Episode of the Week: Haven

[Captrek]

Lwaxana Troi has something common with the Ferengi: she’s used effectively in DS9, but she’s never anything but an irritant in TNG.

I intend no slight to MBR, who is very good in the role. She’s nothing but an irritant because that’s pretty much all the script wants her to be. The only time she’s asked to do anything other than be irritating is in the conversation in her quarters with Wyatt, but she’s still pretty rude and I’ve already had more than my fill of the character by the time we get to that scene.

Frakes gives his best performance in the series to date. That’s not saying much, considering how ineffective he has been through the first nine episodes. This episode asks him to do little more than feel sorry for himself and mope, and he does it pretty well. Although the performance reflects well on the actor, it unfortunately makes the character less appealing.

The biggest failure of the episode is that the central tension doesn’t resonate. The episode doesn’t give the viewer much reason to care whether or not Troi ends up getting married and leaving the ship. It’s too early in the series to have become attached to her. Riker’s behavior in the episode leaves the impression he’d actually be better off without her on the ship.

***

The episode begins with Riker watching a hologram of two women playing music. The vacant looks on their faces are creepy. The instruments they play have no great aesthetic value, and the melody sounds like it could have been created by a random number generator. In post-TOS Trek, music written in-universe almost always sounds like crap (The Inner Light being a notable exception).

***

That amazing jewelry in the chest looks pretty cheap in HD.

***

TROI: I'm Deanna.
VICTORIA: Deanna darling! You probably don't even remember me.
STEVEN: Wyatt was absolutely right. She is a beauty.

This is peculiar. Wyatt has been having these visions since he was a child and draws her obsessively, but either has never told his parents about her or has never shown them the drawings.

***

LWAXANA: Darling, I'm terribly sorry about what happened here. Truly I am. Steven Miller tracked me down and reminded me of the vows we had made.

Miller invoked those vows without ever asking if Deanna’s okay with it? That seems inconsistent with Roddenberry’s vision of 24th-century humans.

***

Why do the Tarellians refuse communication with Haven? Later in the episode they say, “We don't ask to make contact with those living below. All we ask is to be on the edge of some sea, some unpopulated island, a faraway peninsula.” If they think they’re asking so little, why not ask permission instead of attempting an act of hostility?

***

Captain's log, supplemental. It has been believed the Tarellian race was extinct, an assumption contradicted now by the sight of one of their vessels approaching Haven.

There has been no communication from the ship and the Tarellians are believed to be extinct. What makes them so sure that there’s anybody alive on that ship, let alone that they’re Tarellians? It turns out to be true, but given what they know so far it’s a leap.

***

CRUSHER: The Tarellians had reached Earth's late twentieth century level of knowledge.

And they had starships?

***

Why is it so easy for unauthorized parties to use the transporter? As many times as it happened it TOS, you’d think they’d have figured out by now that it’s a good idea to have some security on the controls.

***

On that note, why is it necessary for Wyatt to do it the way he does? He’s a free citizen. Isn’t it his right to join the Tarellians if he wants to? His parents may not like it, but how can they stop him?

***

TROI: He can never come back, Mrs. Miller.

“Never” is a hefty word. If he succeeds in his efforts to cure the plague, then he and the Tarellians can rejoin society. Troi should encourage his parents to be hopeful, not to despair.

***

TROI: Wyatt, I'm happy for you, and for Ariana too.

Most of all, I’m relieved for myself. I hope I didn’t say that out loud.

***

STEVEN: Keep the chest. You'll have use for it some day.

She already has a very nice chest. She needs another?

[Drago-Kazov]

Was ther ever a Troi's mother episode that was not weird?

[BillJ]

Another episode that I can only describe as "fun". I miss the time when Star Trek didn't take itself so seriously.

[T'Girl]

double post

[T'Girl]

captrek wrote:

---

And they had starships?

Not all their technology would have had to advance exactly at the same rate as Humans. They arrive at warp drive several decades prior to Humans, but most other aspects of their tech was in fact last 20th century.

[Trekker4747]

Drago-Kazov wrote:

---

Was ther ever a Troi's mother episode that was not weird?

I find "Half-Life" to be an excellent episode with Troi's mother.

The episode "Haven"?

Oy.

This episode is just plain painful.

[Timo]

This is peculiar. Wyatt has been having these visions since he was a child and draws her obsessively, but either has never told his parents about her or has never shown them the drawings.

