Your thoughts on The Orville?

When I first started this show I found it to be a really awkward mix of comedy and seriousness. It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times as some kind of comic relief from a really serious situation. Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough or maybe the show just grew on me, but by season 2 I found myself loving this show.

To me it seems as every bit as comfy, intellectually interesting and even funny as some classic Star Treks while still clearly being its own thing. I wish more comfy space shows like this would get made.

What are your thoughts on The Orville? Also I miss Alara.

CatfishSushi,

Wanted to like it more than I did. Just didn’t think it was all that funny.

Now I thought Avenue 5 (HBO) was absolutely hilarious. It’s the funny I expected from Orville. Too bad it ended after 2 seasons.

shirro,

It was the Star Trek we needed before SNW and Lower Decks. Seth and the Orville are not universally appreciated but I doubt the Orville escaped the notice of the writers and producers at Paramount. The Orville charted a sometimes difficult and uneven course to the golden age of Start Trek we are currently enjoying and along the way made some excellent episodes and introduced some good lore and characters.

KazuyaDarklight,
@KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world avatar

I had fun with it, and thought it had a pretty solid ending for the last season.

acow,

I wanted to like it, but didn’t get through S1. I found the humor so uneven that it made the whole thing almost uncomfortable. Is it an irreverent parody, sci-fi, slightly crude comedy, or is it Star Trek? It’s all of those things, and I’m happy folks enjoyed it. I’ll try to revisit at some point, but for now I’m so happy that Strange New Worlds is as surprisingly excellent as it is. For me, it nails the mixture of lightheartedness, sci-fi adventure, and earnestness that I like in Star Trek.

KiofKi,
@KiofKi@feddit.de avatar

It’s a love letter to star trek. I strongly recommend you give it another try to get through the first season, because by season 2 they found their stride and it got way better.

TwigletSparkle,

probably quicker amd easier to just pick an early episode of S2 and see if you enjoy it more. Orville does a pretty good job of being fairly episodic, which is a highlight.

AA5B,

Huh, I also struggled to like SNW but really enjoyed Discovery. Maybe I’ll try that again too

Lanthanae,
@Lanthanae@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Entertainment wise, I find it to be very fun to watch and am always engaged while I have it on.

Thematically, I think it has either a bad or watered down argument sometimes, but other times I think it really hits. Either way though, I find the way it approaches certain ideas very interesting and compelling to discuss with my SO while we watch it, so even when I don’t agree with the thematic intent of the episode, I find it worthwhile to interact with.

That said, it did make me cringe a little bit for the first 2 episodes. They’re still worth watching for context instead of skipping them, but don’t make any judgements on it until episode 3.

All in all, I give it a 8.5/10 personally but a 7/10 critically.

kingcarlosxiii,

I loved it. So much sci if these days focuses more on world building than character development. Orville felt like it struck the right balance between the two and gave us characters that are easier to empathize with.

solstice,

A good point. I feel like everything I watch now I just cannot stand any of the main characters. They’re either abrasive angry awful people that I want nothing to do with, or boring dull wooden textbook characters that are so cliche you already know what the plot will be before it happens. These days if I don’t like the characters within a few episodes, and care about what happens to them, I’m out.

hglman,

Season 3 was not good; it was heavy-handed writing and wasn’t all that good drama.

Zoboomafoo,
@Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world avatar

It felt to me like there was someone, maybe the studio, reigning in MacFarlane since they weren’t confident about his writing, then for S3 they let him have full control and it got bloated

hglman,

It’s almost incredible; Seth needs to not be on screen and he needs to just seed some control.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

Just fyi it’s “cede” control

And you’re totally right about Seth.

Zoboomafoo,
@Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world avatar

I think he’s fine as a writer and an actor, he just needed someone to tell him to cut the scripts down to a reasonable size

Kadath,
@Kadath@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I just couldn’t make it myself like it. Granted, I only watched the first couple episodes but it felt just too stretched for me.

Lanthanae,
@Lanthanae@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Episode 1 & 2 are so rough me and my SO almost dropped it but after making it through to episode 3 we were hooked enough to practically binge watch all the way through the end of season 2 (where we’re at currently).

Just watch episode 3 and see what you think at that point. I know it’s cliché to say things like this but it really does pick up massively at that point. Season 2 especially is some of the most compelling TV I’ve watched.

roofuskit,
@roofuskit@kbin.social avatar

I enjoyed it at first, but I think season three was when the balance between comedy and seriousness made it fall apart a bit. Are we doing fart jokes or serious drama here?

Couple that with Seth driving off actors or elevating them to be main cast because he's sleeping with them, and my wife and I just couldn't get in to season 3. Thoroughly enjoyed the previous two light-hearted seasons with a touch of drama and trekiness.

dylanmorgan,

Whaaa? Who left/got elevated because Seth was sleeping with them?

InverseParallax,

The 2 security girls/women.

roofuskit,
@roofuskit@kbin.social avatar

The first security officer left when her relationship with Seth fell apart, and the new main character in Season 3 was sleeping with him.

feedum_sneedson,

Huh, I thought he was gay.

