This pretty well sums up how I feel about The Orville, and why I've been preferring Discovery.
Discovery and "The Orville" Comparisons
- Thread starter Jedi_Master
- Start date
Say what you will, but tonight's episode was the best one yet. The humor has finally stopped clashing with the drama, and while the show seemed like it was going to settle into a boring "romance of the week" it ended up drifting in another direction entirely mid episode. It managed to have a smart ending, and the antagonist wasn't evil at all. It's another three-star episode.
I've posted to the effect elsewhere that I appreciated the fact Discovery doesn't seek to strike any nostalgic chord. That's really why I haven't embraced The Orville, I think; I'm not interested in watching what comes across as a Star Trek nostalgia tour.
If I want to watch something like the previous Trek series, I'll just watch the previous Trek series. Honestly, it's pretty much the same reason why I never embraced even the best made of the fan films.
If I want to watch something like the previous Trek series, I'll just watch the previous Trek series. Honestly, it's pretty much the same reason why I never embraced even the best made of the fan films.
Honestly, for me, Orville isn't nostalgic. Or, sure, it has some beats, but then it goes out and tries something genuinely interesting to me. The characters have beautiful chemistry and I really enjoy the new world to explore.
Exactly so.
I'd appreciate Discovery if they did anything imaginative or fresh. The show's a damned dirge.
Yeah, I've liked the last two quite a bit, but this one really gelled, I thought. I doubt Seth will ever completely reign in his instincts toward broad comedy (probably to the show's detriment), but this worked as fun sci-fi and not just as space farce.
It's kinda shocking to me, but I have to admit that I prefer the latest Orville to anything Discovery has given us so far.
I completely forgot that Jonathan Frakes directed this latest episode of The Orville! Really, the show is growing on its own, developing and actually growing away from what people were originally criticizing it for (but I found no fault in the series in the pilot episode, nor now).
I find myself getting to know these characters as the series progresses, as well as loving what they do with visual effects each week (according to MacFarlane, the effects people are limited to budget and work within those constraints).
It really is a great series, one that I'm proud to be a fan of!
I find myself getting to know these characters as the series progresses, as well as loving what they do with visual effects each week (according to MacFarlane, the effects people are limited to budget and work within those constraints).
It really is a great series, one that I'm proud to be a fan of!
WHY DOES THIS CONTINUE TO NEED TO BE A COMPETITION?!?
Seriously, people. Both sides. Stop. There is room for both. You can like both. You can hate both. You can prefer one more than another. They both have good points and flaws. But why does this seem to need to be a pissing match? FFS, it’s as bad as the Axanar argument. Just LIVE AND LET LIVE, already!
Seriously, people. Both sides. Stop. There is room for both. You can like both. You can hate both. You can prefer one more than another. They both have good points and flaws. But why does this seem to need to be a pissing match? FFS, it’s as bad as the Axanar argument. Just LIVE AND LET LIVE, already!
Honestly, I'm just shocked. Orville looked like a too-blatant TNG rip for me to enjoy as anything other than parody. I almost didn't watch it. But here I am, actually caring about the characters. Even the "captain and first officer are divorced" angle, which I feared would get tedious quickly, is going in interesting directions.
Yeah I don't really get it either. It's like comparing Law and Order to Brooklyn Nine Nine. Both are arguably great shows about law enforcement but tonally, they are apples and oranges. I feel it's the same with Discovery and The Orville. I like both because they offer different things. Discovery is darker and more serialised and I can't really predict what way it's going to head, which is exciting and I'm a sucker for a redemption story. The Orville is a rollicking fun, saturday morning cartoon style space adventure with dick jokes, and I love dick jokes. There is plenty of room for both to exist without tearing one or the other down. It's just petty and immature to want either series to fail or to take joy in either failing.
I don't want to see Discovery fail, I've been watching Star Trek all my life. I'm just disappointed that it hasn't grabbed me the same way The Orville has.
I'm sure I'm part of a small minority.
There are those out there on both sides who do want the horse who isn’t theirs to fail. It’s juvenile. But I can understand that one grabs certain members of the audience more than the other. It’s the continued droning on about “Orville is better — Discovery is crap,” “No, Discovery’s better! Take your Orville and shove it” BS I’m fucking sick of.
They don’t need to be compared. You don’t need to rile up the other group. Like I said — juvenile pissing match.
It is interesting to me the shows are almost diametric opposites.
The Orville mines everything from Trek (set design, lighting, music, story elements, spirit of "optimism," etc) except of course it's not within Trek canon.
In contrast, Discovery takes very little from historic trek other than canon.
The Orville mines everything from Trek (set design, lighting, music, story elements, spirit of "optimism," etc) except of course it's not within Trek canon.
In contrast, Discovery takes very little from historic trek other than canon.
For me? One looks and feels like "Star Trek", the other not-so-much.
Just found out one more issue with Discovery....I don't have cable, only Hulu and Netflix. The first "free" episode did not come up on Hulu. I already have the CBS app for a different show so I thought I could at least watch the first episode. Well they won't even let me watch the first "free" episode without signing up for their paid service. 
In fairness, I think it's probably easier to be grabbed by The Orville. It's a lighter, it's episodic and the universe of The Orville has different rules, like characters talking about dicks on the bridge. All those things make it more accessible to the casual viewer. It also doesn't have 50 years of history to try and honour and a fan base who all have different, often contradictory and unrealistic expectations of what it should be.
Yeah, but I wouldn't call myself a "casual viewer" where Star Trek is involved. And, Discovery should've ditched that fifty-years of history and started fresh. I say this as someone who owns all the series, bought them multiple times over the years, buys merchandise, buys technical manuals (and used to buy novels), buys comics.
Because, you know, a lot of us don't think much of Discovery and wouldn't be speaking any more enthusiastically of it if The Orville didn't exist.
So of course it won't compare well to a show we like.
You put similar things next to one another, people will compare and have preferences. It's that simple.
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