Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 5: Haven [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Counsellor Troi receives a message from her mother that it is time to honor a pre-arranged marriage which was set up by her father years before. The outrageous Lwaxanna Troi is introduced in this episode, and beams aboard along with Troi's fiancee and his parents. They approach the planet Haven, which legends say can miraculously cure all sorts of ills. But another ship is approaching Haven: The last remnants of a race beleived to be totally extinct from their own biological warfare. Everyone is in fear that these people will infect Haven and the crew from the Enterprise, since a cure for their deadliest disease was never found, and they are all carriers.

When Deanna Troi receives a message from her home planet of Betazoid, she announces to her shocked crewmates that she is to be married by arrangement to a man she was betrothed to as a child. Haven provides the first appearance of the formidable Lwaxana Troi and her silent manservant Mr Homn as they arrive on the Enterprise with Troi's fiance and prospective in-laws. Wyatt Miller, although content at the idea of the marriage, expresses his surprise on meeting his bride: he has been dreaming of a woman he assumed to be Deanna for years. Preparations for the wedding ceremony (which will be performed with all guests totally nude) are under way, when an unknown ship approaches the Enterprise. By a strange twist of fate and very lucky coincidence, the vessel is carrying Ariana, the woman from Wyatt's visions, who has been experiencing similar dreams herself. But Ariana is Tarellian: one of the last survivors of a race thought to have wiped themselves out through biological warfare. These same survivors are now dying yet the planet of Haven refuses them sanctuary, fearing that the plague may spread. Wyatt is know torn between his reluctant fiance and the women of his dreams.

I would rank 'Haven' as a three and a half star episode - a little above average, with some humorous moments courtesy of Lwaxana and the bickering between the in-laws. To be honest, I think this episode would have been better received had it aired a lot later on in TNG's run. At this point in the series, we still didn't know or care much about any of the characters and the whole Riker-Troi Imzadi thing hadn't really been explained. Of course, the relationship did take all of seven seasons and three movies to actually to become official, but it built up a huge following of Imzadi-obsessed relationshippers and became probably the most popular of all the Trek romances. 'Haven' is the first episode that focuses mainly on Troi and if you can ignore the unbelievable-to-the-point-of-stupidity coincidence (destiny maybe?), it's pretty good.

Okay so this may not be the best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation but it's still good and it introduces one of my favorite recurring characters Lwaxanna Troi, Deanna's eccentric Betazoid mother and she brings some great comic relief in an often very dramatic show and in some episodes even getting to show she is great with dramatic material too! I liked the scenes in Haven with Lwaxana, it was the scenes with that scantilly clad woman on that other ship that were a little silly!

When the Enterprise arrives at the idyllic planet of Haven, where the legend is that your mere presence on the surface can cure illness, a package is beamed up. (This idea would be revisited in the movie "Insurrection.") It contains a message for Deanna Troi and betrothal gifts. Many years earlier, Deanna's late father had arranged for Deanna to be betrothed to Wyatt, who is now a physician. Even though she is happy on the Enterprise, Deanna agrees to honor the Betazoid custom and marry Wyatt. This will require her to leave the Enterprise, which hits Will Riker hard.
Shortly after the gifts arrive, so do the parents. We are introduced to Lwaxana Troi, mother of Deanna and one of the most obnoxious characters ever to appear in television. Extremely opinionated, vain and honest to the point of social ineptness, she manages to embarrass and offend everyone she comes in contact with. The primary explosion occurs at a reception, where Deanna finally explodes in frustration at the bickering between the parents.
Even though they have had no contact for many years, Wyatt and Deanna get along rather well, although Wyatt is surprised at her appearance. For many years, he has had a vision of a beautiful woman, and he has made several drawings based on that vision. He had expected Deanna to be that woman, but there is no resemblance between them.
Circumstances become very serious when a Tarellian ship arrives at Haven. The Tarellian civilization is one that self-destructed due to the release of an extremely virulent virus for which no vaccine could be created. Since the virus was so deadly, all Tarellian ships had been systematically hunted down and destroyed. At first, there is no evidence that the ship is inhabited, but eventually it responds to the Enterprise hails and one of the members of the crew turns out to be the woman in Wyatt's visions.
Wyatt then takes a small amount of medical equipment and beams over to the Tarellian ship to spend the rest of his life trying to cure the Tarellians.
This is an episode that deals solely with feelings. Those of Deanna for her mother, her feelings of duty as a Betazoid, her feelings for Will Riker and those for Wyatt. There are also the secondary feelings of Will for Deanna, Lwaxana's for Deanna and Wyatt's for Deanna. However, it all comes down to Wyatt's love for the woman of his vision, so much so that he abandons his previous life to be with her, knowing that he could shortly die for it. I generally find such romantic stories too sappy for my tastes, but this one was enjoyable.

