THE ORVILLE S1, E10: "FIRESTORM"

[DonIago]

This was like a much better version of the Troi story from "Thine Own Self".

Which is to say, my biggest pet peeve of that episode was always the whole "Oh no, in order to beat the scenario Troi has to order a holographic character to kill himself! How tragic!!!" aspect. And I've gone on the record as saying the only way that could have been truly effective would have been if Troi hadn't known she was on the holodeck.

 

[Mudd]

Yeah, Trek has done this general kind of story a number of times, and this was better than any of them.

 

[Sheep]

So the guy who had his leg amputated and regenerated as a practical joke is deathly afraid of surgery...Isaac is fucking EVIL.

Having watched countless hours of Trek, I subconsciously predicted this would be a holodeck episode about half way in, but I'm surprisingly okay with the reasoning behind it. It was solidly fun as a self-contained horror episode and provided some character development for Alara.

 

[AdmiralAala]

So the guy who had his leg amputated and regenerated as a practical joke is deathly afraid of surgery...Isaac is fucking EVIL.

Having watched countless hours of Trek, I subconsciously predicted this would be a holodeck episode about half way in, but I'm surprisingly okay with the reasoning behind it. It was solidly fun as a self-contained horror episode and provided some character development for Alara.

Did you catch there was more guest appearances then "The Doctor"? Alara Mom was the first Vorta on ST. The music too Undiscovered Country and Wrath of Kahn with a touch of Aliens.

 

[UssGlenn]

So the guy who had his leg amputated and regenerated as a practical joke is deathly afraid of surgery...Isaac is fucking EVIL.

Yeah, that adds a whole other layer to why he was so hopping mad about it.

 

[Mojochi]

PICARDO!

This episode was, as I'd hoped, better than last week. (The next one looks good too) The holodeck cheat as a premise is kind of weak, but the episode's execution was really good, & I just really like the actress playing Alara. She's adorable. Bortus was killing with his dry-wit gags this week. That they made fun of Star Trek characters going into the holodeck in period costumes was just hilarious. It was an all around good mix this week

 

[DonIago]

So apparently in this universe holodecks simply don't have safeties? Alara seems to get banged up a fair bit, and there's never any mention of the possibility that she can't really hurt herself. Unless we're to assume that her override also disabled any safeties.

 

[Ovation]

While it had a few chuckles, I found it a letdown, even before the holodeck reveal (which only added to the disappointment). Left me feeling “meh”.

 

[Cyrus]

Liked it a lot.
While watching I had no idea how they would end it. The resolution at first seemed lame but ultimately satisfying.
I liked the clown, not as good as the clown on Voyager, but creepy.
Speaking of Voyager, it was good to see Robert Picardo. He looked a little bit like Dr Servin from that Star Trek hippie episode. I am sure there will be many more Trek guest stars.
Good job of directing by Braga.
Holodeck technology on Orville is really good.
"sorry for your loss. your son was a neat guy"

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, that adds a whole other layer to why he was so hopping mad about it.

Go to your corner.

This episode does tell us a bit more about the "holodeck" on the Orville, things we didn't know yet. It seems that the simulation is good enough as to fully duplicate and fool a person into thinking they're in "real life" so sights, sounds, smells, tactile responses all are realistic enough to fool one into feeling it's real life.

I suspect there's "safeties" like in Trek, but they were disabled in this episode or the injuries she's getting weren't severe enough for the safeties to come into play and the physical stress on her body due to her actions aren't something they take care of.

 

[Eduardo]

Sorry, but beyond proving that if her life was threatened Alara would be able to pull herself together and manage to survive, the whole simulation doesn't have anything to do with her being a capable Chief of Security at all, as Mercer mentions in the end. Quite the contrary, everyone is gone, the ship was destroyed, and the closest thing related to doing her job was spotting a terribly cliched "Villain slips and mentions something he shouldn't know".

 

[Romulan_spy]

A+

This episode proves that the holodeck can be a very effective plot device when done correctly. This was a fantastic holodeck episode. First, the holodeck was a means to an end. The episode did not recycle the cliche holodeck malfunction trope. Rather, the holodeck was used for a specific purpose that made sense. Second, the holodeck was used to advanced Alara's character development. Third, by keeping the holodeck a secret from the viewer, it made the situations much more tense. The viewer was much more engaged in the story since until the end, we thought what we were seeing was real. This episode used humor well and had some truly intense scenes. The music was also very good at heightening the tension.

 

[Trekker4747]

Sorry, but beyond proving that if her life was threatened Alara would be able to pull herself together and manage to survive, the whole simulation doesn't have anything to do with her being a capable Chief of Security at all, as Mercer mentions in the end. Quite the contrary, everyone is gone, the ship was destroyed, and the closest thing related to doing her job was spotting a terribly cliched "Villain slips and mentions something he shouldn't know".

Like with the fire Alara was afraid she'd run into another hidden fear that'd stall her reaction. The simulation was less about her capabilities as a security officer but seeing if she had any other hidden fears that may stall her reaction.

And the results of the simulation don't really speak to her abilities as a security officer since in it she was dealing with a much more powerful entity and the disappearance of the crew wasn't due to any action, or inaction, on her part.

What may be interesting is that this episode shows us Alara is at least as strong as Isaac if not stronger considering she was able to keep up with him in the fight and even able to defeat him. (Unless Isaac Nerfed himself in the simulation, which seems unlikely.)

 

[Mudd]

This is my second-favorite holodeck episode ever.

 

[lurok]

Not surprised Braga directed this. Felt like 'Genesis', which is still one of the creepiest TNG episodes.

And lovely to see Picardo again. More please.

 

[Jimmer]

Solid episode with a nice balance of humor and drama (what is it about scary clowns?). I had some big doubts about this series when I first heard about it but I’ve found it very enjoyable. I like how they’ve captured a lot of the feel of the earlier Star Trek.

 

[Mr Awe]

That was a quite the fun, creepy episode--until it was revealed that it was a holodeck episode. Ugh. That's one Trek "homage" we could've done without. That's a shame because otherwise it would've great.

 

[Mudd]

This is the first episode that reminded me of TNG rather than TOS. There's the holodeck element, of course, but also the "fantastic but unexplained experiences" storyline. My memory is probably slipping, but I think TOS did this only once, in "Shore Leave."

 

[Romulan_spy]

That was a quite the fun, creepy episode--until it was revealed that it was a holodeck episode. Ugh. That's one Trek "homage" we could've done without. That's a shame because otherwise it would've great.

At first, I thought the episode was going to reveal that there was an alien in the plasma storm that got trapped on the ship and was tormenting the crew but I am glad that they did not go that route because it would have been too derivative of TNG. I actually found the holodeck reveal to be a pleasant twist.

 

[Mr Awe]

The Orville reminds me of both. The look and a lot of the tropes are TNG. However, there is some TOS flavor mixed in for sure. The relative proportions seem to vary from episode to episode. Usually ends up being a great mixture!