Discovery and "The Orville" Comparisons

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Discovery' started by Jedi_Master, May 18, 2017.

  1. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Several full body lengths above STD.
     
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  2. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    No way.
     
  3. Cake

    Cake Captain Captain

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    I am actually optimistic about a 2nd season. TV by the Numbers put it as likely to be renewed and they are generally right. The ratings seem to have stabilized. The Orville has better ratings than its lead-in Gotham and a big live + 7 gain. FOX owns the show. And then there is also MacFarlane with whom FOX has a long standing business association. I mean that wouldn't be enough to keep the show alive if its ratings would be really bad, but they aren't. FOX has some shows which are worse.

    So I write down the ratings more because some people were already dooming this show and sounded like they were convinced that there wouldn't be a 2nd season. I really don't think the situation is so bad.
     
  4. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    This applies to both Orville and DSC.
     
  5. Agony_Boothb

    Agony_Boothb Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I like Discovery, but BSG was something else entirely. There were definite weak points during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons but overall it was sheer brilliance.
     
  6. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    True! Didn't say it wasn't! One of the greatest series ever made!
     
  7. Cake

    Cake Captain Captain

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    Is anyone dooming DIS here? At least here in this forum practically everyone seems convinced regardless of their person likes or dislikes that DIS will get a 2nd season.
     
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  8. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    I'm not a writer, and have never successfully written anything. But, storywise, Discovery is simply uninteresting to me as a viewer. There is nothing about the story/universe that has grabbed me as "interesting". Sarek and Mudd seem like they were chosen not because they are interesting in their own right, but because we wouldn't need explanations about who they are and how they fit into the greater universe.

    The Klingons are the real oddity though. Obviously used because we have a real connection with them as an audience, but totally changed for no real reason and hidden beneath makeup that restricts any kind of emoting and makes it tough to talk.

    The Orville is entertaining on a level I haven't seen since probably TNG season four. It is something I look forward to on a weekly basis.
     
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  9. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Huh? People were most certainly dooming DSC, some still are.
     
  10. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Feel exactly the same, but in an opposite way. I am psyched for DSC in a few days! Cannot believe you don't find it interesting, but I hope you'll at least keep watching the first season... maybe it'll grab you like it did me!
     
  11. Cake

    Cake Captain Captain

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    I just saw so many comments about how DIS is already lucrative for CBS thanks to the Netflix deal and then add all the CBS All Access subscribers to it that I got a different impression.
     
  12. GeekUSACarl

    GeekUSACarl The Last Starfighter Fleet Captain

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    not hard to do when you're just ripping TNG ;)
     
  13. starsuperion

    starsuperion Commodore Commodore

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    Well, that's a good healthy attitude to have. It's optimistic and nice. Unfortunately after watching STD I have to take a Xanax to recover from the total feeling of dread and sorrow I feel after each episode. It makes me feel like a War story, and not Star Trek discovering new worlds and new civilizations.. it's not the final frontier anymore, it's just the Klingons and weird political trope nonsense, meant to be a commentary on today's issues, but comes off preachy and condescending. If BSG had it's bad moments, they were usually from story arcs that didn't quite hit. With STD, the storyline doesn't say boldly going where no one has gone before, it says here's where we've been, here's what we did before, now let's marry the Kelvin Universe and TOS and see what happens..This from the CEO of CBS who has inserted himself into the production consistently since the series began.
     
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  14. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    So, it's like TNG and BSG, with the preachiness and doom and gloom, respectively?

    For some weird reasons, for me, I am invested in DSC because it is so dark. No, it's not the "planet of the week" type exploration but Star Trek has left that behind a while ago, starting with DS9. ENT tried it, and then you had the Xindi arc, with a lot of the contemporary issues with war coming in to play.

    DSC is following a newer trend, of setting up the darker difficulties facing the protagonist. I've seen it done in other contemporary productions. It's a serialized storytelling that starts with the problem, and the main characters have to find a solution.

    I found this quote from an article discussing Lorca as an unethical captain and his challenges to the Federation idealism.
    Source

    That's the difference for me. I can walk away from DSC knowing things will get better in TOS. That sense of depression that I've had with other shows, like BSG, doesn't exist, because there is a sliver of hope that carries forward, despite the current dark reality.

    It may not be the escapist fun that Star Trek was in the past, and that might not be what everyone is looking for from Star Trek. Fair enough, and I know that different individuals will enjoy different parts of shows. But, for me, this is Star Trek trying something new, trying something different, that may or may not succeed. It's a risk that I think Star Trek needed to take, to break free of the safety of episodic storytelling and laugh tracks at the end of episodes.

    tl:dr I still have optimism at the end of DSC episodes, which is more than I can say for BSG.
     
  15. imdbrefugee

    imdbrefugee Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    When I get down thinking about DSC I remember how awful the other non-TOS Trek shows were at the beginning. While I have macro-level issues with the show's themes and mood, it's still legions better than the garbage that was TNG S1, VOY S1, and DS9 S1 ("Duet" notwithstanding). So I'm giving it a long leash as a Trek fan raised to be such since birth in 1990.

    And to echo what others have said, The Orville is a nice quad shot of the Trek I grew up watching. A bit flawed and the humor laughably pedestrian, but it's really refreshing in its simplicity if that makes sense. McFarlane's Trekkieness curls off of the show like smoke.
     
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  16. Serveaux

    Serveaux Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Yes. Because nu BSG was a fine, creative show and STD is not.
     
  17. Amalak

    Amalak Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Tried The Orville, it didn’t work for me.
    Loving Discovery so far.
     
  18. GeekUSACarl

    GeekUSACarl The Last Starfighter Fleet Captain

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    Discovery is well written and very creative,

    but there are no light moments or levity to it.
     
  19. imdbrefugee

    imdbrefugee Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    The pilot of Orville isn't really indicative of the show it is. Give it through episode 4.
     
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  20. GeekUSACarl

    GeekUSACarl The Last Starfighter Fleet Captain

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    Pria and Krill had my sides splitting at points.