LogFAQs > #933181864

#53 Reginald Barclay
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I l-l-like t-tits."

Speaking of creeps, behold the "comical" Barclay who undermines poor, lovable Geordi La Forge multiple times. Before you quit reading, at least let me tell you that Dwight Schultz voices Maechen in Final Fantasy X. And that, as they say, is that.

You've gotta credit Schultz where credit is due. He tries his damnedest to make the ultimate "geek stand-in" work but it's just sorta insufferable. He's always suffering from social disorders and I think nowadays medical professionals tend to acknowledge that this is, to varying degrees, a fairly common thing. But back when TNG was on the air, it was still treating as stigmatizing, so it's supposedly this rad, rad thing that Deanna Troi consistently tries to ease poor, nerdy, hey-that's-me-hahaha-I-suck-at-women-too Reg. The problem, of course, is that many of us are women and many of us men don't behave like Barclay. But I digress.

Barclay's episodes on TNG are always about Barclay suffering from a thing and then overcoming it. In his introductory episode, he designs holograms of title character women aboard his ship and makes them lust after him. As you'll note from the Geordi write-up, I do not like this. Barclay's always stammering and making other people upset but he has a heart of gold or whatever. Schultz has presence in the role but whenever I stop to think about the character my eyes roll uncontrollably.

At least Reg is a bit better in Voyager. By now, he's not quite as irritating, and he has a surprisingly solid arc which factors into how Voyager's crew eventually make it home. I like him more here, but only somewhat, and it's just not enough to offset the bad from the good. And there's enough bad in TNG Barclay to thump him down at the unenviable 53rd spot.

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Hi! I'm Quinton.
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