The Orville - Season 1

[CapnZapp]

Haven’t seen Orville, but I loved Discovery. If it’s even better than that? Can’t wait!

I don't know if "better" is the word I'd use

"same same but different" works better for me ☺

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[Legatus Legionis]

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[Ryujin]

Episode 4 reminds me of two things:

The TV Show "The Starlost", and the Star Trek: Original Series Episode "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky".

The Starlost's crew had died, and the ship is drifting off-course, while those left in the agri-domes no longer recall they are on a ship.

Star Trek's episode was also in a closed "ship", where most of the people are also punished for thinking outside of the "norm".

So it is a nice MODERNIZATION of the story.

I did feel like its conclusion was rushed. The opening of the dome "solved" everything. They will accept the "help" without question. The turmoil of their belief system being upended they will accept...?

They could have used another 5-10 minutes at least address some of this.

The Orville leaving and the captain saying they will be getting their help shortly, yet leaving a people so divided/confused who knows what they will do to each other in the mean time.

What will the dictatorship do? What will the people do?

I mentioned the original series episode up-thread but when they started panning over the ship, my brain immediately went to StarLost. I didn't mention it because I didn't think that anyone here would remember a '70s Canadian SciFi series with crappy production values, whose biggest selling points were that it starred the Star Child and had a few cameos by Chekov

 

[Richards]

So far, I think the only main "Star Trek" things they haven't had on the show yet are transporter beams, dilithium crystals, and photon torpedoes. (Oh, and the Prime Directive!) They seem to have hit all of the other major checklist items:

- Warp speed
- Phasers
- Shields
- Holodeck
- Shuttles
- Tractor beams
- Tricorders
- Communicators
- Replicators
- Different colored uniforms for different specialties on board ship
- Mechanical being trying to make sense of humanoid life by serving aboard a ship
- United group of sentient races with Headquarters on Earth
- Specific design of starships for propulsion (twin nacelles vs. the stack of three rings)

What else am I overlooking?

Johnathan

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Krill seem to be shaping up as Klingon analogs.

 

[CapnZapp]

The Krill seem to be shaping up as Klingon analogs.

That's another thing I found funny:



SPOILERS

How the Krill ship couldn't obliterate the transport in twenty minutes, yet could come close to destroying the Orville in minutes.

The joke is how this is taken directly from Trek, where this kind of unexplained stuff would happen all the time.

In real life, you would hear a distress call, and then arrive long after the action is over to gather up survivors.

Combat time < (interstellar) travel time

Either that, or the prey successfully hides from the hunter, so that when the Orville arrives, the find the Krill in search-and-destroy mode.

Now, I realize that in order to save time, it's most convenient to arrive to a Krill ship actively shooting so the Orville can just kill it, but still, that's what I found funny - yet another TNG:ism...



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[Jester David]

I also noted that the two female characters on the show only talked about men when together and then one was injured and the other tortured. They could have done better in that regard, but I'm not going to rip the show apart for failing at something most shows also fail at.

I'm more forgiving for a few genre reasons. The first being that this is a show based on relationships and influenced by interpersonal drama. So talking about the other crew and related relationships is always going to be a major part of the dialogue.
As for getting shot, I imagine some of that was the Worf Effect: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect And the easiest way to establish the stakes are high is to hit the tough character with a blow that would be fatal for anyone else.

Otherwise, another fine episode that felt a little compressed. You had the religious theocracy elements and the people not knowing they live in a space ship crashing together. Some really interesting stuff that was just briefly touched on. But, again, this would have made a fine episode of TNG with some minor dialogue tweaks.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One thing I like is that characters do not have flawless recollection of the distant path. IOW, not everyone is an amateur historian. We've already seen characters unable to properly recall historical/factual dates, events, cities & people.

I fully expect Isaac to correct someone who screws up badly, a la Kryten from Red Dwarf, but if so, it shouldn't be a running gag. (I'd also love it if he got to play bartender once or twice...)

I also want them to do more with Yaphit or ditch the character. I like Norm MacDonald, but his character so far seems an afterthought.

 

[tomBitonti]

That's another thing I found funny:

How the Krill ship couldn't obliterate the transport in twenty minutes, yet could come close to destroying the Orville in minutes.

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Maybe, the transport did its best to evade the Krill, say, keeping up shields and running, long enough for the Orville to arrive. Also, if the Krill was raiding, it would want the transport more or less intact. But that's a bit of a stretch.

I found funny the absurdly short 20min time to arrive, which poked fun at the rescue mission as a plot device and by extension at the genre and at genre conventions.

I liked the acrobatics of the combat. No more 2D space fights here! But why oh why are people still driving?

Minor quibble: Does anyone have the cross sectional area of the alien ship? It seemed awfully tall for how wide it was.

Another quibble: Another case of the command crew going in where several exploration teams should have gone.

Thx!
TomB

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Also, if the Krill was raiding, it would want the transport more or less intact. But that's a bit of a stretch.

That was my first thought. We don't know much about the Krill, yet. Perhaps they only want...to serve man.