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Star Trek: TNG 3x21 Full Reaction! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-02-01 18:00:09
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2026-06
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Star Trek TNG 3×21 Full Reaction

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Josef Schiltz

I think many of us could write reams about social anxiety. The holodeck is Reg's 'reset' environment from the stresses of the real world. and the forest glade scenario and the far less complex period setting in the holodeck is a logical one for Reg to retreat to. and an essential counterbalance that stops anxiety from tearing him to pieces. A condition that someone as aggressively confident - and also quite arrogantly confident with it - as Riker just can't conceptualize. Personally, I can't blame Reg for wanting to take him down in size a bed notch or two. Those holodeck scenes were also probably fun for the cast to get into. Out of those damn uniforms for a start! Kudos to Wesley for realizing that he had "shut him down" in the meeting. Wesley and Barclay are both neurologically diverse and Wes, I think, suddenly had a reality check and recognized his own overbearing attitude within his new found confidence of status and flashed back to his own social awkwardness just a very short time previously. Some of us may be specialists in our own field, sometimes exceptionally so, but it can have disenabling drawbacks socially. Even with communicating that which we absolutely know can be rendered completely dysfunctional by a sea of expectant minds and faces. It can be like trying to recount the alphabet backwards amidst the torture of anxiety and the overcrowding of sensory input which overwhelms and we have to retreat. Inescapably, Reg is like Tam Elbrun in the previous episode when absorbing all those minds in the ship crowding in upon him, whom Riker was also very short-tempered and judgemental with.

Geordie Joe

I have a love-hate relationship with this episode. I love the fact that we get Dwight Schultz in Star Trek as Reginald Barclay. I was a big A-Team fan when I was younger and H.M. Howling Mad Murdock played by Schultz is my favourite A-Team member. I'd love to see you react to the A-Team sometime in the future if you haven't already seen it. It's an 80s classic. I also love Reg Barclay as a Star Trek character. He's someone with his own personal struggles just like everyone else in life and he's just trying his best to get on with his life in Starfleet. I won't get into why exactly but Reg is an incredibly relatable character for me on a personal level. I hate the fact that of all the characters on this show, they chose Geordi La Forge of all people to effectively play the role of a toxic workplace bully in this episode. It just feels incredibly out of character for him. Resorting to name calling and even trying to get him transferred off the Enterprise simply because he doesn't like working with him? Really? Geordi managed to successfully coexist with a Romulan Centurion in The Enemy. That's the Geordi La Forge that I know. He also shouldn't need Guinan to effectively sit down and tell him to stop being such an insensitive jerk to Reg. This bully version of Geordi just feels like an alien imposter to me. Who knows, maybe he's another clone and those aliens from Allegiance are experimenting on the crew again. That is my new headcanon for this episode now.

Thomas Corp

An interesting story to be sure. I am told that it’s one of LeVar’s favorites. Yes, two back-to-back episodes largely focusing on someone outside the main crew. In this instance, we have Dwight Schultz as Barclay. In terms of first impressions, he has a doozy. To absolutely ZERO surprise, you were LIVID over Barclay going Howling Mad by fucking with Geordi in the opening, holodeck or not. I was watching this week, and I could hear the smoke emerging from your ears, in conjunction with the cursing and expressions of wishing for death to befall Barclay. Now seeing the reaction itself, you astonishingly exceeded expectations on that one, Jess. I KNEW that you would have the “You shoot Geordi in a dream you better wake up and apologize, then expect death.” response. Having a beer after that scene, or you said tequila, a gin and tonic would be agreeable as well, doesn’t sound a bad idea. Likewise, knew you’d stick up for Data being Geordi’s bestie. It does say something of Dwight and the writing that you are not completely unsympathetic to Barclay after that. Though you would be more insistent on him being on time for work; my dad would have loved you in that regard. The tardiness would have severely tested my dad, and it would have most CERTAINLY INFURIATED my dad’s dad. Sure, Barclay’s not Daredevil level bad, tardiness-wise, but still, it’s not a good look. The heart does go out to Barclay’s struggle. He does have the real-life anxieties, probably he’s on the autism spectrum in some manner. His talking about it hits home. The way he talks about the parties, there is different perspectives on that. He mentions trying to look interested in the potted plants. I find I either drink or just hover around the bowl of black olives, and munch on them. Lately, though, the younger cousins have given me a run for my money on that one, and I think, “Looks like we got competition.” Figured you’d have the thoughts you had about your own dealings with anxiety. It’s a double-edged sword in that you do feel that the crew is perhaps a little too mean and insensitive, though some of that speaks to when this was made when autism awareness isn’t what it is now. On the other hand, there is a professional standard where it says something when Geordi is frustrated. I know the thing: whether you like a guy is one thing. Can he do the job is something else. Love Picard had the attitude he did. Shame that he slipped with the name. Likewise, I appreciate how you got on the crew’s case with regard to their response to his trouble with words. I’m more averse to prevarication with answers, my aunt was even more strict about that. But yeah, there they could have cut him a break. Bringing us to the holodeck of it all. Like you said, we all do need healthy escape every now and then. Your own channel, as you cited, provides that. There is the thing of knowing when it becomes too much, not to mention how unhealthy or creepy it is. (I mean, hey, I’m into some freaky shit myself, but even I have my limitations.) I anticipated your reaction to most if not all of it, especially the Deanna of it all, which shared protectiveness of Deanna, and just, yeah, that part is just too creepy. That and the Beverly of it all too; The thought occurred of if Picard saw that aspect of the holodeck fantasy, and I warily note, “Oh-ho, he’s NOT going to like THAT.” Speaking of Beverly, I at one point yelled, “Beverly doesn’t get ANY fucking scenes outside of this horseshit fantasy!? Goddamn it!!” We both snapped a little at Riker for his response to seeing the illusory Deanna. My own comment was, “Careful, William. You go too far.” Even if he’s largely responding to how Deanna found it amusing that the illusory Riker was about the size of Mickey Rooney, you’re asking to at least get smacked for acting like he did. It’s funny too, the manner of escape being the heroic fantasies, like how most people like to envision that they’re John Wayne, Rambo, Marshall Dillon. My fantastical escapes were usually not of that nature given my visceral relating to the villains; the habit persists. It is sweet how Geordi is sympathetic to a point recalling his own holodeck experiences. Similarly, sweet that Guinan sticks up for Barclay. All of this largely overshadowed the near death of everyone, though it is great how Barclay helps save the day with the suggestion of them being responsible for the mess in the absence of any other explanation. And how the group then does the WORK, complete with sparkly gloves, they tighten focus and save the day. Good stuff. Great moment at the end when they bamboozled you with the holodeck. Nice to see you have joy over Geordi getting his own log as well. Truly, I vastly appreciate your post-episode thoughts and statements. All of it was very kind, thoughtful, and again, much appreciated, Jess. Thank you for the great reaction.

