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I couldn't help but be a little depressed for the folks at
NASA/JPL over the
loss of the Mars Polar Lander. I was feeling even sicker over the cavalier
attitude of some critics who feel the nails are in the coffin for any future
funding. Then I saw Star Trek: Voyager's aptly named "Pathfinder" episode,
a poignant reminder of the difficulty of space travel and how achingly
distant these destinations are that some of us take for granted. And we
are traveling to these destinations with the same budget Hollywood will spend
on next summer's blockbuster. Only here on Earth... when a "blockbuster"
fails, Hollywood doesn't stop making movies.
Enough of the soapbox... when ST: Voyager reruns "Pathfinder," be sure to
catch it. Two of my favorite characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation
cross over to Voyager. Counselor Deanna Troi meets up with Lieutenant Reginald Barclay who left the Enterprise to work at Starfleet
Command.
I was extremely pleased to see Barclay again. There's something about him
that has always thrilled me right to the bone. Barclay, with his various
mental phobias and painful social disorders, is the anti-thesis of the
perfect, unflappable Starfleet officer. And he entered Trek lore at the
very time we needed a fallible hero.
Dwight Schultz does a marvelous job with
him as always, and it's wonderful to see Deanna Troi, played by Marina
Sirtis, once again as the sympathetic counselor who is able to draw out the toughest
customer, not as the rebellious goof she was consigned to during the Trek
movie outings. This is the Deanna Troi I remember!
Barclay's dilemma is that he is convinced he has found a way to contact
Voyager, but no one trusts him. His last idea, which involved a space
probe (not unlike the Mar Polar Lander), had failed. No one will listen
to him anymore, not even his commanding officer and friend Pete Hawkins.
But it takes a person, with the obsession and sensitivity of Barclay, to
tear open the threads of this project. Instead of hiding behind scientific
prerogative, he makes this battle personal. He recreates the ship and its
crew in the Holodeck, a techno fantasy world which looks like reality.
Every day he is forced to look into the eyes of the lost crew. But instead of
coming to know them as casualties, he comes to know them as friends. And of
course, people are willing to do things for friends that they never would
for anyone else.
Barclay defies Starfleet and keeps refining his theories and takes us on a
wonderful game of chase when Starfleet attempts to pull him from the project
once and for all. After six long years, Voyager is finally able to contact home thanks to
Barclay. And what is Captain Janeway's first message? "We have been waiting
a long time for this moment. We are transmitting our ship's logs, crew reports
and navigational records to you now."
Janeway's routine message made me want to cheer and cry my eyes out at the
same time. Why? Because Janeway and her crew are in the same league as
Barclay. They didn't give up on Starfleet either and are finally rewarded
for sticking to their Trek ideals after years of separation from the only
home and culture they ever knew. AND... they did not weaken. They did not
give up their cherished Starfleet ideals in the dark moments when they
thought they would never hear from home again. And when their Starfleet family finally got through to them, that simple
pronouncement sounded very much like, "we have your letters, heirlooms and
our family photo albums right by our side."
While I was overjoyed by all this, Barclay was sad. He could only maintain
contact for a brief window of time and felt like a failure. I want to offer
the wise words of his senior commander, Admiral Paris, to all who doubt our
future in space: "[It's] only just beginning."
Have a happy and safe millennium. See you out
there!
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"Star
Trek's 'Pathfinder': Give Space a Chance"
