“Inside Man”
Written by Robert Doherty
Directed by Allan Kroeker
Season 7, Episode 6
Production episode 252
Original air date: November 8, 2000
Stardate: 54208.3
Captain’s log. Last month’s datastream from Starfleet didn’t come through, and now a month later, everyone’s eager for their messages from home. Kim and Seven have been up all night trying to download this month’s datastream, and they eventually determine that it’s got a single holographic matrix, which is so big it crashes the ship’s transceiver. But Kim is able to transfer it to the holodeck: It’s Barclay.
The real Barclay created a hologram of himself to aid Voyager in creating a geodesic fold. They will fire a verteron beam into a red giant at the same time that a Starfleet ship fires a similar beam into a red giant in the Alpha Quadrant. This will create a fold in space that they can traverse.
Janeway points out that they considered such a thing ages ago, but the resultant radiation would kill the entire crew. Holo-Barclay assures them, however, that with some fancy-shmancy shield modifications and a new inoculation against radiation, they’ll be good to go. Holo-Barclay borrows the EMH’s mobile emitter so he can have free rein of the ship to help with the various modifications.
Back on Earth, the Pathfinder Project is frustrated because for the second time, the datastream didn’t reach Voyager. Harkins tells Barclay that it was a good idea, but in this case, two strikes and you’re out. Owen has ordered them to go back to the regular datastream next month. Barclay is not happy, and won’t let this go, as he’s convinced somebody sabotaged the datastream. Harkins orders him to take a vacation, and he does—to a beach where Troi is vacationing. She’s initially pissed that Barclay showed up, as it’s unethical as hell, but she lets it go when she sees how distressed he is.
It doesn’t take long for Troi to get at the heart of what’s bothering Barclay. He was involved with a teacher named Leosa, and their relationship recently ended, and something about the relationship isn’t sitting well with him, especially since he told her everything about Pathfinder, and shortly after they broke up was when things started going wrong.
Back in the Delta Quadrant, the EMH is concerned that the inoculations Holo-Barclay provided won’t give sufficient protection against the radiation. Holo-Barclay insists it will, in combination with the modified shields. Holo-Barclay has also kept the mobile emitter longer than the EMH was expecting…
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Holo-Barclay includes a progress report in Voyager’s message back to Starfleet—which is intercepted by a Ferengi ship. The Ferengi were the ones who intercepted last month’s datastream and kept it from Voyager and they reprogrammed Holo-Barclay to work for them. They are thrilled to get specs from Holo-Barclay on Seven, who has more nanoprobes than anticipated, which means more profit for them.
Starfleet tracks Leosa down, and it turns out that she’s a dabo girl on a Ferengi casino ship, not a teacher, and she was sent to learn stuff about Pathfinder from Barclay. Troi is able to get her to talk, and she reveals the location of the casino ship, which is in the same region where the datastream was “lost” both times.
The EMH grows suspicious of Holo-Barclay, who has endeared himself to the rest of the crew in part with his ability to impersonate various crew members. The EMH’s only real evidence is Holo-Barclay being a snot, breaking a golf date with the EMH, and not giving the mobile emitter back. However, a diagnostic of Holo-Barclay reveals nothing amiss.
Starfleet sends the U.S.S. Carolina to intercept the Ferengi. The ship detects a geodesic fold being implemented by the Ferengi ship, at which point, Barclay realizes what they’re doing.
Seven reports to Holo-Barclay that there are more types of radiation being generated by the geodesic fold than expected, but Holo-Barclay renders her unconscious before she can finish her report to the bridge, which Holo-Barclay finishes in her voice, lying to Janeway that all is well.
Barclay contacts the Ferengi pretending to be Holo-Barclay, and convinces them that Janeway is onto them, and will destroy them if Voyager comes through the fold—Barclay claims that they have all kinds of technology they’ve scavenged in the Delta Quadrant that will allow them to survive the fold. The Ferengi cut off the fold on their end.
When told that the fold is collapsing, Janeway cuts it off. Holo-Barclay takes Seven to an escape pod, but Kim beams them off before the pod goes through the fold. The Ferengi are left with only an empty pod.
Voyager is left to wonder what went wrong with Holo-Barclay—which they have deactivated—while Troi convinces Barclay to take a break from adding security measures to his latest Holo-Barclay and go on a double date with her and Riker and a teacher—a real one this time.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? Apparently, firing a verteron beam into two different red giants will enable you to travel between those two stars instantly because SCIENCE!
