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Star Trek Voy - Season 7 - Episode 06

Star Trek Voy - 7x06 - Inside Man

Originally Aired: 2000-11-8

Synopsis:
Voyager gets an unexpected delivery. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.56

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 14 1 2 2 7 8 8 15 19 6 4

Problems
- "Geodesic radiation" is a pretty annoying term. It would seem to connote radiation generated by gravity.
- We have yet another case of inoculation against the supposed radiation, but we've seen it so many times now that I'm gonna have to just accept that in the 24th century, an injection can do much more than it can today... somehow.
- There's another case of an upload/download term mixup by the writers in this episode.

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Holographic Barclay appearing on board.
- Holobarclay telling Seven that on Earth she's famous.
- Barclay's conspiracy theories regarding how his transmission was blocked.
- The revelation that the Ferengi are exploiting Barclay's program.
- Barclay surprising Troi with another counseling session.
- Barclay imitating the crew.
- Admiral Paris interrogating Barclay's ex girlfriend.
- The geodesic pulse.
- Holobarclay attacking Seven.
- Barclay pretending to be Holobarclay.
- Tom and Torres picking on Harry.
- Reprogrammed Holobarclay accosting Troi.
- Rules of Acquisition; 74. Knowledge = profit.

My Review
Not quite as good as Barclay's previous three appearances, but still very good. It's remarkable how personally different Barclay's hologram was compared to the real thing. Holobarclay was so much more confident, even downright arrogant at times. I would assume this was done by Barclay intentionally, and not by the Ferengi. There are some directing issues in this otherwise wonderful episode though. Some scenes are in the wrong order, some are too long, some are too short. It would have been nice to see Holobarclay imitate the crew before we find out he's evil, and the scene when he gets angry at the doctor was just totally unnecessary. The biggest thing redeeming this episode is that it's a continuity goldmine. There are countless connections with TNG, too many to list. But all of them well placed. And finally the plot is amazingly original. The writer really knew his Trek and how to combine previously introduced elements into quite a story. With a little more care, this episode could have been among the top. But it's still quite good.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Corporal Crust on 2007-03-24 at 11:19am:
    Fun episode. However, what makes this episode interesting is also what makes it flawed. There are so many things going on script-wise that the episode never has time to "breathe" properly. We have holograms, folds, ferengi's, troi, impressions, shields, etc. The writers just have too much going on. The idea is cool, and true to trek. It just needed a little more polishing.
  • From Dstyle on 2015-07-31 at 9:26pm:
    So wait, are Barclay and Troi a package deal or something? We can't have one without the other because of some obscure contractual clause with TNG? I thought for sure this was going to be just a Barclay episode, but sure enough he crashes Troi's beach vacation to drag her into the episode too! (Also: boobs!)

    I love how the Ferengi "brace for impact" by cowering on the floor.

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