Hell, the amount of humor that can be in an average episode of DS9 is rather staggering for a series that has a reputation for being the dark series.
Seth MacFarlane Created "The Orville" To Fulfill A Need Star Trek Had Abandoned
- Thread starter Danja
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The fact that the last “fun” episode in DS9 before the final series arc is an Ocean’s Eleven romp in the holodeck to save a recurring Vegas nightclub singer character is hilarious and absurd all at the same time.
And yet, because of that DS9 magic, the thing fucking works, and also finally addresses the whitewashed nature of Vic’s version of Las Vegas. You get comedy, drama, and social commentary, all in 42 minutes.
I felt the social commentary in that episode was kind of part of the absurdity (much like how the medieval reenactment group I used to be a part of acknowledged they were trying to recreate the Middle Ages as they should have been, not how they actually were), but I do enjoy the episode otherwise.
As a tangential comment: I remember the SCA used to say that (“as they should have been”, etc), and I always thought it weird. The Middle Ages should have had filet mignon for everybody, starships and a thorough lack of auto-da-fes, but part of what makes it the Middle Ages is that it didn’t…
In my later SCA years I'd darkly remark with regard to certain aspects that in its effort to recreate the Middles Ages as they should have been it had actually recreated the Middle Ages as they actually were.
But the idea is basically keep everything historically accurate to the best of one's ability except for the gross parts.
Similarly, Vic's Las Vegas is a fantasy, but it never claims to be otherwise. I doubt Felix marketed it as an attempt at a historically authentic Las Vegas (though I suppose it's possible). I could understand Sisko being uncomfortable with it, but it did kind of make him look like a little bit of a stick in the mud too (at first).
It's kind of like berating pr0n for not presenting a realistic image of that kind of activity; it's not trying to (usually), and ideally everyone knows that.
Yikes!
There's also The Idiots In Charge (TIIC).
The first episode aired literally ended with the killing of a creature trying to survive, they didn't even try to give it salt, the thing they knew it needed. The phasers were very quickly not set to stun in his situation.
And of course Star Trek didn't show nearly as much respect to other ways of life as some fans like to believe.How many cultures did it look down on and how many ways of life did Kirk forcibly change because they were wrong in his eyes?
This. I also believe the moments where the show was pacifist and conflicts got solved through talking or bluffing where a result of budget constraints, it's simply cheaper to talk than it is to do visual effects.
And of course Star Trek didn't show nearly as much respect to other ways of life as some fans like to believe.How many cultures did it look down on and how many ways of life did Kirk forcibly change because they were wrong in his eyes?
The first episode of Starfleet Academy had them killing the crew of the opposing ship without offering any chance at surrender.
I looked forward to every episode. There were online watch parties where we commented in real time on a Facebook page as it was broadcast. Those were fun.
And then Faux cancelled it. Lost all that fan love, involvement and interaction with the show. Horribly short-sighted, but that's the network that cancelled Firefly, so not unexpected. They (and Seth) lost out big time.
Rarely very well.
Agree to disagree.
I've seen all of Star Trek. I watched the first two seasons of The Orville. That third season of The Orville must have really made up for the first two in a big way.
Except those who don't.
The Orville: New Horizons is Seth MacFarlane's original vision for the show (It was Fox's idea to make it a spoof of Trek. They thought it would make the show easier to market.)
It's a point of concern for me that people, especially younger people, get their ideas of what sex and possibly romance are supposed to be like based primarily on exposure to erotic fantasy content.
Even if you know full well that what you're experiencing isn't real in any meaningful context, unconsciously it probably does impact one's hopes or expectations.
None of which has anything to with The Orville, admittedly.
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