I watched the first ten minutes, then was completely and utterly shocked anyone on the crew stuck around for another thirty-five. I'm amazed this thing is taking a 1 hour time slot. For that kind of time investment I might as well just watch Galaxy Quest and actually enjoy myself
I got bored after 20 mins or so. The thing is it wasn't quite funny enough to be a real parody. I didn't hate it but if this show is going to stay around it's going to have to get better. There isn't a lot of room for shows like this unless they are actually good. I'll probably watch the next episode this upcoming weekend. As without Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks I have the time. But hopefully it doesn't remain as dull.
We live in a world where Firefly was cancelled, so I couldn't see this making it to a second season unless it dramatically improves.
The only part that got a good chuckle out of me was when the Cap. MacFarlane barrels out of the bridge and steps through the blob guy. Okay Seth. You got your cheap laugh,.
I have little hope for improvement. I think the entire initial concept is actually terrible for what this show as billed as. The whole martial strife gag just isn't funny, and sets the completely wrong tone. Add in that MacFarlane has no charisma on screen, and the occasional stabs at funny just come off as out of place. Watching the show left me completely confused because it was billed as comedy but it struck me as more failed melodrama than anything and then someone pulls some slap stick gag from left feild and sends the tone spiraling into a worm hole.
Eh it was a bit PG in feel, I prefer a bit more crudeness and disturbing elements to my humor. The only part that amused me was the blue guy jizzing out of his face at the beginning.This was kinda billed as a comedy. But was more of a drama...but it kind of failed in both areas.
Definitely with you on that. I can't tell if this is supposed to be a drama for which it's just too cheesy to be taken serious, a comedy for which it's just not that funny, or something in between for which there are too many surreal moments.
I think the crime though is that the effects are actually not bad, and I just feel offended by it in a way. Like seriously? You had the budget to throw at some no so bad set and ship designs, and you spent it on this crap?
It was no The Expanse, but it's at least on par with Dark Matter or Killjoys, and I watch those, so I'll keep watching this. The only thing I thought particularly dumb was the hugging the donkey bit.
FWIW, I find the Orville a very interesting take on Trek, in that it includes / inserts a LOT of interpersonal interactions. It's kind of like The Office?
The Office in Space would be pretty funny. This wasn't it. Honestly it just comes off as a really bad attempt at a TV version of Galaxy Quest, except Galaxy Quest (the set design and ship even look kind of similar aesthetically) was funny because it spoofed Star Trek and didn't try to do a series of not very funny Family Guy gags in space.
LordofHats wrote: Watching the show left me completely confused because it was billed as comedy but it struck me as more failed melodrama than anything and then someone pulls some slap stick gag from left feild and sends the tone spiraling into a worm hole.
LordofHats wrote: For that kind of time investment I might as well just watch Galaxy Quest and actually enjoy myself
Thargrim wrote: The thing is it wasn't quite funny enough to be a real parody.
It is not a comedy. It is not a parody. It is not a spoof. It is not a satire.
Fox, being fox, took every joke from the pilot and made it the trailer which gave a false impression of what the show is.
What is this show then? It's Star Trek: The Next Generation if you replaced all the high minded Prime Directive Utopian altruism with real people. It's an honest and earnest attempt at doing a science fiction show in the style of Sta Trek with a comedic bent and a load of optimism.
This is what MacFarlane has been saying in interviews for a few weeks now, and sadly what Fox didn't do when they made the trailer. It is not fair to criticise people for thinking this was going to be a Galaxy Quest-ish TV show, but at the same time now that we know what the show is it's equally as unfair to criticise it for not being Galaxy Quest because it was never intended that way.
For my part I thought it was just that, TNG with real people, and for that I enjoyed it. I've never been a huge Trek fan (I like Picard, I like some DS9, I like the opening themes to TNG, Voyager and Enterprise... and I like the movies), so this is fine. A solid 6.5-7 out of 10. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe it'll fall into the same plot tropes that Voyager and Enterprise fell into. Who knows?
I'm not ready to write it off after one episode though.
Oh, and I expect Fox to cancel it faster than you can come up with an analogy that finishes this sentence.
Necros wrote: Was kinda funny that the robot guy sounded like Data from TNG, I thought it was him but IMDB says no.
I thought the same thing and did the same thing thing. Was surprised that it wasn't.
H.B.M.C. wrote: What is this show then? It's Star Trek: The Next Generation if you replaced all the high minded Prime Directive Utopian altruism with real people.
If we're talking about "real people" the show is already a failure. One character is a overt bunny ears lawyer and everyone else on the show seems to acknowledge it and there's nothing real about it. Three of them are aliens whose lines/scenes mostly consist of failed attempts to be amusing. There's too much surrealism going on in Orville for me to seriously belief this is supposed to be a show about "real people." EDIT: that said this wouldn't shock me if this was MacFarlane's idea of real people. That guy always seems to me to live in a flanderized world at all times.
It's an honest and earnest attempt at doing a science fiction show in the style of Sta Trek with a comedic bent and a load of optimism.
So it is supposed to be funny?
All I've gathered is that Fox and Seth can't figure out what kind of show its supposed to be either, which would help to explain the mood whiplash. I'm hit and miss on anything involved MacFarlane. I think Family Guy is garbage. Love American dad. His movies are... meh. But I am accustomed to him having a much more concise cut for what he's going for than Orville presents. Me wonders if there's some executive meddling going on. Wouldn't be the first time. "Ruin it and Cancel it" could easily be the channel's slogan.
And oh it'll probably definitely be canceled unless it comes out of season one way better than episode 1. As someone pointed out earlier (and I think Fireflay was bad mind you) there have been better shows on Fox that got cut.
Yeah guess it's the fault of Fox for advertising it that way. And because Seth was involved my mind immediately went to Family Guy and slapstick comedic over the top stuff. I didn't watch any interviews for this. I wasn't invested enough in it to go watching interviews n crap. It'll be funny if this ends up feeling more true to Star Trek than the upcoming Discovery show though. I think that may be an actual possibility tbh.
IMO, Fox over-marketed the Orville's comedic side to clearly distinguish it from the deliberately overly-serious and gritty Discovery show coming out. Tonally, I think the Orville is actually more like TOS; where the set design, music and visuals are more TNG-like.
I thought it was ok.. not great but not bad either. I do agree though that the advertising was misleading as it made it seem like a heavy handed sitcom parody of trek rather than the more Galaxy Quest mix it ended up being. Either way, here's a pic I found of the ship with the episode mentioned flames down the side and pink unicorn. All it needs now is a sequoia kill marking on the side.
Netflix has The Expanse and Red Dwarf at least (though the later seasons were utter pants). I wonder if anyone has Lexx? The first season, the other ones are fairly cringey.
Wyrmalla wrote: Netflix has The Expanse and Red Dwarf at least (though the later seasons were utter pants). I wonder if anyone has Lexx? The first season, the other ones are fairly cringey.
To explain my thoughts on it, I find it unrealistic that these characters are anywhere near a chain of command in a universe that someone says is supposed to be about "real people." Real people get fired when every character who knows them agrees that their personality sucks. It's why House wasn't a realistic show, because in reality House would have been fired by Vogel at the end of season one and no one would have batted an eye. Hell Cuddy and Wilson too for covering for him for so long, and still no one would have batted an eye. In the real world, you can be the best at what you do, but if you happen to be an insubordinate drunk (which everyone on The Orville seems to recognize about Greg Malloy the pilot) it's not remotely realistic that anyone would let you fly a space ship.
