Fair Haven

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Fair Haven)

Phew, that was close, I thought I'd settled down to watch 'Emergence' from that opening shot of a steam engine - gave me the terrors! But no, it's worse: Oir-land! Actually, despite its reputation (or at least the reputation I've formed in my head from seeing it before), this is quite close to being a good episode. It falls short, but that's more to do with where the story goes than its Holodeck setting. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was drawn in by the beautiful green hills and busy village streets that brought a refreshing and attractive change in the opening, even if they are a reuse of the Paramount backlot or whatever it was (Universal Studios, apparently), which they'd used before in 'The Killing Game.' It reminded me of the beautiful live action scenes at the beginning and end of 'Tales of Beatrix Potter,' an animated rendition of her books made in the Nineties whose enduring memory for me was held in Beatrix going out to post a letter in a lovely little village (it's at the forefront of my mind since seeing it again recently after decades). The crew fitted in quite nicely within this rustic, pastoral world where mutton chops and cloth caps mingle with long dresses and flowing locks, and the worst that can happen is a bust-up in the local pub. Americans love Irish culture, presumably because there's a lot of ancestry there from the potato famine that caused so many Irish to make new lives in the new world. But they really love it! The closest I can think that Trek had connected with previously was the Bringloidi in 'Up The Long Ladder' or Kirk's Academy nemesis, Finnegan, in 'Shore Leave,' otherwise it hadn't been a subject much touched upon.

I'm forgetting Trek's only Irishman, Chief Miles Edward O'Brien, and you'd have thought they'd have used him to explore the culture more, but other than his love of a good beer and darts he wasn't perhaps the typical example. Here, they make up for it, if they needed to, with all the fun o' the fair, so to speak, if I may be so bold. Of course it's Tom Paris' idea, he's always been both the historian and the holoprogram author supreme, if you can call his work authorship. It may be that there are two different kinds of holoprogram (and probably more, such as training programs or investigative recreations as we've seen before in episodes such as 'Identity Crisis' and 'Schisms' to name a couple on 'TNG'), one where a story is played out, as in Janeway's Gothic holo-novel seemingly inspired by 'Jane Eyre' and seen occasionally in the early seasons (and which maybe put her off such things for a long time after when the characters stalked her through the ship!), or merely highly detailed settings, and this is what Paris excelled at: Sandrine's was the most famous, a place for the crew to relax together other than the Mess Hall, or the Paxau Resort with all its bright colours and Hawaiian style (even if it was a Talaxian location!). For some reason the series had steered away from recurring holoprograms post-Season 3, the only one springing to mind would be Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop, and that was only used a couple of times. Sandrine's had been returned briefly for Seven in 'Someone To Watch Over Me,' but in general the series had come to prefer the seriousness of their situation more than indulging in fantasy.

As if to reset the balance, along comes this episode. The trouble with it is I'm not sure what message it's trying to send, if any. It seems to go against Trek's traditional call to reality, away from fantasy, something I've commented on a number of times, not least the previous episode in which, again, it was set almost entirely in the Holodeck with Barclay forming bonds with holo-characters. Did this story develop off of that one, I wonder? There's nothing wrong with the crew having some fun in a fantasy world, especially when it's to escape what's going on outside, a kind of storm they have to wait out. And equally there's nothing wrong with their Captain doing the same, and it's fun to see them interacting together in a leisure setting, but things take a bit of a strange turn when Janeway is drawn to the bartender, Michael Sullivan, and for whatever reason starts to make alterations to his character to suit. There was some small discussion on the way people seek to change those they're closest to, but it was very brief and lost next to the revelation that Janeway is lonely. Even with the meals she shares with her First Officer and the closeness she's had with her confidant, Tuvok, she's still the boss, the one at the top with no equal. It's sad, but it's not very well integrated into the story, even to the point that when she starts fiddling with Michael's program, changing him to her specifications, she comes across as slightly sinister!

The Doctor understands her needs and counsels her to pursue such activity, but this is where the story really lost me when he basically says fantasy is the same as reality as long as your feelings are real. Granted, we have to take what a hologram says with a pinch of salt, he's coming to it from a different perspective based on his own reality of non-reality, and we've certainly seen that point of view proved to be wrong or inappropriate on a number of occasions and would do so again across the series ('Author, Author,' is a good example). Holograms aren't the same as him, he's a unique individual and while we've seen others that have become sentient, such as Vic Fontaine or Moriarty, they were still confined to a certain extent - the Doctor is the first hologram to develop freedoms for himself and this was all a result of being generated by so much data and experience that he developed a personality all his own, very different from the combination of people he was based upon. All this to say that his input, even from the fact that he is the ship's physician, isn't necessarily entirely correct. Janeway does at least learn she needs to take a hands-off approach to make her time with Michael more meaningful, but still, we've all played games, watched films or read books where the characters were very real to us - Trek itself is full of characters to be inspired and fascinated by, and who hasn't imagined themselves there as part of a Starfleet crew? Still we know that it all has to be switched off and we can't base our real life on fantasy, no matter how engaging it can be.

