“Haven”
Written by Tracey Tormé and Lan O’Kun
Directed by Richard Compton
Season 1, Episode 10
Production episode 40271-105
Original air date: November 30, 1987
Stardate: 41294.5
Captain’s Log: The Enterprise arrives at Haven, a planet renowned for its placidity. An object is beamed aboard that activates at Troi’s presence. (It’s unclear why Troi happens to walk into the transporter room at that particular moment, but we’ll let that go.) A face starts to talk, announcing that it’s time for Troi’s wedding.
It turns out that, years ago, Troi’s parents arranged a marriage with Wyatt Miller, the human son of Troi’s father’s best friend. The Millers beam aboard: Wyatt’s parents and Wyatt himself, who seems surprised at the sight of his fiancée.
Then Troi’s mother beams on board, along with her new valet, Mr. Homn. Lwaxana is, to say the least, a forceful personality, blowing through the ship like a tornado, getting Picard to carry her luggage, and carrying on about how dreary the Millers have become over the years.
Wyatt has seen a face in his mind ever since he was a boy. He’s drawn several pictures of her, and he assumed it to be Troi, since she’s a Betazoid, but it’s instead some blonde or other. Wyatt is not an artist, as Troi suspected, but a medical doctor, and they discuss the possibility of forming a practice together, a physician and a psychologist.
Haven, meanwhile, reports that a ship has come into their system without communicating. The Enterprise rendezvouses with it to discover that it’s a Tarellian vessel. The Tarellians wiped themselves out with biological weapons, so finding survivors is a bit of a surprise.
At a reception for the newly affianced, the Millers and Lwaxana argue over the type of ceremony they are to have, and argue over about a thousand other things too before Troi gets fed up and leaves. She joins Riker—who had gotten fed up and left several minutes earlier—on the holodeck. Riker is having trouble dealing with this, given the relationship he and Troi had on Betazed years ago. Wyatt then arrives, saying that they’ve reached a compromise: a part-human and part-Betazoid wedding.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise finally makes contact with the Tarellian ship—among whose number is the woman in Wyatt’s drawings. There are only eight of them left, and they’ve come to Haven to die.
Wyatt, however, joins them. He sneaks off the Enterprise, beaming onto the Tarellian ship, devoting himself to helping cure them.
Thank You, Counselor Obvious: When the woman in Wyatt’s drawings appears on the viewer, Troi stands up, walks across the bridge, and says, “The woman in Wyatt’s drawings!”
She also amusingly refers to Riker as “Bill,” which was his nickname in the original bible, and which only was used in this episode, “Encounter at Farpoint,” and “The Naked Now.” She is chastised by her mother for letting her telepathic gifts atrophy, even though she supposedly only feels emotions from anyone save for non-Betazoids and the occasional lover (like Riker).
And the prospect of marrying her is apparently so devastating that her fiancé beams to a plague ship to avoid it .
What Happens On The Holodeck, Stays On The Holodeck: Riker has a small holograph of two women playing harps in his quarters, and then later he goes to the holodeck and creates a desert setting to be alone—only to be joined by Troi and then Wyatt.
No Sex, Please, We’re Starfleet: Apparently being betrothed is enough to go all kissy-face, as Troi and Wyatt make out in the holodeck despite having just met (and having bugger-all for chemistry). Meanwhile, Lwaxana assumes that everyone is in love with her, notably Homn’s predecessor as valet and Picard.
If I Only Had a Brain : Data is fascinated by the human rituals unfolding during the engagement dinner, to the point that Picard chastises him for circling the room like a buzzard.
