THE ORVILLE: S1, E7: "MAJORITY RULE"

[JirinPanthosa]

Actually Elara paired with the dumb guy might have a better effect than with Ed, he strikes me as someone who wouldn't be phased by her strength anyway. Ed hasn't gotten over his prior relationship issues yet, so even if he could deal with her strength he'd drive her crazy with that.

@Ricky Spanish

Whereas with Stargate I felt like even when they did a time loop they were doing their own thing with it, Orville just feels so close in the direction they take their stories, the aesthetics, the morals, the politics and everything except the humor, just about everything they do makes me think of something specific done by a Trek series.

 

[BillJ]

...just about everything they do makes me think of something specific done by a Trek series.

There is over seven hundred hours of the stuff. I'm sure I could find ER episodes that feel like something specific from Star Trek.

I haven't watched a lot of the Stargate TV series, but there were episodes that definitely reminded me of Star Trek in their execution.

 

[Trekker4747]

Actually Elara paired with the dumb guy might have a better effect than with Ed, he strikes me as someone who wouldn't be phased by her strength anyway. Ed hasn't gotten over his prior relationship issues yet, so even if he could deal with her strength he'd drive her crazy with that.

"Dumb guy", Gordon the navigator? Yeah, I don't see it. Hell, have they ever really interacted beyond the stuff in the second episode when Alara was in command?

Again, I'm not talking about pairing up anyone, I more see a reconciliation between Ed and Grayson, just she clearly has a school-girl crush on Ed that we've seen and seen hinted at. She practically gushes over him in "If the Stars Should Appear..." when talking about him to Grayson and how he doesn't act insecure about her abilities and just asking her to do the thing he needs done. (Usually involving a "jar of pickles.") This won't lead to a relationship but, I suspect, sooner or later a school-girl crush heart-breaking moment where she realizes it cannot work between them because of anything ranging from age differences, him being her commanding officer or him just having his own screw-ups that make him an unfit partner for her.

Just pure speculation on my part, but it could just not lead to anything and just be a running "theme" in their interaction with him treating her equally and respectfully and her having this "crush" on him.

 

[tafkats]

They have been hinting at Alara's feelings for Mercer for a few episodes now, so I imagine that they will eventually address the issue, and hopefully in an insightful yet incredibly awkward way.

If it is there, I hope they don't let anything come of it. Particularly in light of recent events in our own timeframe, it'd be pretty jarring for them to suddenly time-warp back to '50s- or '60s-style willingness to accept that kind of abuse of power.

 

[Trekker4747]

What "abuse of power" the attraction so far seems one way: Alara to Mercer and she has the physical power to force herself onto Mercer more than he's capable of fending off. It'd hardly be a 50s/60s style abuse or equitable to present-day problems with abuses of power with a powerful man using his influence to get favors from a woman with promises to advance her career. If anything were to happen, it'd be Alara forcing herself on Mercer unable to resist her urges. But I doubt it'd reach those heights and will mostly remain a "crush"t hat's dealt with at most maybe an unsuccessful date or awkward, benign, romantic encounter.

 

[tafkats]

The abuse of power would come in if Mercer did anything about it. Her physical strength is largely irrelevant in that situation.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I haven't noticed anything between Mercer and Alara, but I did notice a little moment with John in that replicator room scene indicating that he might have a thing for her.

 

[The Wormhole]

I haven't watched a lot of the Stargate TV series, but there were episodes that definitely reminded me of Star Trek in their execution.

The later episodes when they start flying around in their own starships Stargate really took on a Star Trek vibe, which the show even made fun of a few times.

 

[Mudd]

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In which we learn that Ben Browder's awesome inability to do accents is matched by his remarkable inability to do impressions.

 

[Romulan_spy]

The later episodes when they start flying around in their own starships Stargate really took on a Star Trek vibe, which the show even made fun of a few times.

Even some of the earlier episodes used common Trek tropes, just with a different plot device to get the characters to the planet of the week. The season 1 episode "The Broca Divide" was basically the TNG episode "The Naked Now". Both episodes feature the characters becoming infected by a virus that makes them act strange and uninhibited.

 

[BillJ]

...Stargate...

I tried to watch a couple of episodes from the first season last night, and it was a slog to get through.

 

[Mudd]

It took a bit for the characters and humor on SG-1 to really gel. I've never been a fan of Stargate in the sense that I've ever gone out of my way to follow it; I may have seen about 20 percent of SG-1 and a smattering of episodes of the two follow-ons. But I was never bored by SG-1.

 

[The Wormhole]

I tried to watch a couple of episodes from the first season last night, and it was a slog to get through.

The first season was kind of all over the place in terms of quality, but by the end they were starting to find their place. Seasons 2-8 of SG-1 make for some damn fine television. Stargate Atlantis hit the ground running but fizzled a bit by the third season when they stupidly began killing off fan favourite characters because "no one would expect that" only to realize there are other reasons why fan favourite characters aren't typically killed off.

 

[BillJ]

The first season was kind of all over the place in terms of quality, but by the end they were starting to find their place. Seasons 2-8 of SG-1 make for some damn fine television. Stargate Atlantis hit the ground running but fizzled a bit by the third season when they stupidly began killing off fan favourite characters because "no one would expect that" only to realize there are other reasons why fan favourite characters aren't typically killed off.

Maybe I'll try a second season episode to see if it loses the slog factor.

 

[Cyrus]

I finally saw this episode. Gets an upvote from me, liked it a lot. Lamar is funny. She saved the whale forests

 

[slappy]

If this were Trek, either it would have been shelved during rewrites because "We had it on our list to do a social media episode this season but we couldn't find an angle on it," or they would have fucked it up - because they really haven't been any good at this sort of thing since 1968.

Orville did fine.

Ahhh Orville has successfully tapped into that aforementioned Trek-without-consequences vein they were aiming for. Sloppy as hell, but as long as it's similar enough to Trek without actually being it, anything goes.

TNG did episodes like this fairly well, I'd say, but that's neither here nor there. Like I said, I like the show, but this was a sloppy mess if you turn your brain on.

 

[BillJ]

Ahhh Orville has successfully tapped into that aforementioned Trek-without-consequences vein they were aiming for.

It has nothing to do with consequences and everything to do with likable characters, at least for me. If the Discovery characters were as fun as this group, I'd like it a heck of a lot better.

Sometimes you have to enjoy the absurdity of it all.

 

[Mudd]

Let me know when anything consequential happens on Discovery. Anything interesting, anyway.

I mean, we already know the consequences of the two major storylines (such as they are): the 'Shroom drive and the War Against Halloween both come to nothing. Bupkis.

 

[Trekker4747]

It has nothing to do with consequences and everything to do with likable characters, at least for me. If the Discovery characters were as fun as this group, I'd like it a heck of a lot better.

Sometimes you have to enjoy the absurdity of it all.

That's sort of my thing, near as I can tell all of Discovery's characters are fairly unlikable or meh with the possible exception of Tilly. But from what I've seen/read on these characters they sound like horrible people I don't want to follow, least of all in a Trek series.

 

[tomalak301]

That's sort of my thing, near as I can tell all of Discovery's characters are fairly unlikable or meh with the possible exception of Tilly. But from what I've seen/read on these characters they sound like horrible people I don't want to follow, least of all in a Trek series.

Stamets is slowly getting into Tilly territory in terms of likeable characters though. Really have liked what the show has done with him the last few episodes.