This episode is a real hoot. Absolutely hilarious, and I think it's good to see protagonists being somewhat mean and imperfect from time to time. Shows that they're humans with human flaws, too. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I really enjoyed Barclay as a character. Though I do agree with Riker on recreating living people in the holodeck. God knows what Barclay had been doing with that recreation of Troi...
I am watching the show for the first time and this is really good to hear. Although to be honest I’ve even enjoyed most of the bad episodes in some capacity.
By exploring an introverted character I always felt the writers were directly catering to the Star Trek audience. Barclay is "us". We wanted to see an introvert surrounded by extroverted assholes succeed, despite his neuroses and life challenges.
I think this episode was also a great "excuse" to change some of the characters behavior. They have their learning moments on screen and actually develop further from it. Definitely cool if that's what the writers were going for. And especially more so when they're throwing in references from the previous episodes to help that process
To be honest, I think using someone's likeness on the holodeck without their permission would probably be illegal. Like super illegal. Imagine the kinds of fake recordings that could be constructed to slander people, and that's not even considering the pornographic utilities...
You mean like re-creating leaders of an opposing political force having a conference discussing invading a neutral party to drive that party to join your side, then blowing up a diplomat's shuttle to damage the media so it appears authentic, incidentally killing the diplomat, who opposed you anyways but in dying with the forged media now brings support of the neatural party to you? Yeah that's illegal. But I can live with it. Delete this comment.
Because we’ve already seen how Wesley can trick and take command of the whole ship by making a Picard robocall, and later on we’ll see the Romulans use a hologram of Spock for their political uses... This begs the question, why doesn’t Barclay just program a hologram of a fleet admiral reassigning him to his dream job, and forge all the paperwork?
At least somewhat relevant, Crispin Glover at just about the time this episode aired filed an ultimately successful lawsuit against the producers of Back to the Future II for using his likeness without permission.
You would think the enterprise crew would be more careful when programing the holideck for leisure time in case a commanding officer walked in on them ...you would think they would have the computer warn them if people were entering.
You guys have a great show, I can’t believe you only have 685 subscribers. This channel needs to launch. The production and sound quality is great. Great cuts and direction. Oddly I have watched a lot of your episodes and it still rarely comes up in my recommended. UA-cam’s algorithm is not friendly. Keep up the good work.
There’s a moment in the episode where Barclay references a “flux capacitor” which I thought was funny. Overall I really enjoyed this one. It was nice to see the characters interacting in normal human ways.
And in "Where Silenece Has Lease", Haskell first name was "Eddie". Both characters could be replaced by popsicle sticks and it'd be little different. Apart from Eddie's demise, the acting was suitably horrifying. I'd say "chilling" except that might unintentionally tie into "popsicle stick" as an unintentional yet delicious pun...
7:36: Barkley didn't announce his "resignation" oer se, but his "leaving you all" (or words to that effect) because he was deleting these programs. It was a misdirect and we were supposed to think he might be resigning, but he was saying goodbye to that part of his fantasy life. To him, these holodeck caricatures were his "friends."
I came in late to this episode, and misunderstood the ending, but now that I've watched the whole in context, I still prefer my misunderstanding. I howled at the ending, because I thought, after all the criticism of Barkley, that he took matters into his own hands, and created a Holodeck Program, which was a ready-made crisis that only Barclay could solve, making himself the hero of his own plot. I thought, "How creative and wryly cynical THAT ending would've been!" Generally, people don't change, and additions are difficult to overcome, so I saw it as the heroin addict's rationalization, justification, and lying to oneself, as the perfect ending.
I wonder if the computer is constantly monitoring people and will call the space cops if someone attempts suicide. IRL Broccoli would have been at a high risk considering the circumstances.
2:44 I've posted in your previous reviews that the hidden background for Picard is that he gets rid of incompetence in his crew by quietly transferring them. McDoogle and the other chief engineers who Wesley bested. Ensign Gomez, i think there a couple others.
