Amph The Orville [Seth McFarlane's returning Sci-Fi Show]

Orville Season 2 in just a few weeks! And you can relive Orville Season 1! On DVD! not Blu Ray. No, really.





Baffling format choice aside (I guess Fox thought they would make more cash if it was DVD only, which is odd since it's a sci-fi show and that fanbase would at least want it in bluray but whatever) it looks like the actress who plays Alara Halston Sage, may be dropping out for a few episodes this season, or the whole thing? She was one of my favs last year, hopefully she isn't gone a bunch.

 

Premiere was decent, it wasn't very sci-fi (although the central reason they're going from point A to point B is a great Amok Time gag), but it's probably the most workplace comedy episode they've done. Some were better than others, although I am saying Halston Sage as Alara is the MVP of the show, just her line delivers ("Yes you are!") and little reactions are utterly fantastic, like when she's stuck listening to awkward poetry on an awkward date. So it doesn't come out of the gate swinging with sci-fi and action but it is a nicely quppy episode.

 

If it continues like this from the premiere, season 2 looks like it will be a vast improvement over season 1. They toned down the overt pop culture references, the jokes are funnier, and best of all the episode wasn't thinly veiled TNG fan fiction.

 

I thought the premiere was hilarious the Peeing Ceremony plot had my cracking up with laughter and the more serious plot points had way more heart then any episode of TNG, Voyager, DS9, even more heart then Discovery. I love how McFarlane blends drama with Comedy and the Score and Visual Effects are superb does anyone know who composes the score? Also I can honestly say except for Abrams Trek I never really cared for the Characters in Trek not like I care about the Characters in Star Wars but The Orville has really likeable relatable characters. I absolutely love this show!!!

 

haven't seen episode 2 yet but I do find it odd that Isaac in the pilot is a total jerk (the Captain calls him "Legendarily racist") but now he seems pretty cool with everyone. Although I did like him just being allowed to hang out while the doctor was chewing out her kids to simply observe

 

Characterizations often aren't finalized in pilots which are written and filmed long before the rest of the season. There are tons of examples, like Picard being a lot more of a dick.

 

i still think one of the show's best gags that worked with the tone was with Isaac where he took off Gordon's leg as a practical joke because that is totally a joke / situation that could have happened on Star Trek but they would never do it. It's like an actually funny version of Data pushing Crusher overboard.

 

Honestly, my favorite was when Isaac and the Doctor were on the trip with her kids and he offers to kill them and she sarcastically agrees so he gets up prepared to kill them before she calls him off.

Saw episode 2 last night and I gotta say that the Moclans must have a very low divorce rate. And highly unlikely that many of them are attorneys. I imagine a lot of spouses wish divorce was that easy. Would have been awkward for Kelly though if that was how Ed had handled their divorce.

 

Yay, the improvement continues. Definitely the TNG-esque formula, but updated in a lot of ways. Of course this sort of sexual topic isn't something the Trek producers would have been comfortable with c. 1990 and porn addiction wasn't talked about as much. The story arose directly as a consequence of events in a previous episode. The makeup and costuming and cg effects were also impressive. The tardigrade crew member (nod to Discovery?) and the shots of the ship in close orbit around the sun-- and the ship showing visible damage from the phenomenon of the week-- are things 1990s Trek couldn't have done.

 

yah this was a solid 2nd ep, it has some of the best VFX I've probably seen in the series basically when the planet broke apart. The porn scenes I didn't know if they were supposed to be funny, I just felt kinda sad for Bortus. But the big alien crewmember who turns out to be a total creep is actually a great gag. "You want some pills with that?" "What?" "Nothing! All good, man!"

 

I thought the peddler was great, and I hope it is a recurring character. I'm on a science fiction FB page, the homophobes threw a fit over this episode.

 

I really wanted to know who did the voice for the porn-peddler,, but I don't think I saw it.

Also, I love that they took the most oft-repeated statement about Holodecks and turned it into a real sociological examination as to what that would mean for interpersonal relationships.

 

I agree great 2nd episode! I also really liked the first one.

 

Well, how much I said I liked Halton Sage as Alara a few posts before that? This was her exit episode. Interesting to see more Trek vets, Dr. Pholox playing a truly nasty sort of guy (Trek Doctor vs. Trek Doctor as Robert Picardo played Alara's dad!), and the gravity difference with the space suit was interesting to see. Tonally, the episode kinda turned into a Saw or Hostel movie near the end there which was jarring. And I actually thought it would be more done in one like TOS and TNG with Alara being healed by the end of the episode, which she was!, but then she decides to stay behind. and that's it, gone!

Well, at least she wasn't killed off by an evil oil slick monster. And hell, maybe saying goodbye to their female security chief early in the run was a long con TNG tribute? I dunno, hate to see her go, I thought she was great.

Patrick Walburton loudmouthed alien guy was awesome, though.

 

I really don't like Warburton's new character and hope he's not permanent...

 

watched 2 eps of the new season - not very good so far .

 

looks like they gave the Krill another, nastier enemy so there could be a potential team up with the Union/Orville someday. Billy Joel "always a woman to me" is an odd ending but did work. And the fact that she thought Belloq was the hero of Raiders was kind of amazing.

I know they explained it away in the 2nd Krill episode where we found out their aversion to sunlight but why were they able to walk around in sunlight in the pilot episode again?

 

Really? The musical cue is so good I actually thought they picked out the perfect song and then worked backwards to align Ed's Billy Joel love with Seth Macfarlane's actual apparent fondness.

Also, I soooooort of took her viewing Belloq as the hero as a shot at the Big Bang Theory's "those movies would have unfolded the same without Indiana Jones in it" critique, but maybe that's me.

 

I love this show and think it actually beats most Star Trek episodes. It has the drama of Trek and Comedy Trek wishes it could ever have. My Favorite Trek has been TOS and Abram's Trek. The rest of the Trek shows and moves are two cheesy for me the spandex Next Generation uniforms were awful as was the acting. If I had to hear one more thing about Data's cat I was going to scream. Trek Discovery Is so boring I bought season 1 on Blu-ray and now regret it the best thing about Discovery is the Blu-ray box art.

 

I dig Orville a lot but I wouldn't go that far, it's TNG/TOS cosplay with more quips. Which I'm totally okay with, I love TOS and TNG and it's cool to see a pretty close "version" of it on teevee.