THE ORVILLE S2, E4: "NOTHING LEFT ON EARTH EXCEPTING FISHES"
- Thread starter Mudd
- Start date
This was a pretty good episode, if not great. It was certainly a show with everything, including Yul Brunner. 
If anybody even gets that....
So the world of the 25th Century seems to be experiencing a strong wave of Boomer Era nostalgia, which I heartily approve of. Captain Mercer seems to be particularly into it, with his Kermit the Frog totem, his love for Billy Joel, and his taste in movies. And, based on the chip that he handed Krill Woman at the end, they still use physical media in the far future-- which means I'll have to buy the White Album again.
So the Krill woman claims to have escaped from the clutches of the PU, but I wonder if that's true. She was formerly a teacher and no declared state of war exists between the PU and the Krill, so it seems to me that they would have just extradited her. Maybe she escaped before arrangements could be made. And do the Krill have moles in the PU? How did she get such a convincing false identity that she was able to get an assignment on a starship-- they would have to create not just a new identity with a life history, but also a career history within the service. That's quite a tall order. Also, it stretches credulity that there would be technology that could alter an individual into a scanner-perfect duplicate of a completely different species, and so quickly. Like many of these advanced technologies in TV and movies, the implications were not thought through. Can this technology be used by civilians and is it covered by health insurance? Do some people in an interstellar civilization suffer from species dysphoria? "Mom, I know I was born human, but I've always identified as Xelayan."
Anyway, despite the strained credulity and simplicity of the plot, this was a nice story that really emphasized the ethical nature of the Planetary Union and Captain Mercer-- it really felt like a classic Star Trek-style message. I'm assuming that we'll see Krill woman again, because this really works best as part of a longer arc.
And then in the other half of the episode we have Gordon's desire to jump to the command track-- which he oddly brought to Grayson rather than Mercer. Or maybe he was just following protocol. But it's not surprising that the week after he described himself and his family as "trash" that he is taking steps to improve his stature. I think that, in addition to tackling his self esteem issues and wanting to attract more women (which is just common sense), that he wants to be the equal of his best friend. It worked out nicely that this story led Mercer to make a questionable command decision, which Grayson then put to Gordon-- did he still want to pursue that responsibility? He didn't answer, but his posture said yes.
Other than that, I got a kick out of his reactions to the 3D Rorschach tests. The first one actually reminded me of the time I accidentally left a six-pack of Pepsi in the front seat of my car in the dead of Winter-- it froze overnight and I went out the next morning to find an explosion of foam the size of Herve Villechaize in the passenger seat.
If anybody even gets that....So the world of the 25th Century seems to be experiencing a strong wave of Boomer Era nostalgia, which I heartily approve of. Captain Mercer seems to be particularly into it, with his Kermit the Frog totem, his love for Billy Joel, and his taste in movies. And, based on the chip that he handed Krill Woman at the end, they still use physical media in the far future-- which means I'll have to buy the White Album again.
So the Krill woman claims to have escaped from the clutches of the PU, but I wonder if that's true. She was formerly a teacher and no declared state of war exists between the PU and the Krill, so it seems to me that they would have just extradited her. Maybe she escaped before arrangements could be made. And do the Krill have moles in the PU? How did she get such a convincing false identity that she was able to get an assignment on a starship-- they would have to create not just a new identity with a life history, but also a career history within the service. That's quite a tall order. Also, it stretches credulity that there would be technology that could alter an individual into a scanner-perfect duplicate of a completely different species, and so quickly. Like many of these advanced technologies in TV and movies, the implications were not thought through. Can this technology be used by civilians and is it covered by health insurance? Do some people in an interstellar civilization suffer from species dysphoria? "Mom, I know I was born human, but I've always identified as Xelayan."
Anyway, despite the strained credulity and simplicity of the plot, this was a nice story that really emphasized the ethical nature of the Planetary Union and Captain Mercer-- it really felt like a classic Star Trek-style message. I'm assuming that we'll see Krill woman again, because this really works best as part of a longer arc.
And then in the other half of the episode we have Gordon's desire to jump to the command track-- which he oddly brought to Grayson rather than Mercer. Or maybe he was just following protocol. But it's not surprising that the week after he described himself and his family as "trash" that he is taking steps to improve his stature. I think that, in addition to tackling his self esteem issues and wanting to attract more women (which is just common sense), that he wants to be the equal of his best friend. It worked out nicely that this story led Mercer to make a questionable command decision, which Grayson then put to Gordon-- did he still want to pursue that responsibility? He didn't answer, but his posture said yes.
Other than that, I got a kick out of his reactions to the 3D Rorschach tests. The first one actually reminded me of the time I accidentally left a six-pack of Pepsi in the front seat of my car in the dead of Winter-- it froze overnight and I went out the next morning to find an explosion of foam the size of Herve Villechaize in the passenger seat.
This was a pretty good episode, if not great. It was certainly a show with everything, including Yul Brunner.
I added the Yul Brenner in my head when I read "a show with everything..."
