6.02 Realm of Fear

Rating: 2

The discovery of the USS Yosemite, unheard from for several days, means an away team must beam over one at a time because of distortion. Barclay, assigned to the away team, is unable to bring himself to join them because of his heretofore undiscovered fear of transporting. He conquers that fear, but, on his return beaming, begins to have strange hallucinations of a creature attacking him.

Comments

We learn from O’Brien that he used to suffer from arachnophobia.

I sometimes wonder why so many Trek scripts insist on telegraphing all their punches. We know that Barclay is not really going crazy. The mystery is solved early on for the viewer; only the crew is unsure. So we must rely on the sub-par special effects of the ‘creature’ in the transporter buffer.

Brannon Braga is famous for coming on board the Trek team without having watched any Trek episodes before. Although he sometimes brings a fresh approach, more often than not, he goes against some of the rules that are in place. If the episode is extremely well-written, he can get away with this. Unfortunately, this episode is not that well-written.

Nits

We get a memorable view of what Barclay sees when he is being transported. The visual image of location one fades out and is replaced by the familiar light pattern, then the second location slowly fades in. Is this possible? If, at sometime during transport, all of the atoms in your body are reduced to binary data in a computer, wouldn’t your optic nerves and eyeballs be in the computer? If so, how does Barclay constantly see things?

When Counselor Troi discovers Barclay is agitated and stressed, I am surprised that she simply enforces a leave of absence on him, without also insisting that he visit a medical doctor, have more counseling, or both.

Of course, I wonder why Barclay, after seeing his arm blinking blue, doesn’t go to the doctor for treatment. The explanation we get is that he thinks he may have transporter psychosis, and there is no known cure. Even if there is no cure, surely he would realize there would be ways to reduce the symptoms.

I’m not sure if it is just a problem with the effect, or if it was purposeful, but I can’t believe that Barclay could have possibly identified the ‘things’ in the transporter buffer as humans – they look like life, Jim, but not as we know it.

Memorable Moments

•    For perhaps the first time, we get an idea of what it is like to be transported from the view of the person experiencing it.

•    When Barclay is listening to (and acting out) the symptoms of ‘transporter psychosis’, director Cliff Bole moves the camera below Barclay’s face and lowers the light, increasing the drama.

•    Barclay’s reaction to O’Brien’s pet tarantula.

Quotable Quotes

"Computer, more birds."
- Reg Barclay adjusting a relaxation program

"She’s…very large."
- Barclay, commenting on O’Brien’s pet tarantula, Christine