Spoilers The Orville: New Horizons Season 3 Discussion

[Ghel]

I'm kinda with the "meh" people here.

The concept was good but it went about 15-20 minutes too long. Once we get through the high school and airplane, we understand that each character was going to have the perfunctory near death scene (without much actual peril). For this reason, by the time our characters are walking through the crypt, the surprise was gone and I was just waiting to find out *why* they were being toyed with.

The command decisions in this episode are strange. So in the high school they split up, which gets a crewman assaulted in the bathroom and later he only survives the monster (as far as they know) because everyone fought the monster as a team, so when they see a boat with destination on the other side of a lake, they decide to . . . split up again.

Similarly, the crew is going down to a planet where the sensors are showing cities where they shouldn't be. Then the sensors show forests that shouldn't be there. Having established that the sensors are not working correctly, the crew open the door to the shuttle with no protective gear. I guess it's a good thing sensors were right about that one...

Finally, I agree with prior poster's that the Orville version of Q do too much telling rather than showing for the reveal. This was kind of fun, but the actress was no John DeLancie.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I really liked this episode. I appreciate that it was a classic star trek style premise: a mystery on a planet, the away team experiencing some type of vision/virtual reality/hallucination and an alien testing the crew because they essentially want to experience a human experience that is foreign to them.

I also really like that the ep used the same aliens from the past episode with the religion of Kelly and we got see what those advanced aliens have now become.

The different scenes were well done. The airplane scene was tense.

And we get a nice conclusion with the alien reveal and the crew later discussing what it means. And the episode dealt with an aspect of the human condition, our mortality, which is also a very Star trek thing to do.

Finally, I agree with prior poster's that the Orville version of Q do too much telling rather than showing for the reveal. This was kind of fun, but the actress was no John DeLancie.

I don't really see them as being like Q. Q is more of a trickster. If this had been a TNG ep, Q would have revealed himself at the start of the ep, snapped his fingers and sent the crew into the different simulations and then revealed that he wanted to teach them a lesson about mortality and Picard would have quoted Shakespeare to Q in the end. No. These beings did not seem like tricksters. They are simply advanced immortal beings that wanted to learn about mortality. In fact, she seemed kinda nice to the crew. She explained that they were in no real danger and talked nicely to them. Very different than what Q would have done.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm half way through the episode, and I can't help but think, "THIRD SCHAP!"

 

[Mr. Adventure]

This is not the kind of Trek story I need more of, no thanks. Especially egregious as there isn't even a decent reason for it to be a 20th Century high school or airplane and whatever. As John Travolta would say, Royale with Cheese!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Weakest of the three so far. "Meh" is right, and the ending with Tron Girl and her massive exposition drop would have worked better as just a few lines. It's like if that Metron at the end of "Arena" stayed for ten minutes and dropped his entire life story.

 

[jackoverfull]

Extremely predictable episode with some enjoyable moments but mostly droning off, like last week.

Pretty disappointed in this season so far: it’s not horrible but all three episodes have been really mediocre. Also the humor is totally gone these days.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

This is not the kind of Trek story I need more of, no thanks. Especially egregious as there isn't even a decent reason for it to be a 20th Century high school or airplane and whatever. As John Travolta would say, Royale with Cheese!

No reason other than the Alien‘s perception of Earth history must be hard to differentiate and blurs together a bit.
For them 21st and whatever century The Orville takes place in makes not much of a difference.
It‘s flimsy at best, but that‘s what I got.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Also the humor is totally gone these days.

I think Seth McFarlane said that is on purpose. He wants The Orville to be serious scifi, not a comedy. His exact quote was "the orville does not need a punchline."

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[Bgt]

I'm noticing this season seems to have a thing for long drawn out establishing shots. For example, right at the start of this episode, we get an extended sequence of the shuttle approaching the Orville, landing in the hangar deck, and then we follow Talla as she walks throughout the ship to Kelly's office. Really feels like they're inserting padding just to justify the extended runtime.

I think you are right.
It is one long scene after another for no purpose really except to fill in the extra runtime.
The editing is really weak as it is the pace and it becomes basically...boring.
"Look there is a light blinking..let's get this raft and paddle...paddle..paddle... to reach it" .

Increasing this show's runtime didn't do it any favors.

 

[jackoverfull]

I think Seth McFarlane said that is on purpose. He wants The Orville to be serious scifi, not a comedy. His exact quote was "the orville does not need a punchline."

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a pity: I felt they had reached the right balance in season 2.

The editing is really weak as it is the pace and it becomes basically...boring.

I’ve noticed this a lot in the first episode, less so un the other two.

 

[HotRod]

I don't know what it is about this episode, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I'm all for less action packed, more cerebral storytelling, but this thing just knocked me out multiple times. Maybe it was the pointlessly drawn out shots? Or maybe the plot that's reminiscent of other shows? Even the music just didn't do it for me.