Welcome Aboard. This one has a ton of guests, starting, of course, with the debut of the late Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi. The wife of Gene Roddenberry, Barrett had already played Number One in the original Star Trek pilot “The Cage,” Christine Chapel in the original series and the movies, and the voice of the computer throughout the franchise’s history (even the 2009 J.J. Abrams film, her final role). She’s joined, as she often is, by Carel Struycken as the towering Mr. Homn (who speaks his one and only line of dialogue in this episode). There’s also Robert Ellenstein, the Federation President in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as Steven Miller, and Armin Shimerman as the gift box (since “Haven” was filmed first, this was technically his first appearance, even though his guest turn as a Ferengi in “The Last Outpost” was aired first).
But the guest star that blew me away rewatching this episode was Wyatt Miller, played by Robert Knepper with a mullet. A character actor who has made a name for himself playing criminals and psychopaths (most notably T-Bag in Prison Break and Breakout Kings), Knepper here is wasted as a wussy doctor with absolutely no personality. It’s the only role Knepper’s ever played where he’s boring .
I Believe I Said That: “Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.”
Data at the party, to the chagrin of everyone else. They faded to commercial, so it’s unknown if anyone slugged him .
Trivial Matters: This is the the first of several writing credits in the first couple of seasons for Tormé, the son of Mel, who would go on to co-create Sliders, and also the first of many appearances on both this show and Deep Space Nine by the character of Lwaxana Troi, as well her omnipresent valet, Mr. Homn.
The TNG novel Imzadi by Peter David would fill in Riker and Troi’s time on Betazed, including Riker’s first experience with a Betazoid wedding. (When asked why humans have so much hair on their bodies, Riker replies, “Traction.”)
Oh, and in one novel written by some idiot hack with a too-long last name, Wyatt Miller was accidentally referred to as Kevin Wyatt. That guy obviously didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. (Yeah, it was one of mine: A Time for War, a Time for Peace; talk about embarrassing.)
Make It So: What a painful episode. All the worst sci-fi TV show clichés are in evidence here, from the arranged marriage to the artificial suspense of Troi’s allegedly imminent departure to the 1930s radio-drama-style “petty bickering” to the painfully inevitable payoff of Wyatt’s artwork.
And why does Troi have to depart, anyhow? The notion that a woman must go off with her husband once she gets married is mired in sexist values that were out of date when TNG first aired in 1987, and which are particularly nonsensical on a 24th-century ship in an allegedly egalitarian future that has families aboard—why can’t Wyatt just sign onto the Enterprise?
There’s not a single surprise here, and precious little to make the lack of surprise palatable. There are moments, such as Data’s fascination with the bickering, but they’re not enough to make up for the weak plot, the tiresome predictability, and the tee-hee teenage-level snickering during the discussions of nudity during Betazoid wedding ceremonies. Plus there’s the tendency, seen far too often in the show’s first season, for characters to talk about their cultures as if quoting from a textbook rather than actual experiences, not to mention the smug, unsubtle moralizing about those moronic primitive cultures and their biological weapons.
And the presence of Wyatt’s blonde on the Tarellian ship qualifies as the least surprising event of the first season of the show, followed quickly by Wyatt’s decision to beam over to that ship. It would’ve been nice if there was some kind of sparkage between Troi and Wyatt, some sense that the loss of their marriage was a tragedy, but it has no weight, no substance, no consequence.
The one saving grace of the episode is the ever-radiant Barrett. She takes on the role of the Troi matriarch with gusto and verve, and this episode sets the stage for her subsequent appearances, particularly in her relationship with Picard.
Warp factor rating: 3.
Keith R.A. DeCandido has been both a writer and an editor of Star Trek fiction since the turn of the century. His Lwaxana Troi short story in Tales of the Dominion War won the Psi Phi Award for Best Star Trek Short Story of 2004. You can follow Keith online at his blog or on Facebook or Twitter under the username KRADeC.
I too loved Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi, the image of her “sweeping through the ship” assuming she is pulling all in her wake is wonderful. I think this was the point where I began to think this series had promise, if they could get that kind of energy and humor going (especially this and the previous episode, played back to back, begin to show real character development).