Just to keep this post sci-fi related, Murray Head's brother, Anthony Michael was in Buffy TVS and an episode of Doctor Who.
Anthony Stewart.
How does esophagus guy get his shirt on? Unless there's seams you can't see.
This episode kind of supports the theory that, like Family Guy, Orville is written by manatees who pick up idea balls. Only in this case, the balls have Star Trek episode names written on them.
In this case the balls they picked up are Thine Own Self, The Ascent and a Discovery episode.
I like the way the theory is confirmed they named her 'Tyler' just to hang a lantern on the fact Discovery did the same thing.
In this case the balls they picked up are Thine Own Self, The Ascent and a Discovery episode.
I like the way the theory is confirmed they named her 'Tyler' just to hang a lantern on the fact Discovery did the same thing.
I thought I saw a pretty obvious zipper above and under the bottom part of his "trunk" when he was wearing a uniform.
I guess there are.
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Of course all those uniforms have an obvious zipper, maybe Tharl's has velcro for the bottom part instead of another zipper.
The sweatshirt is a little more problematic. Maybe he's like a shop-vac and the hose comes off.
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I don't see a way for that sweatshirt to come off, so something does.
I don't see a way for that sweatshirt to come off, so something does.
Or @dodge nailed it and it gets beamed on by the replicator™.
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True, that is a possibility. Seems a bit complicated, though.
It's certainly better than the season premiere. Perhaps the best episode of the season and maybe one of the best of the show as a whole, but even then when compared to the best episodes of the show it obviously owes a lot to -- "Star Trek: The Next Generation" -- it's still nothing great. And the re-watch value isn't particularly high.
SPOILERS BELOW:
This episode suffers from problems, in my opinion.
Problem 1: It's too fast. We have nothing invested in this new member of the crew, so when she turns out to be the Krill teacher the rumors said she would be, it has no impact.
Problem 2: The coverage of issues this episode does, it topical and embarrassing at best at depth. Certainly you can fault episodes of various Star Trek series for that, too, but given what they're trying to do with the Krill and that we'll see them and her again and this is a building block, it's just bad.
Problem 3: Just as quickly we find out she is a Krill, we find out her and Ed have been dating. Again, no investment so it's all hollow.
I think this partially stems from the seasons being too short. Had this Krill teacher episode been an early to mid season episode of season one and there had been more episodes*, and then this reveal happened in mid season two, so we have time to know this new shipmate and watch her evolve with the crew and watch the relationship with Ed grow, the impact would been much much better. It's like the episode where Alara was in the holodeck and didn't know it. Before the big finale with her in the program, the episode blew it's wad and lost steam by letting us know in advance it had been a program all this time.
* = I know, Seth has said he wants to get things right with the writing and special effects, but plenty of shows with long seasons have done that. ST: TNG (again) did this for three seasons straight -- mostly good episodes and good special effects.
"But you said mostly good"
Yeah. Despite the effort Seth says he's putting into this, we've still had stinkers and mediocre episodes. Reducing the count hasn't helped.
SPOILERS BELOW:
This episode suffers from problems, in my opinion.
Problem 1: It's too fast. We have nothing invested in this new member of the crew, so when she turns out to be the Krill teacher the rumors said she would be, it has no impact.
Problem 2: The coverage of issues this episode does, it topical and embarrassing at best at depth. Certainly you can fault episodes of various Star Trek series for that, too, but given what they're trying to do with the Krill and that we'll see them and her again and this is a building block, it's just bad.
Problem 3: Just as quickly we find out she is a Krill, we find out her and Ed have been dating. Again, no investment so it's all hollow.
I think this partially stems from the seasons being too short. Had this Krill teacher episode been an early to mid season episode of season one and there had been more episodes*, and then this reveal happened in mid season two, so we have time to know this new shipmate and watch her evolve with the crew and watch the relationship with Ed grow, the impact would been much much better. It's like the episode where Alara was in the holodeck and didn't know it. Before the big finale with her in the program, the episode blew it's wad and lost steam by letting us know in advance it had been a program all this time.
* = I know, Seth has said he wants to get things right with the writing and special effects, but plenty of shows with long seasons have done that. ST: TNG (again) did this for three seasons straight -- mostly good episodes and good special effects.
"But you said mostly good"
Yeah. Despite the effort Seth says he's putting into this, we've still had stinkers and mediocre episodes. Reducing the count hasn't helped.
Not true.
We both have a personal opinion on this and neither is a truism.
Ratings mostly the same this week.......a tiny tick up. Its last two episodes have scored 0.6 and 0.7, already putting it below its first season’s 0.9 season low.
https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/renewcancel/cancel-bear-vs-fox-week-16-2018-19/
https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/renewcancel/cancel-bear-vs-fox-week-16-2018-19/
As soon as he walked onto the bridge wearing the sweatsuit, my first thought was how the hell did he put that thing on. I can see with the zipper on the jacket, but the only thing I can think of with the sweat shirt is that maybe there's a zipper or velcro or something on the back.
This is the 25th Century, so maybe by then they've found a way to make velcro seams invisible.