Well, we have watched it twice now.. once with me and wife, and once with the kiddo..
Other than the regretable MacFarlane need for "off color for the sake of shock" .. we really liked it.
As HBMC said.. hearkened back to Encounter at Farpoint and was channeling Old Skool Trek pretty well.. we did not expect it to be "slapstick or gross out comedy" and were pleasantly suprised
Expecting Ted or esp. Galaxy Quest is a mistake - that's not what the show is.
I've been watching TOS episodes as they come up. When one considers the TOS Trilbles, Mudd, and MotW episodes, the Orville is very similar in tone and structure.
As a blue collar TOS show with TNG+ production values, it works.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Expecting Ted or esp. Galaxy Quest is a mistake - that's not what the show is.
I've been watching TOS episodes as they come up. When one considers the TOS Trilbles, Mudd, and MotW episodes, the Orville is very similar in tone and structure.
As a blue collar TOS show with TNG+ production values, it works.
Well, whatever it is, it's on Fox so it'll get cancelled before anyone can figure it out.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Expecting Ted or esp. Galaxy Quest is a mistake - that's not what the show is.
I've been watching TOS episodes as they come up. When one considers the TOS Trilbles, Mudd, and MotW episodes, the Orville is very similar in tone and structure.
As a blue collar TOS show with TNG+ production values, it works.
Well, whatever it is, it's on Fox so it'll get cancelled before anyone can figure it out.
The only reason people won't figure it out is because they'll air the episodes in the wrong order.
Well I thought the second episode was an improvement over the first. Mild complaint about the kid being born female since a mere two episodes isn't really much time to invest in dad's race supposeing to be entirely male only.
AduroT wrote: The only reason people won't figure it out is because they'll air the episodes in the wrong order.
Damn you for jinxing it! Fox aired E3 instead of E2 tonight.
That said, this was definitely a big improvement over the pilot. I guess if you don't have to spend half an hour on exposition, you actually have some time to tell a story. Imagine that!
Anyhow, the crew felt more natural, less awkward. Good stuff, and nice to comment on politics and zoos - that's very TOS-like, along with the actions of the acting Captain while the Captain and XO were away.
clink-clink-clink-clink-clink-clink-clink...
Also, of all the crew, that is not the butt I ever would have hoped to see.
Holy gak did Fox actually air the episodes out of order? Does someone over there have some deep seated hatred for SciFi or something that forces them to try and ruin any SciFi show they air by airing them out of order?
MacFarlane did an AMA on reddit over the weekend (two, actually, the first one went sideways and then he came back, more prepared as to what a reddit AMA is expected to entail and rescued it IMO).
One of the questions asked was why he went with Fox and not a streaming service like Netflix and he said it's difficult to get a episodic series green lit now. Streaming services want a coherent story told over the season to encourage binge watching, Seth wanted to make a story of the week series like classic Trek.
Yup, this might actually be the one show Fox doesn't kill by airing it out of order because it's been purposefully designed to be an episodic show with fairly self-contained stories. No arcs, no grand storylines, no epic character evolution - frankly that's one of the things I found most appealing about it, what's great about Trek is you can go back and dip in to almost any season of any of the shows and pick out your favourite episodes or two-parters without feeling like you're missing anything, whereas a lot of more "modern" shows really require you to commit to rewatching at least a whole season. It's nice to see some folk in TV production are willing to put that benefit ahead of their vain desire to make "cinematic" television(for the record: I like serialised, high production value shows as much as anyone, I just dislike that it's completely supplanting episodic shows and that the process is being driven less by the style being objectively superior and more by the ingrained inferiority complex in the TV industry - there's room for both).
I'm quite enjoying it - TOS sensibilities with a TNG aesthetic is a good description, though TBH I think the more heavy-handed LOOK AT BAD THING IT IS BAD-style TOS approach worked a tad better with "big ticket" issues like racism, xenophobia, species-extinction etc compared to "zoos kinda suck huh".
@Yodhrin - we don't know that the Orville won't have storylines or character development. I expect that there will be callbacks and such, just as he does in his other work. Chicken Fight, for example. And I fully expect Flanderization to occur as the writers get a better feel for the characters; OTOH, when we look at TOS or VOY, how much character development did Ensign Harry Kim get? None, right?
Also, WRT Zoos - it wasn't that long ago that we had freakshows and such as human zoos. African pygmies and such were paraded around for the entertainment of others: https://www.rt.com/news/336335-ota-benga-caged-pygmy/
JohnHwangDD wrote: Damn you for jinxing it! Fox aired E3 instead of E2 tonight.
I feel like the best TV show Fox could ever have is an Office style show about a bunch of television network executives who constantly mess up their programming, complete with the show itself being aired out of order and "canceled" at the end of every season
I don't know. I can't get into it. Caught episode 2 3 on Hulu and while it was better than the first episode, the random injections of distracting attempts at humor just aren't resonating with me. I like the dramatic bits enough, but everytime I start getting invested into it there's some gag that gets thrown in my face that just pulls me right out
JohnHwangDD wrote: Sounds like you love the "extra dark & super gritty" Discovery then.
Nothing about Discovery has really peaked my interest but the amusing and predictably banal fan rage over tit for tat details. I don't know if I'll ever watch it. The Orville is just ruined for me every time there's an injection of goofy bits about an old banana or a discussion about colons. Giving me a look at some lizard guys plastic ass sitting on an egg and lecturing a junior about responsibility might be funny in a comedy, but its just jarring to me in a show that is light hearted drama until it decides to insert frat boy humor. I just can't get into it.
Of course people keep making comparisons between The Orville and TOS, and maybe that's part of it cause I was never that much into TOS either. I liked DS9 most, and TNG after that. The bright side though is that this thread got me to go watch Dark Matter which I enjoyed through season one quite a bit
LordofHats wrote: Nothing about Discovery has really peaked my interest but the amusing and predictably banal fan rage over tit for tat details. I don't know if I'll ever watch it. The Orville is just ruined for me every time there's an injection of goofy bits about an old banana or a discussion about colons. Giving me a look at some lizard guys plastic ass sitting on an egg and lecturing a junior about responsibility might be funny in a comedy, but its just jarring to me in a show that is light hearted drama until it decides to insert frat boy humor. I just can't get into it.
While I'm glad that they toned down the slapstick humor in the second episode (once it was clear that the advertising was misleading and that this wouldn't primarily be a comedy), I'm afraid that you'll probably never be happy with the show if you expect it to disappear almost or completely. It is after all a Seth McFarlane show. No harm, no foul though as not every show is for everyone.
Well like I said earlier in thread. Seth is hit and miss for me. I'll watch Family Guy, but only if there's nothing else to watch (same reason I watch Simpsons). I don't really like his movies. I do enjoy American Dad.
So yup. Guess it's just not working. Maybe take another stab after the full season is out and I can watch it back to back.