Thomas Corp
>>163253625

We could fill the old encyclopedias with material about social anxiety. The concept of the episode itself, again, the whole thing is perfectly fine, so long as you don’t take it too far. It would work as a reset and retreat method of escape. Like you said, hard for Riker to conceptualize such a thing. And like Geordi notes, what Barcalay gets up to in the holodeck is his business. He does not much mind, so long as it does not interfere with the work they need to do. I don’t doubt the cast had fun with those scenes. Wesley did have the good moment of realizing he was the asshole in that moment. Makes sense as he and Barclay are similar in that regard. I keep arguing Picard might be on the spectrum/is neurodivergent in some respect. Or at least he exhibits several behavioral traits, to the point that I like to embrace him in that respect, the way we like to do with Spock. Rather tellingly, he is one of the main crew that was adamant about the crew helping Barclay out. The lack of sensitivity from the rest of the crew did get under the skin a bit, even if it’s not personal per se, and more annoyance over him slacking in his duties. The public speaking thing is very real, and I had SO many people disbelieve me in school that it would be troublesome, considering the theatre work. Acting on stage is one thing. Speaking publicly in front of a crowd without the buffer and escape of a character, that’s something else. I feel Barclay’s pain at those parts. He and Tam are similar in quite a few respects. Makes for interesting back-to-back episodes and reactions.

Thomas Corp
>>163256404

I hear what you’re saying about hating how Geordi is in the role that he is in this episode, and even there, he feels slightly tame in that respect. It helps that his issue is more Barclay not being up to a certain standard with his work. Even then, he does indulge in the broccoli business, and that does feel off, wrong. It felt like Riker was the most aggressive about it. The Allegiance headcanon you mention, ...Sounds agreeable to me. Love The A-Team. My brother loves it as well. He said some time ago that one of his coworkers was seeing it for the first time, and they were having a fantastic time with it. There is some personal relating to Barclay on my end as well, and Dwight is so good in the role.

Ryan

This one starts with a severe disadvantage of Barclay getting on just about everyone's bad side by beating up Geordi (Riker I could take or leave). The whole scene is the first of quite a few things that haven't aged well. It probably sounds really weird to anyone younger, but being 6 when this aired, I do recall that it was just a regular thing in a bunch of stuff I watched for "wimpy" characters to daydream about being a gigachad bully, and now it colors our impression of Barclay rather more than it was probably meant to. He's a very hard kind of character to play, where if you go too far with the awkwardness he's just ungodly annoying, but too little and it doesn't make any sense how people talk about him. And five years of experience playing Howling Mad Murdock certainly gave Dwight Schultz the chops to know exactly how to do it. Though I imagine rather more of interest to you would be his guest appearance on a Babylon 5 episode written by Scott Frost of Twin Peaks. He's unfortunately also become a right wing nut in recent years, but I try to just not think about that while watching him. I'm usually not very affected by "embarrassment squick," but Geordi walking in on Barclay instantly has me saying "Just kill me now." And bless Geordi for working so hard to make things as easy as possible afterward (probably aided by his experience in Booby Trap). The downside is that in those pre-Internet days when you couldn't just slap someone's head onto a nude body for all to see, the whole idea of this kind of program with real people was apparently such a foreign concept that there was no thought put into the morality of it. And it especially doesn't sit right that Troi is made the butt of the joke for her hypocrisy over how much offense should be taken. We can only hope Number Nine isn't anything too kinky. Watching this one for the first time with no idea of my own autism, Barclay did really strike a chord in me, and upon my getting diagnosed I quickly went back to him to adjust to the idea, and how he was able to work through it to become a valuable person. So I'll always be thankful to it for that.

