The Orville

[looorg]

Was still fun. Not to be taken to serious perhaps. I still can't get over the exterior of the space ship engine looking like a tongue sticking out between a pair of lips (once you see it you can't unsee it ...)

[Serath]

Saw the first episode and quite enjoyed it. It's... It's not Star Trek and it's not Galaxy Quest.

It was funny but it's not a comedy. It had an okay plot for a pilot but it wasn't a drama. I feel like Seth McFarlane said, "I want to do Star Trek in my style" and that's what Orville is. It's not the best thing I've ever seen but I enjoyed it and I look forward to watching the second episode which we recorded on DVR. I see a lot of potential and I hope it goes well.


It is REALLY hard to not hear Brian from Family Guy when Seth talks though...

[Aurimas]

Watched the first two episodes yesterday when I remembered.

Didn't really enjoy it. Don't recall laughing once, production value seemed low (the costuming, esp. on the girl, was better in 80s sci-fi), and the story was bland. It's like it can't decide if it's a comedy or a drama, and fails at both. My opinions of course.

Also this:

It is REALLY hard to not hear Brian from Family Guy when Seth talks though...

[Deleted]

Enjoy all 9 more episodes it has before it's gone forever

Bookmarked to shove that in your face next year when we get season 2.
Also that ending of episode 2 was HILARIOUS

[zEmini]

Better than expected. I will keep watching for now.

[Altrec]

So the third episode was last night. Not much humor in the episode, but it wasn't bad. Honestly, it didn't even come across as overly preachy either given the subject matter.

[looorg]

The third episode wasn't as funny as the previous once. I did find it a bit preachy, so the ending was a bit of a surprise in that regard.

[Sunseeker]

I just watched the first three episodes and as a generally huge Trekkie, this is fucking Star Trek. I was honestly expecting a lot more "comedy" and general goofiness but damn. Maybe I'm just tired of shows being "real" and "gritty". I dunno. I'd love to see more TV like this.

[Endus]

I just watched the first three episodes and as a generally huge Trekkie, this is fucking Star Trek. I was honestly expecting a lot more "comedy" and general goofiness but damn. Maybe I'm just tired of shows being "real" and "gritty". I dunno. I'd love to see more TV like this.

Yeah, I think people need to shift their brains from "comedy spoof of Star Trek", which is what a lot of us expected, to "Star Trek, with jokes". And better Trek than some actual Trek shows (if it keeps up the first three episodes, which are honestly getting better IMO, I'd rank it above Voyager and Enterprise, even without dealing with the movies).

If Star Trek: Discovery turns out to be the shitshow it appears to be, we'll have Seth McFarlane's spoof being better Trek than the actual Trek show its concurrent with.

A lot of it is pretty specifically spoof-y, too. Like this last episode, every time Bortus or another Moclan barks at someone, the response is basically "okay, dick." How often did Worf do exactly that in TNG without anyone blinking? The Orville actually comes off more realistic in handling that.

[Raunchy]

Wow i watched a minute, what dogshit lol

[Netherling]

I've watched the first three and don't think i'll bother to watch any more. I don't like any of the characters (except the pilot guy... maybe). The relationship between the captain and his ex is so cliché and tiresome. The show is not funny or interesting and incredibly predictable. Most of the jokes fall flat because of the way the characters react to them (imo), it's often unclear whether a line is meant to be funny or not. That's just my opinion though, of course.

[looorg]

If Star Trek: Discovery turns out to be the shitshow it appears to be, we'll have Seth McFarlane's spoof being better Trek than the actual Trek show its concurrent with.

This is pretty much what I'm waiting for. How good will Star Trek Discovery be? It might turn out that Orville might actually be better. What I have seen so far in the little clips and pictures from ST:D (seriously that can't be the abbreviation) it's not looking all that good.

MacFarlane wanted to do "his" Star Trek and it might actually turn out that it was better then actual Trek. It's a bit campy but still funny enough so far, even tho I wasn't a big fan of the third episode. It was very preachy, so the ending was quite refreshing in that regard.

[Sunseeker]

Yeah, I think people need to shift their brains from "comedy spoof of Star Trek", which is what a lot of us expected, to "Star Trek, with jokes". And better Trek than some actual Trek shows (if it keeps up the first three episodes, which are honestly getting better IMO, I'd rank it above Voyager and Enterprise, even without dealing with the movies).

Yeah, I was fairly impressed with this last episode tackling a rather poignant issue of our times, but still offering an ending that made sense in-world. I think people are quick to forget that Star Trek had it's share of puns, jokes and parodies in it as well. It's one of the reasons it was good, it elbowed the viewer in the ribs a couple of times and gave you a window on to your own reality. Frankly, I can't tell you how this show isn't everything I love about Trek.