Watched the second episode. It had more cringe worthy moments from the little security officer than I expected but I really do like the interplay between Seth and the first officer. I think I'll give this it's initial run because I think it might start to really roll along and I want to support that chance. If it doesn't not big deal, not like Fox will let me get to invested
It feels a lot like TNG, but instead of the Enterprise, the show takes place on one of those schmo ships you see in one episode ineffectually patrolling the neutral zone or hauling scrap.
I read the thread first then watched it. Went in expecting little humor and more drama. I was very surprised, I liked it more than I expected.
Voss wrote: I'm watching the first episode now it's a bit... eh. A bit too on the nose, and the characters are all apparently rejects for no apparent reason.
Well the main character was supposed to be one of the most promising captains they had seen in a long time, being fast tracked for a heavy combat cruiser. (I forget the name)
Then he found his wife cheating on him, so that seems like a good reason to have a bit of a breakdown.....
2nd episode was better than the first, but still feeling meh overall. I'll keep watching since there's nothing else on anyway. Hopefully it'll pick up. I was expecting something more like Ted in Space.
My wife and I watched the first episode on Amazon last night and we both enjoyed it. It was stupid and a few of the jokes were a bit to forced but it kind of seems like what I always thought the Federation would be more like.
We may actually buy the entire series on Amazon since we don't have cable.
It's getting a bit too preachy for my tastes already with that SJW theme taking too much of the limelight too soon. Star Trek has always had plenty of social commentary (especially during the TOS 60's) but not so much so fast. Following up the "zoos are cruelty to animals and evil!" episode with a combo "let people determine their own gender!" and "girl power!" episode as the first two after the pilot are laying it on a bit thick.
It's supposed to be Star Trek in all but name, if it wasn't laying the "SJW pinko-lieberal agendur" on feet-thick with a cement mixer I'd be disappointed.
Seriously though, why would anyone who uses "SJW" as a serious descriptive term ever want to watch a show like this? It'd be like me hate-watching Fox News and then acting as if I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to.
Yodhrin wrote: Seriously though, why would anyone who uses "SJW" as a serious descriptive term ever want to watch a show like this? It'd be like me hate-watching Fox News and then acting as if I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to.
Because the world isn't black and white and divided up neatly between fascists and bolsheviks contrary to what modern extremists would have you believe? There is still plenty of middle ground (albeit fast disappearing) between the two extremes that pervade so much of modern society/media for reasonable people to occupy. You can for instance be an animal lover who is against cruelty to animals without diving completely down the PETA rabbithole of equating animals with humans and declaring all zoos to be barbaric equivalents of kidnapping and incarceration.
Yodhrin wrote: Seriously though, why would anyone who uses "SJW" as a serious descriptive term ever want to watch a show like this? It'd be like me hate-watching Fox News and then acting as if I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to.
Because the world isn't black and white and divided up neatly between fascists and bolsheviks contrary to what modern extremists would have you believe? There is still plenty of middle ground (albeit fast disappearing) between the two extremes that pervade so much of modern society/media for reasonable people to occupy. You can for instance be an animal lover who is against cruelty to animals without diving completely down the PETA rabbithole of equating animals with humans and declaring all zoos to be barbaric equivalents of kidnapping and incarceration.
So, you want them to slowly ease in to it? How many episodes do you want them to wait before the political commentary starts? How many is good for you?
Dreadwinter wrote: I read the thread first then watched it. Went in expecting little humor and more drama. I was very surprised, I liked it more than I expected.
Voss wrote: I'm watching the first episode now it's a bit... eh. A bit too on the nose, and the characters are all apparently rejects for no apparent reason.
Well the main character was supposed to be one of the most promising captains they had seen in a long time, being fast tracked for a heavy combat cruiser. (I forget the name)
Then he found his wife cheating on him, so that seems like a good reason to have a bit of a breakdown.....
He was promising. Then he was a screwup for a solid year. That generally torpedos a career permanently. But then, no one in this series actually acts like they're in a military, even the admiral.
Thinking about it, i realize what my problem with the series is. In Star Trek, the characters are clearly from a different culture with different values and society. In this, the characters are anachronisms- they're lower-middle (the pilots) to middle (the captain and first) class Americans simply dropped into space, despite alien species, a global government, space travel and all the other changes, they're just every-day idiots that you have to stand in line behind in McDonalds. There isn't any sense of universe building, or that people and societies change over time. Everyone just acts like the 'bros' Seth MacFarlane knew in college, except the Data and Worf analogs.
Yodhrin wrote: Seriously though, why would anyone who uses "SJW" as a serious descriptive term ever want to watch a show like this? It'd be like me hate-watching Fox News and then acting as if I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to.
Because the world isn't black and white and divided up neatly between fascists and bolsheviks contrary to what modern extremists would have you believe? There is still plenty of middle ground (albeit fast disappearing) between the two extremes that pervade so much of modern society/media for reasonable people to occupy. You can for instance be an animal lover who is against cruelty to animals without diving completely down the PETA rabbithole of equating animals with humans and declaring all zoos to be barbaric equivalents of kidnapping and incarceration.
Zoo's kinda are that though. I mean, I agree, as you'll note if you look up a wee bit, that the zoo thing was heavy handed, but the issue there is more that they used a baseball bat instead of a little tenderizing mallet, not that they weren't hitting the right thing. And it's not as if Trek didn't over-egg the pudding on occasion(or did everyone else actually succeed in forgetting Skants?). Even when they weren't being heavy-handed, they were absolutely being radical in exactly the kind of way you apparently disdain. So again, yeah, this is a case of "you knew what they served when you walked in".
I went in with the lowest of expectations and was pleasantly surprised. If they keep the dumber humor to a relative minimum I can see myself getting into the show. I don't need high art and I won't compare it to the best of TNG, DS9 or SG-1 since we're only three episodes in. That third episode definitely felt Trek-like, at least. Well, except that ending.
Yodhrin wrote: It's supposed to be Star Trek in all but name,
Indeed. The interesting counterpoint is that Discovery is Star Trek in name only. At least, that was my impression from last night's hour-long commercial for CBS' steaming service.
This falls in a very weird place for me. It has interesting enough characters, very high production values/CGI etc and some ok plots.
But man it is just not funny. At all. Almost awkward at times.
Why they didnt strip out the "humour" and just go for a sci fi show I'll not guess at.....
Yep, that last episode was right out of ST. There was an STOS, where a civilization grew up on the planet/ship that was going to hit something or such.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Yeah, the premise has been done before, but the execution was pretty good.
I'm quite happy with the show and will keep watching.
Do you know what was great about Ep4? No equivocation. No "everything is grey" smug-centrist gotcha at the end where doing the right thing has a bad outcome designed to make a virtue of political and ethical apathy. Ignorance is bad, knowledge is good, and when you enlighten the ignorant their lives get better. Christ it's been years since you could turn on a sci-fi show and enjoy that kind of story.
Compared to Star Trek: Shoot First Or I'll Mutiny it's a genuine breath of fresh air.
I don't like the way they opened the dome. Shows a giant lack of care or empathy. I mean going out and explaining the truth and helping to ease people into it is one thing. Ripping the sky open with zero explanation or anyone on the ground to issue assurances it's safe or ok? That's mass panic in the streets is what that is.
AduroT wrote: I don't like the way they opened the dome. Shows a giant lack of care or empathy. I mean going out and explaining the truth and helping to ease people into it is one thing. Ripping the sky open with zero explanation or anyone on the ground to issue assurances it's safe or ok? That's mass panic in the streets is what that is.
