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You're welcome.

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.

I wanted to hear Borgus sing!

But yeah, totally knew the results of that dna test from the moment they said there would be one.

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...

 AduroT wrote:
I wanted to hear Borgus sing!

But yeah, totally knew the results of that dna test from the moment they said there would be one.

Not the 'Titanic' theme! Nope, nope, nope... 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)', now we're talking!

 Frazzled wrote:

 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.

 BigWaaagh wrote:

 AduroT wrote:
I wanted to hear Borgus sing!

But yeah, totally knew the results of that dna test from the moment they said there would be one.

Not the 'Titanic' theme! Nope, nope, nope... 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)', now we're talking!

YOU WILL BE SILENT!

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 BigWaaagh wrote:

 AduroT wrote:
I wanted to hear Borgus sing!

But yeah, totally knew the results of that dna test from the moment they said there would be one.

Not the 'Titanic' theme! Nope, nope, nope... 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)', now we're talking!

YOU WILL BE SILENT!

The show bores the wife to tears but she busted out in laughter at that.

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 thought the checkup was good, too. With the complaint about a lack of "relations".

The TNG solution would have been boring AF to watch, though. Like Carter at Camp David.

Watching everything going to hell was hysterical.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:


YOU WILL BE SILENT!

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

That's fair.

 Riquende wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:


YOU WILL BE SILENT!

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.

Now entering the Glory Hole.

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

 kronk wrote:
Thanks, John.

Hey, head's up - whatever you do, do NOT watch Ep. 9 without watching ALL of the previous episodes.

The jokes and such just won't work without the setup in the previous episodes.

 Riquende wrote:

 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.

Can't say I liked that episode.

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.

Hopefully tonight's episode was more to your liking. I certainly enjoyed it - really good character episode.

That was quite good. A bit surreal, but Bortas got what, four deadpans in there? Worth it.

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.

 Yodhrin wrote:
That was quite good. A bit surreal, but Bortas got what, four deadpans in there? Worth it.

And Isaac!

"Please enunciate"

"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.