The Orville

[avp60685]

A new science fiction themed series that started on Sunday September 10, 2017 and it has aired two episodes so far. It will be airing on Thursday nights this fall on FOX.

It stars Seth MacFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer who has been given a second chance on a spaceship 400 years in the future to be a Captain and his ex-wife is his first officer.

The cast includes:

Adrianne Palicki as Commander Kelly Grayson
Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Claire Finn as the Chief Medical Officer
Scott Grimes as Lt. Gordon Malloy as the helsman who is Ed's best friend and has a drinking problem but is one heck of a pilot
Peter Macon as Lt. Commander Bortus who is an alien from all male species and only uses the bathroom once per year. He also has recently become a father to a female alien through the hatching of an egg and has a male partner.
Halston Sage as Lt. Alara Kitan as the young Chief of Security who an alien as well but with super-strength due to the higher gravity on her home planet.
J. Lee as Lt. John LaMarr as the navigator and a huge fan of soda
Mark Jackson as the voice of Isaac, the Orville's Science and Engineering Officer and is like a robot alien.

The series seems very lighthearted but very funny. It has a few familiar names in the Star Trek world as various directors of different episodes. It does have a few serious moments but it is very well done.

[KyleEl]

I have more to say when I have time. Unfortunately, the beginning of the second episode was cut off by football.

If you don't watch "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", there is a character on that show just like the alien who was in charge while the group visited Epsilon 2, sense of humor and everything. Andre Braugher has won awards for his acting. It's not him but it sure sounds like him.

[KyleEl]

decoy.tvpassport.com/news/final-frontier-comedy-meets-sci-fi-when-orville-premieres-fox?subid=national-00001

I watched the second episode despite what happened. It doesn't appear I missed much. Bortus is the name of the character who is nearly identical to the "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" character.

Poor Alara reminds me of Cassie on "Saving Hope". She's cute and I like seeing her fail, but eventually I like seeing her take charge and get things done. I'm not sure Cassie will ever advance to that point since the series only lasted one more season after the last episode I saw other than the finale.

Alara didn't know what "the con" meant. I first heard that expression in a submarine movie, but I can't remember if it was "The Hunt for Red October" or another movie. I wondered why the doctor couldn't run things, but eventually she had to. I think she overdid it when she told Gordon to leave but she didn't seem to have a choice. She did come up with a great solution to get Ed and Kelly out of their mess. It really seemed hopeless for them.

I wished Kelly had kept on wearing shorts.

[avp60685]

Bortus does indeed sound like Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The third episode was an interesting one. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it.

[AntiArbitrator]

Sept 20, 2017 18:50:39 GMT -5 avp60685 said:

Every time I see the chief medical officer she reminds me of you Anti. I don't know why but she does. Alara kinda reminds me of me though.

 I quoted you here rather than go off-topic on Kyle's thread.

Now that you have had time to think about it, I am interested in which of Alara's characteristics reminds you of yourself?

[avp60685]

I think because she seems quiet, she has a hidden self-confidence that people underestimate her.

Also she's feisty in ways like I was in my JROTC days in high school.

[AntiArbitrator]

Thanks.

[avp60685]

You're welcome.

Glad I was able to clarify that for you.

[KyleEl]

Seth was a presenter on The Emmys. He said different writers have different voices. And he announced each of the six nominees in a different voice. Four of the voices were characters from "Family Guy" and two from "American Dad!"

I saw two more episodes. This is a really good show. Bortus, like Holt, is committed to a male partner. They have a baby daughter but on their planet that's a reason for the baby to be ostracized. Making the decision for her was bad, and it was bad for a character on "Saving Hope". So they went all the way to the home planet for a tribunal. Amazingly, they found a woman who had lived by herself in a cave, and turned out to be one of their greatest writers. I liked how poor Gordon was shown as an example of how a man is not necessarily intelligent. I just knew that was going to happen when he went up there.