And yet it wasn't, because that's the whole point, to for once not take a biblical, cynical, "knowledge is dangerous and will have unintended consequences" line. To present enlightenment as a good in and of itself, and show that enlightenment comes from the truth gained through knowledge of reality rather than clinging desperately to comfortable beliefs. It's not like they didn't foreshadow the necessity of a "show, don't tell" solution either - the initial reaction of the family, the callback to that reaction by the Reformers, the behaviour of the high prophet guy, all are designed to set up the notion for the ending that sometimes people will cling to those old beliefs in the face of almost any evidence short of the most dramatic, emphatic, undeniable proof presented to them with no opportunity to deflect, deny, or avoid.
Frazzled wrote: Yes but they were not the crew of a space ship am I correct?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no... it depends on the characters, episode, and season. Either way, that wasn't a specification in the post I responded to and, technically speaking, the crew of the Babylon 5 space STATION don't meet it either. I get your point though and agree that trek uniforms tend to be for show and less than functional in general but that isn't always the case. The Enterprise show uniforms had plenty of pockets with zippers even for those unexpected zero g situations.
As a side note, that is a horrible art print I spoilered above where Archer is just cut and pasted from a normal pic with obvious edges. I don't know who the hell would pay $35 for that (along with a print of the nx-01).
AduroT wrote: I don't like the way they opened the dome. Shows a giant lack of care or empathy. I mean going out and explaining the truth and helping to ease people into it is one thing. Ripping the sky open with zero explanation or anyone on the ground to issue assurances it's safe or ok? That's mass panic in the streets is what that is.
They were fanatics man. They were willing to murder people because they thought there was more to the universe. They were not going to listen to reason and waiting would have put more of these aliens at risk of being murdered by them. Ripping the band-aid off was pretty much the only solution they had here.
AduroT wrote: I don't like the way they opened the dome. Shows a giant lack of care or empathy. I mean going out and explaining the truth and helping to ease people into it is one thing. Ripping the sky open with zero explanation or anyone on the ground to issue assurances it's safe or ok? That's mass panic in the streets is what that is.
Their beliefs were not only holding them back, but directly putting them in harm's way.
No beliefs need protecting that strongly.
I didn't say protect the beliefs. I said take a slower approach than starting Armageddon. It was six months until that ship was in danger. You've got time to bring in additional people and handle the thing with more nuance and care than litterally ripping the sky above wide open. That's biblical end times stuff that would lead to rioting in the streets and mass panic and more deaths. They already showed the socicety reacted violently to the idea their beliefs were wrong. Now you've got God bringing the end of the world because you tolerated the non-believers, you better kill them all immediately to appease Him before He wipes everyone out.
AduroT wrote: I didn't say protect the beliefs. I said take a slower approach than starting Armageddon. It was six months until that ship was in danger. You've got time to bring in additional people and handle the thing with more nuance and care than litterally ripping the sky above wide open. That's biblical end times stuff that would lead to rioting in the streets and mass panic and more deaths. They already showed the socicety reacted violently to the idea their beliefs were wrong. Now you've got God bringing the end of the world because you tolerated the non-believers, you better kill them all immediately to appease Him before He wipes everyone out.
These people were actively killing others. Why would they wait it out?
Frazzled wrote: Guys... Chill. It was just done for a cool effect.
I don't think anybody is freaking out about it. Just sayin', they did it to prevent more loss of life, at least that is what I took from it. That and apparently they had a pretty big CGI budget. Gotta use dat money, people need jobs! Gotta eat!
Enjoying this show far more than I expected. I think the initial marketing pushed it as a comedy, but its really not. It's a Star Trek series by a longtime Star Trek fan who couldn't get the license.
Ctaylor wrote: Enjoying this show far more than I expected. I think the initial marketing pushed it as a comedy, but its really not. It's a Star Trek series by a longtime Star Trek fan who couldn't get the license.
yes. To be true STOS it needs more fist fights and babes though.
Ctaylor wrote: Enjoying this show far more than I expected. I think the initial marketing pushed it as a comedy, but its really not. It's a Star Trek series by a longtime Star Trek fan who couldn't get the license.
yes. To be true STOS it needs more fist fights and babes though.
Green babes... I've got 'Orville' set up for Series Record. I'm digging it.
LOLOL, when I was wee everyone in my group of pals referred to that move as "double-fisting" - that was a seriously uncomfortable meeting with the school guidance councillors
Finally.. an episode of Orville that was just normal scifi and not prioritizing preaching at the audience like the first four but rather focusing on entertaining them instead. It frankly was going to be make or break for me with this week (I was going to call it quits after last week but the Charlize Theron preview piqued my interest). Next week looks good too.
That final workplace prank was WAY better than encasing someone's stuff in Jello.
Next week is a straight TOS callback to Kirk as a Romulan.
Speaking of Kirk, looks like on the Orville, they know how to actually fight. Previewed by Alara, and then shown by Kelly. No bad double-fist strikes or roll-throws from the ground.
warboss wrote: Yup... there's decidedly NOT a lady like beat down at one point straight out of MMA.
The only thing that would have made it better is if Kelly's opponent had started with the Kirk moves. I would have died, because those moves would get your ass beat bad in an actual fight.
I'm a bit tired of the phrase already personally. Maybe it was hearing it over and over in the trailers (where I liked it) as well as in the first episode (also liked it since it was the same scene) but it's a bit stale the third time around. It'd be like if Picard told Wesley to shut up every episode.. it would take away from the gravitas of the statement after a while. I'd prefer if they'd vary it up a bit like if he told here to instead loosen the screw or move the couch or somesuch. YMMV.
Dude, it's 3 times out of 5 episodes. As catchphrases go, it's not the most annoying. But knowing Seth, we're going to hear it often enough that it'll be funny by the end of the season.
Knowing Seth opening a jar of pickles will become an essential plot element at some point with plenty of 'noooooooooo' when the lid fails to pop in time
I've seen the first four episodes and actually really like it! I was worried with all the college humor, but I have this theory that Mcfarlane just really, really wanted to make and star in a Star Trek series, and so he snuck in a legitimate not-Trek series with the humor as a smokescreen because the humor part of it was probably what got it the initial greenlight with Fox, with the serious stuff getting snuck in as the show goes.
Sure, there's a bunch of penis jokes, but underneath is a good old fashioned episodic space show, and frankly modern pop-culture and it's impact on, well, everything has changed since TNG.
I mean seriously, if I want hardcore sci-fi, I just watch the Expanse. But sometimes I want that simple Stargate SG-1 feeling, which the episode with the generational ship made a good effort of being.
I gave the second episode a try, I made it through 3 minutes and went a did something else. I just can't see where the shows coming from. It's not funny enough to be a comedy and too camp to be taken seriously.
I don't love it, but I do love how he essentially said, "Alright, I'll just make my own version of TNG." The episodes have improved since the beginning and it makes me extremely frustrated that Paramount went with Discovery over a show set in the prime timeline in the style of TNG.
Orville is on tonight in the US in case anyone needs a reminder. Also, fraz, I posted over in the discovery thread a link to a newer article that says season 2 isn't confirmed yet for discotrek...not sure which is true.
