Written By: Robert Doherty
Directed By: Allan Kroeker
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
The plot is simple, Ferengi have intercepted and blocked a transmission from the MIDAS array that contained a holo-Reg that could interact and help Voyager. The Ferengi plan to steal nanoprobes from Seven of Nine to sell for a high price. What�s unique and fun about �Inside Man� is that we see everything from three points of view, from Voyager, from Earth and from the Ferengi ship.
Obviously the Ferengi know what�s going on, but on Earth Barclay and his crew don�t understand why exactly two transmissions in are row have been blocked, only in the end does Barclay have the solution but he doesn�t want to present it in case it�s wrong. On Voyager, they never discover the truth in the episode, they just assume that holo-Reg�s actions at the end are a result of their close proximity to the star. I hope we see the crew of Voyager discover the truth at some stage, I doubt very much they wouldn�t be informed.
It�s funny that the crew of Voyager can�t detect any kind of tampering with the Barclay holo-matrix or the fact that some Ferengi markers of some kind would be visible in the transmission. I can understand that the crew wouldn�t immediately suspect that it�s all a hoax because that�d just be silly, Starfleet crews can�t always be so paranoid even if there always is some kind of alien tampering.
Only the Doc really suspects something. The scenes between Doc and holo-Reg where a lot of fun to watch, especially the Doc �telling on� holo-Reg, I love scenes between Bob Picardo and Dwight Shultz, they have great chemistry. I found the holo-Reg to be too realistic a character for photonic energy, he had much too much of a personality, besides I doubt very much that the Ferengi are that good at changing holograms. OK, so holo-Reg�s impressions where very funny but the whole concept of holograms is starting to get a little out of control. And the whole techno-babble about creating a wormhole-like pathway with the two stars was just that; techno-babble. I�m glad that this idea wasn�t put into use to actually bring Voyager home as it�s terribly unrealistic.
One thing that did get annoying in �Inside Man� was the deja vu sensation I got while watching it, so many of the scenes are the same as �Pathfinder.� First of all Pete�s scenes with Barclay where very similar to those in "�Pathfiner." Then there�s Barclay�s searching out Troi and the continuing mentions of the TNG crew. Most annoying was the last scene where, just like in �Pathfinder,� Barclay and Troi talk and laugh about some women that Barclay might get hooked up with and there�s some silly little in-joke (in �Pathfinder� it was the cats, here it was the Teacher).
One thing �Inside Man� brings up that I�d never thought about is why so much effort and resources are being put in the find Voyager. Okay, so the crew is lost and alone, but I never thought about the fact that the information Voyager has gathered could be priceless. This is brought up in a nice scene with Pete taking some kids around the Pathfinder building.
The scenes between Barclay and Troi where fun here. I loved the scenes on the beach and the scenes with Liosa. Liosa was an annoying character and a dumb character, but played beautifully by Sharisse Baker, that�s a compliment by the way. Her relationship with Barclay was about as unrealistic as anything so I�m glad Liosa was not shown with Reg that much. What was realistic was Barclay�s reactions to Liosa calling him �boring.�
The Ferengi were of course dumb and annoying villains yet again but at least their plot was kind of clever this time. I�m disappointed that this is first time we�ve seen the Ferengi since DS9�s �The Dog�s of War� and there is no change or no mention of the status of the Ferengi with Rom in charge. The Ferengi were horribly acted too.
The climax was a bit shaky. Barclay pretending to be the holo-Barclay was poorly handled as Barclay was dumbed down to the level of the dumb Ferengi. The holo-Barclay escaping was mishandled to as it�s never made obvious whether Seven or holo-Reg made it to the escape pod. The ending comes across as though there are some missing scenes in there somewhere.
I�ve really enjoyed Reg Barclay�s journey during Voyager and I look forward to seeing much more of him in the future. Dwight Shultz is a superb actor. He gives us two great performances here as the different Barclay�s.
�Inside Man� is a funnier and dumbed down version of �Pathfinder.� It isn�t up to the standard of the past �communication with Starfleet� episodes but unlike the others this one served no point so is virtually harmless. I just hope that from now on Voyager�s communications with Starfleet have better drama and are taken more seriously.