Thursday, April 18, 2013

Fair Haven

*** (3 stars out of 5)
It is not such a stretch from imagining a world with holographic doctors to one with holographic boyfriends... uh, I mean bartenders. Well, both. Bartender boyfriends.

Tom Paris has foolishly grown weary of his awesome Captain Proton story and instead constructs a town of fiddle-dee-dee Irishmen (and lasses, one assumes). When a nasty patch of Space Weather strikes and forces everyone to stay inside and play, the sleepy 20th Century village catches on with EVERYONE. Because OF COURSE 150 people would all agree to like the same thing at the same time! That's why no TV show ever gets cancelled.

Aw, heck, who would I be kiddin'? Everyone loves the Irish. Always have, always will. 'TAY-toes! Faith and Begora! Oh, dear mither, there goes me liver!'

Anyone who's listened to Nog for five seconds can tell you what men would use holodecks for.  It's only natural, though not as crass or obvious, what ladies would do. Ladies like Captain Janeway, for example.

And it starts with the sentence "Computer, delete the wife."

"Fair Haven" raises what I think is a significant question about fantasy romance, although they avoid any resolution. IS Michael Sullivan sentient? Or is this just a the latest version of humanity's oldest single player game? (I'm saying I think the Captain is after his lucky charms... in his pants!)

Speaking of things you think about when you're not getting laid, I have a major beef with the tech! In Season One we were explicitly fed a line about how holodeck power and main ship power were INCOMPATIBLE (that's why a ship that uses rationing can even HAVE holodeck stories- in essence if you can't pay for the groceries why would you splurge on premium cable?). So the bit where the ship is saved by transferring holodeck power to the deflectors at the expense of the character memory of Fair Haven is the purest blarney.

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