News Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville

[mythme]

It was....strange

much of the show seemed like it wanted to be a serious sci-fi drama but wasn't allowed to get over the bar. The rest was a weak stab at comedy that wasn't very funny and certainly not aimed at "geek-humor", a'la good "Big Bang Theory". The Helmsman and Navigator - while I assume they were trying for a irreverent buddy-buddy Sulu/Chekov thing - were annoying, humorless, distracting from the plot and incongruent with the rest of the cast. (I expected a lot more from the robotic guy; making constant anti-organic quips.) McFarlane himself gives the vibe that he WANTED to do a REAL Trek series but, given his resume, was pigeon-holed into this. The security guard girl seems very green to the point of amateurish at times and Penny Johnson really seems to want to take her role seriously, although she didn't really have much to contribute to the plot. It was pretty to watch, however. I'm not keen on the design of the Orville itself, but I liked the base and the cityscapes. The music was very noticeable and surprisingly good. The bridge of the Orville was, dare I say, TOO Trek-like.

I will definitely give it a few more goes. It certainly has potential and I feel like FOX wants it to succeed. The writing and the characters need some solid ground. Hopefully once the series discovers what it wants to be the Orville will be very enjoyable.

 

[Cyrus]

I thought it was OK. It's not a Trek parody, but Star Trek with more humor. I find it more watchable than the syfy space shows (Dark Matter, killjoys), so I will keep watching for now.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The bridge of the Orville was, dare I say, TOO Trek-like.

Not blue enough.

Also what is "good BBT geek humor?" I mean, besides misogynistic and border-line criminal behavior made funny because the guys are nerds?

 

[Sgt_G]

Well, I don't go for sit-coms, so I set my expectations fairly low. I half expected to change the channel by the second commercial break. So, given that, I found it passable. I'll give it a couple-few more episodes before I decide whether or not to keep it on my schedule. As "mythme" said above, it seems like McFarlane wanted this to be more serious with a dash of humor, kind of like how M*A*S*H was.

 

[Kirby]

It was ok. I wasn't a big fan of some of the humor, which wasn't all that funny. Shows often change a bit after the pilot, and I hope they tweak this one a bit, but I'll keep watching for now.

 

[Tosk]

Is the non-comedy stuff actually good, or just better than the lame jokes? As in, if someone edited out the gags, would the story still flow the same way?

 

[Shanndee]

I'm not sure what I thought about it. I was kind of "meh" through the whole thing. I'll continue to watch to see where it goes, but right now I have to call it ok, but forgettable.

 

[gblews]

But the show is being made today, for today's audiences, and this isn't trying to be the kind of high brow entertainment Trek was.

I can see the man/dude dialogue if this was a straight up comedy like Homeboys in Outer Space, but according to McFarlane, it is a comedy/drama, and a homage to Trek. You can have the bro characters with that type of sensibility without beating the audience over the head with the dude/man dialogue.

 

[drt]

I thought it had promise.

Probably would have found it funnier if they hadn't used most of the jokes in the trailers, I figure the later episodes won't be as spoiled.

My main complaint was it was a little too derivative of Berman Trek, I'm hoping they tone it down as the show becomes more of its own thing.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

It was kinda like watching some random TNG episode you don't really remember... as long as you imagine the real TNG players in the place of the Orville actors. But also, the humor level was less Family Guy than Family Guy.

I'd be surprised if this lasted more than a season. Fun, but... ehn.

 

[tomalak301]

Not blue enough.

Also what is "good BBT geek humor?" I mean, besides misogynistic and border-line criminal behavior made funny because the guys are nerds?

One of the things I did like about the show was how light and vibrant things were. I actually felt like I can see what was going on, and the uniforms really work well with the white overlay.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Ummmmm...

If someone has never seen Star Trek, or any other SF TV for that matter, The Orville might be more fun.

Plus + They have seat belts.

Minuses- Almost every other derivative moment - AND - a penis joke in the first 6 minutes. I'm not a fan of Seth McFarlane so IO was expecting his level of sophomoric humor but the plot(?) was so lacking in originality that it was painful. I've got it set to DVR and I'll give it another couple of tries but I don't anticipate a long term relationship.

 

[Borgminister]

The coming attractions looked promising. And I watched with a fuzzy feel-good feeling. Pleasantly surprised, given the bar set, and hoping for exponential improvement!

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Vox's review is the first one that leaves me genuinely concerned, partially because most of the other reviews are from sources I'm unfamiliar with, and because I've read and respected Caroline Framke's opinion for many years.

The whole review is disappointing to read, but these two particular paragraphs is a really bad sign:

"As has now been reported, an upcoming episode of The Orville takes on a “very special episode” structure to debate the merits or lack thereof regarding — stay with me now — an alien baby getting sexual reassignment surgery.

Without getting into the specifics of the story, I can at least tell you that the way this episode plays out makes it one of the most transparent and least necessary takes on the vast complexities of gender. The episode, written by MacFarlane, clearly thinks it’s shedding light and nuance on a fraught topic; it’s unclear if MacFarlane, a straight cis white guy, consulted anyone other than himself on said topic. But I would be shocked to discover that was the case, since the episode just ends up reciting bullet points too simplistic even for the transgender Wikipedia entry, and letting characters exchange the same basic arguments in scene after excruciating scene."​

I still plan to watch the show and hope it'll be Eureka-esque (light-hearted fun sci-fi show), but I'm going in with low expectations. Unless it's especially bad, I'll keep watching beyond the three episodes reviewers were allowed to watch to see if the show improves.

Figures she'd say that; people like her think that nobody but a person who has 'complete experience' with this matter could ever write an episode about it. Love how she uses the word 'cis' in a derogatory manner towards MacFarlane-again, as if he couldn't understand or write about it.

Starship porn:

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She's gorgeous!

I'm sorry, but I fail to see the hatred of of this new technique or why it should be so despised over model work. To a certain alien said hatred of said new method would sound illogical.

As for the show itself, it's good, but the officer played by Scott Grimes made me a bit angry with how he piloted the Orville and made it lose its warp nacelles during the battle with the Krill. Will watch the show next week and see if it's as good as this episode.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Plus + They have seat belts.

I liked that the seat belts looked like they were right out of the 70s but they lit up when you clasped them. I wasn't sure if that was actually meant to be a joke or not however.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I liked that the seat belts looked like they were right out of the 70s but they lit up when you clasped them. I wasn't sure if that was actually meant to be a joke or not however.

It's the future. Things have to light up.

 

[Skipper]

Ok, enough chitchat. Let's talk about serious things.

What about the departments' colors? Ranks insignia? Department emblems?

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Jayson1]

I liked it. It's something that makes you feel good and have a little nostalgia for the Berman era of Trek. If they can get better jokes it might even elevated it a little bit more into something like "Stargate' were they often did old sci-fi type of stories but with humor and a leader who would be making many of those jokes in O'Neil. Macfarlane's character could become a O'Neil type IMO.

I got to admit I hope they keep the old school feel about the show in both look and stories but actually get more edgy in the humor and do start to get into "Family Guy" territory with humor. Also I got to admit the pilot and the other guy made me think of Tom Paris but the friendship between pilot and helmsmen made me think of season 1 Data and Geordi.

I also hope they show some world building in this show so we can start learning what this universe is all about and what the basic rules are when it comes to the tech and the government's goals and so forth. Also we need more of the blob character and the robot has got to do something but I think they didn't do much with it because of time and we will see them use the robot to better effect in future episodes.

Jason

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Thought it was okay. Shall watch it next week.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, but I went into it without believing it would automatically suck.