But, for reasons I have never been able to explain, I find Mr. Homn hilarious. Maybe it is just the way he plays along with Lwaxana’s delusions, but somehow he manages to speak volumes just his face (and the occasional gong).
Just a thought regarding the fact that Troi would have to go with her husband, perhaps it is part of the Betazoid Culture? Arranged marriages obviously have faded away from human culture and most federation planets, so maybe Betazoids practice this? Someone break out the Bible!
Yeah, I could never understand the bashing and despising certain parts of Trek fandom directed at Lwaxana, back in the day. Especially during these particularly pompous, artificial, and drab early episodes, where she popped the pretensions of pretty much everyone in a delightful way.
I found the character of Lwaxana annoying. Maybe it’s a personal distaste, maybe because RL people like that are incredibly annoying and closed-minded, and probably partly because I don’t care for the actress.
I found this a reasonably entertaining episode, largely because of Dennis McCarthy’s musical score. This was before Rick Berman had trained the composers to conform to his preference for subdued, non-melodic scores, so McCarthy was free to do the lush, romantic melodies that are one of his greatest strengths. It’s a lovely score that elevates the romantic portions of the episode, despite their shortcomings. Aside from that, it’s a fun episode overall, livelier than a lot of early TNG.
This episode spawned a major blooper in one of the earliest TNG roleplaying game tie-ins, FASA’s ST:TNG Officer’s Manual supplement from 1988. Because Lwaxana arrived on the Enterprise while it was orbiting the planet Haven, the authors of the manual were convinced that Haven was the Betazoids’ home planet, and there were pages of material based on that assumption.
“maybe because RL people like that are incredibly annoying and closed-minded”
Being an colorful extrovert=being a rude bigot?
sps 49 HERE HERE! Giving troi an obnoxius mother was the kind of character work TNG did when they could have been DOING something!
I think you’re very generous giving this episode a rating of 3/10. This is the type of episode that belongs more on a sitcom, except for the fact that it’s not funny.
@6-
Our definitions of “closed-minded” and “bigot” may differ, but a character who is so focused on their own wants, desires, and needs that they don’t know, notice, or care that other people may not agree is- in my experience at least- obnoxious and frustrating.
My different personal preferences do not make me a hater.
I agre with SPS, I dreaded every appearance of Lwaxana Troi. I hate that kind of person.
I think you’re underrating this episode. It’s clearly better than “The Last Outpost” and you rated them the same, for crying out loud!
Okay, yes, the plot is a little weird. The plot twist is pretty transparent and it isn’t particularly clear why Deanna has to leave the Enterprise or why a sexually open society, somewhat matriarchal society like the Betazoids would have arrange marriages during childhood. (To be fair, Vulcan marriage customs are pretty arbitrary in “Amok Time” too.)
But this episode has so much more to offer than just its story. Let’s give the writers some credit — Lwaxana Troi started right here. And while some of the later Lwaxana episodes may be better (“Ménage à Troi” and “Cost of Living” especially comes to mind) I would take “Haven” over “Manhunt” or “Dark Page” any day. There are so many good scenes in this episode, like Lwaxana making Picard carry her extremely heavy suitcase, or the “petty bickering” at the rehearsal dinner, or Mr. Homn drinking. And then there’s the scene where Lwaxana lets her façade drop and becomes Deanna’s mom for a minute, reveals that she never expected to be held to the engagement and tells Deanna that she doesn’t have to go through with the marriage if she doesn’t want to.
So, maybe not the best story, but Lwaxana Troi springs fully formed from the head of the writing staff, and that alone is a quite an accomplishment.
Why does the girl from wyatts drawings turn out to be a woman who looks closer to forty in reality? The plague perhaps?
This episode introduces some very profound, yet, casually mentioned tidbits about some really important topics. There are also a lot of wholes this episode.