Great review for this episode! By far one of the best ST:TNG episodes, both funny and touching, in my top ten. Finally we see a crew member who isn't a Type A workaholic personality. Ok with the exceptions of Gomez and Guinan, but Gomez's character was never fleshed out. Personally, think Picard ejected Gomez out the shuttle bay so pursuing Borg would stop to assimilate her. Loved Guinan's conversation with Geordi about the merits of not fitting in LOL. I'd wager a lot of Star Trek viewers identified with Barclay when this aired: nerdy, socially awkward, healthy fantasy life (which in the 80s meant video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and watching Aerobicize on Showtime). :-) Thoughts on what's in the holoprogram Barclay didn't delete? My guess is something to do with Orion slave girls.
This aspect of the show really stuck with me after seeing it in first-run syndication. The computer even makes the confirmation sound and what seems like five full seconds pass before he makes the exception. Nowadays it's completely normal to be able to undo deletes and restore from backups, and I was completely ignorant of the state of software development in the early 90s.
I’d think Starfleet would simply ban the recreation of members of a ship’s crew on the holodeck outside of training exercises. It can only cause problems.
"except #9" Okay, he saves his games by numbers, but how does he save versions? Is there a program 7 of 9, and if so what's in it? He is obsessed with Voyager, after all. Perhaps this is a hint that the program isn't named after a love potion but a hint that the Voyager show is simply a holodeck fantasy of Barkley's--inside a fantasy in Wesley's head, of course.
This episode is honestly a parable about people being addicted to virtual reality Like me I’ve now become freakishly addicted to virtual reality Specifically a game called VRCHAT it’s an awesome game but it’s freakishly addictive Seriously I’m on the thing like every day Do I care about being this addicted to the game though ABSOLUTELY NOT
Let's be real. The holodeck would be 100% porn. There would have to be 24/7 monitors, extreme limited time usage and a team of janitors to clean it up like a cheap motel room.
I love when Patrick Stewart gets to go out of character for a few min. Barclay is one of the characters that stuck out to me as a kid because I found his awkwardness to be a fun departure from the usual. Everyone seeing their depictions in the holodeck was deliciously cringe, especially tiny Riker. My lingering question is, which program was #9?
Oh yes I remember this episode. The directors cut dvd contained many deleted scenes……most notably the one where troi walks into Barkley’s holodeck fantasy and finds herself in the nude and Barkley wearing nothing but a pink thong. 👙
This episode is a real hoot. Absolutely hilarious, and I think it's good to see protagonists being somewhat mean and imperfect from time to time. Shows that they're humans with human flaws, too. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I really enjoyed Barclay as a character.
Though I do agree with Riker on recreating living people in the holodeck. God knows what Barclay had been doing with that recreation of Troi...
In any case, when the program ends, does the holodeck clean up?
We've reached the point in TNG where there's way more good episodes than bad ones from here on out.
I am watching the show for the first time and this is really good to hear. Although to be honest I’ve even enjoyed most of the bad episodes in some capacity.
By exploring an introverted character I always felt the writers were directly catering to the Star Trek audience. Barclay is "us". We wanted to see an introvert surrounded by extroverted assholes succeed, despite his neuroses and life challenges.
Clearly when he says "erase all programs except program 9", that was a tribute/reference to Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space (great film BTW).
What doesn't get shown is Riker having Reg build an entire program for him around the goddess of empathy.
The best part was when Troi met herself as the goddess of empathy lol. I laughed so hard. “Muzzle it”
Perhaps Mr. Broccoli would feel more comfortable in the lower decks. :P
Broccoli is best with cheese sauce, but there was nothing cheesy about "Hollow Pursuits"
I think this episode was also a great "excuse" to change some of the characters behavior. They have their learning moments on screen and actually develop further from it. Definitely cool if that's what the writers were going for. And especially more so when they're throwing in references from the previous episodes to help that process
To be honest, I think using someone's likeness on the holodeck without their permission would probably be illegal. Like super illegal. Imagine the kinds of fake recordings that could be constructed to slander people, and that's not even considering the pornographic utilities...
