THE ORVILLE - S1, E5: "PRIA"

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Serveaux, Oct 4, 2017.

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Rate the episode:

  1. ***** Excellent

    23 vote(s)
    26.7%
  2. ****

    36 vote(s)
    41.9%
  3. ***

    19 vote(s)
    22.1%
  4. **

    7 vote(s)
    8.1%
  5. * Fear the banana

    1 vote(s)
    1.2%
  1. Sgt_G

    Sgt_G Commodore Commodore

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    Ten lights per hour comes out to 87,600 time light speed, of which the cube-root is equivalent to Warp 44 under the old scale. No idea what it is on the TNG scale.
     
  2. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Warp 9.99, said to require nearly infinite power, would take 6 hours to cross 5 lightyears.
    Warp 9.9999 on the TNG scale is the speed of subspace radio where it takes 13 minutes to cross 5 lightyears.
     
  3. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Probably the best episode so far. Loved the bit with the leg . . . and I didn't see the time-travel twist coming.
     
  4. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Meh, everything moves at plot speed. There was absolutely never any consistency to Trek.
     
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  5. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Did they call the shields deflectors? Pushing that Trek envelope a bit. :)

    That was bizarre. I'm assuming that was more an error matching up on the CG side than the practical prop but it really took away from a good gag.

    That whole bit was a bit strange. Time travellers from the 29th Century sure felt like Trek though. Pria is a bit easier on the eyes than Berlinghoff Rasmussen (I know, not from the 29th...).
     
  6. eschaton

    eschaton Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'd say that was marginally the best episode yet. I mean, there's not been a huge difference in quality in the past three episodes, but the show is finally getting the hang of its humor, and for once nothing seemed out of place at all. And while the show initially looked like it was going to go into being a boring "romance of the week" it ended up going in a different direction by the end. The ending was thoughtful and touching, and the antagonist was about as far from evil as possible. The Orville continues to make "good, but not great" episodes. 3 out of 4 (or 4 out of 5) stars.
     
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  7. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Yep. When was the last time that happened?

    I was assuming that Pria was responsible for the dark matter storm somehow.

    I liked that there was more to her point of view than self-justifying lip service. Yes, in addition to getting rich she saves many lives.

    Oh, and that alien customer was fantastic.
     
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  8. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    It would be easier to get behind The Orville if they could show they can come up with *one* original idea.
     
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  9. Janeway’s Girl

    Janeway’s Girl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Best episode yet which is what I said last week but it keeps getting better with each one.

    Seeing Kermit on Ed’s desk, it makes me happy. :)

    I’m really liking Alara and Kelly’s developing friendship.

    I’m a little confused though. By destroying the wormhole, wouldn’t that force Pria to stay in the present? How was she able to return to the 29th century?
     
  10. Ometiklan

    Ometiklan Captain Captain

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    I think this was the best episode so far. I would have enjoyed it so much more though if they hadn't screwed up the ending. I didn't see who wrote it this week, but you would think the show's writers would have learned something from the terrible "reset button" from so many Voyager episodes (Braga, I'm looking at you). But this time they did a weird half-reset. Pria is gone and she implies that her effect on Mercer will disappear, but it apparently doesn't. As Treker4747 said, it is a totally non-sensical ending to a otherwise great episode.

    One other point, though I think he is awesome in most other things, Norm Macdonald isn't doing anything for me as this blob character. He hasn't been funny once.

    Also, when is Isaac going to be horribly racist?
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  11. E-DUB

    E-DUB Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    To be fair, racists merely think that they're superior, Isaac knows that he is. And the "half reset" wasn't that different from the DS9 episode "Children of Time". I don't insist that the ideas be new, merely that the execution of them be different. I can enjoy Robinson Crusoe, The Swiss family Robinson, Lost in Space, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and The Martian even though all have strong thematic similarities.
     
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  12. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Time travel stuff that makes no sense *is* very Star Trek.

    If Pria never came back in time the Orville should have vanished too, not just Pria, because Pria never came back to save them. But Star Trek doesn't have a better track record for stuff like that, so okay.

    If only something about any of the first five episodes, besides complaining about relationship issues, was not something already done by Star Trek. If Orville had *any* identity of its own besides being "TNG Kinda", then I could start caring about it and seeing it as more than just some kinda fun time sink.
     
  13. jbny67

    jbny67 Captain Captain

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    They managed to work in a version of "I've got a bad feeling about this"
    Will that be the only time or will it show up again?
    Perhaps spoken by a different cast member.

    Looks like the jar of pickles line is going to be a regular thing.
     
  14. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    So Amelia was never taken to the future, and the entire timeline is different.

    Cool, cool.
     
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  15. Jedi_Master

    Jedi_Master Admiral Admiral

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    There were a few genuinely beautiful shots in this episode. They have a crackerjack FX team.
    The relationship between Ed and Pria worked well, there was some genuine chemistry, and I like how this show deliberately takes the rough edges off of various “serious” moments by means of little sight gags or stories about raccoon gods.
     
  16. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ed is a sexual liberal, because all diseases in his present day have been fixed.

    Pria could be writhing with STDs that he has never heard of, because she might have future STDs, or even dormant harmless stuff in the 29th century that could make him grow an extra kidney.
     
  17. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    Maybe they never changed course to go after the comet, which made them miss the "Dark-Matter" Storm, Maybe that's just something she tells crews or individuals (you would have died anyway!) because it makes them less resistant, for all we know, the crew could have been ground to a paste and fed to that floaty squid thing. not actually getting to live out their lives in that period. I think she creates these situations in the first place and everything else she says is BS. Maybe the Transporter thing dissapeared along with her. I however wouldn't be surprised if she makes another appearence (or more than one, if the show keeps going)
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  18. Ovation

    Ovation Admiral Admiral

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    No time travel story survives scrutiny. Do what I did years ago and be kind to your blood pressure--just accept the rules of time travel as the story presents them and go with it.

    Pretty good overall (though I liked last week a bit more).
     
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  19. Gryffindorian

    Gryffindorian Vice Admiral Admiral

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    As much as I dislike temporal paradoxes, this was still a very good episode, but for me "About a Girl" was by far the best plotwise.

    At least this show's temporal mechanics makes some logical sense, unlike CW's Legends of Tomorrow or even The Flash. One could argue that since the wormhole was destroyed after the timeline had been altered, it only affected Pria and not the Orville crew from that point forward. Or who's to say the crew wasn't affected? There could be a ripple effect later that would wipe out or alter the events of the past few days, including ship's logs and crew's memories.
     
  20. Cyrus

    Cyrus Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Even if they cut out all the humor scenes, Orville would still be a pretty solid scifi space adventure.

    The time travel plot reminded me of the novel Millenium by John Varley, which was made into a lousy movie.

    Clever of Macfarlane to add a romantic scene with Charlize to the script.

    In the cocktail party I thought Mercer's ex-wife looked hotter than Pria.

    Good job of directing by Frakes.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
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