Soul mates: Apparently, it exists… well, sort of. If one can swallow the pill that Ariana and Wyatt knew each other across the universe in their dreams, why does Ariana know his name, but he doesn’t know hers? What does Wrenn mean by ” ‘We’ always thought you were a dream.” All the Tarellians could all see him, too? Are the Tarellians telepathic? Huh?
Deanna’s accent… the ever curiously weird “neutral” accent: It’s mentioned! Apparently, Deanna has an accent that she got from her father. Still doesn’t explain anything. Patrick Steward has this big ol’ British accent in every episode and Sirtis does this weird thing with hers. Odd.
For some reason, there were humans (the Millers) living on Betazed. Even more curious, the father (Steven Miller) tracked Lwaxana down because they wanted the arranged marriage to take place. Why???? Especially when they live on Earth now!
It’s not clear why Deanna and Lwaxana talk at all when they’re in private. Lwaxana comments on Deanna’s accent, which implies that Deanna and her don’t speak (literally) all that often to each other. However, In “Imzadi II: Triange” it’s talked about that Deanna prefers to not use telepathy. None of it makes sense. I mean, why would a woman who grew-up on Betazed, constantly using telepathy, prefer to not use it when there’s finally someone else from Betazoid on the ship — someone as close as her mother?
Someone, please, explain this to me.
Question: are Haven and Betazed the same planet?
Comment: The Terellian’s costumes were almost as ridiculous as the Edo’s. Any dying race represented by a middle aged bald man captaining a psychedelic strobe-domed ship, donning an arm-slitted blue silk shirt as his uniform…deserves extinction. After watching the Enterprise viewscreen’s slow dissolve to the interrior of the disco plague ship, Wyatt should have turned around, grabbed Deanna’s hand, and taken her and his mullet down to the Holodeck for some sweet, naked wedding vows.
One of the great things about Star Trek is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I like this episode a great deal, because I love Majel Barrett as Lwaxana (long with her ever-present valet, Mr. Homm). I remember cringing when Nurse Chapel appeared as Troi’s mother years ago when I first saw this thing, but Barrett loses herself in the role, and is surprisingly excellent. I know this episode is silly and stupid, and it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, and I can understand that. It all boils down to whether you are enchanted by Barrett’s portrayal of Lwaxana. I loved it. You see a different side of every character as they play against Lwaxana–it takes the Star Fleet stuffed shirt out of every one of them. Thumbs up.
I love Star Trek and am having great pleasure introducing it episode by episode to my husband. Lwaxana has a dominant personality, one you like or hate. Personally, because it’s so different from the decorum of the other characters, I found her presence invigorating. My mother is very much like Lwaxana so maybe I’m used to the pinache (we’ll go with that). That said, I’m grateful the character’s used tactfully, not a main role, but a supporting tornado in a bottle when the series’ mood gets stoic. Their universe is, after all, home to a great variety of life forms not all with some grand (often militaristic) agenda.
I LOVE Lwaxanna, and so does my 10 year-old son, with whom we’re watching all of Star Trek together since he was younger (started with TOS, now we’re almost at the end of TNG and about to start DS9).
Altair, I suspect your husband must be very amused at Lwaxanna if his mother-in-law is like her…
It would appear from this episode that not only is arranged marriage totally a thing on alien planets like Vulcan and Betazed but it’s accepted practice among at least some Terran Humans.
The Millers are clearly not humans assimilated into Betazed culture or they’d know all about the wedding customs so arranged marriage must be their custom too. And Wyatt clearly has no problem with being promised from childhood to a woman he’s never seen. Seriously even Spock had a picture of T’Pring! You’d think they’d be curious enough about each other to correspond, maybe even date.
This script was not well thought out.
Why wouldn’t there be humans living on Betazed? Its never implied they are not allowed. Lwaxana was even married to a human. I don’t see why there wouldn’t be people of many species living on Betazed as we are shown there are on Earth.
And if the Millers were willing to make arrange the marriage in the first place why would them moving back to Earth mean they wouldn’t want to honor the contract. I don’t think it would be odd if they decided not to honor it, but I also don’t think its odd they would want to honor it.