Another good episode last night that entertained with an underlying message rather than primarily lecturing at the audience. I also thought the jokes hit much more than in previous episodes although it was laid down a bit too thick while on the enemy ship.
I was a bit surprised they didn't make an Enterprise rentacar joke instead somewhere (not mentioning the name but maybe the "we'll pick you up" motto).
warboss wrote: I was a bit surprised they didn't make an Enterprise rentacar joke instead somewhere (not mentioning the name but maybe the "we'll pick you up" motto).
Episode was awesome. And the humor hit the mark extremely well on this one. So far it's building strength quite well. It's one of the shows I don't miss each week.
Yeah, it's crazy how good the show is if you like TOS and/or TNG. And it's only 6 episodes in. Really solid writing with a lot of great hooks and characters to explore!
Not gonna lie, but I really hope that Krill woman recurs as the Orville's not-Seven.
An episode that visits a society that has essentially replaced legal courts with Twitter... I did see the ending coming, but it was still well crafted.
This was really reminiscent of all those episodes of Trek where they'd go to 20th century/Parallel Earth and be amazed at the 'barbarity' of it, but updated for the 21st century. I'm glad it's not just episodes filled with spaceship combat, forehead aliens and lasers every week - some of my favourite Trek episodes are the slightly more off-beat ones in fairly mundane settings. It was also good to see an episode where more of the crew got to do something rather than it just being centrally about Mercer. Reminds me of a lot of TNG episodes where Picard would be still be on the ship making decisions but most of the screen time would be on someone like Geordi or Troi. John has been the crew member we've seen the least of so far in terms of personality too.
The episode works very well, actually, both as a superficial commentary on social media, and also a commentary on democracy as a whole. I liked that Mercer to had a comment about representatives and change. Very subtle.
Considering that the DNC Chair yesterday claimed that the Electoral College wasn't enshrined in the Constitution, the episode is even more timely.
JohnHwangDD wrote: The episode works very well, actually, both as a superficial commentary on social media, and also a commentary on democracy as a whole. I liked that Mercer to had a comment about representatives and change. Very subtle.
Considering that the DNC Chair yesterday claimed that the Electoral College wasn't enshrined in the Constitution, the episode is even more timely.
You'd hope that the kind of representation he was referring to was your basic "vote for politicians" kind rather than the somewhat ludicrous Electoral College which can actively subvert democracy - if they're evolved enough socially to recognise how weird and primitive capitalism is you'd think the Union would have Proportional Representation. Besides which, I "read" the episode less as a criticism of direct democracy than as a criticism of absolute direct democracy, and mostly of defining what's factual by majority will rather than a rational, verifiable, repeatable process, with a few easy shots at the pile-on culture of social media.
That episode reminded me of the first black mirror episode so much. I'd almost say there is a pretty direct influence present. So it's far from an original idea to do this, but it was executed well enough...solid episode.
Having reflected on this episode for a few days, and watching a few reviews online, I have been thinking about the society depicted. This in no way impacts on how good i think the episode is, but I did end up thinking: What's the point of up votes? It seemed like all the tallying and judgement was based on the down vote system and I'm not sure what, if anything, anyone was getting out of being upvoted.
Secondly, would there be any sort of reduction in downvotes ever? Let's say that someone did go through what John went through and ended up 4 votes away from a lobotomy... would you really be able to go the rest of your life without getting those 4 votes? What if someone recognised you from the video? There seemed to be an arbitrary time limit for the 'correction' votes, but what happens then?
Lastly, how could government work in such a society? Can you imagine an election like the last US one, with two historically unpopular candidates? There's no way either of them are lasting a day without getting millions of downvotes.
And it's easy to say "oh, well they have direct democracy, so there's no need for government", but then you get into the questions of: who organises the legal system we see? Who appointed the publicity officer? Who books the apology tours? Who maintains the 'correction' facility? Who is in charge of issuing the badges? Who pays the cops' salaries?
As I say, this doesn't take away from the quality of the episode as it still got the points across that it was trying to make.
Riquende wrote: Secondly, would there be any sort of reduction in downvotes ever? Let's say that someone did go through what John went through and ended up 4 votes away from a lobotomy... would you really be able to go the rest of your life without getting those 4 votes? What if someone recognised you from the video? There seemed to be an arbitrary time limit for the 'correction' votes, but what happens then?
According to the episode, the 10 mill downvotes to get lobotomized had to happen specifically within the time limit of the publicity tour. Afterwards, judging from the "500k downvotes, no service" sign, the person would suffer lifelong discrimination.
And it's easy to say "oh, well they have direct democracy, so there's no need for government", but then you get into the questions of: who organises the legal system we see? Who appointed the publicity officer? Who books the apology tours? Who maintains the 'correction' facility? Who is in charge of issuing the badges? Who pays the cops' salaries?
My guess is that most of your above questions are actually answered by your own earlier question about what the purpose of upvotes is. Applying for a job and you and the other applicant have the same education level, experience, and number of downvotes? The person with the most upvotes gets it. It would act as a major positive factor to consider in career/life advancement. As for salaries, they likely still have some form of taxes since they operate on a monetary currency in an apparently capitalist society. You would just have to be *VERY* careful as a politician when proposing to increase taxes...
Woo! Renewed for season 2. Honestly I'm surprised, I genuinely thought Fox would...well, be Fox, cancelling scifi shows after the first season(usually after mangling the running order and/or timeslot) is almost tradition at this point.
Good to know there's still going to be a Star Trek show on TV for at least one more year.
The Orville is a breakout hit for Fox, with really good numbers for the slot. Plus, Fox owns it, so any secondary sales go directly into their pocket. After gaining viewers last week, renewal was basically guaranteed.
Yodhrin wrote: Woo! Renewed for season 2. Honestly I'm surprised, I genuinely thought Fox would...well, be Fox, cancelling scifi shows after the first season(usually after mangling the running order and/or timeslot) is almost tradition at this point.
Good to know there's still going to be a Star Trek show on TV for at least one more year.
And a cool episode tonight to boot. One of my favourite things about the show is the soundtrack, I've caught myself humming the main theme a few times, but the in-show stuff was great this time as well, at times echoing the more punchy TOS style.
The dialogue was brilliant as well, from the unintended(on his part) humour of Isaac("The game is never to be spoken of again.", and "I would surmise that their intent was to consume you." had me in fething stitches) to the doc actually bothering to reinforce to her kid that he should only use the stun setting because they value life regardless of their desperate situation dealing with an opponent who clearly didn't.
That's good news about the renewal. It just changed time slots which is usually a bad sign. Just watched the episode about downvoting people to death and thought it was the best one yet. That's the kind of social commentary episode that Star Trek couldn't do anymore because it's all "gritty" now.
I haven't seen the end of the recent episode yet but it's entertaining enough - 'shuttle crash' is yet another well-plowed Trek episode type but I'm pleased to see a lot of focus on Isaac (and it seems he's basically playing out a Data episode by himself). The feel of this so far (10 minutes to go, damn having to leave for work) is that it could be lifted directly from DS9.
I loved the inclusion of the soy sauce spill in the damage report. "He put that in a damage report? We've got to get better people" I like the repeated highlighting of how the crew don't necessarily understand the ship, or at times their particular job. It makes it seem more like a real place of work, where everybody knows at least someone who is extremely unprofessional, or goofs off continuously, or is horribly over-promoted, or similar. As much as I like TNG, it represented an at-times-painful view of a perfect human society where everybody was professional, cultured and competent at whatever they needed to do (unless it's Troi having to command/pilot/anything).
