Seth McFarlane's "The Orville"

[sueb1863]

I'm not sure females are as rare as they're claiming.

Spoiler

Bortus' mate was born female and they just had a female child. So my question now is, are females really rare or is that just a line the government is using so they can artificially create an all male society by simply making all female babies male? Bortus' mate didn't even know he'd be born female until it was revealed during a medical exam, so apparently if someone is changed at birth they aren't told about it.

Moclans might naturally have a normal male to female ratio but they just don't know it because those in charge are seeing to it that they believe they're supposed to be all male and surgically getting rid of the females in secret.

What I'm also wondering is how a species that does have a naturally occurriung female gender evolve so the males can reproduce without them. But maybe it's the males that produce the offspring in this case anyhow...

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I don't see this getting to season two. It has issues. It's wildly uneven and it's a Frankenstein of a show in terms of tone... But man is it coasting on my own nostalgia. It's middling TNG style Trek. And... That's at this point almost enough. It doesn't soar and yet it's not crashing and burning either. It's issues are that they can't seem to make any of the elements pop. It's not offensive but it's not exactly super compelling either.

They need to go harder in either direction with the two core ideas. A space workplace comedy set in a Pseudo Trek universe that parodies the conventions of Trek style sci fi, or go full hog and actually be a loving homage. A show could do both but that's a hell of a needle to thread. Right now it's like Trek Ally McCbeal and that's not a compliment on my part. The humor is held back by needing to not be over the top enough to undercut the drama and the drama undercuts the humor since the dignity of the characters has to be respected to ensure the drama actually sells. The character that is caught in all of this and thus making the approach that much worse for the show, is Seth as Ed. Is Ed a pathetic dunce or is he a competent and smart officer with a biting wit? The show better answer that soon or it's going to be more painful as time goes on. I say this as someone that doesn't find the show terrible or offensive, but aimless, rudderless, so far. Right now it's at unobtrusive background noise level. It should do better. We'll see what the next episode brings.

 

[sueb1863]

Yeah, the writing needs to be stronger. I'll be interested to see what the rest of the episodes are like.

Anybody else here remember "Quark"? It was a failed comedy show about an interstellar garbage scow starring Richard Benjamin that came out in spring of 1978 to capitalize on the Star Wars craze. It actually had some interesting ideas, the characters included a humanoid plant, a male/ female character who switched genders constantly, and a pair of female clones. It didn't last long but had its moments and this show sort of reminds me of that one.

 

[Teelie]

I see it getting renewed to a season 2. It did decent ratings and the writing is not that bad. They still have to find their footing but it is so far no worse than the first few episodes of anything Trek did and better than some.

 

[Sithborg]

We sort of need to see how the rest of Fox's stuff fares this season.

 

[terry78]

I'm wondering how Ghosted does. I actually hope it does well as I like the people involved.

 

[terry78]

Damn, this episode got dark.


Ha, he actually got

Spoiler

Liam Neeson

to cameo.

 

[marvelrobbins]

this show is so much better than discovery.

next week is charlize theron's guest appearance.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

this episode had the feel of the Star Trek episode, "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky"...

and that's pretty cool to have gotten Liam Neeson on tonight's episode and now Charlize Theron next week...

 

[Sithborg]

Yup, that is some classic Trek right there.

Can't wait to see what McFarlane gets Patrick Stewart to do.

 

[flickchick85]

I liked this ep.

 

[marvelrobbins]

got 1.1 in demo against tougher competion.

 

[Sithborg]

Well, it held steady in the ratings, despite some massive competition. I think it may stick around for a bit

 

[terry78]

I feel like they still have to flesh out a lot of the cast as I feel like only a few of them really have personalities right off the bat, the rest are just kinda deadpan sarcastic. But none of them come off as unlikeable, which is good.