So why should their representative not be a middle aged bald man? And do you think they built this ship specifically to be a plague ship and designed it be be somber and depressing? Its far more likely they took an available ship and its lighting and decor are typical of this culture’s ship design.
As for their clothes, again why should they be required to wear something plain and boring? I’ve posted this before on these and other boards. You say their clothes are ridiculous. Well I can tell you that if you polled all the humans who have ever lived on this planet, a large portion, and likely a majority, would think whatever clothes you have on right now to be ridiculous, stupid, offensive or perhaps obscene. Its actually odd that most of the clothes we see throughout Star Trek are so human centric. They should be far more outre to our perceptions then they are.
I’m with you on the oddity other-world clothing mostly deriving from 20th-century earth styles. On my recent rewatches, I’ve noticed that on many worlds, the variations come down to lapels and collars on men’s clothing. Why would lapels be a universe-wide phenomena? They descend from military wear, and while they were functional then, they’re such a strange vestigial clothing detail, it’s hard to imagine other cultures doing the exact same thing.
OMG! OMG! I guess I didn’t read this particular review that carefully years ago because only now did I discover the connection that the actor who plays the wussy Wyatt in this episode went on to do a lot of character actor work in other productions like the recent Twin Peaks revival. I never gave the actor who played Wyatt another thought and assumed he just faded into obscurity. Lol. I guess this just goes to prove you should never really rule out an actor after one bad or bland performance. And now I get the whole “Robert Knepper Moment” thing too!
Regarding this particular episode: Ugh! Just unpleasant to sit through. I do like Mr. Homm though!
I disagree with Keith’s review entirely. I had a lot of fun with this episode, more so than the previous one. I just wish Ariana had been introduced sooner so she could get some actual character development and Wyatt some time to get to know her better so his leaving felt less abrupt (not like he knew Troi well either though). I liked Wyatt a lot since he came off as just very sweet and earnest; he reminds me of my boyfriend. I’m definitely looking forward to more Lwaxana too! Mr. Homm was fun too even if he did little; I kept expecting him to say “It’s happening again…”.
I suppose it’s never too late to be the contrarian defender of season 1. Majel Barrett’s “love it or hate it but you got to give her credit” astonishing debut as Lwaxana earns at least a 5 for me and I’d give it another point for Data’s creepy quirky smile at the reception while he was circling around, and for Danitza Kingsley (Ariana) and her abdomen. She belongs in a Whitesnake video, and I mean that as a compliment.
A final word about Barrett. I get why so many are annoyed by Lwaxana’s character . And I think on first watch I didn’t like her much either. But as I get older I find I tend to envy people who are true to themselves rather then beholden to others’ expectations. Now of course, there’s a point at which insouciance gives way to narcissism, amd Lwaxana crosses over at times. But in almost every episode she appears in, there’s a moment at which her face softens and you can see she she’s not just an empath. She actually has empathy. And that’s mainly why I like this character. As annoying as she is on the surface, Barrett manages to portray her in a way that I never forget there’s a softer, vulnerable Lwaxana in there, and she loves her daughter dearly.
I’m among those who don’t get how the families could be convening on board for a wedding and have such basic stuff as who’d officiate unresolved or even apparently undiscussed.
Data’s goofy look at the pre-joining reception is hilarious — it’s like he’s simultaneously captivated by the colorful disagreements and plastering on a brave face to be diplomatic.
Sorry, wish-granting Q, but Wyatt is actually Wesley in ten years, complete with stunted emotional growth.
This episode is chock full of characters moving around purely for the sake of dramatic staging — even more so than is typical for this show and others of the era — like Riker staring ahead wistfully and walking in front of Troi without breaking his sight line to look at her so he can awkwardly pose against a wall in the conference room, or Troi getting up from her seat and crossing in front of Picard and Riker on the bridge just to comment on what’s on the viewscreen.