Reliant1087,

I did not know that. Though what you said by itself doesn’t imply causality. That hiring/firing was motivated by sleeping together.

roofuskit,
@roofuskit@kbin.social avatar

Yeah, I'm sure the actress who was sleeping with the creator and star of the show just got tacked on to the main cast in season three because she's a great actor. She's not a great actor.

kryptonianCodeMonkey,

I’d describe it as a more irreverent version of a Star Trek universe with more realistic interactions among peers on the ship. A place where instead of it being an idealistic utopian society where everyone is a driven, passionate genius in their field, they’re just people with jobs, have normal messy social interactions, and also sometimes deal with really big important political and military situations. They’re capable members of the crew, but they still fuck around with their buddies like real people do. I find it refreshing, compelling and endearing. I love the Orville 90% of the time.

CharlestonChewbacca,
@CharlestonChewbacca@lemmy.world avatar

It was the best Trek we had in ages. Held me over until we got SNW and Lower Deck.

I really hope we get another season because they REALLY hit their stride last season.

MisterD,

Pundits say there won’t be another season because he’s focusing on the Ted series. It’s supposedly doing well so no time for Orville

CharlestonChewbacca,
@CharlestonChewbacca@lemmy.world avatar

Thanks for the info, but that’s incredibly disappointing. Ted is probably my least favorite thing Seth has ever done…

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

It was the best Trek we had in ages. Held me over until we got SNW and Lower Deck.

Ditto. A real return to form, even if that form involved a lot of Space Wizards and other silly bullshit.

I honestly think the whole diplomatic triangle between the Planetary Union, the Krill/Moclan, and the Kaylon played out better than anything TNG managed. The Orville is easily on par with DS9 as one of the best sci-fi dramas produced to date.

CharlestonChewbacca,
@CharlestonChewbacca@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, the Kaylon stuff with Isaac caught me off guard and blew me away.

I appreciate that they gave our characters more personal stakes in Teleya’s relationship with Ed and Isaac’s relationship with Claire.

tox_solid,
@tox_solid@lemmy.world avatar

I might give it a shot if it weren’t for Seth McFarlane. The dude is the antithesis of comedy.

FReddit,

That was my feeling. But I actually like it It’s kind of a weird combo of jokes and serious topics, kind of like mixing fart jokes with social issues.

crashoverride,

There are funny moments to the show, but it’s not a comedy show and Seth rogen doesn’t play a comedy character. Show works

quicksand,

You got your Seths mixed up but I agree

crashoverride,

Lol, I did.

TitanLaGrange,

That’s how I feel about him too, but while the show is a bit on the silly side, the McFarlane humor is toned down enough to work reasonably well.

It’s not in the same league with Strange New Worlds, but it’s a nice change from awful, gritty, nu-trek.

Smokeless7048,

I do not like Seth’s humor… But I really like the Orville. Besides the first 3 episodes, the humor is a nice Ballance, and really feels like Star Trek.

feedum_sneedson,

Seth Rogan is the antithesis of comedy. I’ve never laughed at anything he’s said.

HandwovenConsensus,

It was a breath of fresh air after the disappointment of Discovery and proof that there are people who still believe in Star Trek’s optimistic vision of the future. I think for that reason I and many other fans gave it a pass for a lot of it’s flaws.

My biggest problem is that I feel the social commentary is rather poorly done. I’ve gotten into some nasty fights on reddit for saying so.

I’ll start by saying what I think it does well. It’s good at humanizing people who live in an oppressive society and portraying their point of view.

But the ideas it discusses aren’t especially original or insightful. The world building doesn’t exist to support them. The Moclans might be a fine allegory for trans and intersex issues, but they only work as an allegory and make no sense at face value. And they’re portrayed inconsistently to allow whatever kind of episodes the writers want.

I feel like one issue is that McFarlane does not share the ideals of Star Trek. I don’t get the impression that he sees the value of non-interference, for example. But nevertheless, the Union believes in it because the Federation does. Politically, he’s a more conventional thinker than the classic Star Trek writers.

hglman,

I really agree with you. The story line are often way too literal and and not novel.

solstice,

I feel like one issue is that McFarlane does not share the ideals of Star Trek. I don’t get the impression that he sees the value of non-interference, for example. But nevertheless, the Union believes in it because the Federation does.

Don’t watch stargate then! Star Trek is all like no we can’t interfere, the prime directive, oh no, we can’t share our technology! Then Stargate rolls in, tells the primitive locals their gods are fake, by the way check out these automatic machine guns, want one? lol

greavous,

Star trek with jokes!

CatfishSushi,

Try Avenue 5 (It was on HBO)

IMO, it was much funnier than Orville. Space cruise ship goes off-course.

greavous,

Yeah armando ianucci is a British comedy institution! Ave5 is more gag oriented than the orville and didn’t have the more serious elements the orville incorporates. Both good for different reasons.

Aceticon,

Cheesy but a different kind of cheesy than Star Trek.

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