I've been quite fortunate. I had done two shows within a year before the last one [Inside Man], so I think that was the most that I'd worked on in a one-year period. It's amazing that I'm still going as a character. I thought I had died, as they say!"

I had always been a big fan of Star Trek, from the very first series, of which I saw every episode in living color when I was at high school. Then when [TNG] hit the screen I was just about finishing The A-Team at the time (Schultz played Murdoch), and of course I became a big fan of the show. I watched every episode. I knew Jonathan Frakes and Brett Spiner. I was quite good friends with them and was very happy for their success, and jealous! Then I worked with Whoopi Goldberg in a feature film called The Long Walk Home back in the late 80's. Of course she was one of the originals, and I told her what a big fan I was. Before I knew it I got a call wanting to know whether I wanted to do one [Hollow Pursuits]. And that's how it really happened. I was very lucky.

I had a great time. Everyone was just super, and they were extraordinarily kind to the guest stars. I had no idea that I would ever do more than one. It was the typical guest spot. I thought I would go in and out, but lucky for me, they brought him back.

One of the ironies was that while I was on [Star Trek: Voyager] I knew the crew better than the regulars did! It was the same crew: Marvin Rush was the DP [director of photography], and I knew the script supervisor, Cosmo Genovese, who in fact was the script supervisor from The A-Team years earlier, and the sound man was Alan Bernard. When I go back it's like an old reunion, and I have a very warm spot in my heart. The working practices are basically identical. It's still a very tough schedule: two of the last three episodes, [Pathfinder] and [Inside Man] have been very, very heavy for me. This last one was 15-hour days - I was practically in every scene - so I've had heavy workouts, more so than ever on TNG. But it's the same professionalism, the technical crew is first rate, and everyone is there to do the very best job. And the director on [Inside Man], Allan Krocker, was absolutely fabulous - I just had a delightful time with him. I absolutely adored him; I cannot tell you. He was very sensitive to the show, and to the character, and we just had a great time.

On being reunited with Marina Sirtis (who plays Deanna Troi): We've had nothing but a delightful experience since the first days; we've always had a wonderful relationship.

Barclay had problems, he wasn't perfect; he was someone that the fans I think could identify with. He had a good heart, but he didn't quite fit in all of the time, and I think it brought a unique perspective for the show and for fans. It was a great idea. They finally put an ordinary person on the bridge, and it struck a chord. Barclay sees things that he is not a part of and desperately wants to be there, just as I did for so many years, wanting to be an actor! He desperately wants to be things that he's not, and will never be - he will probably always be a lieutenant, but he has a great heart. I think he recognizes that it's very important to fulfill your place, more so than it is to move beyond it, and he was given this very, very sweet disposition by the writers; and I think that sums him up. A great heart, and recognizes his place, but he's a Walter Mitty dreamer. It's one of those things that I have been thinking about for a long time. I think Barclay would desperately like to be promoted, yet he has good understanding as to why he would not be. He would be in electronic research of some kind. No question. The computer nerd of the future is what he would be, without doubt! He would be buried in quantum fields and the study of particle accelerators and attempting to divine super warp drives, that sort of thing. It lets you realize first of all, this is all fantasy anyway I that there is a place for everyone in the future, even this idealized future that Star Trek represents as opposed to the darker future that Babylon 5 presented. It's very good for the fans to have an ordinary person there, just a regular guy who sometimes is going to make mistakes.

There are always various shades of Barclay's personality up there, and they always give the actor an opportunity to do something new. But for me, this was very much a blast episode; I had a lot of fun taking Barclay's character into several other directions. The writers make a big effort to provide the actor with variety; you're not doing the same thing every time you come back, and I'm very happy with that. 'And I have to say this: it's probably easier for a guest star to come in and do this sort of thing than it is for the regulars, who are more or less trapped. For a character like Barclay the writers can say, 'Well, a lot of time has passed and we can do what we want with this character,' whereas the mainstays have to follow a very tight line. So I'm the fortunate one. It's notdifficult to just pick up (the character again), but what's hard is to actually realize how long I've been doing the character and how much I've physically gotten older. And he's still a lieutenant; I haven't been promoted! It was easier to do when I was younger than it is now. I'm getting a little long in the tooth to be playing this sort of bumbling younger fellow, so it's more difficult just from the standpoint of reality, but from the standpoint of the character, he is who he is. Once you master that, it stays with you for your lifetime, I think.

Every time you take on a role, your objective is to find whatever part of you is in that character, and take advantage of that. He has many insecurities that I readily identify with. For instance, in 33 years as an actor I've only gotten a handful of jobs through the audition process, maybe five or six, seven, something like that whereas most actors who are successful quite readily go in there and get thejob. I've had a very, very hard time doing that, even though I have worked. So I have great insecurities, and I identify with him in that regard. When I go in to an audition I'm a different human being, I'm so insecure! I sometimes can't even say two sentences back to back, and I have used those moments to illuminate who Barclay is.

Re [Star Trek: First Contact]: I was not supposed to be in it at all. That was Jonathan's [Frakes] idea, and it happened two or three days before; it had been in production and was shooting, and he just had the idea, 'Well, here's a lieutenant on the page; why don't we bring in one we know.' So I was very lucky that Jonathan was thinking of me. It was a lot of fun too! Jonathan was just terrific, and I think it remains perhaps the best script, with the Borg, the whole concept of warp drive, and going back into time and meeting the fellow, who was a bit of a drinker. It was all very interesting.

I don't like to prognosticate (on whether Barclay will appear in later Voyager stories) because I have no control over it! I can only say that I think he's going to be involved; I think at least he'll be there when Voyager arrives back on Earth. I love doing the show; it's a thrill. It's been a great opportunity, and I'm very grateful to them for having brought me back. I'm there, and willing, and I want to be involved!"

Dwight Schultz as Barclay is indeed there when Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant! [#171 and #172 Endgame]