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THE ORVILLE S2, E11: "LASTING IMPRESSIONS"

I missed the previous comment. Agreed, that's arrant nonsense.
Gordon's arc was learning that his feelings weren't more important than hers. It's the entire point of the scene with Kelly, the thing that changed his mind. He tried to change her life to suit him, but this changed part of the reason he fell for her.
 
I wish I could see all the depth people apparently see in The Orville. I watch it, I've enjoyed it, but I don't see all this "It's so much better than Trek. Trek could never tell such a story." claims that are made.

It's the Barclay Effect (and to a lesser extent, O'Brien). The reason people see the Orville as very deep science fiction is the fact the characters are a great deal more flawed and working Joes (and Janes). They also are perfectly content to just do stories about uniformed voting, porn addiction, and relationships that failed despite the fact you really worked your hardest to make them succeed.
 
They should have done that. In Star Trek, Earth had a devastating nuclear war in the 21st century (or 20th depending on which episode you watch), but on Orville, no evidence that happened.

While the Union and the Federation are very similar, the pasts of their universes don't have to be.

So unless we hear otherwise, we can assume that there was no major nuclear war, and if that's the case, it would make total sense that records would be available, and Gordon could find more information on her.

As a viewer, I would have liked that as well.

It is possible that these types of records are just not accessible from the ship, or at least not immediately accessible. It would be an interesting follow up to see Gordon doing some research on her later, and perhaps even tracking down a descendant who may be interested in the data.
 
The "museum" is going to make an interactive hologram from the phone too. The exhibit is going to tour the Union. The phone data is public. Civilians are going to make their own home versions of Laura.

Just because Gordon was the first man to have sex with this ghost, what about the next 40 billion? And not all of them will want her for just sex.

Hunger Games staring 10 Lauras murdering each other for the right to survive.

If Gordon really "loved" l;aura, or respected her ghost, he should have destroyed the phone, and all recorded emulations of the phone, to stop her impression being a butler for angsty nine year olds, or target practice at a shooting range, or a reanimatable cadaver at medical school.
 
If Gordon really "loved" l;aura, or respected her ghost, he should have destroyed the phone, and all recorded emulations of the phone, to stop her impression being a butler for angsty nine year olds, or target practice at a shooting range, or a reanimatable cadaver at medical school.

She's just a simulation. However accurate.

Gordon really fell in love with the Orville.
 
The "museum" is going to make an interactive hologram from the phone too. The exhibit is going to tour the Union. The phone data is public. Civilians are going to make their own home versions of Laura.

Just because Gordon was the first man to have sex with this ghost, what about the next 40 billion? And not all of them will want her for just sex.

Hunger Games staring 10 Lauras murdering each other for the right to survive.

If Gordon really "loved" l;aura, or respected her ghost, he should have destroyed the phone, and all recorded emulations of the phone, to stop her impression being a butler for angsty nine year olds, or target practice at a shooting range, or a reanimatable cadaver at medical school.

Well, you know, the way this sort of thing works is that if in fact "Laura" becomes some kind of phenom then the race will be on to find as many of these iPhone things as they can, and just keep recreating people from the 21st century this way.

I don't think it's exactly what Farmer had going on in the Riverworld series, but it's close enough. :lol:

She's just a simulation. However accurate.

Gordon really fell in love with the Orville.

She's not just a simulation coded by a designer, though. She's an extrapolation from a lot of data about the personal life of a human being as that human being perceived herself and her world to be. Part of the point of what happened when Gordon "deleted Greg" was that he couldn't rearrange the scenario to suit himself, as he would with the other simulations (remember that he's the guy who creates friendly ogres and competitive dancing outlaws for fun) - the parameters were fixed by the data introduced from her phone. She was going to get back together with Greg, because she had gotten back together with Greg. And she had told someone - Greg, other friends, maybe family - that Greg's encouragement was crucial to her deciding to perform on stage, and the Orville's computer extrapolated from that the effect his non-existence would have on her.