If Star Trek: Discovery turns out to be the shitshow it appears to be, we'll have Seth McFarlane's spoof being better Trek than the actual Trek show its concurrent with.

Frankly right now, Discovery seems to be getting a lot of the same shit that ME: Andromeda got, and I feel like a lot of it is coming from very similar circles. Even if Discovery is good, I suspect the sheer hate its getting, and the fact that it's on a limited-viewship channel, will be the two biggest drawbacks.

A lot of it is pretty specifically spoof-y, too. Like this last episode, every time Bortus or another Moclan barks at someone, the response is basically "okay, dick." How often did Worf do exactly that in TNG without anyone blinking? The Orville actually comes off more realistic in handling that.

And I think as adults who grew up with Trek as kids, we want that. We want people to point out that reactions to Worf are completely unrealistic. But we don't want someone to make fun of it. We want someone to handle it in a more believable fashion.

I really expected Orville to be WAY more "Galaxy Quest" than it is. Now, don't get me wrong I love Galaxy Quest, but I could really see Trek nerds saying the Orville was the Trek of these times, not Discovery.

EDIT: I wanted to say though, I'm disappointed the series did a "baby episode" so soon into the series. The addition of children to the crew is almost always a death knell for a series. Voyager suffered from it. DS9 suffered from it (throughout the entire series), TNG suffered from it, Farscape was with it, Stargate Universe (a bad show by many measures) also ended with it.

[Endus]

Yeah, I was fairly impressed with this last episode tackling a rather poignant issue of our times, but still offering an ending that made sense in-world.

If anything, I'd argue that the third episode was way deeper than people think. It touched on parental rights to make choices for their child as opposed to the child's right to have those decisions made in their own future interests. It touched on cultural differences and how/whether to respect them, and when you should not. It touched on the aggression and hostility that people face when their prejudices are challenged. And it did all that without really coming down firmly on any particular side; while there's a fairly clear conclusion you could draw about the specific case the episode prevented, they made it pretty darned clear that the arguments being made could have worked, had the circumstances been different somehow. In the end, the core of the episode was that context matters, and that we need to approach issues like this with open and rational minds, prepared to be convinced either way, rather than trying to push one direction or another. If anything, Bortus is the character who represents this, not even the rest of the Orville crew.

The ending was . . . mature. It's unreasonable to think a single event would completely overthrow decades-to-centuries of prejudice in an entire planetary culture, and in the end, it didn't. And we might feel terrible about that. But it's real. And now, you have to move on. I was worried they were going to go the other way, which would have been frustrating and stupid, but also something we've seen Star Trek do plenty of times before, which IMO detracted from the setting.

The one thing the episode was NOT about, really, was transgenderism. Despite everything. I imagine if the Orville sticks around, we'll get that when the kid's old enough to talk about this stuff.

Frankly right now, Discovery seems to be getting a lot of the same shit that ME: Andromeda got, and I feel like a lot of it is coming from very similar circles. Even if Discovery is good, I suspect the sheer hate its getting, and the fact that it's on a limited-viewship channel, will be the two biggest drawbacks.

Even aside from trying to use it to make their streaming service a success, it just doesn't look or feel like Trek. It looks like a more-generic sci-fi universe. The Klingons look nothing like either variety of Klingons we've had. Not even remotely. They may as well be a different species. Not just their physical appearance, their clothes are all different as well. There's no continuity at all. So going in, I have to wonder what, exactly, makes this a Star Trek show? Why couldn't it have been something new? And if you think your crap show is only going to have a chance if you slap the Star Trek label on it, that says wonders.

Especially when The Orville is right there saying "neener neener we're better than you at this and don't need the label, you nancies".

I really expected Orville to be WAY more "Galaxy Quest" than it is. Now, don't get me wrong I love Galaxy Quest, but I could really see Trek nerds saying the Orville was the Trek of these times, not Discovery.

Something I said another time (maybe this thread, maybe somewhere else, can't be arsed to check) is that comparing The Orville and Galaxy Quest is unfair; Galaxy Quest had a couple hours to put in ALL their funny, and tie it off with a bow. You can make that kind of thing dense and awesome. The Orville has 13 42-minute episodes to fill, and that's presuming they only want one season (which I'd find surprising). You can't pack all the funny into the first few episodes and then run out of material. I much prefer how they've chosen to run it; trying to make 40-minute Galaxy Quests every week and be consistent AND keep the quality that high would basically be impossible, IMO.

EDIT: I wanted to say though, I'm disappointed the series did a "baby episode" so soon into the series. The addition of children to the crew is almost always a death knell for a series. Voyager suffered from it. DS9 suffered from it (throughout the entire series), TNG suffered from it, Farscape was with it, Stargate Universe (a bad show by many measures) also ended with it.