Also, I'm really enjoying Bortus' deadpan delivery being included in the comedic exchanges.
"At the academy we called it a glory hole"
"No YOU called it a glory hole. Nobody else called it a glory hole"
"Preparing to enter the glory hole"
Ehhh, not sure I agree about TNG. That's certainly the perception people have of it, but there were occasional forays into crew incompetence in the show, it's just that they were usually presented in a very "psychotherapist's couch" kind of tone where the flaw was an opportunity for everyone involved to better themselves that little bit more, rather than as punchlines in and of themselves. Barclay being a prime example.
Not that there's anything wrong with the latter per se, I like Orville plenty, but I think TNG gets an unfair rap because of the whole "professors in space/no overt petty interpersonal soapy-drama" thing - it wasn't so much presenting flawless individuals as it was presenting individuals who'd learned to manage and overcome their flaws in a way we can't yet. That certainly made them seem a bit alien to modern experience on occasion, often moreso than the rubber forehead of the week, but that was kind of the point.
Nah. Picard always has the biggest stick up his ass. That's why you need Q and Troi's mom to come by and make things interesting. Otherwise, bring AF, and totally unlike any RL group.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Nah. Picard always has the biggest stick up his ass. That's why you need Q and Troi's mom to come by and make things interesting. Otherwise, bring AF, and totally unlike any RL group.
Picard is one character in an ensemble show, and regardless isn't perfect by any means - his issues with kids, his problems with his family, the fallout from his Borgification etc. Just because characters aren't hurling themselves about the place sobbing and chewing the scenery doesn't mean they're boring IMO.
And again, they're not supposed to be like an RL group, that's the whole point, they're supposed to be what we could be if we weren't collectively such self-absorbed petty arseholes.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Nah. Picard always has the biggest stick up his ass. That's why you need Q and Troi's mom to come by and make things interesting. Otherwise, bring AF, and totally unlike any RL group.
Picard is one character in an ensemble show, and regardless isn't perfect by any means - his issues with kids, his problems with his family, the fallout from his Borgification etc. Just because characters aren't hurling themselves about the place sobbing and chewing the scenery doesn't mean they're boring IMO.
And again, they're not supposed to be like an RL group, that's the whole point, they're supposed to be what we could be if we weren't collectively such self-absorbed petty arseholes.
Only in a waspy Stepford Wife wealthy 1950s Protestant sort of way. TNG characters did not develop a personality until Roddenberry lost control. Even then they were mostly a bunch of arrogant elitist types who did nothing but have cocktail parties. That of course doesn't even begin to bring in the abomination that was Wesley (in reality the Borg only came to Earth to stop the Cacodemon that was Crusher from destroying the universe). Picard became better later but was still stuck up about it. Obrien was the only actual human on that ship, and he jumped as soon as he could to DS9.
FYI, when the Orville took a break a couple weeks ago, they re-aired the pilot, and I watched it again. IMO, it's arguably better the 2nd time around, after you've gotten to know the characters and show a bit better, and can appreciate just how much ground the pilot had to cover. If you were to catch up to ep.7 and then re-watch the pilot, all of the little introductions just "fit" together, and you can see the character development. That's why I say it's good for a series pilot episode.
I caught the latest episode this morning. There are elements of 'The Naked Now' mixed in with a pretty standard diplomatic mission over a disputed colony. It didn't amaze me in any way but it felt like a solid TNG bottle episode. It was good to get the focus back on Mercer as we've been around the crew for the last few episodes (not a bad thing but the captain is the focus of the show really).
The resolution was a bit rushed and silly but beyond that nothing to complain about. It took me a second to recognise Rob Lowe under all the makeup (even with that jaw line), but I instantly heard Cleveland in the elevator.
There was also a nice continuation of Bortus' "I would sing' line from Majority Rule as he is called up to do karaoke.
The Orville just redeemed both Amok Time *and* The Naked Now, something that I never would have imagined possible when I watched them way back when.
Thing is, this episode only works because of ALL of the character development that's been done leading up to this, starting in Ep.1. It really pulls the previous character development pieces together across the entire crew in very satisfying ways.
JohnHwangDD wrote: The Orville just redeemed both Amok Time *and* The Naked Now, something that I never would have imagined possible when I watched them way back when.
Thing is, this episode only works because of ALL of the character development that's been done leading up to this, starting in Ep.1. It really pulls the previous character development pieces together across the entire crew in very satisfying ways.
JohnHwangDD wrote: The Orville just redeemed both Amok Time *and* The Naked Now, something that I never would have imagined possible when I watched them way back when.
Thing is, this episode only works because of ALL of the character development that's been done leading up to this, starting in Ep.1. It really pulls the previous character development pieces together across the entire crew in very satisfying ways.
Using Rob Lowe was just excellent casting there.
I loved the elevator scenes...
Yeah, the elevator scenes built up really well. That's some very solid writing.
"I think he's into Darulio"
"Do you mean the captain has entered him in some way?"
"Not yet"
One thing I just noticed when rewatching a few scenes was the engine thrum. Years ago when I was plowing through TNG with my ex, she complained when I hooked speakers up to the TV as the enhanced bass gave all the ship scenes an unmistakable rumble. I know we've had a few episodes in a row that weren't ship-centric but I really noticed it here, adding to the sense of nostalgia.
The trailer for next week's makes it look like we're either getting horror or some sort of malevolent godlike entity. My money would be on the latter given it's more of a Trek trope.
Honestly, wasn't a huge fan of the latest one. It wasn't bad or anything, I didn't regret watching it, but honestly I liked that they were just about getting to the stage where Mercer & Grayson were moving past the whole marriage thing and now they've both spent a whole episode rehashing that and chucked a big hand-grenade into that plotline with the whole "heat" nonsense.
It also seems like a missed opportunity, given all of the modern social commentary the show's been getting up to, to have an episode featuring and alien who can make people fall for them utterly with a mere touch and seemingly zero moral issues with that fact and not having any kind of discussion around the concept of consent, particularly given the other-than-that-one-gellatinous-punchline-scene pointless sub-plot with the Doc, seems like a waste.
I also actually would have liked to see more of the "stock TNG diplomacy episode" subplot, those aliens were really well designed and right at the beginning of the show it was a rare opportunity to show that actually, yeah, Mercer is a pretty competent guy who did deserve to be given that second chance after his personal issues - it would have been good to see that expanded on and have the crew actually solve the conflict with diplomacy rather than just dosing the two delegates with alien feth juice.
I will go on record as saying that Bortus is quietly becoming my favourite character. He's the straight man in so many of the comedic exchanges it's become unreal. He's hardly original, he's essentially Stargate's Teal'c with forehead ridges mixed with a touch of Worf (tough, slightly out of touch with the humans around him) and a shade of Spock. With eggs.
Having said that, I can't now think of any character I dislike (maybe LaMarr for his exemplar-idiocy in Majority Rule). The show has worked so hard to get me onside and I appreciate it. Seth MacFarlane has put an incredible amount of effort into this, it's a damn shame that this isn't a canonical Trek series about the adventures of the USS Chris Christie exploring the nether regions of the beta quadrant in the middle of the Dominion war.