 

[2kt09]

I feel like they still have to flesh out a lot of the cast as I feel like only a few of them really have personalities right off the bat, the rest are just kinda deadpan sarcastic. But none of them come off as unlikeable, which is good.

who else is really left of the guys Capt Mercer spoke to in that 1st ep lineup?
Everyone else outside from the slime is an extra.

 

[Siby]

What's the point of the slime crewman scenes? Those scenes are so disconnected from the rest of the show that it feels pointless.

I was very surprised that they got Liam Neeson to do a cameo and next week is another famous actor. Overall this episode was pretty good.

 

[roach]

I think this was the episode that lost me. Nothing really wrong with the episode except it was a remake of an old TOS episode.

 

[Ozbridge]

got 1.1 in demo against tougher competion.

Well, it held steady in the ratings, despite some massive competition. I think it may stick around for a bit

This is definitely getting 2nd season. Seth McFarlane said season 1 is capped at 13 episodes so it won't get back order but it'll come back next fall.

Edit: Oh I forgot to say that the episode last night feels like it has the same vibe as Doctor Who's "World Enough and Time/ The Doctor Falls", considering it's also about the protagonists trying to

Spoiler

rescue people who don't know that they have been on a gigantic spaceship for thousands of year.

It isn't as dark and grim as Doctor Who though.

 

[sueb1863]

I thought for sure

Spoiler

during the torture scene that it would turn out that Kelly was faking the pain to buy time and that it would turn out the serum didn't work on humans. I mean, what would be the odds that human physiology would be exactly the same as the aliens'? But they didn't go that route.

Good episode except for the abrupt ending. The bad guy didn't even get punished, presumably he stayed in power. They should have shown the mob chasing after him or something.

 

[Thome216]

Damn fine episode! They're beginning to weave quite effectively between comedic camp and dramatic turns. So far, for me, each episode has been better than the last.

Liam Neeson was a great surprise, and seeing Theron coming next week will be awesome!

As for

Spoiler

the bad guy getting his comeuppance, it is a dangling part of the episode, but it left me feeling that their story is not done, but has a long way to go. We won't see it change obviously, but most things don't happen right away anyway. My feeling is, no one would get a comeuppance, considering most of the populous was quite eager to kill anyone who didn't believe the way they did.

 

[sueb1863]

Spoiler

Yeah, the Union is going to have a real mess on its hands trying to sort that situation out, assuming they don't have a policy in place that prevents them from interfering in the internal matters of other societies. One can only hope that once they see what's going on, the population would rise up behind the Reformers and stage a coup, although from the looks of things it's a very bloody, violent culture so it's not going to end well for the bad guy.

I was sort of surprised that whoever designed the bioship didn't program it to have a day/ night cycle, so the inhabitants had no idea what night was.

 

[Dyson]

I just finished watching the first four episodes.

Wow! This show is great! I don't know why the critics are hating on this but I found it absolutely fun, engaging and interesting.

What's so surprising is this show is so much more like classic Star Trek whereas Star Trek: Discovery is more Star Wars.

 

[Jesse]

I've surprisingly been enjoying this series and at times it very much feels Roddenberry-esque. Or similar to the later series I should say. If it wasn't for Seth MacFarlane sense of humor it might be a better series. It would also be a shame if he was telling better Trek stories than the people who own the actual IP.

 

[Dyson]

I've surprisingly been enjoying this series and at times it very much feels Roddenberry-esque. Or similar to the later series I should say. If it wasn't for Seth MacFarlane sense of humor it might be a better series. It would also be a shame if he was telling better Trek stories than the people who own the actual IP.

I would love to see MacFarlane make an actual Star Trek series. You can tell he has a lot of love for Trek.

 

[Marvolo]

I just finished watching the first four episodes.

Wow! This show is great! I don't know why the critics are hating on this but I found it absolutely fun, engaging and interesting.

What's so surprising is this show is so much more like classic Star Trek whereas Star Trek: Discovery is more Star Wars.

Star Trek Discovery feels more like Battlestar Galactica rather than Star Wars.