Episode title: “Haven”
Season: 1
Importance: 3 (introduces us to Deanna’s mother, gives us some insight into Betazoids; kicks off the uneasy relationship between Lwaxanna and Picard, even if it is only in her mind)
Crisis point(s) if any: It’s an arranged wedding; how could it be anything else?
Original transmission date: November 30 1987
Writer(s): Tracy Tormé, Lan O’Kun
Director: Richard Compton
Stardate:* 41294.5
Destination: Haven
Mission (if any): R&R
Main character(s) in Plot: Deanna Troi, Lwaxana Troi
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing: O’Brien, Wesley, Worf
Villain/Monster (if any): Lwaxana (Nah just kidding: or am I?)
Deaths: 0
Lives saved (episode): 0
Lives saved (cumulative): 7
Locations:
Shipboard:
Bridge
Transporter Room
Ready Room
Deanna’s Quarters
Quarters set aside for Lwaxanna
Observation Lounge
Ballroom/Banquet Room
Space:
Other:
Haven
Tarellian ship
Ships/vessels: 1
Space battles: 0
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
0
Direct
0
Total: 0
Running total: 85
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 0
Planets visited: Haven
Planets mentioned: 2
Mysteries: The girl in the pictures Wyatt has been drawing since a child
Patients in sickbay: 0
Data v humanity: I think we can say Data gets a little too involved, and overwhelmed by all the human interaction, so we’re going to give it to humanity here.
Data 3 -Humanity 4
Character scores:
Picard 10
Riker 10
Troi 150
Beverly 20
Data 10
Geordi 30
Worf 0
Wesley 0
O’Brien 0
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 0
Starbases: 0
First contact: 0
Humour: 6
Episode rating: 7/10
Episode score: 245
Ah, why the hell couldn’t Majel Barret be happy doing the voice of the computer? Appearing here for the first time, she will become an annoying blemish on
Star Trek (all franchises, or most) at least to me. I just can’t stand the woman. Her treatment of Picard, her dismissive attitude and lack of respect, and then her arrogant belief that he is in love with her, make me want to slap her. It certainly gives me a sense of sympathy for Deanna! We also meet her very tall, silent companion/butler/attendant, Mr. Homm, and learn that she is the ruler of Betazed, which I suppose in some way makes Deanna as her daughter a sort of princess. The gift that transports on to the ship to announce the wedding reminds me of that thing in TOS “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”
"Don't just stand there, Data! This thing's fucking heavy, and I'm no spring chicken!"
"Spring... chicken, sir?"
"Jesus in a warp core breach! Don't start that shit again!"
If, as Wiki says, Marina Sirtis worried that her being left out of the last episode was an indication she was about to be written out of the series, this episode must have, initially, confirmed those fears, as it’s said once she gets married to her genetically-selected partner she will be leaving the ship. I’m sure her heart must have fluttered as she read those lines. Picard’s sarcastic bow as he is “dismissed” from Lwaxanna’s presence goes completely over her head, despite her mental powers. Bit of a slip of the tongue when Wyatt’s father accidentally calls Lwaxanna’s attendant Comm instead of Homm; he recovers without missing a beat though and they obviously left it in, presumably to indicate he may have had one or two too many, or just been irritated by Deanna’s mother, and who would not be?
"You want fries with that?"
I like how Homm gets totally squiffy and even though he can’t talk, conveys a good impression of someone who is well on; I also like Data’s amusement/fascination with human interaction, especially as Lwaxanna and Wyatt’s mother argue: it’s a good illustration of his studying of human behaviour, though again he’s grinning, and isn’t he supposed to have no emotions? I suppose it would be claimed he is aping human expressions so as to fit in better, as he does later when he mirrors the host’s actions and gestures in “Starship Mine”, seasons from now. More information about Betazoids, as we learn that their weddings are, well, interesting, everyone being required to be naked.
"Somebody get me OUT of here! And get my agent on the phone!"
There’s a good sense of humour in this episode, a lot of catty bitching like a good episode of
Dallas or
Dynasty, and yet there are very serious subjects being explored here. It’s a love story, a fairy tale, a story of arranged marriage, a warning about ostracising one sector of society because they’re seen as incompatible with the rest of civilisation, like lepers or those with the Black Death. There’s the desire to help, to do what you can to ease the suffering of others, a sense of sacrifice, and destiny. It’s the first Troi-centric episode, the first real one centred around family. A really complex, well written and in the end quite beautiful episode.
And again, nobody agrees with me, and again they can all go f
uck themselves.