Plot – There is literally nothing happening in the Delta Quadrant right now. So much so that two entire episodes can be set in the holodeck in a mock Irish town that is built from clichés. It irritates me that this was Voyager’s chance to truly shine (given it was the only Trek show on at the time) and it wasted its time and money on this kind of nonsense. Fair Haven is dreary enough that it might have sealed Voyager’s poor reputation single handedly. Torres is being a complete sourpuss about this whole Fair Haven affair and for once I can empathise with her.
Self-aware holograms. I think it goes without saying at this point in Voyager’s run that TNG did this before. And better.
Imagine, just imagine if this had been the end of Tom Paris and Harry Kim. At the hands of a bunch of one-dimensional holodeck characters that have taken them hostage and want to shoot them. I would be embarrassed for them but happy for the show.
Character – ‘That’s the problem. I’ve got a boyfriend who malfunctions’ is not a line you want to hear coming out of the mouth of any Star Trek Captain. Or anyone. Ever.
Performance – Compare the chemistry between Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran in the episode Resolutions to that of her distinct lack of chemistry with Fintan McKeown and you can see how this kind of one (or two) episode romance can bomb so spectacularly. Their scenes together are written without passion or humour and they become more interrogatory and less likable as the episode goes on. If they were going for a Titanic ‘love to be remembered for all Ages’ then the romance of Michael Sullivan and Katie O’Clare lacks all the basic elements that would connect a pair of lovers to an audience. Mostly that he is custom made by Janeway and effectively a personalised dildo. Titanic would have shocked many viewers if it had taken that approach.
Talk about luck of the draw. Richard Riehle appeared in The Inner Light first, one of the best ever Star Trek episodes and followed that up with Fair Haven and Spirit Folk. He’s outstanding in one and absolutely hideous in the other. Can the quality of the material trip up the actor? I would say yes if this is the example.
Production – The music for this episode won an award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series but I cannot fathom how. When it comes to depicting the Irish it is as mired in clichés as everything else.
Worst moment – Tom Paris turning Harry Kim’s latest holodeck beau into a cow. To say the comedy is laboured would be doing a disservice to comedy that truly is. This might be the nadir of Trek. Painfully unfunny, taking an age to make its point and showing the characters in the worst possible light. How did anybody think that this was the sort of material that people would want to watch? With a lobotomy it wouldn’t even be tolerable.
The Doctor playing Priest and screaming at his flock is another highly questionable moment. I’m not in any way religious but I feel that if I was I might feel that somebody play acting as a bullying Priest might be crossing a line. It’s not funny or clever and so I’m not sure what the point is.
I wish they hadn’t done that – Remind me again of why we are supposed to care about the people of Fair Haven? Is it simply because the crew of Voyager like hanging out there? This is a bunch of reprehensible Irish stereotypes who have appeared in one episode previously and after this episode will never be seen again and suddenly they are worthy of their own scenes discussing the nature of the Voyager crew as Spirit Folk? The idea that they (as holodeck characters) should have their own scenes autonomous of the Voyager crew is absurd, and yet Spirit Folk goes there quite early on.
The Voyager crew are so unbelievably stupid that they manage to let holodeck characters pull the wool over their eyes and convince them that they obey holodeck parameters when they are just playing along. This is agonising.
Unbelievably, Torres has to remind Janeway that her holo-boyfriend can be reprogrammed and her flesh and blood one can’t. She’s the only one talking good sense about pulling the plug on this ridiculous programme for good and the fact that good Captain refuses that option, potentially endangering the lives of two of her crewmen for the sake of some holo-characters, lacks any judgement whatsoever. It’s a scene of outstanding stupidity on everybody’s part except Torres (and Seven, who suggests storming the place by force).
That embarrassing moment when your walking talking sexual aid beams onto the Bridge and announces himself to everyone. Poor Janeway, the indignity.
I would write a little sermon about how painfully simplistic and twee the ending of this episode is where everybody just agrees to be friends…but I’ve wasted enough of my life on this shite.
A reason to watch this episode again – Your reaction to the pre-titles sequence is pretty much going to sum up your reaction to the entire episode; Tom Paris having lost control of a motor car in the streets of Fair Haven is accosted by a hideous Irish stereotype begging for money, spouts out some monstrously racist dialogue and spots Paris using the holodeck settings to repair his car instantaneously, suspecting devilry. It’s atrocious viewing and I don’t say that lightly and thus continues the rest of Spirit Folk, which I can confidently sum up as one of the worst hours of Star Trek I have forced myself to sit through. If anybody Irish was involved with the making of this programme they were perpetuating the most insulting clichés imaginable for the sake of a few weeks work. There’s not a single joke that lands, not an inspired idea to be found and not a line of dialogue that is worth considering. I want to end this review here and pretend that this never happened. Knowing that it did is punishment enough. I was tempted to turn this off from scene to scene and it took everything I had to keep going. Money and talent was poured into this. It’s abominable.
Zero stars out of *****
Clue for tomorrow's episode:
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