Star Trek: Every Lt. Barclay Episode Ranked Worst To Best
9. The Nth Degree
The Nth Degree was Barclay's first time to properly shine. He is struck down by an energy beam from an alien probe, which leads his IQ to begin rising dramatically. This unnerves his colleagues but he quickly evolves past them, ending up hooked into the main computer via the holodeck.
While there is a theme of holo-technology with Barclay, this episode stretches it to its zenith. Using this interface, he becomes a part of the ship, connected via the neural network he has created, inverting space and sub-space to cross huge sections of the Galaxy quickly. (Seeing as he appeared in Star Trek: Voyager, it does seem like something of a cheap move not to make them aware of this technology...)
It turns out that he was scanned and upgraded by a race of aliens known as the Cytherians, who explore space by bringing other cultures to them, rather than the other way around. They cure Barclay of the upgrades they have given him, spending a further ten days interacting with the crew.