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.

Draegur,

It’s the best Star Trek show since Next Generation.

Kidding. I actually liked DS9 and Voyager

It’s on par though.

Omega_Jimes,

This was basically the way I would describe the show.

MajorHavoc,

Yeah. The Orville absolutely deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with a typical season of licensed Star Trek.

And that’s a pretty big deal, because aside from the show we won’t mention right now*, most Star Trek is pretty great.

*I’m just trying to start an argument between DS9, Enterprise and Discovery fans. Sorry.

linearchaos,
@linearchaos@lemmy.world avatar

I loved it because it had all the eye candy and high concept stuff I’m looking for but they didn’t take themselves too seriously.

I didn’t mind the acting or the incongruent personality quirks. I actually found most of it pretty endearing in a little relaxing. He probably should have broken the fourth wall a little more often.

Overtime the formula got a little too predictable. With the exception of an episode here and there are the story arcs were getting tired.

I enjoyed watching it, I wouldn’t mind seeing more, but I have no urge whatsoever to go back and do a rewatch.

SantaClaus,

Agree on all counts, definitely regarding the story arcs too.

Klanky,
@Klanky@sopuli.xyz avatar

Microwave reheated Star Trek. I feel like it started out being too humorous, hit the perfect balance, and then veered into trying too hard to be Star Trek. If your Star Trek parody isn’t a parody anymore I’ll just…watch actual Star Trek. Lower Decks filled the Star Trek comedy hole much better.

piskertariot,

When Orville was brand new, Star Trek Discovery was the only other option. And Orville was amazing by comparison.

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

The Orville is absolutely more Trek than Discovery ever was

Disgustoid,

A-freaking-men. Orville held down the camp while Discovery was busy doing whatever it was trying to do, spitting out endless melodrama, crises, and crying. I definitely enjoyed some Orville episodes but the show as a whole just felt like a pale imitation of Star Trek. No doubt MacFarlane can write/produce a good Trek-style episode but I’m not convinced he can run a whole Star Trek show.

I love SNW and Lower Decks. Between those shows and Prodigy (which goes weirdly dark at times for a show aimed at kids), I won’t miss Orville if the third season was its final one.

GuyFleegman, (edited )
@GuyFleegman@startrek.website avatar

Bingo. It was kinda cute at first when it was still trying to be funny, but as the parody pretense slowly fell away it just got boring.

The strangest part about it is how each episode is a remix of a Trek episode and yet the remix makes it very clear that the writers just don’t get it. For example, season 2’s “Blood of Patriots” is a rearrangement of “The Wounded,” but the subplot about Mercer and Malloy being best friends forever trivializes what TNG successfully depicted as a nuanced dilemma.

There’s no accounting for taste, but it genuinely surprises me that there seems to be so many Star Trek fans who think it’s any good. On the other hand, it seems pretty safe to say that season 3 was the last, so clearly the actual numbers were unremarkable.

EmperorGormet,

I loved the jar of pickles joke. It somehow got me every time. Then they seemed to just drop it out of nowhere. Well I guess once she left, but still.

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.

haywire7,
@haywire7@lemmy.world avatar

I love it, the gags and semi-coherent plot in the first season pulled me in and I was hooked after that. I understand Seth’s humour can put some people off, that’s fine too but I think the show is strong enough and has matured enough to stand side by side with modern Trek and hold its own.

TTimo,

I still remember the bit where they had given a small piece of the blobby alien to that other one with the iron stomach. Gold.

Cringe2793,

I thought it was a parody at first, and it certainly treated itself as such in the beginning, but in the later seasons, it took itself more seriously, and I found it a more “realistic” take than star trek.

Star trek is awesome, don’t get me wrong. But the captains were kind of “perfect”, basically. Captain Mercer and his crew are all flawed people, in their own way. They make poor decisions sometimes, out of selfishness, pride, or whatever, and it’s fun to see them deal with the consequences.