Thank you, Counselor Obvious. Troi is able to get Leosa to talk by threatening to have her held indefinitely for psychiatric observation. Recognizing the damage to her ability to earn a living that would cause, Leosa sings like a proverbial canary.
Forever an ensign. Kim is able to salvage Holo-Barclay from the datastream and beam Seven and Holo-Barclay off the escape pod despite the interference. Because he’s just that awesome. He is also way more optimistic about the possibility of getting home than Paris…
Mr. Vulcan. In addition to impersonating Janeway, Holo-Barclay also does a Tuvok impersonation, telling Paris that his pessimism is illogical.
Please state the nature of the medical emergency. The EMH is right to be suspicious of Holo-Barclay, but his suspicions are mostly due to Holo-Barclay being mean to him, which isn’t much to go on. Though the EMH does notice that Holo-Barclay’s “enhanced” inoculations aren’t all that and a bag of chips…
Resistance is futile. Holo-Barclay surprises Seven by informing her that she’s the person folks in the Alpha Quadrant are most looking forward to seeing, as she’s a symbol of hope for everyone who’s lost a loved one to the Borg.
Rules of Acquisition. We get a new Rule in #74, which is “Knowledge equals profit.”
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet. One of the things Barclay liked about Leosa was that she seemed genuinely interested in his work, not bored at all the way most people were. Later he found out that she was only interested because that was what she was being paid to do (she was getting ten percent of the Ferengi’s profits from the nanoprobe sale), and was, in fact, bored by him.
What happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. The EMH invites Holo-Barclay to play golf on the holodeck. Holo-Barclay breaks the date, but not until we’re tormented by the sight of the EMH in golfing attire. Shudder.
Do it.
“So, where’s my mail, hm? Oh, don’t tell me you lost another one.”
“I didn’t lose last month’s datastream, it never arrived.”
“So what’s the hold up this time?”
“The transmission was a little larger than usual—it’s jammed the transceivers. Seven and I have been up all night trying to download it.”
“Harry, we can’t go another month without mail.”
–Paris giving Kim shit about the datastream, Kim being defensive, Paris asking for clarification, Kim providing it, and Paris forgetting that he went six years without mail.
Welcome aboard. A bunch of recurring regulars in this one: Dwight Schultz (Barclay) and Marina Sirtis (Troi), both last seen in “Life Line,” and Richard Herd (Owen) and Richard McGonagle (Harkins), both last seen in “Pathfinder.” Schultz and Herd will next be seen in “Author, Author.” Sirtis will next be seen in Nemesis.
Frank Corsentino plays his third Ferengi in this episode, having previously played two different Ferengi in TNG’s “The Battle” and “Ménàge à Troi,” while Christopher Neiman and Michael William Rivkin play the other two Ferengi, and Sharisse Baker-Bernard plays Leosa.
Trivial matters: Paris references two of the many other occasions when Voyager thought they were getting home: Arturis’ slipstream drive provided for them in “Hope and Fear” (and which they tried again with only moderate success in “Timeless“) and the “pitcher plant” deluding them into thinking they’d found a wormhole in “Bliss.”
Barclay mentions that the Romulans have long had an interest in Voyager, which may be due to the events of “Eye of the Needle” and/or those of “Message in a Bottle,” both of which saw Voyager crew having encounters with Romulans.
Barclay mentions to Troi that Borg nanoprobes can be used to revive necrotic tissue, referring to Seven’s ability to raise the dead, as seen in “Mortal Coil” and never again for some stupid reason.
Holo-Barclay’s comment to Seven that she’s the only person to come back from being Borg is not true, as Picard (in TNG’s “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II“), the four Borg kiddos (“Collective“), Janeway, Tuvok, Torres (“Unimatrix Zero, Part II“), and the folks Chakotay encountered in “Unity” all came back from being Borg also. Since Pathfinder has all of Voyager’s logs, Holo-Barclay should have known that—and Seven obviously knows it, too, and should have corrected him. In addition, his buttering up of Seven was probably put in by the Ferengi to make her more amenable to going to the Alpha Quadrant—the reality, as seen in Picard season one, is that ex-Borg are not all met with optimism and joy.