And then there was an entire world where the people believed there was not anything else, and anyone who rejected the belief was beaten. There is a church in North Carolina that actually treats doubters that way.

I don't recall Alara having that much of a personality in earlier episodes. She was so much cuter when she was with Kelly right before they were attacked.

It was amazing how the cast was able to change what these people believed.

The teenage boy was Max from "Parenthood", I recognized his name in the credits and later heard him speak when I wasn't seeing him.

[avp60685]

I liked the surprise cameo at the end. I liked this episode quite a bit, the humor was quite well written in it.

I was NOT disappointed at all.

[KyleEl]

The latest episode wasn't as good as the previous two. Still, I like the show enough to continue watching. It just won't be in my top ten.

I actually trusted Pria, but Kelly was right to be suspicious. What Pria did was far worse than we had believed, but at least she went back in time and saved their lives.

[KyleEl]

While I haven't seen last night's episode, I had some comments on earlier episodes I forgot about.

I wish the yellow blob was a more important character. I like him.

The wind blew Kelly's hair when a spacecraft left The Orville. That shouldn't be happening. The spacecraft would have to leave one part of The Orville for another before finally being let out into space. You can't just open a door out in space.

I noticed they were referring to "years" and possibly other Earth concepts. I would think in this world there would be new sets of units which would be more universal.

[KyleEl]

Seth MacFarlane sure is attacking religious faith. That's two religious groups who have narrow-minded attitudes that result in violence against those who don't agree.

I liked how Ed and Gordon educated the children. I was impressed with Ed for his efforts to save the children from the fate of the others. I don't blame their teacher for being so upset with him. And I think their solution was too drastic.

I do wonder how they were going to copy all that scripture. The technology seemed to be 300 years old.

Gordon looked like the "Kevin (Probably) Saves the World" character who Kevin though he was supposed to be helping.

[AntiArbitrator]

Oct 16, 2017 15:26:05 GMT -5 KyleEl said:

Seth MacFarlane sure is attacking religious faith. That's two religious groups who have narrow-minded attitudes that result in violence against those who don't agree.

I liked how Ed and Gordon educated the children. I was impressed with Ed for his efforts to save the children from the fate of the others. I don't blame their teacher for being so upset with him. And I think their solution was too drastic.

I do wonder how they were going to copy all that scripture. The technology seemed to be 300 years old.

Gordon looked like the "Kevin (Probably) Saves the World" character who Kevin though he was supposed to be helping.

"Attacking" might be a little strong. Religious groups continue to have narrow-minded attitudes towards those who believe differently. I posted on the ticker thread about a proclamation that was put before the U.N. to make it illegal to put someone to death for blasphemy. Geez! 

I said elsewhere that I do not like episodes where the team goes undercover. Why do star ship captains always go on the missions? I knew something would go wrong, but there was enough humor to keep me from cringing. 

The solution was worthy of a horror movie, but they had only minutes to act. I did not see an alternative. Unfortunately, the children will grow up to be their enemy. I think they should have kept them and taught them to be ambassadors for change. 

[avp60685]

I need to watch these two episodes, maybe I can do that tomorrow.

Quick question, is it a rerun this week? I ask because my TV guide this week listed the pilot episode as the description for this week's episode.

[AntiArbitrator]

Oct 17, 2017 18:26:42 GMT -5 avp60685 said:

I need to watch these two episodes, maybe I can do that tomorrow.

Quick question, is it a rerun this week? I ask because my TV guide this week listed the pilot episode as the description for this week's episode.

Yep, they are repeating the pilot, but I do not know why. That will help to give you an opportunity to catch up.

[avp60685]

Okay, thanks.

[avp60685]

I wasn't overly fond of the last two episodes but I did like the Mr. Potato look given to Isaac.

I also admired Ed trying to save lives as much as possible.

I hope that one Krill child will remember Ed's kindness to him.

