• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

News Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville

I could see that one a bit more than Brooklyn 99. I don't know for sure, since I'm just going by what McFarlane said in the interview.
The Trekmovie article compared it to M*A*S*H*, which I'd say was pretty close in tone to Scrubs.
 
JD said:
Like I've already said two or three times, McFarlane said in an interview that the show isn't going to just be one joke after another, and that the emphasis won't be on the comedic aspects. The trailers have just over emphasized the jokes.
Click to expand...

I am imaging a show that has both jokes and serious moments. So for example, we will get funny gags like we see in the trailer but we will also get some serious scenes like maybe after a mission, the captain muses philosophically or maybe a serious heart to heart between the captain and his ex about their failed marriage.
 
Trekker4747 said:
I mean the who premise of why the give him the ship is silly within itself. "Hey, you're a fuck-up but, I guess, we need someone. Here's the keys to this fancy ship!"
Click to expand...

The worst part of that is the trailers make it clear the ex Wife character is more competent and probably should have gotten the command, but "lol incompetent guy with competent ex as 1st officer equals hilarity". Plus, you know, the guy is obviously going to get command over the woman regardless of ability, right? That's funny, isn't it? :rolleyes: I wouldn't even have to bring this stuff up if that whole part of the premise wasn't asinine. Hell, it would have been extremely stupid back when TNG aired, at this point its so archaic I'm almost impressed. Uncountable ways to set up Macfarlane as a captain, and they went with this.

I may think the comedy is terrible, but the premise really kills the show for me. But, I will give the first episode a watch because I end up watching a lot of garbage just to see a space ship on screen, and at bare minimum it will be less garbage then the other sci fi thing I have to watch this month.
 
Romulan_spy said:
I am imaging a show that has both jokes and serious moments. So for example, we will get funny gags like we see in the trailer but we will also get some serious scenes like maybe after a mission, the captain muses philosophically or maybe a serious heart to heart between the captain and his ex about their failed marriage.
Click to expand...

Well, Buffy had both jokes and serious moments but the jokes didn't invade the serious moments they didn't belong in. If Orville can be like that, great.

There are two spaceship shows debuting within a week of each other, so even if they're terrible I feel obligated to root for them, because if they do well, it means there will follow more spaceship shows that might be better.
 
kirk55555 said:
The worst part of that is the trailers make it clear the ex Wife character is more competent and probably should have gotten the command, but "lol incompetent guy with competent ex as 1st officer equals hilarity". Plus, you know, the guy is obviously going to get command over the woman regardless of ability, right? That's funny, isn't it? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I'm afraid of the opposite. Mercer comes across as competent if a bit goofy. What I hope is that is ex-wife, a certified Planetary Union commander, doesn't become the nagging-why-are-you-meeting-your-mates-in-the-pub-instead-of-seeing-my-mother kind of straight cis-female from US shows of the 90s.

One thing I keep wondering. When Mercer accuses Grayson their therapist was her brother-in-law - wouldn't that be Mercer's brother? Unless she remarried during the before/therapy?
 
Markonian said:
I'm afraid of the opposite. Mercer comes across as competent if a bit goofy. What I hope is that is ex-wife, a certified Planetary Union commander, doesn't become the nagging-why-are-you-meeting-your-mates-in-the-pub-instead-of-seeing-my-mother kind of straight cis-female from US shows of the 90s.

One thing I keep wondering. When Mercer accuses Grayson their therapist was her brother-in-law - wouldn't that be Mercer's brother? Unless she remarried during the before/therapy?
Click to expand...
Her sister's husband maybe?
 
To be honest, none of these reviews are particularly surprising, though they haven't turned me off the show yet. If anything this is giving me some perspective, back when A Million Ways to Die in the West came out, I complained the movie was undone by MacFarlane's vulgar humour and crass jokes and that with the excellent production values the movie had, it would have been interesting if he had made an honest attempt at doing a genuine western. But now, it seems that's essentially what we're getting here, well not a western obviously, but MacFarlane making a stab at doing a genuine sci-fi show with excellent production values, but it doesn't seem to be working either.

Which is a bit of a shame. Despite the obvious Star Trek influences, this show does have potential, some of the characters do come off as fun based on stuff from the trailers and promotional material, like the robot who hates organic life. I fear this show might just be getting around to capturing its potential and getting on the right track by the time the season ends, but will get the plug pulled and not get a second season.
 
Reviews don't stop me from watching anything, and I'll give Orville a go. I'm more convinced though that the show won't last very long.

The Wormhole said:
To be honest, none of these reviews are particularly surprising, though they haven't turned me off the show yet. If anything this is giving me some perspective, back when A Million Ways to Die in the West came out, I complained the movie was undone by MacFarlane's vulgar humour and crass jokes and that with the excellent production values the movie had, it would have been interesting if he had made an honest attempt at doing a genuine western. But now, it seems that's essentially what we're getting here, well not a western obviously, but MacFarlane making a stab at doing a genuine sci-fi show with excellent production values, but it doesn't seem to be working either.

Which is a bit of a shame. Despite the obvious Star Trek influences, this show does have potential, some of the characters do come off as fun based on stuff from the trailers and promotional material, like the robot who hates organic life. I fear this show might just be getting around to capturing its potential and getting on the right track by the time the season ends, but will get the plug pulled and not get a second season.
Click to expand...
 
I had this weird feeling that the ship is named after Shaggy from Scooby Doo... But that's Norville, not Orville, so I can be forgiven for such a small brain fart.

Oddly however, the musician Shaggy, HIS REAL NAME IS ORVILLE!

:)
 
As long as there's a laugh track I'll be happy. And an occasional breaking of the fourth wall for comedic effect.
 
Bruno said:
As long as there's a laugh track I'll be happy. And an occasional breaking of the fourth wall for comedic effect.
Click to expand...
Both of these seem very, very unlikely.

MacFarlane's lack of experience with serious material has been my biggest concern with this, so reading those reviews does concern me a bit. I'm still looking forward to this, but I am a bit more worried than I was before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top