The matter and antimatter ARE the fuel. And yes, the Enterprise needed to restock, we just never saw it. See Voyager, where they were running low on deuterium? That's the "matter" part.
Happy Orville Day, everyone! I look forward for watching this episode later this evening. Fingers crossed that Alara won't become Orville's Tasha Yar . And I wish Halston Sage the best in whichever career choices she chooses to make .
Wow, I can't believe I missed that. Back before the season started Seth McFarlane said we would be getting an appearance by another big star, but they would under heavy makeup. So far we've gotten Jason Alexander and now Patrick Warburton in heavy makeup, so I wonder if it was one of them, or if we'll get somebody even bigger. I don't know if Patrick Warburton would count as the kind of star he was talking about, but I could seeing it being Jason Alexander.
Spoiler I saw rumours she wasn’t going to be in this season at all, maybe that’s how it started, from her leaving during the season
I thought it was going to be Miss Piggy. Going to miss her but I’m sure the new lady will be just as good.
I'm actually not quite sure what my feelings are at the end of the episode. Sections of it worked better than anything else in The Orville to date, and sections of it were still kinda blah. I was somewhat disappointed that it turns out Alara's homeworld looks just like our own despite the higher gravity (mountains should have been lower, buildings constructed differently, etc) but given she doesn't look like what you'd expect a high-gravity species to look like, along with budgetary constraints, I wasn't surprised. Plus of course it was absolutely beautiful, even if it wasn't plausible. I was very much enjoying the character focus on Alara, and surprised the degree to which the rest of the crew took a backseat. Robert Picardo was putting in a great performance, but I was beginning to wonder when the actual plot was going to start, because it felt like very little happened between the pre-credits opener and the final 15 minutes. The action - when it started - was pretty much by the numbers (and over very, very quickly), but it worked well enough. Billingsley's character and his wife were not supposed to be professional soldiers after all, but normal people who were driven to terrible actions in their grief (I didn't like Billingsley's performance as much as Picardo's, but at the same time, it was easier to forget his Star Trek role for some reason). The subtle dig on antivax was nice to see as well. Then of course there's the last few minutes - the whipsaw between thinking she'll actually come back onto the ship, and then deciding to leave (semi) permanently. I have to say I was surprised at how successful this was at being emotionally touching. It is surprising to say, but I don't think Trek has ever written off a character in a manner that was as successful from an emotional standpoint. From a character standpoint, this episode was great. Although admittedly pretty surprising, insofar as one does not typically provide tons of character development to someone who is being written off the show. The humor was entirely absent for once, aside from that weird double esophagus guy (why even have that scene - seriously?). It's interesting that The Orville has gone with three relatively low key character focus episodes in a row. Last season had more of a TNG/VOY vibe to it, but I wonder if they're looking more to DS9 now.
They look mainly to TOS for narrative. Nothing about the character interactions on this show remind me much of the Trek sequel shows. Thank God. Oh, Picardo was good.
My quick reactions to the episode: It's the best episode so far in Season 2. The acting of the main casts, plus the special guests (Picardo and Billingsley) were great. As been predicted, the episode is Alara's swan song as Spoiler she's resigning her commission and will spend time with her family while recuperating in Xelaya . But she wasn't killed off, so the door opens for Halston Sage to return to the series whenever she wishes. I love the fact the Orville continues engaging in contemporary and controversial issues that few other series have incorporated. Last week was porn addiction while this week is the anti-vaxx movement. And doing so while not taking sides with a particular POV. This is what classic Trek series from TOS, TNG, and DS9 were good at and I'm glad Seth & Co is able to do it again this week. My one regret of the episode is that IMHO it could've been made the show's premiere episode this season instead of its third. This is the episode where I think the quality is similar to the best of S1, so it should've been been screened earlier to bring in new fans boost the show's ratings. With all the news about the series declining ratings, I have some concerns that ratings of the show could've stagnated, which can spell trouble for the show's future. Let's hope that won't be the case. Overall I give this episode 9 out of 10 rating
It's, in my opinion, the best of this season so far, but it still wasn't as creative as some of what they did last season. I really am hoping for the show to get back to where it was that hooked me last season It seemed like a quickly thrown together plan for an Alara exit. There be plot holes abound, like were these villains just hanging around waiting to see if Alara's dad would show up to the beach house in the off season? Why can't Gordon just move the ship 8 feet & extend its shields around Ed? It only broke his shins & didn't crush his entire foot like the bottle? etc... etc... little stuff like that Anyway, it does serve its purpose well enough, & the performances from everyone in it are actually some of the best of this season. (Some of last week's were as good too). It turned out to be almost exactly what I expected, a fitting & emotional farewell, with a little bit of schtick & some twists I will say this. Two Seinfeld alum & 2 Star Trek alum in the same episode is pretty impressive, fanboyishly speaking
When it was evident there was something strange going on on the island, I thought Alara was going to demonstrate that she didn't need brawn to be an effective security officer by solving the mystery, and that would perhaps lead her to start a new career in law enforcement or as a security specialist or something on her home planet. Instead, she just proved her worth by summoning enough strength to tackle a woman and grab her gun so she could shoot her and the husband. So, I was ultimately a little disappointed. Still, I thought this was a better episode than the previous two.
This was far more on track. The first episode of S2 was literally a meaningless stream of inane garbage, and last week's "Primal Urges" was just unpleasant and uncomfortable in almost every way. I almost didn't give this a bother. Not a great episode by any stretch, but far more in line with what kept me coming back last season. Hope next week is good.
That was a great episode, and the ending almost made me cry. I'm going to miss Alara but she got a good send off. They left things open for her to return so that's good.
Very well-done but emotional episode. Alara was my favourite. At least she didn’t die so I can take comfort in that. I really enjoyed her friendships with Kelly and Claire. I’m going to miss her.
This was a great episode. This show does tension very well. A bittersweet exit for Alara as she's my favorite character on the show. Thankfully they didn't kill her off. I choked up a couple times. Looking forward to next week.