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WillKeaton from Alberta, Canada Since: Jun, 2010
#126: Jan 25th 2019 at 10:56:23 AM

I loved the moment when the crew found out they were getting a first contact assignment. The way the Union does first contact is so different from the way the Federation does. The fact that the show is willing to deviate from Trek norms helps it stand out.

When exactly did everyone realize what a "Giliac" was? It honestly took me longer than I'd like to admit, but I enjoyed the mystery while it lasted.

One thing that separates the the Orville from the Enterprise is that the latter is the flagship and the former is just a mid-sized ship. The Enterprise is supposed to be crewed by Starfleet's best and brightest. The Orville? Not so much. And I like that these guys sometimes screw things up. I'm actually hoping that we have an episode at some point where the Orville crew meets up with the flagship of the Union Fleet, just so we can see what the Union Flagship looks like and maybe have some of the Orville crew feel outclassed by the flagship.

Luppercus ¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay? from Halloweentown Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay?
#127: Jan 25th 2019 at 11:58:04 AM

Is Seth passing through a break-up or something? Why are the first four episodes so relationship-oriented? I don't know, I get that sci-fi shows may have a lot of character development using private stuffs and romantic subplots (we see it all the time in Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5) but... well, they are subplots, not the main focus. I'm feeling like I'm watching Grey's Anatomy In Space.

I still like the show but really, they need to move into more adventure-oriented plots. The first season had some really fascinating episodes that show you alien cultures, social commentary on very current controversial debates, the bidimensional civilization, things that kept you thinking after the episode ended wanting to know more. I'm not really feeling that.

Edited by Luppercus on Jan 25th 2019 at 2:58:34 PM

Winter (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#128: Feb 1st 2019 at 2:03:21 PM

Well, that went about as well as it could have. I think they make a good pair, but a terrible couple, if that makes any sense. It's like if Data somehow acquired a creep subroutine after that incident with Tasha. And I kinda want to watch Singin' in the Rain again, mostly for the "Make 'Em Laugh" number.

ZheToralf Floating Advice Reminder from somewhere in Germany Since: Dec, 2009
#129: Feb 1st 2019 at 4:22:08 PM

It was a bit by the book, well it was pertty much totally by the book. But it was just too charming (if corny at times) to be upset about that.

You lost!
HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#130: Feb 2nd 2019 at 11:01:18 AM

[up][up][up] Actually, yes. Seth and Halston Sage (Alara) were dating. I can only assume that giving her character a big send-off episode, only to replace her with an almost identical security officer (with, in my opinion, less personality), is the result of them having a breakup just harsh enough that they couldn't work together long-term.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Feb 2nd 2019 at 2:03:16 PM

Luppercus ¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay? from Halloweentown Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay?
#131: Feb 2nd 2019 at 6:14:27 PM

Yup a classic Suspiciously Similar Substitute.

I would like to give the actress a chance, however it sounds like a candidate for Replacement Scrappy

Edited by Luppercus on Feb 2nd 2019 at 9:15:28 AM

Luppercus ¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay? from Halloweentown Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay?
#132: Feb 3rd 2019 at 1:26:40 AM

I must admit the last episode was kind of touchy, despite my criticism about the focus on relationships. I'll be back with my opinions on the next to last one, which are less flattering.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#133: Feb 15th 2019 at 9:15:21 AM

I feel uncomfortable rooting for Bortis to kill his husband.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#134: Feb 15th 2019 at 12:38:11 PM

I think it more likely that, rather than Bortus directly murdering Klyden in traditional Moclan divorce, they'll find themselves on opposite sides of the heavily Foreshadowed Union-Moclan war. "How long can we work with a species like that" indeed.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Feb 15th 2019 at 3:38:31 PM

ZheToralf Floating Advice Reminder from somewhere in Germany Since: Dec, 2009
#135: Feb 17th 2019 at 4:32:33 PM

Nice to see the new security chief getting some characterization.

You lost!
WillKeaton from Alberta, Canada Since: Jun, 2010
#136: Feb 21st 2019 at 7:20:31 PM

Why was Issac sent to the Orville? If he was an emissary from this technologically advanced race that the Union really wants to join with, why send Issac to a middle of the road ship instead of, like, the flagship?

I sincerely hope that this is a turning point for the series, and that the status quo is NOT reinstated by the end of this two-parter.

Edited by WillKeaton on Feb 21st 2019 at 8:31:35 AM

Boston Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
#137: Feb 21st 2019 at 7:43:17 PM

I, for one, had been struggling to write an Orville/ST:TNG mashup for a while. I had thought about an Isaac / Borg intersection before .. but not quite like this!

Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#138: Feb 22nd 2019 at 3:56:58 PM

It's weird to think that no one asked who created the Kaylon's before this episode and what happened to them.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#139: Feb 22nd 2019 at 4:13:09 PM

Phew. Seth is killing me with this show.

I'm dying of awesome. Every time I watch it, it's like I've gone back in time. It's the early 90's again, and we're enjoying TNG.

Not bad for a guy who used to have Manatees for writers.

One Strip! One Strip!
Zyffyr from Portland, Oregon Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#140: Feb 22nd 2019 at 5:16:29 PM

Given the ST:TNG influences on this show, I asked myself how this 2 parter would likely be resolved there :

Isaac dropping the picture was a deliberate attempt to get the kid to do exactly what he did. Isaac disagrees with his peoples aggressive stance and will show his true loyalty in helping to neutralize the threat that they pose.

Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#141: Feb 22nd 2019 at 6:36:42 PM

I don't know...How could Isaac deduce he would find and go down those catacombs?

WillKeaton from Alberta, Canada Since: Jun, 2010
#142: Feb 22nd 2019 at 7:13:23 PM

How long ago did the Kaylon genocide their makers?

lvthn13 Since: Dec, 2009
#143: Feb 23rd 2019 at 7:07:08 PM

I also think Isaac will do a face/heel/face spin around. I didn't think about the drawing being intentionally dropped, but that's a good catch, and I think it's important.

How did Isaac know the kid would do exactly what he did when he found the dropped paper? Early on we see Isaac busy dominating the kids at a three-dimensional strategy game. It will be revealed that Isaac predicted the boy's actions based on analysis; he didn't have to predict exactly either, just enough to know he'd go underground, which he knew would lead a search party to them and the discovery of the precursor massacre. Remember that the kid asks why Isaac played so many games with them if he didn't care - that's a good question, isn't it?

Obviously, Isaac couldn't openly side with the crew, it's already been demonstrated that he can be deactivated remotely at will, and it wouldn't help the Orville anyway. He's undercover, next episode he'll come to the rescue. Maybe he'll even make a faux heroic sacrifice but actually be okay - maybe he'll even actually be blown up, but his data will be moved to a new "body".

Narratively, it's almost unthinkable that they'd have the kid ask him to be his new daddy and the Doc say she loves him, then go through with letting Isaac do a face/heel turn. I mean they could, but The Orville isn't usually that harsh.

Edited by lvthn13 on Feb 23rd 2019 at 7:09:39 AM

WillKeaton from Alberta, Canada Since: Jun, 2010
#144: Feb 25th 2019 at 8:03:13 PM

One of my pet peeves about Star Trek is when a phaser or other weapon neatly and cleanly vaporizes a person without touching anything else. The fact that ONLY the enemy's body is vaporized just doesn't make sense, since the beam should bore a hole through them and continue onwards, hitting whatever is behind the target. I especially dislike it when this is done by a simple hand phaser. Like, if it was a large gun I'd be fine with it being powerful enough to disintegrate someone, but it coming from a thing that fits in your pocket irks me. Discovery is especially bad about this, because it feels like everyone who gets hit with phaser fire pops like a balloon. Thankfully, in this most recent episode of the Orville, they avoided this completely.

Corvidae It's a bird. from Somewhere Else Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
It's a bird.
#145: Feb 26th 2019 at 11:24:51 AM

[up] I think of the phasers as less like traditional sci-fi "energy beams" (laser, plasma, whatever) and more like a weaponized version of whatever handwavium they use in the transporters and replicators. (I.e. They just somehow pull your molecules apart with no heat involved.)

The guns in the Orville seem to work much more like... well, guns.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
WillKeaton from Alberta, Canada Since: Jun, 2010
#146: Mar 1st 2019 at 9:33:21 AM

I feel that this episode, well, the series as a whole really, but this episode in particular, would benefit from a map showing where Earth, Kaylon and Krill space are relative to each other.

I saw a bunch of Union ships that looked like the Orville, but I'm pretty sure only had two engine loopies. I'd would assume these ships would be smaller than the Orville, but I'm not sure. Did we see any Union ships that were bigger than the Orville? Because the Orville is supposed to be a mid-sized ship.

I get the impression that the Kaylon genocide happened not long ago. I'd estimate ten years or so.

Edited by WillKeaton on Mar 2nd 2019 at 7:42:56 AM

HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#147: Mar 2nd 2019 at 6:41:48 PM

[up] Taking each paragraph in turn...

This episode was very heavy on Traveling at the Speed of Plot. The three factions are at exactly the point relative to each other as they need to be for Kelly and Gordon to talk the Krill into pulling a Big Damn Heroes right as the Union forces are about to break.

I think we did see some larger Union ships; they were bulkier and square-ish, without the aerodynamics of the smaller ones. I don't think I saw any other ships with three drive loops, which I figure is a design choice to make the Orville distinctive.

Really? I figured thousands of years at least, based on the state of the Kaylon planet (completely built over into a City Planet, with the bones long underground and forgotten). I would expect Mechanical Lifeforms to have a very long memory, and thanks to "Mad Idolatry" we know Isaac can live for hundreds of years and be absolutely the same. It's not at all surprising that it could be that long and Kaylon Primary could still talk about it like it was yesterday.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Mar 2nd 2019 at 1:46:20 PM

alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#148: Mar 2nd 2019 at 7:41:04 PM

Someone on Reddit pointed out something interesting: Kaylone Prime tells Isaac to read Roots...and then almost immediately tells him to change his name.

Luppercus ¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay? from Halloweentown Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
¿Que pasó que pasó vamos 'ay?
#149: Mar 3rd 2019 at 12:01:34 AM

Nice episode, the space war was cool as hell.

As I mentioned before, thi show shines when is its own thing and leaves a little its "We want to be TNG"

ZheToralf Floating Advice Reminder from somewhere in Germany Since: Dec, 2009
#150: Mar 4th 2019 at 3:14:58 AM

I gotta admit, it was a great idea to do some character building with Isaac for 1 1/2 seasons before dropping this bombshell. The reinstatement was a bit too quick for my taste, but I trust we will witness some aftermath of his behaviour over the course of the next episodes.

You lost!

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