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[JoeCovenant]

Seth MacFarlane's latest...

Thoughts?

Personally, I think it might be a fun one-off series... but I can't see it holding the attention as a long-standing comedy.

Unless they intend to bring more drama into it? But my problem with that is that I can't see Seth MacFarlane playing anything else but Seth MacFarlane.
So, nice idea, but... limited, maybe?

P.S.
I dunno if the name The Orville was a tip o' the hat to this guy...?

[BenRG]

James T Kirk, Benjamin Sisko, Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, Katheryn Janeway and Jonathan Archer all qualified top of their respective classes at Starfleet Academy. Did you ever wonder what happened to the barely-adequate cadets who squeezed under the line with a D+ grade? Well, they end up commanding second- or third-line patrol cutters and ambulance ships like the Orville, just like this guy.

Oh, Joe? She's named for the first human to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft but you knew that, right?

Those aliens, the Vrill? They look like Jem'Hadar (although the ships look like they're from the Farscape-verse). If that comparison holds, our 'heroes' are cold, dead meat that hasn't stopped twitching yet.

Memo to Chief Engineer: Please patch the android's combat programming with a 'non-lethal restraint' mode. Thanks.

I'm also wondering how long it will be before the crew start calling Captain/XO closed-door meetings "The Five-Minute UST"?

[Neko_Ali]

People who were poor students and presumably not very skilled officers while in the Academy and after graduation wouldn't ever make it to commanding a ship, or even heading a department. They'd be one of the faceless and nameless uniforms you see in the background. I doubt that grades mean as much as experience when it comes to picking a starship captain though. It's entirely possible they could rise through the ranks and eventually wind up with a high rank, even commanding a ship. But for the top of the line ships, those out there exploring and making first contact they are only going to take the best officers they can get their hands on.

[JoeCovenant]

James T Kirk, Benjamin Sisko, Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, Katheryn Janeway and Jonathan Archer all qualified top of their respective classes at Starfleet Academy. Did you ever wonder what happened to the barely-adequate cadets who squeezed under the line with a D+ grade? Well, they end up commanding second- or third-line patrol cutters and ambulance ships like the Orville, just like this guy.

Oh, Joe? She's named for the first human to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft but you knew that, right?

Those aliens, the Vrill? They look like Jem'Hadar (although the ships look like they're from the Farscape-verse). If that comparison holds, our 'heroes' are cold, dead meat that hasn't stopped twitching yet.

Memo to Chief Engineer: Please patch the android's combat programming with a 'non-lethal restraint' mode. Thanks.

I'm also wondering how long it will be before the crew start calling Captain/XO closed-door meetings "The Five-Minute UST"?

Re: The Orville... yeah... Dear Mr. Wright...
I just thought the green bird was funnier! 

Spot on with the Jem-Haddar clones.
And I KNEW the ship style reminded me of something, but you've just nailed it ! 

So, yeah... I await it with mixed feelings! 

[TheEvilDog]

People who were poor students and presumably not very skilled officers while in the Academy and after graduation wouldn't ever make it to commanding a ship, or even heading a department. They'd be one of the faceless and nameless uniforms you see in the background.

The word you're looking here is Redshirt.

[BenRG]

The Orville renewed for a second season.

[EDIT]
Given the scale of the divergence between critic and viewer response on Metacritc, Rotten Tomatoes and similar sites (average critic ratings are around 2/10 whilst audience response is over 9/10), I think that some TV reviewers need to honestly question whether they understand the show or the genre properly.

That said, honestly, The Orville is hard to pigeon-hole, being neither sci-fi/comedy (like Red Dwarf), space opera (like Space: Above and Beyond) nor entirely Star Trek-like semi-hard sci-fi. Given that Fox evidently wanted to market it as a comedy (because McFarlane is intimately associated with Family Guy), it is understandable that maybe many critics approached it with the wrong preconceptions and this may have impacted on their view of the show.

[Thrillho]

Has this aired over here at all? The trailer looked... moderately amusing.

[JoeCovenant]

Has this aired over here at all? The trailer looked... moderately amusing.

Nope.
As expected audiences are split down the middle from what I've read.
I'm not *surprised* it got a second series... doesn't mean it *deserves* one though... 

[BenRG]

Has this aired over here at all? The trailer looked... moderately amusing.

The first episode will air on Fox UK on 18th December 2017.

[Aimless]

It's more Star Trek than Discovery. I took a break after the social media episode, but I enjoyed it and plan to catch up soon. Light viewing, but well-made.

[RedWolf4]

Honestly, having watched some of this show, I have to say the writing and characterizations hold up rather well, and the plots are somewhat thought provoking at times. I don't expect it to be well remembered, but I do think it will be memorable in the long run.