[KyleEl]

Sushi is not raw fish, despite what everyone thinks. On an episode of "Sanford and Son" I learned that sashimi is raw fish and sushi is rice with raw fish.

It's a shame I don't get the station with "American Dad!" It used to be on Fox. But Seth's character on that show (the one who is not an alien) would so love the fact Trump was elected. He's like Trump in so many ways, except he is CIA and Trump inherited his daddy's money. His trophy wife would support him, while his liberal daughter would be so upset Hillary lost. And his nerdy son is Gordon.

[AntiArbitrator]

Majority Rule

If Ed had done something that I could sympathize with, I would have enjoyed the episode. He was stupid and disrespectful rather than funny. Are they trying to make me hate the character? He was great for comic relief before this episode.

Early in the episode, I thought they should just hack the system to solve the dilemma, but I think their way was better. They hacked the system, but the residents did the actual voting.



Trivia: The theme of this episode is currently very popular with series. I watched “Black Mirror” which is a series about futuristic technology and its effect on culture. Each episode is a stand-alone story. In one episode, people wore badges and would receive up or down votes during their daily routines. It was not extreme like in the Orville episode, but your ranking determined where you could buy a home, your social acceptability for invitations, etc.
***

Twerking was not originally a suggestive dance. My grandson and his friends showed me the dance when it first became popular and it was not basically grinding. People ruined the dance.

[KyleEl]

I was glad to see an episode where the world was like ours in the present day, even if attitudes were quite different.

I thought John should have said he didn't know who the statue honored, but they got mad at him for not knowing what she did, so that wouldn't have worked.

He got out of the situation at the last second. Very exciting.

I liked that they got the girl who served coffee to see the ship. She was so impressed.

[KyleEl]

Not yet, but I taped it.

[AntiArbitrator]

Into the Fold

Although I was not impressed with the family dynamics at the beginning of the episode, I enjoyed the rest of it.

Dr. Finn planned a vacation trip for her two sons while The Orville was docked for repairs/upgrades. One of the boys threw a game and it hit the navigation console of the shuttle. They wound up going through a class 2 thing and wound up in uncharted space. Their shuttle crashed and split in two parts. Dr. Finn was separated from her sons and Isaac.

Dr. Finn was rescued by a native and taken to his sanctuary. He told her about the dangers he saved her from, but she was too worried about her sons to be grateful.

Meanwhile, Isaac was studying the boys and commenting on their relationship with their mother. His description of the relationship made Marcus uncomfortable, and he was ashamed of how he talked to his mother. Isaac made a campfire and they slept outside. I liked the way Isaac used Dr. Finn’s voice to tell them the story of Peter Rabbit, but the first “story” he told them made me laugh. He should stick to fiction. Although Marcus and Ty argued constantly, when Isaac declined to hold Ty’s little hand, Marcus told him to just hold it. I knew he loved his brother and the three of them bonded quite nicely.

I knew Capt. Mercer would not hesitate to travel through the class 2 thing to search for Finn because that is also what Capt. Kirk would have done. When Lt. Kitan read the status report that included a crew member soiling his pants, it was funny when the captain said they need to get better people [than the one who wrote the report]. They arrived when Isaac and Marcus were desperately defending themselves from cannibalistic natives.

It was a pretty good episode.

Observation:

SPOILER: Click to show

Kudos to the show for featuring minorities in episodes, but the circumstances are neither funny nor flattering.

In their featured episode, Bortis and Klyden had a major argument about the sex of their baby because they belonged to a culture that refused to let females be a part of their society.

Lt. Lamarr became the focus when he humped a statue on a rescue mission although he knew they should keep a low profile and blend in.

In the current episode, Dr. Finn exerted no control over her children when she knew they needed to be careful to avoid the gravitational pull of the class 2 fold. We would not let the boys act like that in a moving vehicle so lack of control in a moving shuttle made no sense.