Paris and Torres prank Kim that they’ve been in touch with Iconians. That ancient civilization was established as having instantaneous transport across long distances in TNG’s “Contagion,” and were also seen in DS9’s “To the Death” and the 2001 novel crossover Gateways by Susan Wright, Diane Carey, Robert Greenberger, Peter David, Christie Golden, and your humble rewatcher. (That crossover also retconned the events of the original series’ “That Which Survives” as involving Iconians.)
While they don’t appear, Riker, La Forge, and Data are all mentioned. Barclay attended La Forge’s birthday party and sang a duet with Data, and Riker is scheduled to join Troi on her beach vacation.
Everyone’s referring to the crew complement of Voyager as being 150 again somehow. Whatever.
Set a course for home. “Captain Janeway knows better than to take her ship into such a dangerous anomaly!” This is a nicely structured episode. At first there’s the hope of a way home that you know will be yanked away from them at the last minute, just like it was in “Eye of the Needle,” “False Profits,” “Cold Fire,” “Timeless,” “Hope and Fear,” etc., ad nauseam, but the way in which it gets yanked is nicely done. At first, we think that Pathfinder doesn’t realize that the second Holo-Barclay made it through okay, and that means that they won’t be hitting a sun with the verteron beam, so that’s how Voyager’s trip home will fail. But then it turns out to be much worse, as the geodesic fold isn’t something Starfleet initiated, but rather part of the Ferengi plot.
Unlike the last time the Ferengi were used on Voyager, this is actually a decent use of them, with Ferengi vet Frank Corsentino leading the trio of greedheads. This is a return to the villainous Ferengi of early TNG rather than the more nuanced portrayal we got on DS9, and these Ferengi are willing to murder the entire crew complement to get Seven’s nanoprobes, but I’m okay with it. The threat is legit, and this is one case where Voyager trusting the bad guy makes sense, because it’s Barclay for cryin’ out loud! This is the guy who busted his ass to get the Alpha Quadrant in touch with Voyager in the first place, and someone whom the EMH actually got to know during his one-month journey in “Life Line.”
Speaking of which, I love the contrast in Barclays. Holo-Barclay is much more confident and outspoken, and while that may in part be the Ferengi’s doing, I’m pretty sure it’s how the thing was originally programmed. Way back in Barclay’s introductory appearance in TNG’s “Hollow Pursuits,” we saw him all brash and confident on the holodeck, then a shy wreck in person. It only makes sense that he would program his holographic avatar to be the person he’d like to be as opposed to the person he is.
My favorite thing about this episode, though, besides the way it all unfolds, is that in the end, Voyager still doesn’t know what happened, and won’t for another month. It’s a nice reminder that they’re still a long way from home with only intermittent contact.
Warp factor rating: 7
Keith R.A. DeCandido will be a guest at Planet ComiCon in Kansas City this weekend, appearing at Bard’s Tower (Booth 1103). Other guests include fellow word-slingers Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, John Jackson Miller, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore, as well as bunches of actors, cosplayers, and more. More details here.
“Our shortcuts have a tendency to blow up in our faces.”
A fun episode but an odd one in many ways. For much of its run-time, we’re several steps ahead of the characters, with neither the Voyager crew nor the Pathfinder project having the full picture or knowing what the other is up to. In fact, at the end of the episode, the people on Voyager still don’t have a clue what happened, which is a bit disconcerting given that this is supposed to be their show. It appears at one point that they’ve cottoned on to the Barclay hologram, but then they decide they’re wrong and very nearly head off to their deaths in obliviousness. The Ferengi are treated as comedy villains, but they nearly kill over a hundred people. Voyager do at least get to save Seven themselves after Barclay’s bluff saves the rest of them.
I love that Paris has become so jaded about these “We could be home in days!” episodes that he never once thinks it’s actually going to work: Him and Torres winding Kim up with stories of an Iconian gateway is another amusing moment. I notice he’s also picked up Naomi’s pitcher plant classification from “Bliss”, predating Chakotay doing it in “Shattered”. Troi gets to go badass on Leosa. There seems to be a scene missing: Barclay deliberately only tells Troi his theory about the Ferengi wanting Borg nanoprobes because he doesn’t have any proof, but when we cut back he’s openly discussing it with Admiral Paris.
Second and final appearance of Commander Harkins, and last Voyager appearance of Troi. Even though he’s working on it at the end of the episode, Barclay’s hologram is never mentioned again. We’re back to Voyager having been lost for six years, after it went up to seven in “Repression”. And kudos to the show for the number of non-humans on the Earth beach!
This one gets a 10 from me, just from giving us Marina Sirtis in a bathing suit for several minutes.