I'd rather expect this. It's clearly an important and personal thing to him...

Or then the parents politely stop short of commenting that their son's artwork doesn't exactly catch the looks of the supposed subject.

What makes them so sure that there’s anybody alive on that ship, let alone that they’re Tarellians?

I seriously doubt anybody else would opt to operate a ship that looked like a Tarellian plague ship. It would be no good for an honest traveler or trader, and a nefarious character could not accomplish much with it, either.

And they had starships?

Purchasing starships is probably pretty simple if your world has something to offer in exchange. And we have seen that things as "primitive" as local alcohol may be important exports. A mix of primitive and advanced has never been unusual in Trek, and the early TNG had lots of that (Ligon II and Angel I are but two examples).

Troi should encourage his parents to be hopeful, not to despair.

Why? A pessimist can be happily surprised. Being hopeful for naught is hell.

Timo Saloniemi

[T'Girl]

This episode revealed that the Betazeds, like the Vulcans, have arranged marriages. Makes you wonder if this is the general rule in the Federation and the Human practice of letting the younglings select their own spouses the barely tolerated exception.

[Timo]

Also makes you wonder what the human practice really is in the 24th century. Today, arranged marriages are far more common than unarranged ones - they just happen mostly off camera from our POV. The same might be true of the Trek era mankind, too.

Timo Saloniemi

[Jeyl]

For anyone who ever wondered why Picard and crew were kept far, far away from the Dominion War....

Tasha: I'm certain I can disable their ship with a phaser burst Captain.
Picard: And than Lieutenant?

Now we know. The Enterprise is faced with a ship carrying a deadly plague which threatens an entire planet. Picard, who is supposed to defend this defenseless planet decides to keep a particular method to himself for no reason. I can see how the writers were thinking "How can Picard come out incredibly awesome in this scene when the solution is obvious?" and the only only answer they could come up with was "make the professional crew of the Federation flagship so incompetent that they can't figure it out on their own". Unfortunately they didn't cover why Picard doesn't tell his crew, or even Haven, so they make him an idiot as well.

This was Picard's second most stupidest moment from the first season.

[Trekker4747]

We get it, you didn't like TNG.

[Jeyl]

Circus Peanut wrote:

---

We get it, you didn't like TNG.

You're right. I don't like TNG. I LOVE TNG! I'm going to own every season on BluRay when they come out DAY ONE. No regrets and no looking back. This series is important to me as it was to Star Trek.

However, that won't stop me from ripping the bad parts to shreds. It's fun and I always get a kick out of the reactions. Instead of folks making comments about the situation in question, they always seem to believe that posting comments about silly old me is a productive way of continuing the discussion.

[Captrek]

What was Picard's first most stupidest moment?

[MikeS]

I love that in HD you can see that the crew and guests eat with the same plastic utensils that my 18 month old son uses. Must be an epidemic of self-harming in the 24th century.

Oh and something I only just noticed - Wyatt is Human not Betazoid! So if neither he nor the Tallerians are psychic, how did he and the girl dream-up each others images?

[The Castellan]

Jeyl wrote:

---

For anyone who ever wondered why Picard and crew were kept far, far away from the Dominion War....

Tasha: I'm certain I can disable their ship with a phaser burst Captain.
Picard: And than Lieutenant?

Now we know. The Enterprise is faced with a ship carrying a deadly plague which threatens an entire planet. Picard, who is supposed to defend this defenseless planet decides to keep a particular method to himself for no reason. I can see how the writers were thinking "How can Picard come out incredibly awesome in this scene when the solution is obvious?" and the only only answer they could come up with was "make the professional crew of the Federation flagship so incompetent that they can't figure it out on their own". Unfortunately they didn't cover why Picard doesn't tell his crew, or even Haven, so they make him an idiot as well.

This was Picard's second most stupidest moment from the first season.

He wanted to avoid any violence, especially since the intruders did nothing. Things can't always be solved with weapons, you know. And so long as they were on the ship, the illness was confined there, so nothing wrong was done.

Oh and something I only just noticed - Wyatt is Human not Betazoid! So if neither he nor the Tallerians are psychic, how did he and the girl dream-up each others images?

I am sure they had ways, maybe some sort of technology. Technology that can affect one's thoughts is not unheard of.