THE ORVILLE S2, E5: "ALL THE WORLD IS BIRTHDAY CAKE"

[Gryffindorian]

Well it's only like 43 minutes of TV.
His much could they cram in within 43 minutes?
And if they did cram more stuff like you mentioned in, everyone would complain that they crammed I too much stuff.

The length is inconsequential. It could've been a 20-minute episode, but it still focused on the perils of fanaticism and ignorance, not so much on first contact. And like I said, I found it hard to believe that an entire planet populated by a post-industrial alien race shared just one ideology based on superstition that condoned the persecution of a group of people who were perceived different.

 

[eschaton]

Let's be honest: The reason for this episode is because Seth wanted a chance to shit on how awful people are who believe in astrology. That's really all that's here.

 

[picardjean-luc]

And like I said, I found it hard to believe that an entire planet populated by a post-industrial alien race shared just one ideology based on superstition that condoned the persecution of a group of people who were perceived different.

Agreed. And I also don't like how Seth & Co resolves this centuries old persecution with one wave of magic wand: Just creates a new star in a corner of the galaxy so that the Gilliacs can now seen as 'good' instead of 'bad' people.

As we sadly seen in how racism and xenophobia endures in so many societies, the above resolution simply didn't work in real life .

 

[Mudd]

Let's be honest: The reason for this episode is because Seth wanted a chance to shit on how awful people are who believe in astrology. That's really all that's here.

More like "how stupid astrology is," but...maybe.

It is stupid, beyond belief.

 

[DonIago]

The length is inconsequential. It could've been a 20-minute episode, but it still focused on the perils of fanaticism and ignorance, not so much on first contact. And like I said, I found it hard to believe that an entire planet populated by a post-industrial alien race shared just one ideology based on superstition that condoned the persecution of a group of people who were perceived different.

Is it ever clearly established that the leader we meet speaks for the entire planet versus where Our Heroes set down?

 

[Mudd]

I dunno, but they always seem to.

Planets in space opera are all south Pacific islands.

 

[JRoss]

Hey, this whole thread is TL;DR for me, but I have a question. That German fairytale that Ed mentions, the one about the boy who dies on a winter night while his dad is taking him home. What is the name of it? I read that story as a teenager, and I've never been able to find it again. TO the point that I almost felt like I'd dreamed it up.

In the version I'm familiar with the boy gets visions of a spectral form calling itselelf "The Nght King", inviting the boy to play with his skeletal daughter. I've tried looking up The Night King, but all I get is Game of Thrones.

I've been looking for it off and on for the last year. Does anyone know the name of the story?

 

[Astra]

I've been looking for it off and on for the last year. Does anyone know the name of the story?

Hi, I'm German and this sounds a lot like the famous ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Der Erlkönig". Here it is in German and English:

http://ingeb.org/Lieder/werreite.html

Even though I have seen the episode twice I don't remember Ed mentioning this? Where and when was this please?

 

[JRoss]

Thank you very much, @Astra. That's the one! And I'm sorry, it wasn't on The Orville. My wife was watching The Gifted when they referenced the plot of the poem.

 

[Astra]

Thank you very much, @Astra. That's the one! And I'm sorry, it wasn't on The Orville. My wife was watching The Gifted when they referenced the plot of the poem.

Happy to help! I've known and loved this poem ever since I was a child and my mother told it to me. It's very creepy and the end very poignant and sad.
And heh, I am literally hanging on Ed's lips, so I was wondering how something like that escaped me

Is it ever clearly established that the leader we meet speaks for the entire planet versus where Our Heroes set down?

Speaking of, was it actually clearly established that all those shot guards were actually dead? Maybe they just shot them into the knees or shoulders?

Or, maybe it will turn up in a storyline later. They have picked up stuff from former episodes before. And even if it hasn't been planned so far, they might track online discussions?
If all fails, we have to fall back to fanfictions I guess...

 

[Gryffindorian]

Is it ever clearly established that the leader we meet speaks for the entire planet versus where Our Heroes set down?

We may never know. If it's a unified global government, it just proves my point of how unrealistic such a society is. Even in a totalitarian regime, there are bound to be rebels and freedom fighters.

 

[Mudd]

We may never know. If it's a unified global government, it just proves my point of how unrealistic such a society is.

I know - it's as bad as Star Trek. No surprise.

 

[DonIago]

I mean, I'm just thinking...let's say the US manages to make contact with extraterrestrials, and they land in Washington. Disregarding the current adminstration (because dear god...), would the visitors assume that POTUS speaks for the planet, and would they base their views of the planet on whatever they encountered in Washington?

For all we know Our Heroes could have landed on the other side of the planet and had a delightful time.

The amount of pre-First Contact research they did is pretty unbelievable, if not downright inexcusable.

 

[kitik]

Speaking of, was it actually clearly established that all those shot guards were actually dead? Maybe they just shot them into the knees or shoulders?

I seem to recall a big explosion from a grenade too. Those guards did not survive.

Best part of the episode: everyone running around like little kids, thrilled about first contact.

One of many annoying parts about episode: the writers didn't understand very basic science regarding that solar sail. A light source in low planetary orbit would appear to be in different locations in the sky when viewed from different locations on the ground. (Just like the space station and various satellites are only visible from certain very limited ground locations during any given orbit.) The jig would have been up in under 5 minutes. Someone from the (G)Regorian capitol (surely that name was intentionally similar to our calendar) would have called up their uncle Joe in Kansas City or Chicago to tell them about the new star in Jilliac, and Uncle Joe would have looked out the window and said "what new star?" It's one thing to hack the satellites or whatever to give false readings, but people would have been able to see that they were being tricked with simple eyeball observations.

 

[The Wormhole]

I mean, I'm just thinking...let's say the US manages to make contact with extraterrestrials, and they land in Washington. Disregarding the current adminstration (because dear god...), would the visitors assume that POTUS speaks for the planet, and would they base their views of the planet on whatever they encountered in Washington?

In Stargate, aliens actually do view the US as the capital of Earth. When a Goa'uld attack fleet arrived at Earth, they got in contact with the White House to issue their ultimatum to the President.

 

[DonIago]

Yeah, I watched SG-1 and Atlantis. So aliens in those shows were as dopey as Our Heroes in TNG et al.

At least SG-1 did show the US actually coordinating with other nations at times.

 

[Noname Given]

In Stargate, aliens actually do view the US as the capital of Earth. When a Goa'uld attack fleet arrived at Earth, they got in contact with the White House to issue their ultimatum to the President.

And when the Daleks invade they always ring the British PM.

And when the Zentradi show up they single out Japan.

It's all relative.

 

[The Wormhole]

And when the Daleks invade they always ring the British PM.

Except for the time they attacked Germany.

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[Tom]

It's to bad we don't know the in universe date of the episode (and Kelly and Bortas's birthday) . I want to know if i'm a Jilliac! LOL

I noticed that the Orville does not seem to use any dating system in the show. I'm sure because they want to keep the episodes more episodic , so they gloss over that stuff.

 

[Nakita Akita]

It's to bad we don't know the in universe date of the episode (and Kelly and Bortas's birthday) . I want to know if i'm a Jilliac! LOL

I noticed that the Orville does not seem to use any dating system in the show. I'm sure because they want to keep the episodes more episodic , so they gloss over that stuff.

As they say, 'if you have to ask, you are probably one.......'.