Saturday, July 27, 2013

North Star

**** (4 stars out of 5)
"North Star" is Cowboys and Aliens, only unlike the movie, it's good. It's no Firefly, but then, what is?

The Delphic Expanse-dwelling Skagarans took a page from the Briori of the Delta Quadrant, travelling vast distances to capture primitive pre-spaceflight Americans for (what cannot possibly be cheap) slave labour. Building an Old West replica town, for example! Well, probably that was after brave, butchering Cooper Smith overthrew their cruel Skag overlords and set humans up in their rightful place as... cruel overlords!

Actually, firm but fair Sheriff "Morshower" MacReady is just doing his job, maintaining the laws against altering fashion, architecture, and lingo even one solitary smidgen over the centuries... but still somehow ripe for someone to mosey on by and tell him he can totally ease off on the racism while still maintaining the peace. His choice in deputies, however...

Well, a classic gunfight with scum-suckin' Skag-lynchin' Deputy Benning and his boys goes to show... lasers beat lead every time!

Archer's orbital field trip for schoolmarm Bethany (along with her brief encounter with Phlox's Medicinal Tube-Top... for medicinal purposes, of course) encourages her efforts to raise the tone for both the humans and the Skagaran kids she teaches illegally (and is slightly related to). The good captain dangles the promise of egalitarian, high-minded Starfleet coming back for them all one day, and hoping that when they do they've learned how to get along. Or else.

Actually, I don't think there was an "or else". We gotta save our ammo for killin' Xindi.

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