While I get that Seth wants to tell serious sci-fi stories now that he's out from under the thumb of network TV, I think The Orville has lost what made it unique. The comedy, love it or hate it, was what set it apart. Never has it felt more like a rip off of Star Trek, then these last few episodes.

 

[jackoverfull]

Well, it was mostly pretty much a reenactment of concepts of many Star Trek episodes, from the cage to hotel royale to many more, with very little originality. The only chuckle it got out of me was seeing who the bully was. Even the idea that they were still in the illusion when they destroyed the projector was obvious from the start.

 

[shapeshifter]

I don't know what it is about this episode, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I'm all for less action packed, more cerebral storytelling, but this thing just knocked me out multiple times.

Ditto. 3rd episode in a row to become naptime for me and it's not because of taking shots at Trek eggs.

Speaking of Trek eggs, did anyone see the Ent-D warp core, (upper right corner of upper deck at 4:21. Ok it is just a work circular workstation but come on !1!1!

 

[FPAlpha]

I think Seth McFarlane said that is on purpose. He wants The Orville to be serious scifi, not a comedy. His exact quote was "the orville does not need a punchline."

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I don't need his sometimes low brow humor ( which under the right circumstances and mood i can still find funny) but what drew me to Orville was its humor on top of Trek like episodes. After the initial low quality humor at the start of the first season they found the right balance but that's now gone and what it is now isn't even good SciFi in my opinion, just people walking through sets and doing stuff.

If this continues i might quit sometime this season which is sad because i expected something like Strange New Worlds, which currently has the perfect mix of humor, drama, action and heart.

 

[thribs]

I’m sure the humor will be back.

 

[The Wormhole]

I think The Orville has lost what made it unique. The comedy, love it or hate it, was what set it apart.

While I do agree The Orville seems to have lost its identity this season (and I say that as someone who has enjoyed two out of the three episodes so far) I'm not sure I'd say it's because of the removal of the comedy. I mean, I loved the comedy in season 1, but season 2 still managed to remain unique even when they scaled back on the comedy as that season progressed.

For me, The Orville's defining feature is that it was primarily a character driven show. And while we did get a primarily character oriented season premiere, the character angle is basically gone from the other two episodes. Okay, we learn some stuff about Dr. Finn last week, but that felt rather forced to serve the purpose of giving some personal stakes to the story, which the episode itself seemed to drop as it went by anyway. This week the only character details were about Talla's family at the beginning, and even that turned out to be an impostor posing as Talla. Another thing, from the start this show has always been about Ed and Kelly as they try to figure out their lives in the wake of their marriage's collapse. Yet, so far in this season, if you hadn't already known from the previous seasons, you might not even realize Ed and Kelly were even in a relationship ever the way they've been this season.

I think you are right.
It is one long scene after another for no purpose really except to fill in the extra runtime.
The editing is really weak as it is the pace and it becomes basically...boring.
"Look there is a light blinking..let's get this raft and paddle...paddle..paddle... to reach it" .

Increasing this show's runtime didn't do it any favors.

Something that's been getting to me, in the premiere we get the extended sequence showing off the new fighter craft, yet since then all its done is take up room on the hangar deck.

 

[Skipper]

I'm the only one who thinks that a shuttle bay in that position is just an incident waiting to happen?!?

 

[thribs]

I did like the “are you high?” Line to Malloy. That made me laugh.

 

[Skipper]

While I do agree The Orville seems to have lost its identity this season (and I say that as someone who has enjoyed two out of the three episodes so far) I'm not sure I'd say it's because of the removal of the comedy. I mean, I loved the comedy in season 1, but season 2 still managed to remain unique even when they scaled back on the comedy as that season progressed.

For me, The Orville's defining feature is that it was primarily a character driven show. And while we did get a primarily character oriented season premiere, the character angle is basically gone from the other two episodes. Okay, we learn some stuff about Dr. Finn last week, but that felt rather forced to serve the purpose of giving some personal stakes to the story, which the episode itself seemed to drop as it went by anyway. This week the only character details were about Talla's family at the beginning, and even that turned out to be an impostor posing as Talla. Another thing, from the start this show has always been about Ed and Kelly as they try to figure out their lives in the wake of their marriage's collapse. Yet, so far in this season, if you hadn't already known from the previous seasons, you might not even realize Ed and Kelly were even in a relationship ever the way they've been this season.

Something that's been getting to me, in the premiere we get the extended sequence showing off the new fighter craft, yet since then all its done is take up room on the hangar deck.

Yep! These last few episodes, with a few minor adjustments, could have been episodes of any Star Trek series.

 

[shapeshifter]

I'm the only one who thinks that a shuttle bay in that position is just an incident waiting to happen?!?

^Agree.

Also, those warp petals bending up and down ruin the ships visual aesthetics for me.