Seth McFarlane's "The Orville"

[Dark Raven]

The Orville season 2 trailer looks good. It's marketed more like a classic adventure series now than the way the pilot was pitched, which was more like a straight-up comedy.

But December 30 is ages away. That's practically next year. Well, two days short of next year. Why is it coming back so late?

 

[Dark Raven]

So with the Orville returning in only a few weeks, it seems the rumours are true that we'll be getting less of Halston Sage:

What To Expect In Season 2 of ‘The Orville’

10 Things To Know About ‘The Orville’ Season 2

I don't know if that means they're phasing her out and replacing her with a new security officer. I hope not.

 

[Teelie]

As it turns out the rumor was sort of true for the wrong reasons.

Sadly though, it doesn’t look like she’ll be in many episodes of The Orville Season 2 due to the fact that Sage was filming Netflix’s The Last Summer around the same time new episodes were being shot. Additionally, it’s been rumoured that Jessica Szohr’s new character, a fellow Xelayan named Tala, will be taking over as the ship’s Security Officer.

 

[terry78]

Ah well.

 

[sueb1863]

Glad to see that they've settled into a more even tone of action with comic elements. I think the first season was a bit rough in places as they tried to decide if they were a comedy show with action or an action show with comedy. I think the second approach will work better.

 

[Dark Raven]

Looks like we have 2 episodes of the Orville in the next week. One on Sunday night, and then one on the 3rd January.

 

[Morg]

Strap in peeps, new show tonight

 

[Morg]

we going watch Bortus go to the bathroom??

 

[terry78]

Basically. Issac was hot earlier.

 

[childeroland]

Good premiere.

 

[Sithborg]

I think some of the relationship drama and related talk was a bit uncomfortable. It was mostly good, though. Bortus' son grew up quickly.

 

[Dr.]

Kind of a low energy, character oriented “bottle episode” to start with...

 

[Dark Raven]

Yeah I thought it was very much a bottle show and something you might stick in the middle of the season, not as the season opener. They could have split up these scenes across several episodes. It dragged a bit.

Is this episode meant to be the holdover from last season?

 

[terry78]

It felt like a season finale from last.

 

[Dark Raven]

It felt like a season finale from last.

Well I don't know if that felt like a season finale. It felt like something mid season.

 

[2kt09]

What a very soothing way to come back.

 

[NotNickFury]

Marcus drinking in the simulator with those friends of his was a bad call.

Why not just drink in your room like every student ever?

 

[2kt09]

Marcus drinking in the simulator with those friends of his was a bad call.

Why not just drink in your room like every student ever?

I forget does the simulated setting stop appearing once someone else enters?

 

[Morg]

Well I don't know if that felt like a season finale. It felt like something mid season.

seems it was suppose to be last season final from what I read

 

[Dark Raven]

I forget does the simulated setting stop appearing once someone else enters?

I don't know about this series. In Star Trek it doesn't, and people can walk in on other people's holodeck time.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Really boring episode. Its hard to believe that they would start a season with such a weak episode.

Hopefully they will have something more interesting in the next episode.

 

[NotNickFury]

Enjoyed the focus not just on Bortus, but the whole porn addiction angle. And having to make the tough decision to only save 30 people from that dying planet, to me, felt like a combination of the episode "Pen Pals" from Next Generation and the destruction of Vulcan from the first of the Abrams Star Trek films. Very strong episode.

 

[ZIPBAGS]

Is it me or does the ship look way to big on the inside than what it looks like from the outside?

Also, I do enjoy the show...it's bizarre how it goes from being a very good TNG episode to a comedy in one scene.

 

[Dr.]

Enjoyed the focus not just on Bortus, but the whole porn addiction angle. And having to make the tough decision to only save 30 people from that dying planet, to me, felt like a combination of the episode "Pen Pals" from Next Generation and the destruction of Vulcan from the first of the Abrams Star Trek films. Very strong episode.

I had the opposite reaction; I thought the porn addiction business was somewhat prosaic and kinda . If the same story was presented on a non-genre show, methinks it would come across as simplistic and contrived - movie-of-the-week type stuff. And reimagining the idea in a sci-fi context doesn’t make it any more profound. (Granted, the addiction was a symptom of bigger issue between Bortus and his mate. But they spent a lot of screentime on the former, and not so much on the latter.)

The stuff about being able to rescue only some of the doomed aliens was - potentially - an interesting moral dilemma. But this was relegated to b-plot status and suffered as a result.

 

[Dark Raven]

I found it rather distasteful, even though it is an important and serious issue.

I also think they should have given it a different name that would be how Moclans understand it instead of using the very human-centric word "porn" to describe what Bortus was addicted to. I prefer how Star Trek did it where you would know what they were talking about, but it was more allegorical. That was the beauty of Trek. Here it's a little too on the nose.

I was hoping that when the Orville began to be pulled into the star that maybe there would be a chance to rescue the remaining planetary inhabitants since there would be enough space on the Orville. Also wish that the B plot was something more central, especially with the whole idea of having to select 30 people to live. That seems like an important topic itself and one that could easily have been the main plot (especially if some people protested the idea of having to be left behind). Did all those left just accept it willingly?

And there seemed a bit more space on the shuttle for more than 30 if some of them stood. It's times like these that it would be good to have a transporter. In fact, for a moment I thought that's what they were going to do before they decided to take a shuttle down, and then I remembered that this isn't actually Star Trek and they can't use that technology.

Apparently this episode was meant to be the season 1 finale, not the last one.