Nacktmull,

Interesting. I always thought “perfect” characters like Jean Luc Picard where supposed to symbolize the advanced social evolution of humanity in the Star Trek universe. The inherent believe in evolutionary humanism is one of the main reasons I fell in love with Star Trek.

InverseParallax,

It’s why I love snw’s current pilot, I think starfleet is very racist, she might be the only actual human being accepted into starfleet, well, her and pike of course, and maybe the current immortal engineer.

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.

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.

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

bearclaw191991,
@bearclaw191991@lemmy.world avatar

It is the best Star trek show on right now even though it is not Star trek. Loved it. It reminds me of Firefly

TWeaK,

on right now

It’s kind of in (potentially permanent) limbo now though. Which is also like Firefly.

Draegur,

i dunno man, firefly was kinda deliberately and clearly murdered >_> they released a movie that killed people off and shit

FinalRemix,

Well, the show was murdered, too. Fox refused to air episode in order and kept moving the time slot.

bearclaw191991,
@bearclaw191991@lemmy.world avatar

That was tragic 😭

Dangeresque,

Strange new worlds is better

Nacktmull,

I generally dislike the typial Mc Farlane type of comedy and I don´t think it fit´s particularly well in a Star Trek like show. Beside that, The Orville is a really good show, way better than Nu Trek (with the exception of SNW). When watching The Orville I feel like I can tell that the people who made it actually like and even respect classic Star Trek - which is the opposite of how I felt when trying to watch DIS and PIC.

turtlepower,

I seriously feel SNW was Star Trek seeing how much people loved what the Orville did and doing it themselves.

Nacktmull,

I seriously feel SNW was Star Trek seeing how much people loved what the Orville classic Star Trek did and doing it themselves.

FTFY

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.

grasshopper_mouse,
@grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world avatar

Absolutely love this show. The bf and I still yell “PREPARE FOR THE SEXUAL EVENT” at each other when the moment calls for it.

phx,

The Orville is what would happen if the offspring of Star Trek and Galaxy Quest married Lexx and had a baby.

It actually has a lot of the same style social commentary that really Trek ToS and TNG had, combined with the absurdity and humor of GQ and periods of no-punches-pulled raunchy. I mean, go Yaphit and we all know kinky shit happened in holedecks too but it’s something else to see on screen.

I am very much looking forward to the next season. It’s actually one of the very few sci-fi movies I’ve gotten my wife to watch with me that she enjoyed

SpaceNoodle,

holedecks

Freudian slip, eh?

phx,

LoL. Yup, but still accurate

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I thought it was the best comedic Star Trek until Lower Decks dropped. It’s still the best modern Trek show as a regular Trek show, albeit a lot more goofy than it needs to be since it’s made as a comedy first. I watch it because it’s actually about as good in the drama and set design as TNG was, but the humor, being driven by McFarlane, is just not my thing anymore. He’s just got too much shit that’s all over the place and I’m tired of it, not that it’s bad in and of itself.

XanXic,

I feel like the humor has taken a massive backseat since like near the end of season 1. It definitely was a parady at first with some hit or miss jokes but the humor feels a lot more natural in recent seasons. Imo

vd1n,

I don’t even consider it a comedy. Imo

I hope they end up making more seasons eventually.

Ganrokh,

This is Seth’s true passion project. I feel like he would make more seasons if given the chance, but with Disney looking at cuts, I fear for it.

Astroturfed,

Lower decks is a real hidden gem.

NuPNuA,

Is it that hidden, it’s got a fourth series coming on soon. If anything Prodigy is ths hidden gem now.

Nacktmull,

I think it is a very generic animated show, not much difference to other contemporary animated American TV shows, except the ST theme. Like in all of those shows, I can´t stand how fast they talk, always seems like I accidentally put playback speed to 1,5 and the jokes are just lame and not funny. Not for me, i´ll choose a re-watch of TNG or DS9 over it anytime.

newthrowaway20,

I agree with the speed of the jokes… they do slow it down after the first few episodes, but it’s still fast as hell sometimes.

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