I would recognize Leosa’s red dress anywhere… “She was wearing red.” It was also worn by Fenna in DS9’s “Second Sight.”
There’s a scene that hurts the whole episode for me in when holo Reg is disgusted at the idea of playing golf with the Doctor why? does he have a personal dislike for him ? is it just to prove he’s evil? i mean he nearly ruins his plan over nothing one thing to pop off at the Doctor if he was suspicious of him but he wasn’t.
All I can remember thinking about this episode is that it seemed they were starting to stretch for excuses to include Barclay and Troi in the show. Especially Troi. But on the other hand, bathing suit.
I liked this one. It is late enough in the shows run that I could reasonably suspend my disbelief when it seems like they might actually get home, and the rest of it is different enough from the earlier episodes like it to be interesting on it’s own. I do wish the Voyager crew had been a little more in focus, but I liked the scene where Fake!Barclay was doing the impressions to amuse them- it was the sort of little detail of everyday life I wish we’d gotten more of.
Yea, I think it is just to prove he’s evil, and honestly it is a weak point they could have done without. The EMH is perfectly capable of being jealous and suspicious, and he could easily have done that without Fake!Barclay being a jerk about it.
@00,
This is a return to the villainous Ferengi of early TNG rather than the more nuanced portrayal we got on DS9, and these Ferengi are willing to murder the entire crew complement to get Seven’s nanoprobes, but I’m okay with it.
With ENT in development and the last TNG film still 2 years away, it looked like VOY’s final Season was going to be the 24th Century’s last hurrah on TV.
So, I suppose there’s something fitting in the Ferengi coming full circle and back to their early TNG days.
@5,
That and the ratings boost of having TNG characters cross over.
I was reading this review amd the comments and saw the mention of Marina Sirtis in a bathing suit, and it occurred to me that both she and Jeri Ryan have became even more attractive as they have gotten older. I Googled just to see if there were any other female actors in Trek who would have fit that description, and I came across a list of female Trek characters, and Quark was in it. Priceless!
Christopher: all of Sirtis’s appearances on Voyager made sense in the context of Barclay’s presence in those stories, given the friendship and therapist/patient relationship the pair of them had. It was a lot less lame than, say, Riker’s appearance in “Death Wish”…………………
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
(9)
Was Riker’s appearance really that lame, though? I thought it had something to do with Q affecting some great people in history. Aside from having one of the great beards in history, this is the man who saved Earth from the Borg and was able to routinely win in poker against an android, a mind reader, a cunning warrior, and a man with X-ray specs. [cue cheesy Riker smile]
@10
Eh, I mean, Q and Riker both showing up in “Death Wish” was, as much as I love the episode, a ratings stunt at its core (as a VOY/TNG crossover).
But they should’ve just stopped with Q. Riker’s appearance was fun in getting to interact with TNG’s second spinoff, but ultimately kinda pointless.
Oh, but pointless stunt casting is a delight. I’ll take these TNG riders jumping over a big pointless Snake River Canyon every time!
@12,
Yeah, I mean…it is part of the fun of being a shared universe and having characters and plot threads from one show pop up in another.
But the problem for me with the VOY/TNG crossovers — and “Pathfinder” is the most egregious instance — is that they missed the balance — that it felt like the VOY characters were guest stars in their own series rather than the other way around.
Kind of funny Icheb didn’t show up, you’d think the kid interested in astrometrics might take an interest in HoloBarclay’s plan. Guess the guest star budget was maxed out already.
Troi is able to get Leosa to talk by threatening to have her held indefinitely for psychiatric observation.
Also: Kind of a rough couple episodes for harsh interrogation tactics, what with Tuvok threatening a mind-meld, Neelix using mild poison, and now Troi threatening indefinite psychiatric confinement. I hope she’s bluffing and Starfleet doesn’t really give counselors that kind of power over civilians. Yikes!
@14
Troi proved that she can bluff really well under pressure in “Face of the Enemy”, so let’s hope it isn’t true, because if it is, it definitely makes the Federation look more dystopian than intended….
> I hope she’s bluffing and Starfleet doesn’t really give counselors that kind of power over civilians. Yikes!
If anyone is great at bluffing, its an empath. She can tailor her deception to hit EXACTLY the right notes, and maximize her mark’s discomfort. Of course, there were 100+ lives at stake here. And she screwed with Reg.
