Totally Important Star Trek Question
I’m going to be writing a post about Tom Paris’ holopimpin’ (and to some extent Bashir’s) in contrast to Barclay’s on my scifi blog, and I’d love to hear some of your opinions.
Why? Well, I think I have legitimate question here… Why is it holodeck addiction with Barclay but for not Bashir and Paris? Does it come down to what makes a person cool? Or is there a societal distinction made manifest here between holonovelist and holofanfiction-writer? (Paris tends to make his own story, and Barclay likes to insert himself).
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
I think it’s also because Barclay let it interfere with his work to the point where he wouldn’t show up for his shift because he was too busy in the holodeck. Tom Paris let it interfere with his work a bit, I think, especially in the early seasons, but once the Doctor started yelling at him for not showing up for his shifts in Sickbay, I think he got his act together (also B’Elanna probably helped with this as well later, she’s not the type to let Tom get away with stuff like that). And as far as I know Julian Bashir never let it interfere with his work. Also it was probably more acceptable in Julian’s case because he was running more “intelligent” programs where he would have to solve mysteries and be a secret agent and stuff. He wasn’t just using it as an escape like Barclay was. And he also had other interests - playing darts, hanging out with Miles, hitting on Dax….with Barclay the holodeck was pretty much ALL he did (I think, I haven’t watched TNG in awhile).
(Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but the Enterprise ONLY had a holodeck and you couldn’t run more than one program at a time. Voyager had a bunch of holosuites so if someone else wanted to run a program they could, even if someone was already in a holosuite. So people probably got pissed at Barclay for hogging the holodeck all the time, which led to people expressing concern to Picard and Troi, which then led to Deanna diagnosing him with holodeck addiction.)
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daughters45go liked this
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flutterflyinvasion reblogged this from kiddywonkus and added:
I think it’s also because Barclay let it interfere with his work...the point where he...
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taricalmcacil reblogged this from deeply-spaced and added:
Yes. Julian was always on the Holodeck with friends, re-enacting things for fun. On Voyager, it was a way to relieve...
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princessjadzia answered:
There was also the fact that Barclay (deliberately, unlike Bashir) used manifestations of real crewmembers in his programs
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deeply-spaced reblogged this from kiddywonkus and added:
Julian uses the holoprograms for stress relief. He has people’s lives in his hands. He makes a mistake and people...
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tintedspirits answered:
I think the main difference is that for Barclay it was getting in the way of his work. He went there to escape. It was just fun with Paris.
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deeply-spaced said:
To me, before his big secret comes out, Bashir uses the holoprograms as a way to truly be himself. He is genetically enhanced and can be as strong, accurate, fast, and intelligent as he can be without anyone suspecting his secret. Bashir rocks.
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deeply-spaced liked this
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i-walk-the-sky answered:
It isn’t about the programs. Holo-addiction, like any addiction, happens when you can’t control an urge, in this case for holoprograms.
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ladydrace said:
I’ll never get the hang of this tumblr reply shit. I meant of course Paris and Bashir.
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ladydrace answered:
I think the difference is that Paris and Kim do have functioning social lives. Barclay does not. His life IS the holodeck.
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kiddywonkus posted this