Also, huh, Serious Mcfarlane, who'd have thought it possible.

[BenRG]

I've just watched some of the footage from the climactic space battle from Identity, Part II, which I consider to be as good as anything produced by Industrial Light & Magic. This in a season that has managed Star Trek: TOS levels of hard sci-fi to date.

IMHO, even if The Orville is not renewed for a third season (it's US domestic ratings, sadly, remain mediocre), Seth has made the point loud and clear that maybe CBS should have come to him about creating the new Star Trek series.

[LeeC]

I haven't seen season 1 but I am utterly impressed by season 2 thus far. It feels like a true successor to TNG. Its interesting that it was publicized as "family guy in space" but honestly, its not. Its just TNG for a modern audience. Sure there is comedy but Star Trek had comedy. The Orville's isn't as dry in that department though but they are just as serious and have just as much comedy as any of the other Star Trek shows. There is more consequence to each episode too. It doesn't really go back to the status quo, but constantly builds on itself. DS9 would do that at times and is known for having arcs compared to the previous series and it shines in the Orville too. Rotten tomatoes are not to be taken so seriusly now-a-days but I know many put their faith in it. Season 1 had terrible critic reviews and an overwhelmingly positive audience score. Season 2 has a critic score of 100% and audience level at about the same as season 1.

I do hope they get a 3rd season. This show deserves it.

[BenRG]

One of the continuing arcs in The Orville is getting interesting now:

(click to show/hide)

It's a curious inversion of the real world where one of the alien species, the Moclan, enforce rigid M-to-F transition on all girls born to their species as soon as possible after birth. There are various cultural traditions around this but this isn't just plan mysoginy. This is a cultural blanket assumption that females are in some way defective and which demands that they not exist within their own species (and be demeaned and mistreated in all other species as far as they can get away with). Last night, it got worse when it became plain that the very existence of a rogue colony of Moclan women and girls was threatening enough for their government to risk an interstellar war in order to eradicate them in some way.

The thing is that I now realise that Seth MacFarlane has cleverly started addressing transphobia by inversion. Instead of saying wanting to transition is somehow taboo, the Moclans believe that not transitioning is wrong and that non-transitioned women are an intrinsic threat to them. Just reverse the nature of the 'other' considered threatening and suddenly you see the position of transphobes being repeated in a sci-fi setting. We naturally are appalled at the Moclans' proposal for a 'solution' to the female problem on the Sanctuary colony so, we have to ask: Why are we not appalled by the otherwise-similar attitudes towards and proposed 'solutions' to RL trans* folk?

[LeeC]

I think thats the beauty of the early star treks (TOS and TNG) is that they asked these kind of philosophical, sociological, and cultural questions through the lens of the crew and aliens. Usually the crew is on the other side of the debate as the Federation has already evolved to the point where the stuff we consider taboo today has already been resolved. Like the episode in TOS where the man with the white left side and black right side is chasing down a man with a black left side and white right side because he is a different "race" and is to be persecuted, only for the crew to scratch their head on why there is segregation based on skin color. Another example is in TNG where Riker meets aliens with no gender and develops a relationship with one that wants to have a gender. The crew again scratches their head on why people can't have the gender they want. The Orville seems to follow that tradition brilliantly and not just with the Moclans, however the Moclans do seem to be the go-to for discussions about gender, identity, relationships, and even trans issues.

(click to show/hide)

I did think that the Moclans have too much pull on the council, strictly because they are the main weapons manufacturer in the Union. Thats a load of BS. And the fact they told the battlecrusier to abduct the woman before the council made a decisions just goes to show they do not respect the Union at all. The council needs to do something about the power the Moclans have over the entire union.

Also, I am patiently waiting for Bortus to divorce Klyden. And with his understanding of the crew's reaction to Klyden's divorce attempt the Moclan way, I am sure Bortus may resort to a more Union approach than Moclan. I just hope Topa stays with Bortus. Then again if he divorces Klyden the Moclan way, custody of Topa shouldn't be an issue, but his job may be in jeopardy.

Also also, props to a story about how Moclan's view woman as inferior (with Topa's behavior at the beginning of the episode) only to have Mercer leave the ship to put Kelly in charge and then for Kelly to go to the planet with Bortus to fight and leave Talla in charge of the ship. They gave the Moclans what for! I know its probably a narrative reason on why just Kelly and Bortus went down to the planet, but I am sure they could have brought more redshirts in the transport with them when they went down to the surface. Just thinking tactically is all.

Also also also, awesome having counselor Troi on the Orville as the new teacher!