Title: Haven
Airdate: 11/30/1987
Plot Summary
Counselor Troi is informed that an arranged marriage is going through and she’s going to have to leave the ship and Riker. The groom to be is charming enough and seems to be a good match but he has been having visions of another woman he mistakenly assumed was Deanna. While preparations are being made with the families while orbiting the planet Haven, a ship appears that is a plague ship. They seem to want to go to Haven which is strictly forbidden given they all have the disease. Things take a turn when Wyatt realizes the woman he’s been seeing is on that ship.
Make It So
Picard starts off trying to be very cordial and respectful to Lwaxana but by the end of the episode, he has had enough of this bitch.
Number 1
Riker is so mopey this episode with Deanna getting married. I don’t know what he expected, he won’t make a move until the movies anyway. I do like though he exhibits his trademark amusement at Lwaxana and Homn by the end of the episode.
Fully Functional
Data gets the best moment after Troi lashes out, he request the table to continue the “petty bickering.”
Today Is A Good Day To Die
Worf is not really in this.
Phase Inducers
Geordi mans the helm and that’s about it.
Counselor Cleavage
This is mostly Troi’s episode, with her unwillingly going to get married to a total stranger and having to deal with losing Riker and her career.
Dancing Doctor
Crusher gets to talk shop with a fellow doctor in Wyatt and attends the dinner with the guests.
Security Chief Dead Meat
She is around to beam people up and wonder what the heck the gift box is all about.
Shut Up, Wesley
Wesley is absent.
Canon Maker
Tarellians are apparently a race that was nearly wiped out by a lethal and contagious disease they created. Now they are pariahs across the federation but assumed to be wiped out. They seem to have some sort of telepathic ability, unless you have some other explanation how Wyatt and Anna knew about each other.
In my head canon that Tarellian ship is just wandering around the galaxy with a crew of corpses.
Canon Breaker
Once more, Troi calls Riker “Bill.” I thought it was only The Naked Now that she did that but apparently once more. Don’t know if there are others.
Picard stops Lwaxana from talking long enough to tell the turbolift “Passenger accommodations.” Typically except for a few very obvious places on the ship, they usually say Deck 5 or whatever. Given that there are quarters all over the saucer, you would need to specify a specific deck.
Wyatt just bursts into the holodeck on Riker and Troi. For that matter Troi just busts in too. While Riker wasn’t doing anything… lurid… it’s a terrible breach of etiquette to say the least. It’s generally very frowned upon unless there’s an emergency.
Crusher mentions the Tarellians are around 20th century technology. That ship they have sure doesn’t look it.
A Little Bloody Nose
No deaths? Unless Wyatt doesn’t find that cure.
Technobabble
I almost put this under “Canon breaker.” When Riker is in the holodeck, the arch is visible. Typically the arch disappears when someone walks away from it. But I suppose Riker could’ve requested the holodeck to keep the arch visible.
I Know That Guy:
Robert Knepper plays Wyatt. He has had a prolific career, a solid B level actor. His biggest role was probably in the show Prison Break but he’s been in a lot of high profile movies such as a few of the Hunger Games movies.
Armin Shimmerman plays the gift box. He’ll get some bigger parts later.
Nan Martin plays Victoria Miller, Wyatt’s mother. She was in a lot of stuff, including the third Nightmare on Elm Street. She looks a lot older in this episode than she was.
Robert Ellenstein plays Steven Miller, Wyatt’s father. He of course was last seen in Star Trek IV as the president.
Anna Katarina plays Valeda Innis. She would play the poodle lady in Batman Returns and a vulcan council member in Star Trek 2009.
Danitza Kingsley plays Ariana. She did very little else.
Raye Birk plays Wrenn. He was Dr. Pahpshmir in the Naked Gun movie. He was in Star Trek Insurrection as a Son’na doctor.
Carel Struyken plays Mr Homn for the first time. He played in a ton of stuff when they needed a tall guy. Most would remember him as Lurch in The Addams Family movies.
And finally Majel Barret makes her first appearance as Lwaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. Oh and Troi’s mother. She was pretty much equal parts hilarious and irritating for most of her appearances until the fifth season when they actually made her a character. She was also very good in DS9 later on. Of course Barret played the first Number 1 and went on to be Nurse Chapel in the original series and movies. Not to mention she’s the computer voice throughout this and the rest of the series.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
From a plot standpoint, I guess there’s nothing seriously wrong with this episode. Deanna may be getting married off and have to leave the Enterprise. Wyatt has had visions of a woman. A ship in need of a medical doctor arrives and Wyatt makes a choice. Everything returns to status quo. Fine.
But I flippin hate it. The attempts at humor really don’t work, Lwaxana is at her most insufferable, the Miller’s aren’t much better, Riker moping over losing Deanna when he left her in the first place, Deanna screaming at everyone.
The entire episode seems to be going from one cringe point to another. The plot isn’t the problem, it’s the characters. You just want them all to go away and shut the fuck up.
I did like Picard’s attempts at being cordial with Lwaxana at the beginning and his struggling with her suitcase was mildly amusing. But then she does what she’ll be doing throughout the series and that’s making Picard uncomfortable, a gag I don’t like here and don’t like through the rest of the series.
For a telepath, Lwaxana is incredibly dense and unsympathetic to other people’s feelings and concerns. I know that’s the joke. Get it? A telepath who doesn’t understand people! So funny!
I just want to blast her, the Millers, Riker and Troi all out of an airlock. I guess I find it somewhat amusing that Wyatt would rather go away on a plague ship than marry into Troi’s family.
