Spoilers The Orville: New Horizons Season 3 Discussion

Isn’t it on Disney Plus as well now?

 

Yes

 

I know I'm a little late to the party, but this season is a huge disappointment to me so far. The humor that was the defining characteristic of this show is gone. Charly Burke it's a terrible character or Anne Winters is a terrible actor. I can't decide. The episodes run way too long. Having to get them down to 42 minutes made for some much better editing. I've fallen asleep during three of them. Also, some of the VFX is great and some is terrible.

 

Only the first season had 42 minute episodes. The second season had episodes as long as 50 minutes, indeed, Fox even had to make shorter commercial breaks to accommodate the episodes. Which was likely a factor in why season 3 went streaming.

 

It's a refreshingly different idea, though one way or the other the ruse wouldn't have lasted long. Once the ruse stopped working and if the leader realized it was Mercer, what do you think will have happened to the society? Mercer is responsible. There's no doubt another ship will come by and the inhabitants will be on the ready. Maybe "The Orville II: The Wrath of the Birthday Cake" some 12~14 years from now will be a smash hit, but the first Orville movie that's 2 hours of Kaylon angrily saying "Divorce or die" had better get repeat ticket sales from its audience...

No word yet about season 4, though seeing some scenes with damaged corridor panels (not due to battle scenes), it doesn't suggest much hope. It'll probably be easier to get Halson Sage back for season 4 by comparison to simply getting season 4 greenlit in the first place. She hated wearing all the prosthetics... by the time season 4 is greenlit, all the makers need do is use body paint and draw circles and symbols on actors' faces and use CGI over those marks.

 

50 minutes was the norm until 1978/79 (appx) when broadcasting rules changed, allowing for more commercial time...

Combine that added episode length with the FOX merger and, of course, that sheer drop in viewership thanks to that choice of premiere episode and that drop was huge:

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-orville-season-two-ratings/

Season 2's premiere ("Ja'loja") is the highest-rated episode and is actually higher than a fair number of season 1's... immediately after that, all its remaining episodes had ratings smaller than season 1's episodes. At least season 2 bounced back, enough for the makers to consider renewing it after a lengthy delay... One has to wonder if any fans actually were asked as to why they stopped viewing. It's also amusing since the same episode, "Ja'loja" (an episode that redefined "streaming" for sure...) gave the show 100% from some professional critic sites. The subplot with the children was quite good, but there's no way that episode can objectively be a "100%". 80~90%, sure, but 100?

 

I may have been a little too harsh on the first half of the season because I'm really enjoying the second. Less Charly and more humor was mostly all it took for me. I still think the crew makes terrible decisions at every turn. It's like they're the Planet Express crew of the Union.

 

For Charly, i think she was maybe written poorly/one dimensionally.

I actually liked the more serious tone...made it feel less like a McFarlane joke show, and more a Trek homage, and in some ways done better.

For example, the "torture" of showing parents what their abortion had lost them was an interesting twist that made it actually feel like a diverse universe.

I hope they have more seasons...but if not, they ended it well.

 

Country specific I think. Not in the Netherlands.
Atleast, not when I checked a week or two ago.

 

When i read your first post i was about to tell you to stick with it as i had the same thoughts and fortunately continued only to see one of the best SF shows currently in production.

Still no Season 4 news or confirmation though

 

I had an experience with Dr. Pulaski that was very similar to my experience with Charly. I despised her when she was first introduced and thought her to be a one note character; but I really grew to like the character by the end of the season.

 

They did a pretty good job of developing Charly into a more likeable character as the season went on, but they gave her a pretty bad first impression at the beginning.

 

I was never going to not finish the show, but I'm glad that it seemed to have found it's stride again. So much time between me watching the second and third season probably didn't help my impression of the first half of the season. I still want a Season 4 if they have good stories to tell.

 

I actually liked it. Far too often something huge happens that affects millions, if not billions and since it's an episodic show the reset button is hit hard at the end of the episode and that event is not explored again and the possible repercussions are ignored.

For me Charly's reaction and attitude was completely understandable and relatable. Isaac was a participant in all of this and because he is a main cast member continued on in the show by handwaving away and reason to at least remove him from the Orville and they made the right choice to question this SF trope.

It's too bad her character arc was only planned for one season but it was quite good to see her evolve and then go out like a boss.

 

While Charly's character does come off initially a little spiteful, I actually found it a good take because it makes the world of THE ORVILLE more believable.

She was understandable, believable, and frankly very relatable.

I love Isaac, but he was the reason thousands of people were killed and was about to help the Kaylons kill every organic race. Charly was a part of that battle and lost her ship and her best friend because of him, so her reaction is totally right.

What makes the message of the show great is her arc... she goes from hatred of Isaac to getting to know him to saving his life and the rest of his race.

I think that journey is not only more believable for someone, but also makes the message stand out more... instead of automatically forgiving someone, that forgiveness is earned.

 

Whether or not Charly was justified in her hatred of Isaac doesn't really matter that much since ultimately, the character did come off a bit one note in that in almost every scene devoted to her, she's constantly reminding us how much she hates Isaac. Then after her and Isaac reconcile, she keeps reminding us how much she hates the rest of the Kaylon before ultimately sacrificing herself for them.

I mean, fine, she hates Isaac and the Kaylon and has very legitimate personal reasons for doing so. Doesn't mean we need to be reminded of this in every scene she's in. The character was basically nothing more than a plot device.

 

She was one good-looking plot device.

 

Yeah, I think that was my main issue with her. I can completely understand not liking Isaac and the Kaylons after what happened, but the way they had her acting felt a little too extreme and over the top for the first few episodes with her.

 

I felt the negative reaction to Issac was weird, because no-one batted an eye in the previous season after he did it.

There were four episodes after his betrayal where no-one seemed to treat him any differently.

 

true and Seth said that was a mistake they were trying to rectify this season.