoes. Yet there he was on the "Broccolli" bandwagon..

I posted this about Wesley a few years ago with regards to Barclay:
"Barclay especially didn't deserve to get mocked by Wesley who would have been a nobody on that ship if Picard hadn't had a secret crush on his mom and felt guilty for sending his dad to his death"
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/starfleet-officers-that-are-a-h-s.249109/page-3#post-9895201

 

[Jonesy]

Especially with rewatching TNG (which I did last year), I found the whole concept of Barclay to be absurd, but also funny. He's not a model officer, and he's anything but endearing to those who work around him. But there is also a freshness to see the crew parodied so outright. It flies in the face with how stern and serious the show had been up to that point, and so for me as a viewer it was refreshing.

With that said, I don't think I could've watched the show with Barclay as a regular cast member. I think it would've thrown the show too far into parody and satire.

 

[tomalak301]

I loved Barcley. I think like Troi he was better in Voyager, but I liked how relatable he was. He showed that with encouragement if you have a learning disability, you can still make it.

 

[Solariabsg25]

We of course assume Barclay was always like this.

It could be that he graduated the Academy with flying colours, and left there a confident go-getter. But it could be that afterwards SOMETHING happened to shatter his confidence. Consider for example TOS's The Enemy Within, but imagine Barclay came up with the solution after the landing party had frozen to death. He blames himself for their deaths, his confidence suffers as he finds himself second-guessing every task he does.

Functionally, he could well still be just as competent as he was before, only now is wracked with self-doubt. If those who died were his friends, he could also find it difficult to interact again. What if his failure cost the lives of his new friends too? But in the Holodeck, he could make his own friends. Friends he would never lose due to his failure.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Barclay is way more palatable than Schultz.

 

[xanne]

I can identify myself with his social behaviour so, no I'm not annoyed but I feel a little bit unconfortable with the holodeck scenes...

Does anyone else think the others on the Enterprise acted a bit smug about him awkwardness?

Yes, I do. They don't know how to handle the situations related to him, it really get on my nerves!

 

[Greg Cox]

Portraying Barclay can be a balancing act. You want to play up his various neuroses, while not going too far overboard.

True story: I once wrote a scene where Barclay got space sick during some turbulence and threw up on the bridge. Paramount asked me to tone it down; Barclay could get nauseous and a bit green around the gills, but they didn't want any actual vomiting.

In retrospect, probably the right call.

 

[Devilpogostick]

I like Reg really. The guy may make many wonder just how he graduated from the academy but he's more than often shows he's very capable when the chips are down.

While it does feel a little depressing that the people he worked with are annoyed by him at the start, they do show that they can be caring and concern of his well-being. Not to mention he gets credit where credit is due.

...Though I did sorta like how he snapped at Geordi when he had been influenced by the probe, saying that he's acting like one of the crew now (confident and willing to show his talents when needed) and somehow that means something is wrong with him? While Geordi had a point...It was neat for Reg to stand up for himself like that.

 

[cgervasi]

He's supposed to be a socially awkward character, that's the point. I can sympathize with him, being a recluse spider myself in large social situations.

To me the build up of him being odd felt like a buildup that required a payoff of that somehow being helpful. Maybe it would be not talking to the crew outside the holodeck allowed him to see a peril that the rest of the crew was blind to, something like that.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I liked Barclay a lot. And in the end it seems like he did pretty well for himself! He seemed to be well respected on the Enterprise after a grace period of fitting in and some counseling. His work led to communications with Voyager (despite some problems there as well). So a respected position on the so called flagship (which people seem competitive as hell to get assigned to) and then the Voyager breakthrough. He should have his pick of positions after that.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

I liked Barclay a lot. And in the end it seems like he did pretty well for himself! He seemed to be well respected on the Enterprise after a grace period of fitting in and some counseling. His work led to communications with Voyager (despite some problems there as well). So a respected position on the so called flagship (which people seem competitive as hell to get assigned to) and then the Voyager breakthrough. He should have his pick of positions after that.

Maybe he should have been exceptionally good at something, like how most people who are on the more mildly Autistic end of the spectrum???