Bortus is a great straight man, and the matter-of-factness is great. Like him sitting on the egg. Or eating the stuff. Comedy gold.
Pretty much all of the characters are written very earnestly and sympathetically, which is part of the appeal. I love how all of the little interactions build up.
Yodhrin wrote: It also seems like a missed opportunity, given all of the modern social commentary the show's been getting up to, to have an episode featuring and alien who can make people fall for them utterly with a mere touch and seemingly zero moral issues with that fact and not having any kind of discussion around the concept of consent
I will go on record as saying that Bortus is quietly becoming my favourite character. He's the straight man in so many of the comedic exchanges it's become unreal. He's hardly original, he's essentially Stargate's Teal'c with forehead ridges mixed with a touch of Worf (tough, slightly out of touch with the humans around him) and a shade of Spock. With eggs.
I've been playing around with video editing at work recently, and also somehow been accumulating Orville episodes on my PC. I think I'm going to make a 'Best of Bortus' megamix and upload it so Fox can sue me.
Riquende wrote: I've been playing around with video editing at work recently, and also somehow been accumulating Orville episodes on my PC. I think I'm going to make a 'Best of Bortus' megamix and upload it so Fox can sue me.
And now I want to see one of those dubstep remixes that uses Bortus vocal samples and has "YOU WILL BE SILENT!" followed by a slight pause right before the big gnarly drop
Yodhrin wrote: It also seems like a missed opportunity, given all of the modern social commentary the show's been getting up to, to have an episode featuring and alien who can make people fall for them utterly with a mere touch and seemingly zero moral issues with that fact and not having any kind of discussion around the concept of consent
That's fair.
Actually, it was very important episode in the character development of First Officer Grayson. Despite the fact she is a likable person she will
always have that one great betrayal in her backstory that makes her dislikable. This episode shed new light on that. Now one could argue that it's actually dumbing down what was previously a complex grey area of social interaction between Mercer and her but perhaps we've already got everything we can from that and it's time to move into a phase we're we just really root for this crew now, which I'm fine with.
Mercer was used very well as counterpoint to Grayson, where he completely abandoned his original course of action, even as a war was forming around him.
Then again with Yahpit & Claire.
Then the 3rd time for the Ambassadors, completing the Rule of 3 for "Make Love not War".
The writing in this episode is exceptionally good.
On the one hand, the humor was organic and infectious. The actors had charisma, the aliens were memorable, the effects top notch and the pace was spot on.
On the other hand, all that rape.
I've never seen Star Trek solve a problem of the week with two counts of rape before. Never wanted to, either.
Glad they found a way last week to maybe explain what caused the exec to cheat. Nothing in her character in the show points to that being in her personality and this also helps clear the air with the captain.
"There is an alligator in the cargo bay. I have successfully crushed it with a chair"
"Where did it come from?"
"I do not know. Regardless, it is crushed."
Good episode overall. Once again it's fun to work out which Trek episodes this draws from; there's certainly the 'weird mystery on the ship the crew needs to solve' thing going on, and whilst it was intentional there were elements of holodeck malfunction. The one problem with episodes like this is that as they go on you realise that there's a big reset button push coming (Nurse Park being killed wouldn't have been enough, but there's no way they could have Dr Finn be the killer, and when Malloy was eaten that was it).
Yeah, Bortus crushed it this episode. And Crazy Doc? *lifts eyebrow* Intriguing.
The ending was given away a little to early, but otherwise a great "What's going on?" episode. The moody lighting and music worked perfectly. The clown was too much for my wife.
Ep11. was brilliant, "the rapeisode" as a pal dubbed it is forgiven, there was a wee bit of everything in this one. The brief, matter-of-fact asides about money/economics/ambition; the slightly ludicrous but interesting take on a classic scientific thought experiment; technobabble out the arse; people solving their issues in rational ways(eventually) and ending up all the better for it; and hell, even most of the jokes landed(I for reals just about woke up my neighbours with Isaac's reaction to the "bridge pet" scene). Even the 90's lookin' primary coloured effects for "flatland" were a nice hit of TNG nostalgia.
Also, the alien captain prosthetic was excellent and had a full-on Space Precinct vibe to it. Knowing who's in charge of the show I can even believe that was intentional - top marks, Orville continues to be more Star Trek than Star Trek(at least the one presently airing). So glad it got renewed.
Yeah, very satisfying B-plot and discussion of what leadership is. The way it was written, it very well could have been the season finale. I particularly liked John's commanding speech in the shuttle for it's dramatic irony. The writing is so good.
That could have been a Voyager episode with the names changed. Over-reliance on the word 'quantum' to solve any tech problem (which I think was even called out by Clare) and a few characters pulling "in theory the brand new idea that nobody's ever thought of should work" from their behinds (god I hated Torres for that). Even the Mercer/LaMarr shuttle trip was reminiscent of the one Janeway and Torres took when Janeway was deciding on who should be chief engineer. This is literally Parallax but without all the stupid.
Anyway, despite that, I liked it, moreso for the further character development across the crew and the amazing visuals (also the music during the 'flatland' sequence was noticeably epic, sort of brought The Motion Picture to mind). The smuggler captain was very well realised too. I'm disappointed that there wasn't much in the way of Bortus comedy though. I don't think there was much in the way of humour overall aside from the cat on the bridge part.
Edit - special mention for the return of Lt. Dan. "Did somebody say pancakes?"
Edit 2 - "Were the plants watered? Do we have a plant guy?"
So 11 of 12 episodes down and not a stinker in there for me. Certainly some are better than others but the very weakest episodes have still been fun and very watchable. I reckon we'll get a cliffhanger next week (as episode 13 has now been moved back to season 2). I assume it'll be something Krill related.
Had the solution come from one of Claire's annoying kids, you'd have said it could have been one of many TNG episodes wherein Wesley saves the day.
The character development was really good double compare/contrast in who gets promoted, and why, and what it should mean. It also had something to say about networking and professional relationships.
I wonder if Isaac will ultimately get the cat and name him Spot. That would be very satisfying next season.
I wonder if John will suffer an eye injury that requires him to wear some kind of special glasses. That would also be very satisfying.
Oh, yeah, the Bortus comedy was off the bat with Yaphit. OMG. I was dying.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Had the solution come from one of Claire's annoying kids
You know, I don't actually find them that annoying.
I think the blunt treatment they get from Isaac goes a long way to making them less irritating - half the annoyance of "kidisodes" in TNG was from the way the adults often indulged them, where here they get treated like, you know, kids. 80's post-hippie ideas about childcare and childhood agency might have gone a tad far in the opposite direction from "just beat them".
Riquende wrote: I've been playing around with video editing at work recently, and also somehow been accumulating Orville episodes on my PC. I think I'm going to make a 'Best of Bortus' megamix and upload it so Fox can sue me.
So the episode itself - certainly has strong overtones of Who Watches the Watchers but with its own timey-wimey (sorry) rankle. I liked that the episode took a brief stab at how religions start and evolve but felt there was a lot more to say on that - it was all lightly touched on in the last 5 minutes, and that combined with the 'just use Isaac' plan meant that main plot didn't really feel like it resolved, just more stopped. It would be nice if it had noticeably affected Isaac in some way, it was weird he took great pains to say this was no big deal for him as that also worked to cheapen the ending.