I’m loathe to come of the defense of anything even approaching mullet status but I must say that Wyatt’s hair is long enough in front to hardly make that style qualify as one.
I know Lwaxana can be a polarizing character, but personally I love her. It’s rare that we see someone able to get under Picard’s skin like she does, and her chemistry (if it can be called that) with Stewart is delightful. I can understand why she’d grate on others, but for me she’s just this side of too much.
As for the rest of the episode, it was pretty bland and forgettable. Which, given the overall quality of Season One, is consistent. Thankfully Lwaxana will return in much better episodes later.
34 pcarl
I agree. I have always loved Lwaxana. She is so different from the “perfect, controlled” Federation crews we’ve seen. She pushes and prods and brings out what those around her really feel. She’s likely only good in small doses, but great.
So much season oneness in this episode. First off, the general production quality is well below what we will see starting in season 3. The bizarre lighting (from season 3 on there is a different cinematographer from my understanding) often casting strong shadows from seemingly a light source that should not exist, to the oddly lit crew quarters and strangely dark Observation Lounge and just darker in general compared to later episodes. Also, we get more of the poorer quality voice audio sometimes heard in season 1. At times, it seems like there is only a boom mike to pick up a whole room (mostly on the bridge) or seemingly poor ADR work. Would like to know more details about these audio quality problems myself.
Next up season 1 quality I don’t like, the music. It is not so much the music itself, but how and when it is used. Similar to the episode “Code of Honor” there are times I am confused by the music in some scenes, I actually think to myself why is this music playing right now? This almost never happens to me in later seasons. At other times I get the choice of music, but it just doubles downs on the badness I am seeing on screen. In the case of “Haven” it’s the use of “romantic music” during certain scenes. I am already let down by the lack of chemistry, the cheesy dialog and terrible acting put on by Troi, Riker and Wyatt, adding melodramatic romantic music just makes everything laughable to me. Though to be fair, it does not tank the episode too much because of all the intentional comedy I can look past some unintentional comedy.
And now we arrive at the good, as a kid I did not like Mama Troi. But later episodes like “Half a Life“, “Cost of Living“, and “Dark Page“ helped turn me around when I was younger and now many years later I am fully on board with her as a character and her other appearances. She is great to see and hear, and Mr. Holm is terrific as well. The scene were he keeps ringing the bell is great. In addition, I really enjoyed the party scene for other reason for example we get to see one of those oddball early sets that basically gets phased out as the show continues.
I have a difficult time choosing between Tier 2 and 3 (out of five). In the end I choose Tier 2, but this is a low end Tier two, it just made the cut.
-Kefka
Strangely, I didn’t hate this episode. One line that caught me as inadvertently funny was “she drew him here.”
Um, yeah, quite literally.
It’s also interesting to see how they were still figuring Data out. His dopey curiosity stare was abandoned (as was his habit of straight up mimicry, as in the recent episode where he tries on the identity of Sherlock Holmes). I’m glad they found that Data humor is better when he underplays.
I really enjoyed the Imzadi book. And your use of the phrase “blowing through the ship like a tornado” reminded me of the book where Lwaxana, given Q powers, “blew [Q] through a bulkhead” (at least how I remember a book I read at least 20 years ago).
“Apparently being betrothed is enough to go all kissy-face, as Troi and Wyatt make out in the holodeck despite having just met (and having bugger-all for chemistry).”
For some people, isn’t kissing a fairly common way to test and/or potentially improve chemistry? It’s probably over-used in TV/movies (like the 90s’ stereotype of “three dates = sex”) to ensure a kissing scene, but I didn’t find it too surprising. If anything, the lack of chemistry (even if not white hot, at least something) should be more on casting than the scene itself, Even if they had just met, they theoretically were getting married; while they could have chosen to wait for a kiss, that might also have increased pressure/concern from society/their parents.