THE ORVILLE S2, E6: "A HAPPY REFRAIN"

[Amaris]

"This week on The Orville: Nothing Happens. Again!"



Yes, yes it was very sweet in a weird way. A few good laughs. The idiot brothers running through the halls... "turn the table"...Norm MacDonald...

The travelling space symphony? What a delightful galaxy. They could have rock bands go on tour like that (could the Head of Billy Joel be far behind?).

Most of it was right out of In Theory, they just changed the ending with that scene on the bridge (which was pretty stupid). Them walking into the holodeck at the end was nice I guess.

I think Bortus' mustache drama was more entertaining. They should have done a whole episode on that. Maybe a whole arc.

Plenty happened, it was just all interpersonal, which for me works as it's my favorite kind of sci-fi. Oh, I love starships, nebulae, and all the great trappings of starfaring science fiction, but caring for the characters, watching them grow and develop, exploring how humanity interacts with the universe, that is the meat and potatoes of my sci-fi, the 'slice of life' aspect if you will, and so far The Orville has been nailing the hell out of it. Not to compare the two (they're different in their own ways), but DSC could really use some slice of life episodes right now.

 

[eschaton]

Plenty happened, it was just all interpersonal, which for me works as it's my favorite kind of sci-fi. Oh, I love starships, nebulae, and all the great trappings of starfaring science fiction, but caring for the characters, watching them grow and develop, exploring how humanity interacts with the universe, that is the meat and potatoes of my sci-fi, the 'slice of life' aspect if you will, and so far The Orville has been nailing the hell out of it. Not to compare the two (they're different in their own ways), but DSC could really use some slice of life episodes right now.

High-concept sci-fi is almost always better on the page than onscreen anyway.

 

[1001001]

Plenty happened, it was just all interpersonal, which for me works as it's my favorite kind of sci-fi.

I can watch General Hospital for interpersonal melodrama!



I just think this season has veered way over to that side.

It doesn't have to be Die Hard in Space necessarily, but where's the tension? Action? Danger? Where's the challenge? Conflict (outside of mustaches)?

I do like the characters, and I did say there were sweet moments and humor.

I don't know...I really liked the first season, but this one has been pretty "meh" IMHO.

 

[Amaris]

I can watch General Hospital for interpersonal melodrama!



I just think this season has veered way over to that side.

It doesn't have to be Die Hard in Space necessarily, but where's the tension? Action? Danger? Where's the challenge? Conflict (outside of mustaches)?

I do like the characters, and I did say there were sweet moments and humor.

I don't know...I really liked the first season, but this one has been pretty "meh" IMHO.

It has been more interpersonal, but then so was M*A*S*H 90% of the time. We got bits and pieces of action, but the show mostly focused on the interplay between the main characters and how they dealt with the aftermath of what was happening around them.

 

[Bgt]

Wow...
For me the Best Orville episode so far.
Absolutely loved it.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Does anyone else feel like the USS Orville is the wacky ship in the Union fleet? I imagine the other ships are probably super serious and professional. But the orville crew are kinda wacky. Just look at some of the things we've seen. They play pranks on each other. In this ep, Isaac, a robot, makes plays music and makes rain pour down on the bridge in front of the whole bridge crew during a work shift to serenade Claire back. We had the captain get a little stalker on his 1st officer when she starts dating someone on the ship. And of course the premise of the 1st officer being the captain's ex. let's face it. The ship is not your normal union fleet ship. LOL.

MacFarlane's Navy?

Still not "feeling" Not!Alara.

It felt kind of like when Dawn first showed up on Buffy out of nowhere.

 

[JRoss]

Outstanding episode. Penny hit it out of the park. How has she not aged in the last 23 years, either? I'm as old now as she was on DS9 and I don't look anything near as good as she does now.

Oh, and Mark was electric. Just brilliant all around.

 

[The Wormhole]

I wonder how much longer it will be before they give us a musical episode?

Given MacFarlane himself is a professionally trained singer and is always inserting musical numbers into Family Guy episodes, and that they've already established Bortus sings, I would be surprised if they never did a musical episode.

I was a little surprised how all the future humans and even aliens treated the concept of having a relationship w/ a machine as so foreign.

Two ways of looking at it.
1) The Union hasn't encountered many sentient AIs meaning there hasn't been much opportunity for organic and mechanical people to get together.
2) There are still some prejudices active among citizens of the Union.

 

[Marc]

looking at the credits for the episode

Starring Seth McFarlane, written by Seth McFarlane, directed by Set McFarlane.

does he collect extra payment for doing all the work or how do they work it?

 

[Phoenix219]

But it is funny when Bortus does it.

That would explain it. I was thinking that seemed like a lot of work for something so simple, but in the long run all of this was probably easier than actually soaking the set.

I wonder how much longer it will be before they give us a musical episode?

Oh my god, I honestly didn't put that together until I saw this post.

In Season 1, I thought it was a pun based on Isaac / Newton (Engineer at the time) - is there more to it?

 

[The Realist]

In Season 1, I thought it was a pun based on Isaac / Newton (Engineer at the time) - is there more to it?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_series_(Asimov)

 

[picardjean-luc]

If humans are still around in 20 + years watching these episodes and other futuristic Trek style shows things will be cute and antiquated.
That's already happening with Deep Soace Nine and Star Trek Next Generation.

Don't forget Voyager. I'm sure many of today's scifi fans would've thought the EMH to be an antiquated hologram .

 

[Nerys Myk]

A nice episode. Fairly low key, character oriented bottle show. Every time I saw Bortus, I expected him to say "Da Bears".

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

A nice episode. Fairly low key, character oriented bottle show. Every time I saw Bortus, I expected him to say "Da Bears".

Freakishly close in the 'stache department and similar personalities with all the yelling and whatnot.

 

[Cyrus]

I have been very underwhelmed by this season of the Orville, but this was more like it. I liked it a lot.

Isaac flipping the table and the breakup scene (with Isaac wearing underwear) were hilarious.

Other funny scenes: Gordon and Lamar running through the ship to pass the news. Isaac playing back a recording when he was asked what Dr Finn said exactly.

Great cameo by Norm McDonald.

I was thinking of Data when watching this episode. Isaac is a more arrogant version of Data. And Orville got the name of the character right. Isaac is a better name for a Robot/Android, especially if it has a positronic brain.

 

[picardjean-luc]

Freakishly close in the 'stache department and similar personalities with all the yelling and whatnot.

View attachment 8007

All we need now is to have Bortus transferred as the Orville's Chief Engineer and have him yelled "Be careful, laddies!! The engines can't take it anymore! It's gonna blow!!" Next time they've engaged the Krill or the Sporc alien

 

[picardjean-luc]

I was thinking of Data when watching this episode. Isaac is a more arrogant version of Data. And Orville got the name of the character right. Isaac is a better name for a Robot/Android, especially if it has a positronic brain.

I'd like to think of Isaac as Data if he wasn't equipped with an ethical chip and had no desire to emulate humanity at all

 

[Jayson1]

Freakishly close in the 'stache department and similar personalities with all the yelling and whatnot.

View attachment 8007

I was thinking more Ron Swanson with the mustache.

Jason

 

[Nerys Myk]

I was thinking more Ron Swanson with the mustache.

Jason

How does Bortus feel about wood?

 

[Jayson1]

How does Bortus feel about wood?

Not sure about that but both have eaten some strange things and I think Ron Swanson would love to play around of Latchcomb.

Jason