Episode of the Week: Haven

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by Captrek, Oct 9, 2012.

  1. Captrek

    Captrek Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2009
    Location:
    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.

    ***​

    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.

    ***​

    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?

    ***​

    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.

    ***​

    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?

    ***​

    “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.

    ***​

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

    ***​

    She already has a very nice chest. She needs another?
     
  2. Drago-Kazov

    Drago-Kazov Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2012
    Was ther ever a Troi's mother episode that was not weird?
     
  3. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2001
    Location:
    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    Another episode that I can only describe as "fun". I miss the time when Star Trek didn't take itself so seriously.
     
  4. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Location:
    T'Girl
    double post
     
  5. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Location:
    T'Girl
    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.

    :)
     
  6. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2001
    Location:
    Trekker4747
    I find "Half-Life" to be an excellent episode with Troi's mother.

    The episode "Haven"?

    Oy.

    This episode is just plain painful.
     
  7. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    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. :devil:

    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.

    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).

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

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  8. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Location:
    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.

    :)
     
  9. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    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
     
  10. Jeyl

    Jeyl Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2009
    Location:
    Asheville, NC
    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.
     
  11. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2001
    Location:
    Trekker4747
    We get it, you didn't like TNG.
     
  12. Jeyl

    Jeyl Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2009
    Location:
    Asheville, NC
    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.
     
  13. Captrek

    Captrek Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2009
    Location:
    Captrek
    What was Picard's first most stupidest moment?
     
  14. MikeS

    MikeS Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Location:
    Liverpool, UK
    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?
     
  15. The Castellan

    The Castellan Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    May 2, 2004
    Location:
    The Plains of Cydonia
    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.

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

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    Plus, there are human telepaths, too - or at least humans with recognized supernatural abilities ("Where No Man", "Is There In Truth").

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  17. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Location:
    T'Girl
    Tasha: "Gee, I don't know Captain. Maybe we could tow the fucking plague ship away from that uninfected planet over there. You think?"

    Picard: "Don't be silly Lt. Yar, first we'll allow them within transporter range, and only after that happens, we'll block their transporter with our tractor beam."

    :)
     
  18. Grey

    Grey Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2012
    Location:
    Caladan
    I just watched this episode. :) I actually really enjoyed it.

    But that was because prior to that, I had watched Hide and "Q".

    Usually, I'm a very nit-picky person. I'm one of those people who just loves tearing things up and can never accept things as they are. But I gave up with Star Trek because my head was starting to hurt with all the facepalms. Now all those little inconsistencies don't bother me at all. Mostly.
     
  19. MikeS

    MikeS Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Location:
    Liverpool, UK
    Another thing. I cannot read this episodes title without thinking "shaven".
     
  20. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    I'm not sure I understand the objection here.

    Firing at the ship was obviously unnecessary, as the tractor beam could handle the stopping easily enough. This fact would not have been unknown to Yar. Tractoring was always an option, but preceding it with warning messages was prudent. Preceding it with warning shots would have been rather unnecessary, I'd think, as it had been confirmed the Tarellians knew they were not welcome and were being met with a superior force, and still weren't turning back.

    What Yar was doing was saying "Captain, we can do what Electorine Valeda is asking", that is, using weapons fire as the method of stopping the plague ship, and Picard was asking Yar to consider that this would have unnecessary consequences. Disabling with phasers was the Havenite solution, neither here nor there; destroying with phasers would have been the Alcyone solution. Picard told Yar to stick to the Starfleet solution.

    It doesn't seem as if the tractor beam would prevent transporting. After all, Wyatt Miller beams over easily enough!

    Rather, it seems our heroes just yanked the Tarellian ship back from within transporter range to outside it...

    Timo Saloniemi