Fair Haven (Star Trek: Voyager)
"Fair Haven" | |
---|---|
Star Trek: Voyager episode | |
Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 11 |
Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
Written by | Robin Burger |
Featured music | David Bell |
Production code | 231 |
Original air date | January 12, 2000 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Fair Haven" is the eleventh episode from the
Plot
Tom Paris has written a popular new holodeck program about an Irish village called Fair Haven. Captain Janeway enters the program, and while she is taking a tour the crew is alerted to an approaching storm front. Lt. Torres informs the captain that the disruption caused by the storm prevents Voyager from going to warp, and impulse power will not be enough to outrun the storm. Janeway decides to batten the hatches, drop anchor and ride out the storm.
After a discussion about crew morale with
Janeway has mixed emotions about her motives, and discusses moral and ethical implications of having a relationship with a holodeck character with Chakotay. Being so far removed from any practical relationship with a "real" person, and realising that her first officer believes it could produce healthy results, Janeway continues to enjoy the holodeck program (as "Katie O'Clare"). Eventually she removes the other characters and kisses Sullivan.
While the captain is away from the program tending to ship's business, Sullivan becomes depressed because he thinks Katie has left him. He starts a fight in the holodeck which quickly grows into an all out brawl with both holodeck characters and crew members suffering the effects. After learning about the fight, the captain shares her thoughts and concerns with the Doctor. The Doctor sees holograms as equals to their flesh and blood counterparts, and encourages her to continue her relationship with Sullivan.
Eventually the full brunt of the storm hits with its most destructive forces taking out many of the ship's systems. While some of the holodeck program Fair Haven survives, many of its finer points are lost. When approached by Tom and Harry about what should be saved, the captain returns to the holodeck. She does decide to save the character of Michael Sullivan, and after more thought she tells the computer to deny her access to modifying any more of the program's sub-routines.
The story arc is concluded in Spirit Folk.
Production
Kate Mulgrew stated in an interview at the end of the series that the only time she had been surprised by the characterisation of Janeway on screen was in the romance in "Fair Haven". She said that while she was happy that her character had a relationship, she felt that it didn't work as well as if it had been a real person and not a hologram.[1]
The episode was written by Robin Burger, who also wrote the Star Trek:The Next Generation episode "The Hunted".[2]
The Irish village scenes were filmed at
Guest cast includes:[2]
- Richard Riehle as Seamus.
- Fintan McKeown as Michael
- Jan Claire as Frannie,
- Henriette Ivanas as Maggie
- Duffie McIntire as Grace
Reception
In 2009, IrishCentral pointed out this episode as an example of "the Irish side of Star Trek" and felt that character Michael Sullivan, one of the residents of the holographic 19th century village, was a sort of stock Irish TV character, but the plot had some "fairly Irish" elements. They also point out the episode for mentioning the real-world Irish universities of Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.[4]
Ian Grey at RogertEbert.com noted this episode in 2013 in their feature on Star Trek: Voyager, pointed out this episode being in a "lighter vein" noting its recreation of an Irish town and Captain Janeway's adventures in the holodeck.[5]
The episode is noted for its Irish village setting and Janeway's holoromance.[5] W.I.R.E.D. noted that the crew found peace in, what it called a "virtual playroom program".[6]
In 2015, a Star Trek: Voyager binge-watching guide by W.I.R.E.D. suggested skipping this episode.[6]
In 2016, SyFy included this episode in a group of Star Trek franchise episodes they felt were commonly disliked but "deserved a second chance".[7]
In 2016, it was suggested viewing for Saint Patrick's Day due to its Irish content.[8]
In July 2019, Screen Rant ranked "Fair Haven" as one of the top five worst of the series, noting it as an episode about holodeck malfunctions. They also ranked its sequel, "Spirit Folk" also in the top five worst episodes but said it was worse than "Fair Haven."[9]
In 2020, The Digital Fix said that "Fair Haven and its sequel Spirit Folk are perhaps the worst episodes of the seven year run"[10]
In 2021,
Releases
This episode was released as part of a season 6 DVD boxset on December 7, 2004.[11]
See also
- The Practical Joker (Holdodeck on Star Trek: The Animated Series // September 21, 1974)
- Encounter at Farpoint (Live-action Holodeck debuts on Star Trek: The Next Generation // September 28, 1987)
- Up the Long Ladder (A Star Trek: The Next Generation episode also criticized for Irish stereotypes)
References
- ^ "The Prime Perspective". Star Trek Explorer. 3 (1): 7–12. 2001.
- ^ a b c DeCandido, Keith R. A. (2021-05-24). "Star Trek: Voyager Rewatch: "Fair Haven"". Tor.com. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
- ISBN 9780743417518– via Google Books.
- ^ MEGHAN SWEENEY and CONN CORRIGAN (2009-05-08). "The Irish side of 'Star Trek'". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
- ^ a b Grey, Ian. "Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Features | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
- ^ a b McMillan, Graeme (27 May 2015). "WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Voyager". Wired.com.
- ^ Roth, Dany (2016-07-20). "The 10 most hated Star Trek episodes that deserve a second chance". SYFY WIRE. Archived from the original on 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- ^ Whitley, Jared. "Celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick with These Pat-Trek Classics". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- ^ "Star Trek: The 5 Best Episodes Of Voyager (& The 5 Worst)". ScreenRant. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
- ^ Baz Greenland (2020-08-20). "Star Trek: Voyager Revisited - A Look Back At Season Six | Feature". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
- ^ Holly E. Ordway (November 29, 2004). "Star Trek Voyager: Complete Sixth Season". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
External links
- "Fair Haven" at IMDb
- "Fair Haven" at Memory Alpha
- "Fair Haven" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)