The Orville

So, The Orville Seth MacFarlanes Star Trek parody.

Anyone seen it?

I liked it. It's not funny but it's not NOT funny, if you get what I mean. Some comedies present their jokes in a way that draws attention to them, like if to say "look at this joke, isn't it funny?" The Problem with that is, if the joke falls flat, it is even more obvious. The jokes of Orville are not presented like that. They are not drawn attention to, so it is not grating if they fall flat.

I did not really laugh at the pilot, but I was entertained and for me that's enough. I have no problem with getting something different than what I expected. I was not bored, and while some of the plot elements where fairly predictable (the Tree), others where rather clever. (The omitting of teleporters for example)

For a pilot, it was perfectly serviceable. Let's wait a few episodes for the series to settle in, then we can really judge it.

edited 12th Sep '17 5:01:57 AM by ZheToralf

I liked the first episode.

I'm not really thinking of it as a parody sure it has humorous moments but I think Seth MacFarlane wanted to just get back to the lighter tone of the Science Fiction shows he grew up with.

He's a big fan of Star Trek.

edited 12th Sep '17 8:38:00 AM by Halberdier17

It's about as much a comedy as Harry Dresden or Buffy, which is to say funny things are happening but it's not incredibly implausible this is really happening in a sci-fi universe.

Well I got more of a Affectionate Parody tone from it, if anything. That being said, the promos certainly played up the comedy.

One of the reasons so many of the jokes fell flat is that you have likely seen 2/3 of them dozens of times already from the ads. Damn trailers...

Despite that plus the normal Pilot Episode unevenness, I see quite a bit of promise in it. At a minimum they have already won my willingness to watch a few more episodes.

Watched it. The biggest problem was too much stilted exposition, but I can put that up to pilot episode weirdness. I also felt it was trying too hard for an "epic" feel, but maybe it will earn that as the season continues. Best parts were definitely the casual dialogue jokes. "Did you notice that dog licking its balls?" "Which one's Alara? Sorry, I'm still learning names." I only saw one short trailer, so none of the jokes really got spoiled for me.

Part of the trouble is, if it's not a straight-up comedy/parody, then what's the point really? It's way too blatantly derivative of Star Trek to be anything else, yet doesn't feel consistently funny enough to justify itself as a parody.

edited 15th Sep '17 8:12:30 AM by Robbery

It feels like a Star Trek pastiche episode in a mediocre sketch comedy show. Nothing offensive, but most of the jokes are either too minor to hit (the thing with the mints which is just...okay, whatever) are just kind of odd (the racist robot thing) or are a straight out parody joke but aren't exactly funny (the thing with the viewscreen near the end of the episode.)

It's like the show can't decide whether it wants to be a parody, really fast paced comedy, or sitcom-y. Because all three approaches are present and they mesh really badly. It doesn't make it bad, it just makes it weird.

Also watched it, mixed feelings.

The Star Trek references were too on the nose yet lacked any substance or particular humor. The characters are Captain Ersatz but with no especially humorous twist - female Worf, non-human-looking Data (the voice is so similar it's uncanny, I will credit that), amalgam of smartass pilots rolled into one big douchebag, etc. The plot and situations are basically standard Star Trek fare rendered less funny by not taking itself seriously, since this deprives it of the charming cheese and camp of the original. Seth Mc Farlane sounds like Brian (yes, I know Brian intentionally sounds like Seth Mc Farlane, but Brian gets WAY more screen time).

Despite opening the series by being caught cheating on her husband with a blue-skinned alien dude and getting what appears to be a gooey blue facial, Adrianne Palicki was by far the most likable cast member.

Strangely enough, I am inclined to say that this is actually a show that would benefit from more risque humor. It's never going to be highbrow with Mc Farlane at the helm, and Star Trek is practically Moria when it comes to mining jokes from innuendo.

Saw the first episode. It wasn't what I expected, and I liked it *because* of that.

No, this isn't terribly funny. But the humor comes from the characters' human flaws (even the nonhuman ones) and that works for me. I never cared for the Futurama-style the-universe-exists-only-to-be-silly approach.

I was also pleasantly surprised both by the fact characters can *die* here (meaning this is a serious Sci-Fi adventure) and the pathos of scenes like the ending.

Everyone acted very well too. Who knew Mc Farlane was such a good actor? Also the SFX were as good as the real Trek's. (Which brings the question, how can Fox get away with this? About the only thing missing was the transporters.)

Anyway, I really liked this episode and hope to enjoy more.

Last night's episode would not have been out of place in any of the Star Trek series. The Orville isn't a ST parody, it's ST with a bunch of chill P Cs.