In real life that makes sense, but they only seem to think about the potential negative uses/effects of their technology after the fact.
You mean like re-creating leaders of an opposing political force having a conference discussing invading a neutral party to drive that party to join your side, then blowing up a diplomat's shuttle to damage the media so it appears authentic, incidentally killing the diplomat, who opposed you anyways but in dying with the forged media now brings support of the neatural party to you?
Yeah that's illegal. But I can live with it. Delete this comment.
@@flowertrue I'd watch an episode like that!
Because we’ve already seen how Wesley can trick and take command of the whole ship by making a Picard robocall, and later on we’ll see the Romulans use a hologram of Spock for their political uses...
This begs the question, why doesn’t Barclay just program a hologram of a fleet admiral reassigning him to his dream job, and forge all the paperwork?
At least somewhat relevant, Crispin Glover at just about the time this episode aired filed an ultimately successful lawsuit against the producers of Back to the Future II for using his likeness without permission.
You would think the enterprise crew would be more careful when programing the holideck for leisure time in case a commanding officer walked in on them ...you would think they would have the computer warn them if people were entering.
So when Barclay admitted he had seen a "not exactly a counselor," he meant a prostitute, didn't he?
During the holodeck fight scene, it always kills me how unlike Barclay the stunt double looks.
The fact that Gomez appears in an episode of Lower Decks is yet another reason I should watch it.
Riker was acting like Dick Sullivan from "Third Rock of the sun", in this episode.
You guys have a great show, I can’t believe you only have 685 subscribers. This channel needs to launch. The production and sound quality is great. Great cuts and direction. Oddly I have watched a lot of your episodes and it still rarely comes up in my recommended. UA-cam’s algorithm is not friendly. Keep up the good work.
There’s a moment in the episode where Barclay references a “flux capacitor” which I thought was funny. Overall I really enjoyed this one. It was nice to see the characters interacting in normal human ways.
"crewman number 12" has a name. His name is Duffy.
And in "Where Silenece Has Lease", Haskell first name was "Eddie". Both characters could be replaced by popsicle sticks and it'd be little different. Apart from Eddie's demise, the acting was suitably horrifying. I'd say "chilling" except that might unintentionally tie into "popsicle stick" as an unintentional yet delicious pun...
I like Barkley
7:36: Barkley didn't announce his "resignation" oer se, but his "leaving you all" (or words to that effect) because he was deleting these programs. It was a misdirect and we were supposed to think he might be resigning, but he was saying goodbye to that part of his fantasy life. To him, these holodeck caricatures were his "friends."
This episode is a classic Dwight Schultz is great as Barclay.
I came in late to this episode, and misunderstood the ending, but now that I've watched the whole in context, I still prefer my misunderstanding.
I howled at the ending, because I thought, after all the criticism of Barkley, that he took matters into his own hands, and created a Holodeck Program, which was a ready-made crisis that only Barclay could solve, making himself the hero of his own plot. I thought, "How creative and wryly cynical THAT ending would've been!"
Generally, people don't change, and additions are difficult to overcome, so I saw it as the heroin addict's rationalization, justification, and lying to oneself, as the perfect ending.
Riker always has been a bully.
He was short-temperef and curt toward Data in season 1 too. Definitely not out of character.
Nah he's a senior officer that demands high standards from crewmembers, if they drop below he has to deal with it.
I wonder if the computer is constantly monitoring people and will call the space cops if someone attempts suicide. IRL Broccoli would have been at a high risk considering the circumstances.
2:44 I've posted in your previous reviews that the hidden background for Picard is that he gets rid of incompetence in his crew by quietly transferring them.
McDoogle and the other chief engineers who Wesley bested.
