Orville: New Horizons (Spoilers)

[Janx]

I was a little fuzzy on the ending of season 2 (I thought it was a cliffhanger). It's been that long ago.

But this ep hit hard. What happens when a crew member betrays the crew, but is still on the show? TNG would just have folks go back to normal. Orville had them harrass him until he killed himself.

There's one thing I disagree with.

The whole "it's not our fault he killed himself."

Bullcrap. Issac's choice was in direct response to actions repeatedly taken against him.

Was it an extreme choice? Yes. He could have quit and become a sous chef or something.

But Marcus telling Issaac he wished he was dead. That was on Marcus.

And writing "Murderer" on the wall. Marcus.

Issaac killed himself because of everybody's treatment of him.

That is on them.

People being crappy to someone makes them the cause of suicide. Damaging somebody's self-worth means the decision was under duress and the source of the duress is at fault.

The Choice was theirs to be a bully.

 

[Ryujin]

I was a little fuzzy on the ending of season 2 (I thought it was a cliffhanger). It's been that long ago.

But this ep hit hard. What happens when a crew member betrays the crew, but is still on the show? TNG would just have folks go back to normal. Orville had them harrass him until he killed himself.

There's one thing I disagree with.

The whole "it's not our fault he killed himself."

Bullcrap. Issac's choice was in direct response to actions repeatedly taken against him.

Was it an extreme choice? Yes. He could have quit and become a sous chef or something.

But Marcus telling Issaac he wished he was dead. That was on Marcus.

And writing "Murderer" on the wall. Marcus.

Issaac killed himself because of everybody's treatment of him.

That is on them.

People being crappy to someone makes them the cause of suicide. Damaging somebody's self-worth means the decision was under duress and the source of the duress is at fault.

The Choice was theirs to be a bully.

That appears to be the lesson that Seth was trying to teach, in his rather heavy handed way. After a suicide everyone sits around asking, "Why did they do it?", without bothering to hold up a mirror.

 

[Argyle King]

I agree with the minor criticism above.

But... overall... good start to a season.

I know the first season gets a bad reputation for comedy, but I like that the members of the crew are shown to have personality -even when that includes icky bits. Maybe I see it differently due to my own anecdotal life experience, but it has been my experience that a lot of off-color humor is somewhat normal when serving with the same people for a lengthy period.

That being said, I would agree that the show has matured in overall approach. Orville has -for me- consistently been a better Star Trek show than contemporary Star Trek.

At this point, I find myself wanting to know more about the Orville universe. Yes, it is still obviously inspired by ST, but I think it is on the verge of growing into its own thing. It's a shame that the pandemic cut into time which could have meant more episodes and seasons. Hopefully, there's a way to continue the story even after Seth becomes busy with other projects he has on the horizon.

 

[Morrus]

I just started season 1 and am mixed. On one hand, it is kind of fun. On the other hand, it sort of feels like silly Star Trek fan fiction. And more so, almost all of the ideas were less facsimiles of Star Trek stuff. I've heard it gets better, but...

Yeah. It starts off a a Star Trek comedy. It turns into a Star Trek drama. It feels like they wanted to make Star Trek, but the only way they could get it off the ground was to sell it to the network as a parody. Once they were on, they then pulled back the jokes and basically started to make Star Trek.

 

[Morrus]

Noticed some coincidental similarities to Strange New Worlds -- escaping from a more powerful ship into a gas giant, faking your own explosion so the attacker leaves. Also the walk out onto the hull.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah. It starts off a a Star Trek comedy. It turns into a Star Trek drama. It feels like they wanted to make Star Trek, but the only way they could get it off the ground was to sell it to the network as a parody. Once they were on, they then pulled back the jokes and basically started to make Star Trek.

Which is too bad. While I still really enjoy the show, I thought it was much better as a parody.

 

[Morrus]

Which is too bad. While I still really enjoy the show, I thought it was much better as a parody.

I didn't. I much prefer it now. Fart jokes really aren't my thing.

 

[billd91]

I'm sorry, but Charlie struck me as... Racist Wesley Crusher.

I was disappointed in an aspect of the episode - Isaac's role in events was repeatedly misrepresented, and nobody really pushed back on it. Isaac did not choose to betray the Union.

It is natural for people to think Isaac did so, and to have fear, and to rest their anger on him. For none of the bridge crew to go, "Wait, that's not what happened..." I find problematic.

He may not have chosen to betray the Union, but he did serve as a mole on behalf of a genocidal species. And that’s gotta look pretty shady from a Union perspective even if he has kind of gone beyond the Pale.

 

[Stalker0]

Its your classic traitor's conundrum, if you betray your people you may do what you feel is a great good, but its highly unlikely your new side will ever treat you as an equal. After all, if you can betray your own people, it seems easy enough for you to betray us.

 

[Argyle King]

One of the guys I game with once offered what I thought was a good elevator pitch to describe Orville's early episode.

Paraphrasing: "Trek is the story of the people who were at the top of their class. The Orville is the story of the people who still made it through Starfleet but just kinda got by... Cs still get degrees."