Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Lt. Barclay

Reg Barclay - potential Lower Decker, EMH inspiration, and cat lover.

Reg Barclay Star Trek
Paramount

Played by The A-Team's Dwight Schultz, Reginald Endicott Barclay III, or "Reg" for short is one of Star Trek's fan-favourite characters. Schultz puts this down to the fact that he's not the shining example of Starfleet perfection that makes up the majority of 90s Star Trek crews. He's shy, a bit nerdy, and struggles to form social connections with people. He prefers to escape into the fictional world than confront the real world, something that everyone can certainly relate to.

Barclay proved so popular after his first appearance that he appeared in four subsequent episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and later played an integral part in getting the Voyager crew back to the Alpha Quadrant. He appeared in six episodes of Voyager, and also got to meet one of his heroes when he shook hands with Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact.

All of this is widely known, but there are small character moments that are easy to forget, or behind-the-scenes stories that shed more light on the creation of the beloved Enterprise crewmember. Here are 10 things you didn't know about Lt. Barclay.

10. He Has Something In Common With Seven of Nine

Reg Barclay Star Trek
CBS

Reg Barclay suffered from a few physical and mental ailments in his time on the Enterprise. One of these was an addiction to the holodeck, dubbed "Holo-addiction" or "holodiction". Given the opportunities presented by Star Trek's holographic technology, it's surprising that this wasn't a more common affliction in the 24th century.

Struggling to form connections with other members of the crew, Barclay retreated into a fantasy world where he could be the charming, romantic hero he wanted to be. Barclay is helped with his addiction by Geordi LaForge and Deanna Troi, who help him form real-life connections with his crewmates. His obsession with finding the missing USS Voyager leads to a relapse in the season 6 episode Pathfinder, when his obsession leads him to create a fully functional replica of the ship and its crew.

In Voyager season 7, holodiction grips Seven of Nine, when she too becomes obsessed with a holographic representation of Voyager and its crew. In Human Error, Seven attempts to improve her social skills, but becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the emotions these new connections stir up. Seven's obsession alerts the attention of Janeway, who chastises her for spending too much time on the holodeck instead of fulfilling her duties.

Bit rich from the woman who once deleted a handsome hologram's wife.

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Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.