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The Orville is Overrated Nostalgic Trek Fans

Hmmm. Well, given my feelings regarding Disco... I might have to give Orville a go! I watched the first episode and was a bit ho-hum on it. Looks like it's worth another crack.
 
I might watch The Orville if it weren't for Seth MacFarlane. There's just something about his presence onscreen that makes me want to change channels. There's no rationale for my taste - I just find him unwatchable as an actor - although somewhat oddly, I could tolerate him well enough when he was performing musical theatre numbers at the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall.
A good friend of mine, a huge Trek and Star Wars fan, refuses to watch The Orville simply because he disagrees with Seth’s political leanings. I told him that if he is going to use that as a yardstick, then he should probably burn his movie collection and throw his TV in the trash. You can count the number of conservatives in Hollywood on one hand.
 
A good friend of mine, a huge Trek and Star Wars fan, refuses to watch The Orville simply because he disagrees with Seth’s political leanings. I told him that if he is going to use that as a yardstick, then he should probably burn his movie collection and throw his TV in the trash. You can count the number of conservatives in Hollywood on one hand.
I thought about that but it sounded like work. :D
 
So yeah, I will watch this show because it is so close to TNG in many ways. It will remind me of my younger years and the realtively neat storytelling of that era. But The Orville is not only not as good as previous Star Trek, it pails in comparison to DSC. TNG had better acting and better writing, even when it's messages were bonk-bonk-over-the-head. The use of very contemporary humor and cultural references on The Orville pulls me out of the universe every time and reminds me it's just a TV show. DSC is contemporary Trek on an 8M budget per episode. The visual effects are amazing, the costumes or perfectly constructed, the direction is crisp and cinematic. Yes, DSC is a different kind of Trek. And yeah, I definitely think they missed some marks in all those areas along the way, but DSC Season 1 may be the best first season of Trek in all of the shows.

Would love to hear other thoughts!

I agree with you. I mean . . . I watch "The Orville". I like it. Somewhat. But I don't think it is no where as good as any of the Trek shows . . . including "Enterprise", which I have harbored a low opinion of for years.
 
Try PMing one of the forums moderators and requesting a correction. Can't hurt.
They're usually good about that, I've done it several times and they pretty much always fixed the titles for me. I have the bad habit of forgetting to reread things before I post them.
 
When are we going to get a Detmer, or Airiem, or Owosekun episode?
Probably not until they get promoted to guest star status. They're only co-stars in season 1, in other words, one step above background extra. Besides, in ten years Stargate never gave us an episode for Walter or Sgt. Siler.
I mean Detmer looks like 7 of 9, and when I did my rewatch, there was nothing to say if she got those implants because of what happened at the Binary stars. It's implied, but isn't that a story worth following to develop a member of the bridge crew?
What is there to tell? A console blew up in her face, we see that happening dozens of times in a typical season of Star Trek.
 
There's no reason to draw the audience a map concerning every incident, motivation and thought of everyone in the show - in fact, it's infuriating when writers do that. One of the things about many CBS procedurals - and STD is sort of one - is that there is no subtext. Every reference and every joke must be explained.

We see the redhead aboard the bridge of the Shenzhou. Big battle, many injuries. Later - surprise - we see her again, now with some kind of prothesis attached, all grim and apparently angry at Burnham. For gods sake that paints all the picture necessary.
 
A good friend of mine, a huge Trek and Star Wars fan, refuses to watch The Orville simply because he disagrees with Seth’s political leanings. I told him that if he is going to use that as a yardstick, then he should probably burn his movie collection and throw his TV in the trash. You can count the number of conservatives in Hollywood on one hand.

Well, that cuts several directions politically and in terms of social consciousness. Seth has used jokes about gender on his animated shows and made comments that offend some folks I know. One of them likes what she hears about The Orville but just can't watch MacFarlane.
 
There's no reason to draw the audience a map concerning every incident, motivation and thought of everyone in the show - in fact, it's infuriating when writers do that. One of the things about many CBS procedurals - and STD is sort of one - is that there is no subtext. Every reference and every joke must be explained.

We see the redhead aboard the bridge of the Shenzhou. Big battle, many injuries. Later - surprise - we see her again, now with some kind of prothesis attached, all grim and apparently angry at Burnham. For gods sake that paints all the picture necessary.
Oh yeah that's all pretty obvious, I was just talking about her time on the Shenzhou with both Saru and Burnham.
The one I'm most interested in is Airiam, the writers can't even seem to decide if she is a human or an alien.
 
I've noticed something similar with Discovery's fans and the rest of the franchise. They seem incapable of defending it on it's own merits, they just tear down the other series.
I would but no one listens. It's like enjoyment is subjective or something ;)
 
I don’t see why nobody seems capable of defending Orville without dissing Discovery in contrast. It has its flaws but I like its ambitions.

I think it's because they're perceived as being "in competition" with each other. I know all shows are effectively competing with all others, but Discovery and Orville are both directly targeting the Trek audience albeit with quite different approaches. So since people see them as directly competing with each other, many people think that one or the other has to "win" and the best way to do that is to put down the other show.

Personally I ended up enjoying both shows and will be continuing to watch them. Neither is perfect - Orville is a bit more light-weight than I'd like (especially when dealing with some of the more serious issues they touched on) and much of the humour felt forced. But it's an enjoyable show to watch overall. Discovery was a bit darker than I generally like and I struggled to get into it at first. After the mirror universe reveal some of the issues I had made more sense to me but I still struggle to fit it into the Trek timeline (how can a universe this dark and conflicted turn into the much lighter and happier universe in just 10 years). Once I stopped trying to make it fit and just viewed it as a stand alone show I enjoyed it more (although I'm still not sold on the character of Michael).
 
A good friend of mine, a huge Trek and Star Wars fan, refuses to watch The Orville simply because he disagrees with Seth’s political leanings. I told him that if he is going to use that as a yardstick, then he should probably burn his movie collection and throw his TV in the trash. You can count the number of conservatives in Hollywood on one hand.
I might well align with many if not most of MacFarlane's political views - it's just him I find irritating. I have a similar foible with Jim Carrey - except for Man on the Moon.
 
Have seen it now....did very little for me....felt like a flat soda with no fizz.
Sorry about that...well some of it was ok and clever...but nah....felt like a worn out concept from the start....
Hope it will be more enjoyable in season 2....
But it is really recycling 80/90's stuff in a kinda flat way....
It is ok as light entertainment...and I am often tempted to fast forward scenes!
 
Have seen it now....did very little for me....felt like a flat soda with no fizz.
Sorry about that...well some of it was ok and clever...but nah....felt like a worn out concept from the start....
Hope it will be more enjoyable in season 2....
But it is really recycling 80/90's stuff in a kinda flat way....
It is ok as light entertainment...and I am often tempted to fast forward scenes!

It definitely isn't for everyone, nothing is. But it sounds like you gave it a fair shot.
 
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