Fortunate Son

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Fortunate Son)

A chance to use Travis in an effective way, and what a shame there weren't more episodes in that vein. When I first saw this I only saw slightly weak action sequences, and a crew I couldn't identify with (it's nice to think that little girl will think better of Vulcans now that T'Pol didn't give her away in their game), but now, knowing how sidelined Travis became it's a pleasure to see him in a proper role. And the romantic view of space travel, these freighters going it alone, like cowboys of the old west, speaks very much of Star Trek's conception. The ship itself was a good set, particularly in the 'football' scene in the teaser. The scene with the Captains at the end as they talk of change is a really nice conclusion, and heralds the beginnings of the build up to the Federation, when worlds join together.

It's odd, but fun to see the Nausicaans crop up, as they are kind of a C-list race that appear only on rare occasions, and surprisingly they're one of the few races that have never been truly explored as real people, always presented as thugs and mercenaries. The ones here aren't any different, and perhaps it would have been a good chance to do something more with them, but we should be grateful that such attention is paid to past/future Trek with these references. After all they could have used some made up, nondescript alien thugs, instead of the not-very-descript aliens.

Nice to see Forrest, giving the series some continuity, though they don't quite feel as alone in the galaxy with such contact and humans around any corner, but that's how it goes. One possible slip up was Hoshi mentioning the 'Away Team' - surely in this time they call them Landing Parties?

***