Depends on if the baby is a regular. Klyden could decide that raising a baby on an exploratory vessel is risky and dangerous and he's not doing that to their child, and settle down on a station/planet/whatever, leaving the ship, next episode. And then they pop up now and then, and that's it. Heck, dealing with long-distance family stuff with a member in the service would be something these kinds of shows HASN'T done before, and I think that'd speak to a lot of people.

[Sunseeker]

The ending was . . . mature. It's unreasonable to think a single event would completely overthrow decades-to-centuries of prejudice in an entire planetary culture, and in the end, it didn't. And we might feel terrible about that. But it's real. And now, you have to move on. I was worried they were going to go the other way, which would have been frustrating and stupid, but also something we've seen Star Trek do plenty of times before, which IMO detracted from the setting.

Right. I think it's an issue I've had with the way some of the actual Trek series have handled similar siuations, with the whole "Crew shows up, encounters cultural issue, Ameri..I mean Federation values win yay!"

The one thing the episode was NOT about, really, was transgenderism. Despite everything. I imagine if the Orville sticks around, we'll get that when the kid's old enough to talk about this stuff.

Which is probably for the best. I mean super advanced genetic alteration (at least the kind Trek is capable of, or we expect to be capable of in 400 years) would largely solve the problem. I don't even see how a "high sci-fi" show could address transgenderism as actually being a problem at all in a Trek-like society.

Even aside from trying to use it to make their streaming service a success, it just doesn't look or feel like Trek. It looks like a more-generic sci-fi universe. The Klingons look nothing like either variety of Klingons we've had. Not even remotely. They may as well be a different species. Not just their physical appearance, their clothes are all different as well. There's no continuity at all. So going in, I have to wonder what, exactly, makes this a Star Trek show? Why couldn't it have been something new? And if you think your crap show is only going to have a chance if you slap the Star Trek label on it, that says wonders.

I agree and I disagree. To compare, I liked Bayformers, or "Junkformers" as my wife calls it. I'm really less concerned with if the Klingons look like Klingons and more if they act and feel like Klingons. I felt like Bayformers 1 was very "Transformers", Bayformers 2, not so much, and again Bayformers 3 was Transformers again, 4 and 5, not so much. I watch Star Trek to get a very specific high-sci-fi vibe, that's mostly what I'm concerned about, the fact that Discovery looks like it's going to be "gritty and dark" is arguably my biggest turn off. Also, the ship design is horrific, I get that it's closer to some of the original concept art, but the original concept art is NOT what we by-and-large regard as "Trek".

Especially when The Orville is right there saying "neener neener we're better than you at this and don't need the label, you nancies".

I thought it was hilarious that the first time I saw a Discovery promo, it was immediately followed by an Orville promo. I remember going "Wait...which of these is the Trek commercial?"

Something I said another time (maybe this thread, maybe somewhere else, can't be arsed to check) is that comparing The Orville and Galaxy Quest is unfair; Galaxy Quest had a couple hours to put in ALL their funny, and tie it off with a bow. You can make that kind of thing dense and awesome. The Orville has 13 42-minute episodes to fill, and that's presuming they only want one season (which I'd find surprising). You can't pack all the funny into the first few episodes and then run out of material. I much prefer how they've chosen to run it; trying to make 40-minute Galaxy Quests every week and be consistent AND keep the quality that high would basically be impossible, IMO.

Maybe, I just meant I expected it to be overall goofier and lighter than it was. I would argue that what I watched was comparable to in tone to any of TNG's season 1. Like I said I expected Orville to be a Star Trek sitcom. It is clearly not.

Depends on if the baby is a regular. Klyden could decide that raising a baby on an exploratory vessel is risky and dangerous and he's not doing that to their child, and settle down on a station/planet/whatever, leaving the ship, next episode. And then they pop up now and then, and that's it. Heck, dealing with long-distance family stuff with a member in the service would be something these kinds of shows HASN'T done before, and I think that'd speak to a lot of people.

It did feel like they kinda "wrote in" Kylden for the episode, there was no reference to the fact that existed before, which bugs me a little, so I hope they "write him out" or "forget about" him again. It would be an interesting contrast to have a positive long-distance relationship in Bortus/Klyden and a negative close-contact relationship in Mercer/Grayson.

[prwraith]

I'm actually thoroughly enjoying this.

[Deleted]

If Star Trek: Discovery turns out to be the shitshow it appears to be

how does appear to be? have you seen the screening? people who did praised it.

SO many haters in this thread, while I sit and enjoy the Orville

[Vargur]

Funny and smart show. Love the CGI.

[Machismo]

Honestly, I think the second episode was better than the first. It is improving, and it does well to not try to be completely funny. Hopefully, they add more humor as the show goes forward.

[IIamaKing]

Underwhelming, unimpressive, unoriginal and only mildly funny. if it makes its whole first season I will be surprised, it wont get 2.