Reginald Barclay is back and once again he has Deanna Troi in tow - you could almost think they were a couple. Unfortunately, this Barclay episode is just average. Troi basically has nothing to contribute other than lounging on the beach in her swimsuit and flashing her cleavage for the camera. Dwight Schultz delivers a good performance because he can be seen in two roles. But the plot itself is rather poor and seems to be full of plot holes and questionable decisions.
The very motivation of the Ferengi and the technology necessary for this elaborate plan seems far-fetched. The investments in advance would have already consumed enormous sums of gold-pressed Latinum, with no guarantee of success. If three Ferengi have technology for creating geodesic folds that can essentially create wormholes, then you have to wonder why Starfleet doesn't have something similar.
And the Voyager crew is once again extremely gullible and grasps at any straw that seems to help them out of their misery. Seven seems to be the only one who is able to interpret the data correctly and notices that something is wrong. The doctor also notices that this extremely self-confident and selfish Barclay hologram has nothing to do with the real Reg. But for him it's more a matter of offended vanity and the fact that the Barclay hologram no longer wants to give back his holo emitter. The doctor is basically just jealous that another hologram is stealing the show and also doesn't recognize the insidious Ferengi plan.
I also didn't understand what happened to the Barclay hologram and Seven in the end. They wanted to take an escape pod. Neither the tractor beam nor the transporter worked to stop them. Then the pod shows up in the Alpha quadrant and is empty and Reg and Seven are still on Voyager? How did that happen?
The very motivation of the Ferengi and the technology necessary for this elaborate plan seems far-fetched. The investments in advance would have already consumed enormous sums of gold-pressed Latinum, with no guarantee of success. If three Ferengi have technology for creating geodesic folds that can essentially create wormholes, then you have to wonder why Starfleet doesn't have something similar.
And the Voyager crew is once again extremely gullible and grasps at any straw that seems to help them out of their misery. Seven seems to be the only one who is able to interpret the data correctly and notices that something is wrong. The doctor also notices that this extremely self-confident and selfish Barclay hologram has nothing to do with the real Reg. But for him it's more a matter of offended vanity and the fact that the Barclay hologram no longer wants to give back his holo emitter. The doctor is basically just jealous that another hologram is stealing the show and also doesn't recognize the insidious Ferengi plan.
I also didn't understand what happened to the Barclay hologram and Seven in the end. They wanted to take an escape pod. Neither the tractor beam nor the transporter worked to stop them. Then the pod shows up in the Alpha quadrant and is empty and Reg and Seven are still on Voyager? How did that happen?