The Orville appreciation thread - IE, the actual new Star Trek

[HarryHowler]

The idea that that a massively strategic partner that serves as the primary weapons manufacturer (In the middle of a genocidal war no less) would be discarded because 1 child got tortured in an attempt to find a radical terrorist cell is laughable.

Middle east does way worse and the western world is still allied with them and the soviet union was also allied with the US during world war 2, and the scale of those two is way smaller than a literal intergalactic alliance with trillions of lives at stake.

You can conceivably make a plot line where the Moclans break from the union from mutual tension and it would be intressting to, but you cannot do it in the span of a single episode with such flimsy justification. The whole season was rushed and the plot suffers for it. It needed at least twice as many episodes to flesh out the magic weapon, the krill elections, the moclan breakoff and alliance with the krill and the kaylon pacification.

Not gonna lie, I thought the ending they were going to go with would be having the Moclan ambassador act horrified and say that the guys who tortured Topa were acting on their own accord, and the rest of the Union agreeing to drop the matter in exchange for the colony being allowed to continue to exist unimpeded. So, while I can give Seth kudos for being willing to shake up the status quo and not just going for the safe ending, it pretty much completely ignores what would actually happen in favor of showing how supremely moral the Union is.

Maybe what would have worked better was if Moclus submitted its resignation from the Union as a political stunt, only for Bortus to then show up with Topa and proof that the Moclan high command did authorize her torture, leaving the rest of the Union with no choice but to accept their resignation.

 

[Secret Asshole]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

 

[m1ddl3m4rch]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

Yeah it is, and my favorite is Voyager but I think the best is DS9. There's a ton of Trek veterans on the show and behind the scenes. Tom Paris's actor directed an episode, Tuvok was in Lasting Impression, Cassidy Yates from DS9 is the ship's surgeon, and Doctor from Voyager is a guest star I think twice. The show has found it's footing and jts voice. It's everything nuTrek should've been. And the Union uses cloaking tech, so there's that.

TBH I think it's weird Seth already wrote his flame out of the show. Burke was never a great character, but it felt a little rushed to have her die already.

She deserved a much better parting line and final scene. She could've been crying and trying to keep focus as she thinks in four dimensions, remembering Amanda, and this time it's her turn to help others escape. Her final line should've been a wide shot of her crying when she says "I'm coming, Amanda," not a cheezy tight shot of a cgi explosion reflected in her eyes. It would've cost less and done the actor a better service. And yeah Seth needs to bring characters on that he's not fucking. Also they should've had LaMarr die. What a wooden performance when he confronted Burke in the mess hall. Penny Johnson Jerald is black and she's always been amazing. You can dump diversity hires like LaMarr for being shit and find a good 'diverse' actor who wants to be on the show. Jeez

 

[Stabmaster Arson]

if we get a S4, i could definitely see it as a callback

They need to resolve that sandwich damnit.

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

 

[Bob Loblaw Law Blog]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

def. worth watching. Fox dropped the ball with how they marketed it...framing it as family guy in space was so stupid. as send numerous times in this thread and elsewhere on the internet, Seth is doing trek better than nu-trek.

he also doesn't hog the spotlight with his goofy looking ass, and his supporting cast is great.

we all get some pretty solid stories for most of the supporting cast.

 

[Chilson]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

Season 1 is only really parody for like the first 3 episodes, then gets more into the trek style "space adventure of the week" format until the real plot starts going in Season 2.

If you like prior treks like TNG and voyager, with a sprinkle of DS9 here and there, then your going to have a good time. Its a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic dumpster fire of modern trek shows though. Just don't come in thinking its going to do anything particularly better than other non-modern trek shows though (other than effects of course, which are pretty fucking good for TV and lots of old school practical effects). Its at best only slightly above what prior non-modern treks before it have accomplished.

 

[CWCissey]

Linder and I have just started this. We're enjoying it so far, and Linder doesn't normally like Star Trek stuff.

We've just finished the episode with Isaac dating Dr Finn, so wizzing through I guess.

 

[Anime Goddess]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

It’s a very strong recomendation from me.

It might seem at first glance like Galaxy Quest, but it's actually more like TNG with humor here and there to keep things from getting too dry.

To give you an idea, this season touched on themes like genocide, suicide, and gender identity (without being woke). And without any lame attempts at humor.

It does have Seth's style brand of storytelling leaking in, but, still, this show is Star Trek in all but name.

Unlike the hacks doing current Trek, you can feel Seth is a big fan of Star Trek. So much in fact he did his own. And better than all of them combined.

 

[Miller]

So is this worth watching? I now S1 is more on the parody side than the serious side, but I kind of miss that mode and I know people say it gets more serious. I'm not all that interested in parody, so would it be worth it as someone who liked Trek in the past but has ignored all nu-Trek?

You should watch The Orville, it's the successor to the Berman era of Trek. It's created and written by people who care about the characters and love sci-fi. Also it's one of the rare shows to have an entire orchestra for the soundtrack.

 

[TVB]

It does have Seth's style brand of storytelling leaking in, but, still, this show is Star Trek in all but name.

Seth's humor can also be integrated in American Dad, Ted, and in some rare cases, The Cleveland Show, where there Seth and his writers don't really have to rely on cutaway gags in order to be funny.

