I always have really mixed feelings about Barclaycentric episodes. I suffer from anxiety attacks to there are many ways in which I can empathize with him, but I am also constantly left wondering how the hell he made it through the academy. This episode in particular points out many of the ways he isn't exactly a functional member of the crew, I mean seriously, he is never used a transporter? I guess being an engineer he isn't usually sent on away teams and presumably he doesn't go on shore leave very often, but man, that seems like it would have been an issue before somewhere down the line. Also, I kinda suspect you only get to wake the senior staff for an emergency middle of the night meeting a few times.
The episode opens with the Enterprise discovering the science vessel Yosemite stuck in a plasma stream between two stars (they keep calling it a plasma streamer but that sounds like some sort of party decoration to me). There is too much interference to tractor the ship out or to take a shuttle craft over. Picard calls Geordi for options and Barclay points out that by linking the two transporter systems together it should be possible to get over safely. He immediately regrets his decision when Geordi asks him to join the away team. O'Brien warns them it may be a bit of a rough ride over which terrifies Barclay. When it is his turn to beam over he runs off the pad and straight to Troi's office. On the Yosemite they find the crew missing other than one dead man and signs of an explosion on the transporter pad. There are also pieces of a containment vessel all over the area near the pad. Barclay manages to calm down enough to beam over.
When they finish up and it is time to beam back Barclay is again hesitant and when he is almost back he sees some sort of creature in the beam with him. He raises his arm and it makes contact with his left arm just as he materializes. Barclay talks to Geordi and along with O'Brien then rip the transporter apart looking for problems, but it appears to be fine. Data and Geordi work on a plan to replicate the experiments on the Yosemite and when they beam some plasma into engineering and start scanning the container explodes for no apparent reason. Meanwhile Barclay is in full freak out mode. His arm has started glowing where the worm thing touched him be he has decided it is transporter psychosis and doesn't tell anybody. Well, that isn't quite true, he wakes O'Brien up in the middle of the night and gets him to beam him over to the Yosemite and back again and this time he is sure he is seeing the worm creatures so he has O'Brien wake the senior staff.
At the meeting no one seems to believe him, but they all agree to investigate further and when Beverley gets him to sick bay she does find strange ionization in his arm. Further scans show some sort of matter/energy creatures have ended up inside him. The only solution of course is to put him back in the transporter to reprogram the biofilters. It is an extended stay and just before they lose his signal Barclay sees the worm things again and for some reason grabs one. When he re-materializes he has one of the lost crew members in his arms. Worf and two security personnel go through and get the three other missing crew back. The final scene is Barclay and O'Brien hanging out in Ten Forward and Miles leaves Barclay to hang out with his pet tarantula.
Review: As a kid I always thought the transporters were hella cool and this episode showed a side of them never seen before. I can't help but think that the this inspired the writing of Relics which I also remember fondly, but we shall see if it holds up. Barclay manages to be fairly annoying, but at least he isn't crazy this time.
6 out of 10
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