[KyleEl]

The actress playing Dr. Finn did a great job reading Peter Rabbit. If she hasn't done a recording she should. I have the story at home, and those were the words.

Maybe it's because they were black, but the Finn boys reminded me a lot of the comic strip "Curtis". Although that strip has a father.

The situation looked pretty hopeless, and we had no way of knowing if Dr. Finn was in real danger. The man was trying to protect her, but on that planet safe has a strange definition. They kept referring to moons, but that sure seemed like a planet to me.

Mercer would of course save the day.

Isaac did a great job. He has to learn so much and he knew so much about what to do. He didn't have a lot of sensitivity but he's not designed for that and has to learn it.

I was hoping the blob would have a bigger role in this episode.

[AntiArbitrator]

Cupid's Dagger

I think Seth McFarlane was pushing the boundaries to see how much he could get away with on network television. The many comments Ed made about Kelly and the blue guy are referred to as “slut shaming” on Twitter. Ed now knows what happened and will probably stop shaming his ex for infidelity.

I felt sorry for the doctor because I knew she was going to feel awful when the pheromones wore off. I laughed when Yaphit referred to Dr. Finn’s boys as “those awful children”.

[KyleEl]

I liked having the blob featured more prominently but not for that reason. And we learned a lot about how he functions.

I can't believe Rob Lowe was willing to be made to look like that.

Poor Bortus had to take charge while his superiors were ... incapacitated.

I couldn't believe the solution that kept them from going to war.

L liked seeing Kelly fall for the blue guy again but not Ed. Although he was funny.

[KyleEl]

Nov 11, 2017 23:47:22 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

Cupid's Dagger
I think Seth McFarlane was pushing the boundaries to see how much he could get away with on network television.

You haven't seen his animated comedies, have you? This is what he does.

[AntiArbitrator]

Nov 13, 2017 17:17:32 GMT -5 KyleEl said:

Nov 11, 2017 23:47:22 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

Cupid's Dagger
I think Seth McFarlane was pushing the boundaries to see how much he could get away with on network television.

You haven't seen his animated comedies, have you? This is what he does.

Oh... I am familiar with the titles, but I do not watch them.

[AntiArbitrator]

Firestorm

Clowns, why did it have to be a clown? But it was funny when Lt. LaMarr explained hobo clowns are the most dangerous because they are hungry.

The episode focused on Alara after she lost confidence in her ability to be the Security Officer. I was very interested and focused until the spider scene. Then, I turned my head and when I heard the shrieks, I hit the fast-forward button. I know I must have missed something following that because the crew had disappeared. But that is okay because I am not going back to that scene.

That was well done and I was fooled the entire time and trying to understand how all of that was happening.

Alara’s parents are snobs and said humans are the hillbillies of the galaxy. They are also self-centered. Instead of helping her, her father asked her if he looked like he gained weight.


p.s. AVP does not give us episode descriptions in her thread to help us stay on track.

[KyleEl]

This series has been renewed but it goes away after December 7, which is a shame.

Normally on a day when I go somewhere, I read newspapers. I was at 100 percent and nothing I deleted changed that. I was afraid of losing something. I can always switch to my bifocals if I have been wearing my other glasses, but I try to only wear my bifocals if I go somewhere. Next Friday looks like a good day to make up for what I missed by not reading newspapers. I also forgot that I could read newspapers on a second night the week I went to the beach, so I did read for an extra night before that week. I don't need my bifocals for the Internet.

I finally figured out what was going on shortly after the crew disappeared. I didn't really believe they would kill a major cast member, but Nurse Park was a different matter. Before I figured it out, I decided there was no way I would ever want to watch another episode like this. It also wasn't a funny episode, except for a few lines, including one time when Ed said something really funny with a straight face, like the characters in "Airplane!" and "Police Squad!"

This episode should have aired at Halloween.

Why should it surprise us that certain people from other civilizations treat us like Alara's parents do? Bortus also acts superior.