THE ORVILLE S2, E1: "JA'LOJA"

[Tosk]

Holy cow, what a weak-ass episode. Nothing to do with the stakes, more to do with the fact that this was just an Orville'd episode of Family Matters or Seventh Heaven...or both smooshed together. Typical (and boring) TV storylines dressed ever so lightly in Trek trappings. Barely.

Fingers crossed this does not reflect the rest of the season.

 

[psCargile]

A Tyler is Teleya thing seems a little too easy. Waiting and seeing, but expecting the unexpected if so.

 

[Mudd]

The rearrange-the-letters thing that LoB pointed out is pretty persuasive, simply because it's not going to happen by accident.

 

[Tuvix5675]

The S2 season premiere of The Orville has got me thinking about the biggest difference between it and STD: The Orville is a character driven show, while Star Trek: Discovery is a plot driven show, at least it was in the first season. I guess this is a big reason why I like The Orville better.

 

[Qonundrum]

I am so dang excited for this! I wish I was half as excited for season two of Discovery as I am for this. Fox actually doing right by a Sci Fi show? Can it be?

Apart from "Futurama", of course. They did allow "Sliders" 2 years of some creative freedom and those are the 2 years everybody calls "the best, by far". And they launched "Firefly" despite airing episodes out of order and not promoting it well enough.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I wish the scene of Ed spying on Kelly in a shuttle, was done differently. A little more like "Red Dwarf" and Kelly and her boyfriend have their backs to the windows and the shuttle flies by front first, moving slowly to aside and we see Ed's pissed off and really face as he does the fly by.

 

[Jayson1]

The S2 season premiere of The Orville has got me thinking about the biggest difference between it and STD: The Orville is a character driven show, while Star Trek: Discovery is a plot driven show, at least it was in the first season. I guess this is a big reason why I like The Orville better.

I wouldn't go that far. "Discovery" is character oriented it just that entire focus is Burnham. It's not really about the supporting characters though they do get their moments to shine. "The Orville" is more about the entire cast just like the Berman era shows. Nobody is more important than the other except Mercer and I would put Kelly in their as well since she is the second lead.

Jason

 

[Amaris]

I wouldn't go that far. "Discovery" is character oriented it just that entire focus is Burnham. It's not really about the supporting characters though they do get their moments to shine. "The Orville" is more about the entire cast just like the Berman era shows. Nobody is more important than the other except Mercer and I would put Kelly in their as well since she is the second lead.

Jason

I love all of The Orville cast, but I think Kelly is easily the heart of the show. Just my two bits, though.

 

[Trekker4747]

It was a Mehpisode for me. Kinda there, but nothing blowing me away. Still kind of fun, though. And, damn, I just love Alara and am going to miss her when/if she leaves and doesn't come back.

I really was hoping for more of a "gag" with Bortus' urination, like he only peed a drop or something. (They could've done it by the camera watching the spectators, we hear a "cartoony" "drip" sound, the Moclans all cheer in ritual triumph while our non-Moclan crew members look at each other kind of going, "That was it?!"

And, apparently, this moderate-ly sized ship has this mess hall and an elegant restaurant in it?

 

[Amaris]

It was a Mehpisode for me. Kinda there, but nothing blowing me away. Still kind of fun, though. And, damn, I just love Alara and am going to miss her when/if she leaves and doesn't come back.

I really was hoping for more of a "gag" with Bortus' urination, like he only peed a drop or something. (They could've done it by the camera watching the spectators, we hear a "cartoony" "drip" sound, the Moclans all cheer in ritual triumph while our non-Moclan crew members look at each other kind of going, "That was it?!"

And, apparently, this moderate-ly sized ship has this mess hall and an elegant restaurant in it?

The restaurant didn’t actually look very large. It looked smaller than the mess hall. Even so, the Orville is a mid-range exploratory vessel. I would figure it would have a restaurant and other amenities.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I keep coming back to this...

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[Mudd]

I wouldn't go that far. "Discovery" is character oriented it just that entire focus is Burnham. It's not really about the supporting characters though they do get their moments to shine. "The Orville" is more about the entire cast just like the Berman era shows. Nobody is more important than the other except Mercer and I would put Kelly in their as well since she is the second lead.

Jason

None of these are really "character driven;" which would be a real rarity in a science fiction series. Shows may have characters who are more appealing than others, but scripts are generally pitched and developed around the premise and story. At best, the characters appear to be responding in their characteristic and interesting fashions as they hit each plot point and turn of the story.

 

[Tuvix5675]

None of these are really "character driven;" which would be a real rarity in a science fiction series. Shows may have characters who are more appealing than others, but scripts are generally pitched and developed around the premise and story. At best, the characters appear to be responding in their characteristic and interesting fashions as they hit each plot point and turn of the story.

I guess its kind of impossible to know unless you are the author of the script or screenplay, but the characters on Discovery strike me as set pieces to advance the plot, maybe its just unprofessional writing. The characters aren't believable I guess might be the better point. Why would Burnham have such disrespect for a Captain she's served under for 8 years and commit mutiny against her? Why would Mudd hate Starfleet more than his Klingon captors and develop an insane hate for Lorca? How does Lorca turn from a sympathetic Captain to a cartoon villain? These characters don't strike me as realistic.

 

[picardjean-luc]

I wouldn't go that far. "Discovery" is character oriented it just that entire focus is Burnham. It's not really about the supporting characters though they do get their moments to shine. "The Orville" is more about the entire cast just like the Berman era shows. Nobody is more important than the other except Mercer and I would put Kelly in their as well since she is the second lead.

Jason

That's what I like about 'Orville' S1. While Ed and Kelly certainly got a lot of screentime due to their leadership roles, everyone were put on focus and got their moment to shine from the series' early episodes. Alara in Episode #2 (Command Performance), Bortus in.Episode #3 (About a Girl), etc. Even secondary characters like Yaphit and the first Chief Engineer (played by.Larry Joe Campbell) were given significant roles as well.

Let's hope 'Discovery' would've mamaged its focus in S2 so other characters will get their moment to shine. Having episodes centered on Tilly and Saru (an extended 'Short Trek') along with secondary characters like Dettmer and Owesakun. This will hopefully attracted those Trekkies who were turned off by the show's tune in S1 back.

 

[Awesome Possum]

It was a fun episode, nice to see Jason Alexander even if it was under a ton of latex.

 

[Jayson1]

I didn't even know it was him, because I missed seeing him in the credits so I didn't know until people talked about it here. I mean I thought the voice sounded familiar but I didn't make out who it was.

Jason

 

[RJDiogenes]

Don't worry.

Spoiler

This Thursday's episode will at least include a supernova. And depending whethet the show runners want to reveal Mercer's new love interest as a Krill infiltrator in this episode, we might see potential confrontation with the Krill as well

.

That's cool. I like supernovae. Just NIMBY.

 

[Mudd]

Alexander has been recurring on Young Sheldon, sporting the most charmingly contrived Texas accent.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It was a fun episode, nice to see Jason Alexander even if it was under a ton of latex.

Sure it wasn't Gore-Tex™?

 

[Jayson1]

How did Alexander not have a bigger career outside of "Seinfeld?" He was great on that show. Somehow playing a Rhino bartender is not something I think he ever thought he would be doing at this stage of his career.

Jason