Paul Hayes

I very much enjoyed this - insightful, interesting and funny, as always!

Josef Schiltz
>>163253625

I get a feeling that I am filling an encyclopedia on Quora, considering the short time I've been on there. It's been an interesting journey so far. These have been good character studies. Intriguing in what you say about Picard. Will have to endure frustration about expounding upon the subject of Picard's personality traits for the sake of Jess. Too early in the time stream. As for the acting, which is, of course, channeled masking. This is why there are so many actors on the spectrum. They take the masking to a high art form. Or, as Craig Ferguson once put it, "pretending". Now, I shall have to find out which interview and with whom that was said.

Thomas Corp
>>163262429

Certainly, Barclay wins a record for getting on Jess’s shit list, anti-Geordi behavior-wise. Yeah, not too broken up about his actions toward Riker. I do recall the prevalence of the “regular thing in a bunch of stuff for “wimpy” characters to daydream about being a gigachad bully”, like John Wayne meets, I don’t know, Daemon Targaryen levels or some such shit, and it doesn’t quite age well today. Barclay is a delicate balancing act of you don’t want him to be too ungodly annoying with the awkwardness, yet if it’s not forceful enough, it’s not going to land. Dwight does have the chops to pull it off. Was not aware of his being hardcore right-wing anymore. Again, there is the usual separation of art from artist, Mel Gibson being one of the trickier ones, and that’s gotten harder recently. I think Bill Cosby and Woody Allen are two of the hardest as there was little to no distinction between on and off camera, persona-wise that they put forward. There is strong secondhand embarrassment at spots with this one, to the point that I concur with the “Take me now, Lord.” sentiment. Geordi sure is a sweetheart helping Barclay out, up to and including citing the episode Booby Trap as a way to sympathize. The AI controversies do help this episode age well with selling that this is creepy as shit, even if we don’t delve too deeply into the morality of it all. Yeah, it stinks how Deanna is portrayed as the hypocrite. I do at that scene make the not unsympathetic response to her, “...You were saying?” whilst still agreeing with her that there IS a health benefit, creepiness notwithstanding. You know, I don’t actually remember when I got diagnosed as autistic. I pretty much kind of always knew it, or at least, you knew you stood out as different. That was especially prominent when they show Return of the Jedi in preschool thirty years ago, and you have just an affinity and kinship with the Emperor. Resources for learning about my autism, Asperger’s, ADD, OCD, that has gotten better in terms of reading about it now compared to way back when. I knew for sure about the diagnosis around second or third grade. Started really diving into Star Trek around my early twenties, so yeah, Barclay did definitely strike a chord. That’s nice to hear how the character helped you with your own diagnosis and how you’ll always be thankful for that.

Josef Schiltz
>>163262429

No wonder Dwight Schultz doesn't turn up to Star Trek cons. Those ideations seem antithetic to Gene's message of international cooperation as a beacon for the future. As for ST TOS, I chimed with Spock difference right from the start. Temple Grandin also says she likes Spock. I can't imagine anyone but Leonard in that role and was surprised that others were considered first when I saw a documentary recently.

Ryan
>>163257062

I can only assume we missed the first program Barclay tried, setting the ship on fire after Geordi took his stapler.

Ryan
>>163262429

Speaking of separating art from artist, Netflix has officially announced Season 2 of The Sandman as the final season, along with an honestly very insulting statement from the show runner that they'd always planned for just two seasons. I have to think anyone can tell that's bullshit even if they don't know the comics back and forward like me, and I just have to wonder, who exactly do they think they're fooling? I also got a much needed laugh from the original podcasters who broke the story openly stating that they were hoping Gaiman's left-leaning fans would circle the wagons around him so they could say we don't have the right to "cancel" other people, but instead we turned on him as much as everyone else and now they've got nothing to say.

Thomas Corp
>>163262429

Yeah, I heard about the cancellation earlier today. Had to inquire if we still were getting the second season as the headline was vague on that, and I see we are still getting the second season. First I’m hearing the bullshit statement of the plan was always two seasons. That’s a fart in a stiff wind. The way you talked about the comics back when Jess reacted to the first season alone tells me that there is zero way that two seasons was always the plan. In the plus column, nice to hear you got the laugh over the podcasters hope backfiring on them.