Lwaxana's First Appearance

Spoiler Alert:

Haven marks a Next Generation first. The Auntie Mame of the Galaxy turns out to be Troi's mother. It's unusual to me that such a sophisticated culture would have arranged marriages. Especially one where the inhabitants have physic powers. Troi's husband to be; Wyatt, is having visions of another love of his, who turns out to be on a plague ship. This guy happens to be a medical doctor. An amazing sci-fi coincidence.

As Data mentioned the "petty bickering"; between the families make this an entertaining episode. The Wyatt family have nothing in common with Lwaxana Troi, who does a lot of scenery chewing throughout this very humorous episode.

Once again in the early going of the first season the writers for 'The Next Generation' revisited some of the themes from episodes of the original series. This particular show began life as a story titled 'Love Beyond Time And Space'. Yeah...UGH!!! I completely agree! Series contributing writer Tracy Torme was given the undesirable task of providing a script from the original writer's notes and outline. In an interview Torme said that story's author "apparently knew very little about science fiction writing and so I did the best with what I had to work with." That seems like a flimsy excuse for what is a rather poor outing for the first season. Series fans will recognize story elements borrowed from 'Amok Time', 'For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched the Sky' and even to a lesser degree 'Elaan Of Troyius' - all episodes from the original series. While imitation is often considered the highest form of flattery it did get quite monotonous during the first season of ST: TNG. Eventually the show found its own direction in later episodes, drawing upon the strengths of it's own characters and leaving the 'old' Enterprise and its crew behind.

Coming into orbit around the planet known as Haven Picard remarks aloud about the legendary curative qualities ascribed to it. Rumors abound that a person need only to spend a short time on the planet's surface to be cured of whatever ills you suffer from. Their arrival there is coincided by the visit of Troi's mother, Lwaxana, and the young man, Wyatt, whom Deanna was genetically bonded to as a girl - who is accompanied by his parents. The time has come for Deanna & Wyatt to wed which causes a flurry of ruffled emotions and tension among both sets of in-laws as well as Riker who can't bear to see Troi marry; meanwhile Deanna and Wyatt are each experiencing reluctance about their upcoming nuptials. Into the same orbit comes a ship carrying the remaining members of the Tarellian race, an alien species that was thought to be extinct. Centuries earlier the Tarellians had fought a biological war and members of their species died from infection. Attempting to resettle on other planets their presence there infected and killed other planet inhabitants and so the Tarellians became unwelcome in any part of the galaxy. When contact is established with the Tarellian ship Wyatt comes face-to-face with a woman that he has experienced several visions of for years and realizes his true destiny.

It's about as interesting as it sounds too. There are some decent comical moments that save the episode from total disaster. To begin with there is the introduction of Deanna's unbearably gregarious and eccentric mother Lwaxana. Her first appearance in the series isn't nearly as memorable as her later ones but she's still quite raucous here. Picard becomes the victim of her controversial and stinging wit throughout providing a few chuckles. The dinner gathering to celebrate the announcement of Wyatt's & Deanna's marriage provides some of the first season's better moments also. The in-laws bicker over how the ceremony should be performed leading to up the best line Data had in any of the first handful of these episodes. After Deanna angrily denounces the in-laws 'petty bickering' and storms out, Data quite innocently asks, "Could you please continue the petty bickering? It's most intriguing."

What doesn't work with 'Haven' though is the entire setup for Wyatt to come into contact with the girl of his visions, the Tarellian Ariana. It's quite hokey and extremely far-fetched - even for science fiction. There is an attempt at an explanation when Wyatt says that he thought Deanna was the woman in his visions, knowing that she was a Betazoid and capable of mental telepathy. But the proceedings are still an absurd coincidence that seems ridiculously improbable. When Wyatt boards the Tarellian vessel and sees the drawings of him hanging as if in an art gallery it's all too much. Ariana however (played by Danitza Kingsley) is lovely to look at and it's easy to see how Wyatt could become preoccupied by his visions! The "imzadi" reference between Riker and Troi is further fleshed out here but that also wasn't the most inspiring and well thought-out premise either. Wisely the word "imzadi" would be dropped entirely from the series but the Riker-Troi romance would still flourish in later episodes and the movies as well.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's effort to give their primary characters more detailed back stories began with "Haven" as Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) boards the Enterprise-D and promptly makes life difficult for her daughter Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis).

Deanna Troi receives a gift from the planet Haven after the Enterprise arrives there. The gift is a talking jewel chest that announces Troi's upcoming marriage to Wyatt Miller (Rob Knepper). However, all plans for the wedding are put on hold when a Tarellian vessel enters the area and Wyatt must confront his true destiny.

Lwaxana Troi's first appearance in the series was rather grating as she came across as that one member in every family whose special talent was to annoy people. The character would evolve as the years went by into a more complex and caring woman but her debut gets her off on the wrong foot. Lwaxana was inserted into this episode only to serve as the catalyst for some comical in-law sparring and did not really contribute anything meaningful to the events at-hand. The entire subplot involving Wyatt's dream woman also comes across as mostly silly. Yet, credit must be given to the series' writers as they started to flesh out their characters by introducing the first of a long line of family members who would greatly enhance the dynamics of the series in following seasons.