Episode Review - Inside Man
Reviewed by Oliver Lenz

Synopsis
Everyone onboard Voyager is eager to receive the next update with mail from the Alpha Quadrant, especially because last month’s mail never arrived. When Kim is ready to download the mail, he discovers that photonic information has been send along: a hologram. As the information stream was never meant to transport photonic information, we see some firework when Kim downloads the hologram. It is Barclay. Or rather, a hologram that was designed after him. He has good news; this should be the last information stream they’ll receive, because Starfleet has found a way to transport them back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager will fly to a red giant star and at the same time, Federation scientists will target the magnetic field of another red giant in the Alpha Quadrant with a verteron beam to create a geodesic fold. As a result, space will be punctured at two points, creating a gateway between the quadrants. In the sixth episode of season 7? I don’t think so.
The Holo-Barclay explains to the crew that Starfleet has found a way to overcome the nasty radiation that so far hindered them from using the intergalactic taxi-service. In order for him to help with the necessary adjustments to the shields he borrows The Doctor’s mobile emitter, while The Doctor is told to prepare medical inoculations, which he is not too happy about, asking for the emitter to be returned when the Holo-Barclay no longer needs it.
We then see the Pathfinder lab. Barclay is puzzled as to why the information stream has failed on them a second time. Both times, the signal disappeared in the same system. Pete Harkins, his superior, knows the answer: the stream wasn’t designed to contain photonic information. Both times, Barclay sent along a holographic replica of himself. Harkins reminds him how much trouble it cost him to convince Admiral Paris to allow for the hologram to be send along a second time, and that it will fail no third time, simply because there will be no third time. Barclay then discovers that just hours before the information stream got lost in the particular system, a ship passed by. He is convinced that the Borg, or even better, that the Romulans were interested in his advanced hologram. Excited, he disturbs a children’s tour of the Pathfinder building. Harkins tells Barclay that some vacation would do him good. He also tells him that is not merely advice.
Back on Voyager, The Doctor tells the Holo-Barclay that the inoculations will not suffice to protect the crew against the radiation. Holo-Barclay explains that they will in combination with the adjustments to the shields. The Doctor then invites the Holo-Barclay for a game of golf on the holodeck. Holo-Barclay isn’t exactly excited and asks for the game to be held at another time.
Later, Kim and Torres want to send a reply back to the Alpha-Quadrant, to notify the Pathfinder people that the Holo-Barclay has safely arrived and that they are preparing for the big event. Holo-Barclay asks them if he could include a progress report. They allow it. The message is send but is redirected to a Ferengi ship orbiting a Red Giant. Three Ferengi watch the Holo-Barclay’s ‘progress report’. They want to sell Seven’s nanoprobes for 20 bars of gold pressed latinum a unit. Combined, that makes, exactly …more latinum then they’ve ever dreamed of. They want to get themselves a hull of gold pressed latinum, lobe enhancements and a fleet of casino ships. Neat.
Back on Earth we see Barclay walking on the beach. He approaches a sunbathing Troi, thereby violating his counsellor’s private life. A big no-no. Troi however forgives him and asks what’s bothering him and Barclay tells how everything went fine until the first data stream with his hologram went missing. And then the second. In between, his girlfriend Leosa left him, even though she always seemed to be very interested in what he had to say about the Pathfinder project. Troi wonders whether Leosa may have leaked the Pathfinder information. Barclay admits that this may be the case and Troi urges him to contact his superiors.
On Voyager, Holo-Barclay proves himself to be very useful, as he imitates people’s voices, thereby entertaining the crew. The Doctor then gives him a call, he wants him to come over to the holodeck and Holo-Barclay does so. The Doctor still wants to play golf, but the Holo-Barclay doesn’t and he becomes mad at him.
In the Pathfinder lab, Leosa admits that she is in fact a dabo-girl, and not a teacher, as she told Barclay. She denies any involvement in leaking information though. Troi senses that Leosa is not being honest. In an eye-to-eye conversation, she convinces Leosa that it is in her best interest to cooperate. Leosa is then willing to do so, and she tells them everything she knows.
Back in the Delta Quadrant, The Doctor, worried by his confrontation with the Holo-Barclay, convinces Janeway to run a diagnostic on the Holo-Barclay. The diagnostic however shows that there is nothing wrong with the Holo-Barclay.
Admiral Paris orders the U.S.S. Carolina to intercept the Ferengi, but it will take some time before they arrive. Barclay realises what the Ferengi have done. He tells Troi that the Ferengi must have intercepted his first hologram. They then reprogrammed it to fit their needs and then included it in the second data stream.
At the same time, the Ferengi initiate a pulse in the red giant star to open a geodesic fold. The pathfinder people see this and they conclude that the Ferengi plan on transporting Voyager to their red giant star, thereby killing all the people, which would leave them to harvest the nanoprobes.
Onboard Voyager, in astrometrics, Seven realises that the protection provided by the Holo-Barclay will in fact not suffice. How very surprising. She tries to warn Janeway, but before she is able to do so, the Holo-Barclay disables here by placing his holographic hand into her cranial implant. Ouch. He then imitates Seven’s voice and informs Janeway that there is nothing to worry about.
Since the Carolina will not make it in time, Barclay comes up with a plan. We then see the Ferengi receiving a message from the Holo-Barclay. He warns them that Janeway has found out about their plan and that Voyager has found a protection against the radiation. Janeway is very angry and she will hunt them down. The only way to save themselves would be to close the geodesic fold. The Ferengi, even though they are very disappointed, do so. We then discover that this was not the Holo-Barclay, but the original one, who did his bit of improvising onboard a holographically simulated Voyager.
When the geodesic fold closes, Janeway orders the cancellation of the attempt. Desperate, the Holo-Barclay beams himself and the unconscious Seven to an escape pod, heading for the now closing fold. Kim initially has problems beaming them back, but when an empty shuttle pod crashes into the Ferengi’s ship, it becomes apparent that he did manage to save the day.
Everyone onboard Voyager is depressed, except for Paris, who knew from the beginning that it just sounded too good to be true, showing that he either shares my sense for realism, or has glanced into the script.
Finally, back on Earth Troi is ‘welcomed’ by Barclay’s newest version of his hologram, with very precautious security precautions. She actually only wanted to invite him to dinner, giving him a chance to meat this charming teacher – a real one, this time.