... This show surprised me this episode. I think I'll keep on with it.

I thought it would be more a zany parody too, but no. It's fully and faithfully within the realm of the original series.

edited 22nd Sep '17 8:35:40 AM by Gault

Yeah, this show scratches my ST itch perfectly fine. I'm not paying to watch the CBS one. It's certainly a lot more optimistic than most of the other dramas going on TV right now.

I happened to turn on the show the other night and watched the episode discussing child gender reassignment. To my surprise, I really liked it and I'm interested in watching more.

As others have noted, for better or worse, it isn't the expected parody. Instead, it's basically like a really good imitation of OG or NG Star Trek with some jokes thrown in/more comedic protagonists.

On one hand, I want to condemn it for being so obviously Serial Numbers Filed Off (and because of Seth Macfarlane), but I also think it's the best Star Trek show never made. Like maybe it will be a surprise, but the upcoming Discovery (I think) show doesn't seem nearly as faithful to the spirit of Star Trek as this show is.

Tl; dr, Apparently Seth Macfarlane is actually good now.

American Dad's always been pretty good, and Family Guy got kind of funny again once it went into full-blown absurdism. But yeah, I won't be shocked if the Star Trek prequel show falls into the Abramsverse trap of "Star Trek means guns and boning green babes."

Actually, I more get the impression that Discovery is going to be very dark and serious with no optimistic/utopian premise. So, not the same issues as the Abrams movies, but different ones. I didn't see Into Darkness, but I did see the most recent Trek movie and really liked it, although it doesn't have that kind of philosophical discussion distinctive to the series. I think it kind of gets close to it and it certainly feels more Treky than IIRC the first of the Abrams movies did.

Edit- Also, Macfarlane was good in Sing as a (deliberately) very obnoxious character and has a really good singing voice. I'm curious if/when he'll get a chance to showcase that on the show. Also, he produced/was behind that recent version of Cosmos with Neil Degrasse Tyson, right?

So yeah, guy is talented and can be pretty insightful.

edited 22nd Sep '17 4:32:17 PM by Hodor2

Seth likes hopeful Sc-Fi, and is sick of the dark and gritty stuff that has been coming out. Plus he likes Star Trek and has wanted to do a Star Trek series for a while, so this is him living his dream.

Well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. When I heard it was a ST parody (and I was also missguided by Midnight's Edge videos about the series btw) I was expecting something more like Galaxy Quest of Futurama (or there's a Spanish comedy parody of Star Trek that you probably don't know named Plutón BRB Nero).

But what I watch was a straghtforward sci-fi series with comedic undertones... you know, like Farscape or even Star Gate. So I just have to reset my mindset and watch it as a series and not as a spoof.

The series has potential and is enjoyable IMO, but it does need to become its own thing. If they use the ST-association to cause interest in the series, it worked, but if they are not going to do a direct parody then they do should distant themselves from ST, at least to some degree.

edited 23rd Sep '17 2:08:34 AM by Luppercus

The show remains alright. Some of the pilot weirdness is wearing off, what remains is...alright. Like Star Trek Lite. The jokes are still a little off, the funny ones are dropped casually while the bad ones get drawn out way too long but the plots are surprisingly better than expected.

I'm also detecting some strangely specific Author Appeal - maybe Mc Farlane has a thing for getting high one-on-one with statuesque blondes? Seems to be a thing he sets himself up to do quite often in live action.

Another great Trek-like episode.

I see what you did there, Seth.

"That's no moon."

Episode 3, man that was such a good premise but damn it wasnt given enough time to develop... If it had been a 2 parter with some more development at the start and near the end it could have been so much better.

Episode 4, ok that was the most Star Trek TNG like episode yet. It basically combined the TNG episode A Matter of Time with a Vash type character. Sad that it didn't go into a bit more of the drama that she basically was executed with the destruction of the wormhole. The B plot was totally Data in generations but taken a different direction.

If it wasn’t for the fact that their go to joke is based on late 20th century media this series would be absolutely perfect. This week’s joke could have easily been setup via M*A*S*H or I Love Lucy and not Seinfeld, the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer thing in episode 2 setup was absolutely perfect though.

edited 5th Oct '17 11:22:42 PM by Memers

Episode 5- nope. Gravity does not work that way. Why did the sun's gravity suddenly get so much stronger just as they were leaving the comet?

Yhea, that was the entirely wrong emergency. "Uhm. Cooling systems are about to overload" would have made much more sense. - and also has a more dramatic solution, as you could have the Orville blow the comet to smithereens to create a temporary shadow. But most hollywood writers appear to have paid roughly zero percent attention during their highschool science classes

Or it’s ignored for the sake of drama.