Real life is a good reminder: that was the title of the episode in which the Doctor did exactly the same thing, creating a family for himself, but one which was perfect to his specifications. He does counsel Janeway not to change Michael and that was the lesson he was taught by B'Elanna (who barely appears here!), so I'd have liked them to acknowledge that experience directly, otherwise it appears the writers didn't remember they'd done a similar story with him. Or perhaps they chose to be more subtle rather than bringing it up on the nose? The other thing is that we know how severely against genetic alteration the Federation is so you'd think such attitudes would be hardwired into Janeway and yet she's so quick to alter her new friend to suit her with no apparent connection. It makes me wonder if such experiences could make a generation of humans come to see augmentation as possibly not so wrong after all and decide to go down that route? I can imagine the current Trek era doing just that although I've been relieved so far to see they've preserved continuity in that respect so far, even in our current age when almost anything is becoming permissible. It's back to that idea that feelings are the most important and should be listened to above all else, something that the highly science-led Trek universe has generally not endorsed. That's why it stuck out here where Janeway's feelings are more important than the reality. In this case it is just one little dalliance with a holo-character, I doubt they're advocating fantasy replacing reality, but in that respect it is a slippery slope.

I don't think they particularly had that in mind in previous times they've explained that it's more important to face up to reality, no matter how bleak (as Kirk did in 'Generations'), compared with living in the past or in a fake world, but it's certainly an issue. That's not what the episode was really about (it would be addressed again later in the series when Tuvok went through the Pon Farr and used the Holodeck for the emergency), but that's also what prevented the episode from working, it didn't have a clear idea of what it was saying. It's almost a comedy for the most part, the comical Irish stereotypes, our people sometimes not quite fitting in, the Doctor being suited to a dog collar and cassock (even if there is a juxtaposition between the humorous tone and the seriousness of faith and how such things are portrayed, though in some ways it's good to see Christianity shown on screen in such a secular programme, even in the way it was). It made me smile on occasion, such as when Michael suggests to Janeway they run a foot race down to the station and back, or when the Doctor expresses some positive views about the program and they say that's high praise from a hologram! It's enjoyable to experience interactions with a different place and time - it's telling that Michael associates tattoos with people on ships whereas nowadays you can't move for them. Even some of the scenes not set on the Holodeck, such as Tuvok's discomfort due to the radiation, is somewhat amusing - I really thought Paris and Kim talking about rolling ships and Neelix bringing up blood pie were a conspiracy to prank the Vulcan, but they looked completely innocent and surprised when he suddenly bolts so I don't think there was any intention there.

It's simply nice to see the crew having fun together, but more than that it was lovely to see our Captain so happy and relaxed, it made a nice change of pace. It's just when it becomes more serious and Janeway realises she's got a crush on a fantasy character that it changed into something else - it'd happened before: Harry Kim was hung up on that woman on the Holodeck in 'Alter Ego,' though that was a much stronger story and proved to be more rational, showing that computer-generated characters don't have half the mystery and depth that a real person does. And was Janeway hogging the Holodeck? She attends a knees-up at the bar which you'd assume was something the whole crew would come along for, but we soon realise she's the only flesh and blood person there when she tells the computer to remove all the other characters, leaving her alone with Michael. If it was an open-door policy and they were keeping the program running all the time then you'd think other people would be coming along - hey, where's my dance partner gone? The Captain's overruled it all! It could be the middle of the night as she did have a habit of being up in the wee hours, but even then you'd think the night shift might want to join in. I was also confused about how Kim and others could have sustained cuts and bruises from the bar fight as you'd think the safeties would rule out any actual damage, because why would you turn off the safeties in a fun jaunt of a program?

All pretty ridiculous, but somehow the episode still has some charm and warmth. Other than Janeway's suspect behaviour I quite enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it more if we'd seen more of the other characters together in the program, as Janeway's story rose to prominence above all the others and knocked them out of the story, but there's no denial that many scenes were really pleasant, especially those between a sensitive Neelix and his Captain. I wonder if they'd planned to visit Fair Haven regularly? It only came back once, later in the season, so either it was too much of a struggle to get all those guest stars together or they couldn't think of enough reasons for it to recur - being such a big program it would be harder to just have a scene or two there, though I could imagine them doing that if they just showed the bar. Maybe it did return in more than just 'Spirit Folk' (I have the feeling that's a better story since it actually went somewhere), in the same way as other recurring programs did where you just had the basic setting and none of the guest characters. Some of the guest casting was notable: Richard Riehle (the moustached and bowler-hatted Seamus), already had pedigree in this kind of fantasy village story as he'd played a character in 'The Inner Light,' part of the Kataan people's recreation in Picard's mind. He'd go on to play another important role as Dr. Lucas, Phlox' correspondent in 'Enterprise,' and is one of those actors with a familiar face from many things. For me, Fintan McKeown (Micheal Sullivan), was just as interesting to see as he marks what I believe is the only connection with another of my favourite TV shows: Nineties action series, 'BUGS,' in which he had a minor role in one episode.

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