Summary
Beforehand, I expected this to be a funny episode. Now that I’ve seen it, I can only conclude that it has several flaws. First of all, the episode very much resembled Pathfinder. Barclay discovers something, and, even though he is not believed by his superiors, turns out to be right.
Second, the Ferengi. While at the one hand they must have been very smart to come up with such a descent plan and to reprogram the Holo-Barclay, on the other hand they are very easily fooled by Barclay at the end of the episode, even though his impression really wasn’t that good. He hesitated and was obviously improvising. Holo-Barclay who very calmly explains that Janeway has discovered their plan? Then why hasn’t he been deactivated? They just gave up too easily. I mean, for a Ferengi, nothing is more important then wealth, right? To quote themselves, they would have made “more money than they had ever dreamed of”. But I enjoyed seeing a familiar alien race.
This may be more a personal opinion, but I don’t think Barclay is that funny. I never liked his holo-addiction. I don’t like people embarrassing themselves. I did like the Holo-Barclay’s impression though. These were great. It is surprising how funny lines can sound when placed out of context, into someone else’s mouth.
The cameo of Troi was very good; she was a valuable part of the storyline.
I think the geodesic fold idea was really unbelievable. We’re talking about an enormous distance, and red giants are nothing special. Maybe I could have swallowed a Black Hole (not literally! )
I liked Paris’ down-to-earthness. The Doctor was great as always. The children’s tour was a good idea. There were not many special effects, but the ones used seemed adequate. The Ferengi ship looked like a phoenix when first shown.
Overall, this was a solid, but not great episode. It would’ve been great if the Ferengi had succeeded, but that would’ve meant the end of Voyager. Sometimes it’s sad that the episodes aren’t completely 'stand alone'.

7/10