 

[Jean Lafitte 1812]

As ironic as it is, I wish we'd have gotten a light hearted comedy episode this season. Even Deep Space 9 had episodes where Jake and Nog goofed off in between episodes like In the Pale Moonlight. I'd blame it being rushed again, but ST: Strange New Worlds had a fun episode in its 10 episode run that also moved one of the ongoing story arcs forward. I think Season 2 hit the best balance of comedy and playing it straight, but Season 3 has still been good so far.

They've done a much better job touching on serious topics with nuance and thoughtfulness than most modern TV shows, so there is that.

 

[Cactuar King]

Tom Paris's actor directed an episode

And he turned down an offer to direct STD to do it.

Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill Was Offered A Directing Job On Discovery

The team behind Star Trek: Discovery has been reaching out to Star Trek vets for cameo appearances [...]

comicbook.com

 

[m1ddl3m4rch]

And he turned down an offer to direct STD to do it.

Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill Was Offered A Directing Job On Discovery

The team behind Star Trek: Discovery has been reaching out to Star Trek vets for cameo appearances [...]

comicbook.com

Thats amazing, I didn't know that. I'm sure the rest of the TNG cast is joining Picard to try to rescue the series and handwipe away the first two seasons as Picard having a series of fever dreams in sick bay for a month. That or they want in on the cash grab train. Orville is killing nuTrek.

 

[Zaryiu2]

Without spoilers, what's season 3 quality like?

 

[Chilson]

Without spoilers, what's season 3 quality like?

Its better than season 1, weaker than season 2. Its overall good, but rushed to high heaven (likely due to rumors of it getting shitcanned with little chance of 4th season) with some character arcs just sort of coming and going without much greater purpose or fanfare.

 

[Far Queue Hall]

Seth recently released a standalone Orville novella on Amazon, set during the events of S3. Basically an episode that's likely unfilmable. While I really didn't like his writing style, the concept and story was pretty interesting. There are worse ways of spending an hour and a half than reading this short story (it costs like $4 and is another metric that might go some small way to demonstrating fan engagement during renewal discussions), but for those who can't be farked, story summary is below.

Spoiler: Story Spoilers

The concept was a couple leaving their baby in the safekeeping of a simulator during a Krill attack on a remote secret science lab, and the baby being raised to adulthood in a virtual environment. The simulation at the time of the attack was set in 1914, and the baby grows to become a Nazi running a concentration camp. Once rescued and reintroduced to the real world, the novel grapples with what to do with a murderous monster whose crimes didn't really happen (fkn lol).

 

[Johan Schmidt]

Seth recently released a standalone Orville novella on Amazon, set during the events of S3. Basically an episode that's likely unfilmable. While I really didn't like his writing style, the concept and story was pretty interesting. There are worse ways of spending an hour and a half than reading this short story (it costs like $4 and is another metric that might go some small way to demonstrating fan engagement during renewal discussions), but for those who can't be farked, story summary is below.

Spoiler: Story Spoilers

The concept was a couple leaving their baby in the safekeeping of a simulator during a Krill attack on a remote secret science lab, and the baby being raised to adulthood in a virtual environment. The simulation at the time of the attack was set in 1914, and the baby grows to become a Nazi running a concentration camp. Once rescued and reintroduced to the real world, the novel grapples with what to do with a murderous monster whose crimes didn't really happen (fkn lol).

Fuck, that's actually pretty interesting.

Spoiler: Ruminations on the book

That neatly sidesteps the entire obvious problem of 'video games bad' which a lot of the 'Is it evil if I do bad shit in the Holodeck' moral stuff runs into. From his POV, he 100% believed what he was doing was actually occurring. It - for all intents and purposes - wasn't a simulation to him; but to the outside world is would be.

It's kind of like a species discovering us and presenting 100% proof of a soul, and that only like 1% of humans have one, and everyone else is basically an NPC. Would that excuse crimes done before the soulproof came along? Does it excuse crimes after the soul proof? Shit, that would have been a neat episode. Completely unfilmable though, there's no way in hell you could have a decently nuanced discussion about the Holo-Holobunga now.

 

[CWCissey]

Make the child from some alien race and have it do some thinly veiled crime against sentience as that is a dead interesting concept.

 

[Miller]

Trailer for the season finale: "Future Unknown"

And he turned down an offer to direct STD to do it.

Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill Was Offered A Directing Job On Discovery

The team behind Star Trek: Discovery has been reaching out to Star Trek vets for cameo appearances [...]

comicbook.com

He turned down the offer, then a year later when he told them that there was room in his schedule they said that they wouldn't hire white men anymore behind the camera.

Seth recently released a standalone Orville novella on Amazon, set during the events of S3. Basically an episode that's likely unfilmable. While I really didn't like his writing style, the concept and story was pretty interesting. There are worse ways of spending an hour and a half than reading this short story (it costs like $4 and is another metric that might go some small way to demonstrating fan engagement during renewal discussions), but for those who can't be farked, story summary is below.

Spoiler: Story Spoilers

The concept was a couple leaving their baby in the safekeeping of a simulator during a Krill attack on a remote secret science lab, and the baby being raised to adulthood in a virtual environment. The simulation at the time of the attack was set in 1914, and the baby grows to become a Nazi running a concentration camp. Once rescued and reintroduced to the real world, the novel grapples with what to do with a murderous monster whose crimes didn't really happen (fkn lol).

Oh that's the one that Tom Constantino was talking about. Seth got Boxleitner to do the audiobook.

Spoiler

 

[Cactuar King]

He turned down the offer, then a year later when he told them that there was room in his schedule they said that they wouldn't hire white men anymore behind the camera.

Wait, really? That's the first I've heard of it.