History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E19TheNthDegree

Anyway, the ''Enterprise'''s next mission is to investigate the Argus Array, a large unmanned radio telescope at the edge of Federation space, which inexplicably went silent two months ago. They discover a mysterious probe, which they conclude is the most likely culprit, and send La Forge and Barclay to get a closer look. Barclay thanks La Forge for choosing him for the assignment, and La Forge tells him that he's one of the ship’s top engineers, and it’s about time he got in on some of the interesting stuff. Just then, the probe emits a flash of light that knocks Barclay unconscious. When he comes to, he has Dr. Crusher check him out. She tells him that he seems to be OK but she’ll have to wait for some test results to know for sure. Rather abruptly, Barclay starts to make radical suggestions about how she could run the tests faster.

To make matters worse, Barclay soon decides to stop listening to Picard's orders and takes control of the ''Enterprise'' himself. He develops a way to move the ship at greater than warp speed and prepares to jump. Troi goes to the holodeck to reason with him, but he doesn't listen. He also blocks Geordi’s attempt to set up a computer bypass through Engineering. Running out of options, Picard orders Worf to disconnect Barclay by force, but Barclay’s set up a force field to protect himself. The ship jumps through Barclay's whatever-it-is, coming out 30,000 light-years away from where they started. When they get there, the computer is suddenly under their control again, and a giant floating head appears on the bridge. Barclay shows up, disconnected from the computer, to explain that the alien race that made the probe had designed it to bring other races to these coordinates to observe and learn from them. It was supposed to work with computers, but it accidentally reprogrammed Barclay’s brain instead.

The ''Enterprise'' spends ten days conversing with the aliens, then heads back to Federation space. Barclay is safely disconnected from the computer, and he's more or less [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome back to normal again]]. Troi and Geordi comfort him over his loss of confidence and super-intelligence. They tell him that this experience might help him grow, and either way he's still an important part of the crew. Troi even agrees to go on that walk in the arboretum with him. As they leave Ten Forward, Barclay stops to suggest a move to a woman playing chess, announcing checkmate in nine moves.

[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E21HollowPursuits Lieutenant Barclay]] has taken up acting in his spare time. Even though he's pretty awful, Counselor Troi applauds him for his progress, as last time we saw him he would never have had the nerve to perform in front of an audience. But that isn't to say that he’s entirely moved beyond feeling awkward around other people; in particular, he doesn't appreciate his own successes as much as Troi and La Forge do. After everyone else leaves, he sits alone on the stage.

The ''Enterprise'' spends ten days conversing with the aliens, then heads back to Federation space. The aliens safely disconnected Barclay from the computer, and he's more or less [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome back to normal again]]. Troi and Geordi comfort him over his loss of confidence and super-intelligence. They tell him that this experience might help him grow, and either way he's still an important part of the crew. Troi even agrees to go on that walk in the arboretum with him. As they leave Ten Forward, Barclay stops to suggest a move to a woman playing chess, announcing checkmate in nine moves.

* NotSoDifferent: Barclay explains that the Cytherians are on the same mission as Starfleet: exploring the galaxy. The difference is, they use their probes to bring other races to their homeworld, rather than fly out into space themselves.

* NotSoDifferent: Barclay explains the Cytherians are on the same mission as Starfleet; exploring the galaxy. The difference is, they use their probes to bring other races to their homeworld, rather than fly out into space themselves.

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: In the episode's last scene, Barclay reveals that some residue of his superintelligence might have remained by making a genius move in chess in spite of the fact that he didn't previously play.

* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The Cytherians are an incredibly advanced race who help Barclay develop technology that can seemingly due the impossible. Appropriately, the member of their species we see looks like a white-bearded wizard.
* StylisticSuck: Barclay's first stage performance is stilted, awkward and riddled with flubs. Even ''Data'' grimaces.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Cytherian probe was just doing its job of communicating with alien computers, not realizing its signal was harmful to Federation technology.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Cytherian probe was just doing its job of communicating with alien computers, not realizing its signal was harmful to Federation systems.

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: The episode's last scene. It is possible that Barclay was having his little joke at the players' expense, since they are half-expecting him to still be superintelligent.

* ShoutOut: Naturally, the computer-linked hyper-intelligent Barclay has to respond to Picard's order to disconnect with "[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't do that, sir.]]"

* SmugSuper: Though he still seems fairly friendly, the way Computer!Reg refers to the the rest of the crew as "scared children" when talking to Troi comes off as pretty arrogant.

