My Review- 'Fortunate Son'

WARNING! IF YOU DO NOT MIND READING SPOILERS, THEN YOU ARE 'FORTUNATE, SON'.

Please note that yesterday I got some very bad personal news, as a result this review may not be up to my usual standard, as I wasn't concentrating as much as possible. Please do not enquire about the news, I like to deal with these  things myself.

Ahh the Nausicaans. A friend of mine once described the Nausicaans as "Klingons but without the manners." In their occasional appearances in Trek they've stabbed Jean-Luc Picard through the heart over a game of dom-jot, often acted as mercenary thugs in DS9 and have generally followed my friends description to the letter. Nausicaans are indeed like Klingons without the code of honour and other Klingon traditions. I dont particularly like or dislike Nausicaans, but it was nice to see them again.

The second reason why I looked forward to this episode is because it is the first episode where Mayweather gets a substantial amount of screentime, enough to judge his character and decide whether I like him, or not. So far Mayweather has had the smallest amount of screentime of any regular cast member, indeed I have a joke with my friend that Porthos gets a larger salary. I must say he came of rather well.

STORYLINE  

The storyline was good, it had good characterisation, but not so much that those people who hate characterisation (you know who you are!) got bored. It also had some great action scenes and some good space-battles, which will please all who watch in the hope of something blowing up. Lastly it had morality, which is just why Roddenberry invented this show. I was particularly pleased with the morality, as it brought up an issue never seen in Trek before, although it does have historical parallels, with Ryan's wondering about what will happen when trade routes become more crowded, and will the boomers way of life disappear. I like that, I like that a lot. Of course we know they'll still be freighters in the 24th Century (in DS9, there's Kasidy Yates ship, the Xhosa, for example) but they dont know that, and even if there will still be freighters, will they be run the same way? I would doubt it. This is a point I'd like to see again. I would also like to hear more about this 'Northstar', it would also be nice to eventually meet the Horizon, Mayweather's old ship, along with his parents. I suspect we will at some point. Only one bit didn't ring true for me. When Archer makes his speech about all humans having a similar code of behaviour I was like "What?!" excuse me but what is considered code of behaviour in Japan is very different to the US for example, and the same goes for other nations, China, Australia, France. Every culture has a different code of behaviour, I also dont accept Mayweather's acceptance of that speech. OK he's young, at first I'd expect him to believe in that, but eventually he probably would of thought "What a minute?". Now on with the ship.

THE SHIP  

As I said some very nice space battles. I particularly liked when the Fortunate fired upon the Enterprise, deactivating it's long-range sensors. Without shields the Enterprise is still liable to damage even from freighters, and the scene was done well.

I also enjoyed the low power of Nausicaan vessels, despite their shields. So far Enterprise has assumed that any vessel with shields was automatically more powerful than the Enterprise herself, here we have the revelation that the Nausicaan shields can only take two or three hits before collapsing. Nice.

One thing that didn't ring true for me, however, is that the Freighter crew knew enough about shielding to know about remodulating weapons and shields. Considering how so far, what shielding we've seen has been shown as almost impervious to attack, it just didn't seem.... right,

THE CHARACTERS  

Mayweather- Wow, an entry for Mayweather. Whatever next? :) This week Mayweather was both acted and characterised extremely well. He can obviously see Ryan's point. He accepts that Ryan has gone too far, but he UNDERSTANDS why Ryan is doing what he is doing. Mayweather however shows a nice contrast with Ryan. They're both boomers yes, but Ryan is a manipulative, scheming little so and so, but he also has great charisma. Ryan shows a bit of extremism, and is an obvious pessimist. He's also a traditionalist, and doesnt want things to stop being the way they are, in other words, he's afraid of change. He's not a bad person, he's well-intentioned, he's just gone too far. Mayweather on the other hand is the progressive, he knows what's going to happen and accepts it quite happily, even when Ryan tries to use his parents to manipulate him. Anthony Montgomery who plays Mayweather also pulled of an excellent performance. Kudos.

Ryan on the other hand is afraid of change, and he makes an excellent example that all boomers aren't as progressively minded as Mayweather. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, there are many people, my Dad included, which wish things were the same as the 70s, or 60s, or 80s etc.

STAR TREK NOTES.  

NX Class? I would of preferred 'Enterprise Class' but I can accept the idea that Starfleet changed it. They may also use the 'NX' designation to mean 'NX Class' so the second NX Class ship will be NX-02, and not NCC-02. I can only assume that at some point in the future there will be a NCC Class, and then Starfleet will begin naming vessels after the first of their class.

PORTHOS FANS REJOICE! After a 4 week absence the little dog is back. :D

Rating (out of 10): 9/10. Best episode yet. And it looks like after Civilisation last week we're getting several excellent eps in a row. Next weeks ep is Cold Front, one raved about by many fans, then we have Silent Enemy and Dear Doctor. Goodie.