About

Lt. Reginald Barclay On The Holodeck, also known as Computer, I Want You To X, is an exploitable meme format and phrasal template in which the Star Trek crew member Lt. Reginald Barclay is standing in the Holodeck, a room designed for the use of virtual reality simulation technology informs a computer of a simulation to run, often a video game or real-life event or situation. In the course of describing the parameters of the simulation, the meme points out humorous features of the simulated thing. Lieutenant Reginald Barclay is featured in several episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek Voyager, frequently as a Holodeck addict suffering from social anxiety.

Origin

The earliest instance of the meme (seen below) stems from 4chan on a January 27th, 2019, greentext from the /sp/ sports imageboard. The anon, speaking as Barclay, asks the Holodeck to simulate a "UCL finals league" match from 2012 and "disengage safety protocols."^[1]

Over the next 24 hours, the meme popped up on other discussion boards such as /pol/ and /trek/ often referring to similar situations where safety protocols could be disengaged.

References to the imaginary Holodeck and its envisioning capabilities have been around since the device made its debut in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late 1980s. Janet Murray’s book Hamlet on the Holodeck (1998) is a foundational text in the theory of digital narrative and digital space.^[2]

Spread

An instance of the 4chan meme from October 20th, 2019, was screenshotted and posted to Reddit’s /r/4chan, reportedly from the 4chan image board /tv/. The Reddit post, by u/ToaKraka, received over 360 upvotes over the course of three years.^[3]

An April 7th, 2021, tweet (seen below left) by Twitter user @TheManCalledTex imagined using the Holodeck to generate a video game multiplayer lounge, sharing a series of details that mocked the vibe and milieu associated with the game. The tweet received over 15,000 likes over the course of a year and a half.^[4] The tweet on the lower right, by Twitter user @HaloDS_OF from May 21st, 2021, uses the same text from the @TheManCalledTex but applies it to Halo rather than Call of Duty. It received almost a thousand likes in a little over a year.^[5]

Another tweet using the meme format, but applying it to Dino Nuggies instead of a video game, from @SimpNeelix on September 21st, 2021, received almost 600 likes over the course of nine months.^[6]

Various Examples

Template

External References