* YouAreTooLate: Said word for word by Computer!Reg, when Geordi tries to bypass his link to the ship's computer.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Barclay taking an unsolicited pass at a coworker (Troi) is treated like a positive sign or his rising self-confidence, with the only negative being that it makes her ex slightly jealous.

'''Troi:''' I didn’t know you played chess.\\

* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: Barclay goes from his usual stuttering self, to a confident mega-genius, and back again.

* GratuitousGerman: Holodeck!Einstein exclaims "Gruß Gott!" while working with Barclay. This is actually a salutation in Southern Germany, mostly Bavaria, and Austria. He should have said "Mein Gott!"

* StatusQuoIsGod: Barclay makes several impressive modifications to the ''Enterprise's'' systems, including 300% stronger shields and the ability to jump halfway across the galaxy in minutes. Naturally all of these improvements are gone by the next episode.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The Cytherians are an incredibly advanced race, but a very static one that prefers to study the universe by sending their probes out to bring other races to them. They're very friendly, however, and the ''Enterprise'' crew spend ten very interesting days interacting with them, acquiring knowledge that will take the Federation decades to fully understand and appreciate.

* TheUnReveal: Barclay says that he perceives the entire universe as one simple equation. Care to share, Reg?

* ProperlyParanoid: The crew make sure to disconnect the audio and visual pickups when discussing what to do about Computer!Barclay.

* StylisticSuck: Barclay's first stage performance.

[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E21HollowPursuits Lieutenant Barclay]] has taken up acting in his spare time. Even though he's not very good at it, Counselor Troi applauds him for his progress, as last time we saw him he would never have had the nerve to perform in front of an audience. But that isn't to say that he’s entirely moved beyond feeling awkward around other people; in particular, he doesn't appreciate his own successes as much as Troi and La Forge do. After everyone else leaves, he sits alone on the stage.

Anyway, the ''Enterprise'''s next mission is to investigate the Argus Array, a large unmanned radio telescope at the edge of Federation space, which inexplicably went silent two months ago. They discover a mysterious probe, which they conclude is the most likely culprit, and send La Forge and Barclay to get a closer look. Barclay thanks La Forge for choosing him for the assignment, and La Forge tells him that he's one of the ship’s top engineers, and it’s about time he got in on some of the interesting stuff. Just then the probe emits a flash of light that knocks Barclay unconscious. When he comes to he has Dr. Crusher check him out. She tells him that he seems to be OK but she’ll have to wait for some test results to know for sure. Rather abruptly, Barclay starts to make radical suggestions about how she could run the tests faster.

The next morning, though, it seems as if he's fallen back into his old habits--he misses a scheduled meeting and La Forge tracks him to the holodeck, where he is kicking around some quantum physics theories with UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein. La Forge remarks that the ideas they were discussing were out of his league, and should have been out of Barclay’s league as well. He's sure there’s something fishy going on, though Barclay is offended by the implication that being mediocre and awkward is his natural state. Nevertheless Dr. Crusher confirms that his brain has dramatically changed since his encounter with the probe--enough to make him the smartest human being to ever exist.

To make matters worse, Barclay soon decides to stop listening to Picard's orders and takes control of the ''Enterprise'' himself. He develops a way to move the ship at greater than warp speed and prepares to jump. Troi goes to the holodeck to reason with him, but he doesn't listen. He also blocks Geordi’s attempt to set up a computer bypass through Engineering. Running out of options, Picard orders Worf to disconnect Barclay by force, but Barclay’s set up a force field to protect himself. The ship jumps through Barclay's whatever-it-is, coming out 30,000 light-years away from where they started. When they get there, the computer is suddenly under their control again, and a giant floating head appears on the bridge. ...[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Oooookay]]. Barclay shows up, disconnected from the computer, to explain that the alien race that made the probe had designed it to bring other races to these coordinates to observe and learn from them. It was supposed to work with computers, but it accidentally reprogrammed Barclay’s brain instead.

The ''Enterprise'' spends ten days conversing with the aliens, then heads back to Federation space. Troi and Geordi comfort Barclay, [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome who feels insignificant again now that the alien knowledge is out of his head]]. They tell him that this experience might help him grow, and either way he's still an important part of the crew. Troi even agrees to go on that walk in the arboretum with him. As they leave Ten Forward, Barclay stops to suggest a move to a woman playing chess.

->'''Barclay:''' May I? ''[moves piece]'' Checkmate in nine moves.\\

'''Barclay:''' ''[unsettled]'' I don’t!

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The aliens in the end. For all their advanced intelligence and technological advancement, they "explore" the galaxy by making everyone else come to them.