Ensign Gomez, i think there a couple others.
Barclay has to get a hold of himself in public in ten forward and that is a really embarrassing situation.
I never knew Barkley was on the A-Team.
All this time. I watched both. crazy.
It'd be funny if Mr. T was cast as Worf and no one noticed.
Great review for this episode! By far one of the best ST:TNG episodes, both funny and touching, in my top ten. Finally we see a crew member who isn't a Type A workaholic personality. Ok with the exceptions of Gomez and Guinan, but Gomez's character was never fleshed out. Personally, think Picard ejected Gomez out the shuttle bay so pursuing Borg would stop to assimilate her.
Loved Guinan's conversation with Geordi about the merits of not fitting in LOL.
I'd wager a lot of Star Trek viewers identified with Barclay when this aired: nerdy, socially awkward, healthy fantasy life (which in the 80s meant video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and watching Aerobicize on Showtime). :-)
Thoughts on what's in the holoprogram Barclay didn't delete? My guess is something to do with Orion slave girls.
I bet it's Star Wars and he's Han Solo and Troi is Princess Leia in a gold bikini 👙
@@flowertrue Lol yes. That raises the question: did the Star Wars movies exist in the Star Trek universe?
Dwight Schultz is a treasure. 👏
Except he became a MAGAt.
@@BTScriviner😢
I really wish my computer has that option.. except 9 after doing erase all..😂🤣
This aspect of the show really stuck with me after seeing it in first-run syndication. The computer even makes the confirmation sound and what seems like five full seconds pass before he makes the exception.
Nowadays it's completely normal to be able to undo deletes and restore from backups, and I was completely ignorant of the state of software development in the early 90s.
I’d think Starfleet would simply ban the recreation of members of a ship’s crew on the holodeck outside of training exercises. It can only cause problems.
Hey it helped Barclay end up being the guy to get communication with Voyager later on.
"except #9" Okay, he saves his games by numbers, but how does he save versions? Is there a program 7 of 9, and if so what's in it? He is obsessed with Voyager, after all. Perhaps this is a hint that the program isn't named after a love potion but a hint that the Voyager show is simply a holodeck fantasy of Barkley's--inside a fantasy in Wesley's head, of course.
This is the best channel on UA-cam in 2020. 🛸👀
Good shit boys
RIP Dwight Schultz aka Lt. Broccoli
He's not dead
@@Zero_Ninety He lives on in our hearts, I agree.
This episode is honestly a parable about people being addicted to virtual reality
Like me
I’ve now become freakishly addicted to virtual reality
Specifically a game called VRCHAT
it’s an awesome game but it’s freakishly addictive
Seriously I’m on the thing like every day
Do I care about being this addicted to the game though
ABSOLUTELY NOT
Interesting take. That would make this episode on the cutting edge of trendy 90s VR content. I think this episode even predates Total Recall.
Let's be real. The holodeck would be 100% porn. There would have to be 24/7 monitors, extreme limited time usage and a team of janitors to clean it up like a cheap motel room.
I love when Patrick Stewart gets to go out of character for a few min. Barclay is one of the characters that stuck out to me as a kid because I found his awkwardness to be a fun departure from the usual. Everyone seeing their depictions in the holodeck was deliciously cringe, especially tiny Riker. My lingering question is, which program was #9?
You can only watch program 9 in the porn parody.
...Murder on Program Nine...
Great
You guys don't have later seasons?
They're up to season 6 now 🥳. Pretty great coverage and takes on these episodes. 👍
Oh yes I remember this episode. The directors cut dvd contained many deleted scenes……most notably the one where troi walks into Barkley’s holodeck fantasy and finds herself in the nude and Barkley wearing nothing but a pink thong. 👙
You guys are cinemasins with two guys instead of one. You sound like you really hate this show, so why do you review it?
Many episodes they gave a high rating to. However, negative reviews seem to play better on youtube so you'll find that more often than not.