Still, the Ed/Kelly dynamic was more satisfying and dealt with well. I think I've mentioned before that the Orville has done so much to create a generally likeable crew that even when their main adventures are less than brilliant, seeing their interpersonal relationships develop keeps most episodes afloat.
The episode itself is very similar to one that aired on Voyager - itself, one of the better Voyager episodes.
Also, all Orville stories tend to resolve very quickly, with a rather extended buildup to where you wonder how they'll end it, then BAM!, it's done. Pretty much all Orville episodes have this sort of pacing with very brief third acts.
Using Isaac was actually very sensible vs sending Kelly.
JohnHwangDD wrote: The episode itself is very similar to one that aired on Voyager - itself, one of the better Voyager episodes.
Also, all Orville stories tend to resolve very quickly, with a rather extended buildup to where you wonder how they'll end it, then BAM!, it's done. Pretty much all Orville episodes have this sort of pacing with very brief third acts.
Using Isaac was actually very sensible vs sending Kelly.
I kinda like it tbh. They're not trying for some big, agonising, is-it-or-isn't-it climax, they spend the plot setting out the problem, in so doing walk you through the logic of the solution, and then solve the problem. No DS9-style handwringing to make absolutely sure the audience don't think they might be in any way slighting organised religion/capitalism/whatever sacred cow of modernity the story pitch might have originally been critical of, just the obvious conclusion playing out as it should.
Too much modern storytelling is based on twists for their own sake IMO.
The pacing is slightly different from other similar shows, and I can feel it. I notice I get kinda antsy around X:45, as a regular show would have already started the 3rd act, where the Orville is still building.
Wee bit of news has come up from a Q&A panel, some bad, some good, some great.
The bad news is Season 2 looks like being delayed into early 2019, the good news is why - they've got an expanded episode order, at least 14 episodes this time. MacFarlane said not to expect a whole lot more than that since they're aiming to avoid filler episodes, but a handful of extras is nice anyway.
The great news, IMO anyway, is they look to be focusing the tone of the show more towards the sci-fi drama side of things than the comedy side going forward. It'll still have that aspect to it, but they're aiming to make it more a natural part of otherwise "serious" stories rather than feeling like they have to crack out a certain number of jokes-per-page in the scripts. A solid decision I think, since the show's humour tended to be at its best for my money when it was deadpan asides or brief B-plot scenes.
There are so many things I want this show to do. I heard a rumour that Patrick Stewart was lined up for an episode, it would be great (if self-indulgent) to do one with him and Shatner as two rival veteran captains taking on one last mission (a bit like the Kor, Kang and Koloth DS9 episode).
.
I tried watching this, made it through several episodes, and it's just not working for me.
It's got too much Trek parody to work with the handful of serious elements (like the Krill or the greater Union background) theyve clearly put a lot of effort into building, too much slapstick to take any action seriously, and is far too "in your face" preachy to enjoy as an offbrand Trek clone (to be fair, ST did that at some points...but did so when it was actually edgy to do so).
I like some elements of it, the world building clearly had some good effort and thought put into it, but it really does come off as Store Brand economy-choice Star Trek with an unhealthy dose of self righteousness layered in awkwardly executed slapstick.
TL;DR it's about what you'd expect from a budget Trek parody from the people that brought you Family Guy.
Sometimes I think I must have come from a parallel universe where Star Trek was one of the most political and aggressively "preachy" shows ever put on TV, because I keep running into folk who seem to have watched an entirely different show to me.
Vaktathi wrote: I tried watching this, made it through several episodes, and it's just not working for me.
Fair enough. Like most shows I feel its pilot and first few episodes don't do a great job of advertising the show. I watched 1-4 together as I missed the start and it did enough for me, I thought Pria was a bit tame and Krill was decent enough, but when it came back after a week off with Majority Rule it really hit its stride and had a very strong run to the finish.
It's got a good following so I hope season 2 is at least a continuation of the quality so far, and if it somehow steps up a gear then we're looking at something really special. It's throwback TV but in the best possible sense.
Vaktathi wrote: I tried watching this, made it through several episodes, and it's just not working for me.
It's got too much Trek parody
Fair enough, but it's not a parody of any sort, at least, if you know how "parody" is actually defined. It's not for everyone, and that's OK. But seeing it as a Trek parody misses a lot of what makes the show enjoyable.
Compel wrote: Its only recently started airing in the UK and yeah, parody doesn't fit at all. - Galaxy Quest is a parody.
Orville is more like "Star Trek with normal people."
This is how I describe it. Star Trek with everyone acting like real people rather than a bunch of perfect people with some screw ups tossed in so that some story arcs work.
I have enjoyed it a lot, took a couple episodes to find its stride but honestly most shows do, go watch the first couple episodes of ST:TNG if you have any doubts.
Compel wrote: Its only recently started airing in the UK and yeah, parody doesn't fit at all. - Galaxy Quest is a parody.
Orville is more like "Star Trek with normal people."
This is how I describe it. Star Trek with everyone acting like real people rather than a bunch of perfect people with some screw ups tossed in so that some story arcs work.
I have enjoyed it a lot, took a couple episodes to find its stride but honestly most shows do, go watch the first couple episodes of ST:TNG if you have any doubts.
Yup. TNG is my favourite Trek, and I think people often overstate how bad the first couple of seasons were, but they were definitely rougher than later seasons and they had the worst good:filler:stinker ratio by far. Orville already looks to be doing better in that regard.
Very interested to see how they handle season 2. Even with all of its flaws it was more Star Trek than the Star Trek we had this past year. One thing I've been tracking is the audience reaction to The Orville vs. Star Trek: Discovery.
Rotten Tomatoes:
Facebook:
It has a far better audience reaction on Rotten Tomatoes than Discovery and has recently overtaken Discovery with the number of 'Likes' it has on Facebook. Discovery just started airing new episodes so we'll see if that changes anything since we won't get any new Orville till late this year.
Compel wrote: Its only recently started airing in the UK and yeah, parody doesn't fit at all. - Galaxy Quest is a parody.
Orville is more like "Star Trek with normal people."
This is how I describe it. Star Trek with everyone acting like real people rather than a bunch of perfect people with some screw ups tossed in so that some story arcs work.
I have enjoyed it a lot, took a couple episodes to find its stride but honestly most shows do, go watch the first couple episodes of ST:TNG if you have any doubts.
AKA "normal people".
When I talk to ex-military, the behavior on the Orville is highly consistent with things that they've seen. The only really miss is language - RW military language would never hit the air.
Compel wrote: Its only recently started airing in the UK and yeah, parody doesn't fit at all. - Galaxy Quest is a parody.
Orville is more like "Star Trek with normal people."
This is how I describe it. Star Trek with everyone acting like real people rather than a bunch of perfect people with some screw ups tossed in so that some story arcs work.
I have enjoyed it a lot, took a couple episodes to find its stride but honestly most shows do, go watch the first couple episodes of ST:TNG if you have any doubts.
I think that is a very accurate description. Like when they were watching reruns of old Fox shows on the viewscreen. That was funny but felt real!
Anyways the Orville is way better at being Star Trek than STD.
'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)', now we're talking! 