It doesn't matter whether that was true, BTW - it only matters that she told it to other people using her phone.
 
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The only real difference is I believe the Brahms program was based purely on her professional work, while Laura was a more thorough recreation.
Not necessarily--as a personal phone, it probably has a greater emphasis on her personal life over her professional life. It likely also doesn't include other people's "real" opinions about her as the phone would only contain things other people are willing to say to her face. We all believe ourselves to be nicer people than we come across to others--therefore, the program has (most likely) a more congenial, personable version of Laura than she probably was in real life. This is not to say that she was radically different, just a more idealized version.
 
It likely also doesn't include other people's "real" opinions about her as the phone would only contain things other people are willing to say to her face. We all believe ourselves to be nicer people than we come across to others--therefore, the program has (most likely) a more congenial, personable version of Laura than she probably was in real life. This is not to say that she was radically different, just a more idealized version.

Yeah, that would almost certainly be true.
 
If anyone remembers CAPRICA, this actually was the premise for the show.

Artificial Intelligence is finally achieved by social media. They can't create real people themselves but you can create real people by combining all your Facebook, Twitter, Cellphone, Amazon purchases, and Medical Information.

It felt really stupid and undermined the Cylons.
 
Bortus seems to have an inclination to addictive behaviors. I really expected him to not have any reaction to the nicotine since he can eat literally anything with no problematic results. I guess inhaling a stimulant is different for Moclans than ingesting it is. Makes me wonder what his next addiction will be.

I'm guessing pot.
 
Gordon could have recast himself as Greg, or he could have kept rolling back time to before Greg returned. It's weird that Gordon treated Laura more like a person after he figured out that she wasn't a person.
 
Gordon could have recast himself as Greg, or he could have kept rolling back time to before Greg returned. It's weird that Gordon treated Laura more like a person after he figured out that she wasn't a person.
Part of it was just understanding that when he started rearranging the program to try to get what he wanted, it caused Laura to stop being the character that he was attracted to.

Laura didn't have free will - she was destined to reconcile with Greg because that was what she had done. And whenever anyone would try to pull pieces out of her dataset she'd become less like the person recorded in the phone.
 
Exactly. I think that's right at the heart of it. No matter how much you love someone (or think you love someone), trying to force your idea of their happiness upon them is wrong.

Or looking at it from the perspective of our character:

Gordon has never had much luck with women. He didn't start this program with the conscious intention of creating a sexual partner, but when he met Laura's simulation he found himself becoming attracted to her. What was really important was that she liked him back.

Yes, he shouldn't have just deleted Greg from the scene but being honest, many of us have probably would have been tempted to do the same thing in his situation.

What was nice about this episode is that not only did Gordon realize his error and correct his mistake, but for the first time in his life he learned how to move on from a relationship without ending things badly as he had always done before. In the end, he grew as a person from the experience.
 
Or looking at it from the perspective of our character:

Gordon has never had much luck with women. He didn't start this program with the conscious intention of creating a sexual partner, but when he met Laura's simulation he found himself becoming attracted to her. What was really important was that she liked him back.

Yes, he shouldn't have just deleted Greg from the scene but being honest, many of us have probably would have been tempted to do the same thing in his situation.

What was nice about this episode is that not only did Gordon realize his error and correct his mistake, but for the first time in his life he learned how to move on from a relationship without ending things badly as he had always done before. In the end, he grew as a person from the experience.
That's a fair assessment, and I'm glad he managed to grow from this. I like Gordon, he's fun, it's just sometimes he feels a bit too frat house. This was a step up for him.
 
That's a fair assessment, and I'm glad he managed to grow from this. I like Gordon, he's fun, it's just sometimes he feels a bit too frat house. This was a step up for him.
I know what you mean, but based on his dialogue in this episode (at least) I think he was written to be the version of the nerd/socially awkward guy who has a difficult time with relationships. Rather than getting his hate on for women and posting on scifi or misogynistic social media, he has an experience and grows from it. Maybe too on the nose for some people?
 
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