@13/Mr. Magic: Agreed! I felt that way about “Pathfinder” and the same way with the most egregious example, “These Are the Voyages” on Enterprise.
This is a fun one. Not particularly high stakes, but the fact that Holo-Barclay is the product of a Barclay screwup is both ironic and amusing. And the character is a clever throwback to Barclay’s first appearance over a decade before. And of course Barclay would slather himself whole with sunscreen before stepping on a beach. And I like it that once again the writers take advantage of Sirtis’ comedy chops, making Troi more interesting and just being the empath and the Imzadi.
I’m a little torn over this reversal of the Ferengi to classic TNG mode. But it’s still feasible that not all Ferengi are content with Rom’s leadership as the Nagus (assuming he’s still in charge, that is; DS9 made it clear that being the Nagus was a very unsafe and unsteady job, given how many times they tried to depose Zek). Therefore, there are renegade ones like these, still out for pure profit.
I don’t have a problem with how the Ferengi are portrayed here. There’s always going to be “rogue” or criminal groups like this, just like the various pirates or other ne’er-do-wells that we’ve seen through the series – Dala and Mobar from Live Fast and Prosper, Baran’s crew in Gambit or Kelsey’s mercenaries in Starship Mine, for example. Just because most Ferengi live within the law and make an honest profit (for a Ferengi definition of “honest”, anyway) doesn’t meant they all do.
@20,
Plus it is a realistic repercussion of VOY’s sojourn now that people back home know what happened: The ship’s exposure to hitherto unknown cultures and their technology would be valuable in the right hands and if properly exploited by someone with the, heh, lobes to make it happen.
It’s no different that Stargate and the rogue NID and other parties trying to exploit technology brought back through the Gate.
Might have been more ethical if Troi had just told Leosa, you’ll be charged with accessory to murder of 100+ people if you don’t start talking. That’s true, and probably a bigger threat than being held for psychiatric observation.
So based on the “science” in this episode, red giant starts throughout Federation territory must be busy cargo and communications hubbs with timed verteron beams producing geodesic folds for instant transfers of all kinds of materials (like shuttlepods) that aren’t vulnerable to radiation damage.
@24: A.Koene You’d also think, however harsh the radiation, that a vessel buil with that in mind could be sufficiently shielded to carry passengers.
We don’t get to see Riker’s reaction to not getting to spend time on a Risa beach with Trois but you have to suspect Barclay is not going be top of his Christmas card list after this.
Holo Barclay is a joy, Dwight Schultz hits every note perfect in both roles. Easily one of the best episodes of the season
It was nice to see the Ferengi Marauder starship again. Since Ferengi were such a big part of DS9 it was kinda odd that we never saw it there. Even stranger that the Ferengi head of state, the Grand Nagus, traveled around in a shuttle. You’d think something grander would be transporting someone of his stature.
Maybe I missed something but what was that about the escape pod in the end? They say Holo-Barclay and Seven transport into an escape pod which we then see being launched through the fold and then hitting the Ferengi ship on the other side. The Ferengi find it to be empty and Seven and Barclay are still onboard Voyager. So why was the escape pod sent? Why did they think Seven and Barclay transported onboard?
The one thing I don’t get, is why did Barclay send the hologram to begin with? What was it supposed to do if not to bring Voyager home through that red giant fold thing?
He said in one of the scenes back at the Pathfinder project that it was for greater ease of communication and working with the crew of Voyager. Having someone on the ship to interact with them, and do so in real time rather than waiting a month for another datastream, would let them come up with solutions to get the ship home much easier.
@28 / Lazy Ape – Voyager managed to transport them out of the pod.
This was a nice episode. I really appreciated how well they integrated Barclay and Troi to the Voyager storyline.
The crew could have TALKED a bit more with each other to realise that neither the shields neither the doctor’s shots don’t give enough protection etc, but overall, the story worked quite well for me.
Gosh, I thought this was a horribly structured episode. There are enough hints dropped in the first few minutes of Barclay’s arrival to take away the mystery of his motives (actually, you know it from the title). Then after the first third you know who’s behind it and how they did it. So, I found it painful waiting for the reveal and the confrontation. The only thing that made it decent was Schulz and, to a certain extent, Sirtis. Though for me the relationship felt played out by this time.
The Ferengi bugged me too, because they were back to their old, sniveling caricatures.
Also, is it just me or was this a very bosom-heavy episode for Voyager? It must have been Sweeps Week.