Star Trek spoof The Orville (by Seth MacFarlane)

[ViRGE]

Interesting. I didn't realize it was premiering at 5pm on the west coast. Fox doesn't usually air its post-football scripted programs like this, do they?

 

[Fritzo]

guess i'm the only one here who liked that trailer and doesn't want to shit all over seth (even though i never watched family guy). plus it has bobbi morse as 1st officer so diggidy!

I'm actually with ya...

Saw the first show tonight, and it was a lot of fun! They could definitely go in a lot of directions here. The show reminds me of Firefly Star Trek

 

[local]

Saw it, I liked it.

 

[ViRGE]

Saw it, I liked it.

Ditto.

It's not a perfect start by any means, but it's a solid 8/10 effort. You can feel the crew's admiration for Star Trek throughout the show, and I appreciate that it's not dark and gritty like pretty much everything else out there. The jokes are hit & miss, but that's Macfarlane for you. However more importantly, it's not a comedy and the jokes aren't the lifeblood of the show. Rather it's a homage to Star Trek that isn't precisely playing it straight - it's definitely a bit genre savvy - but it's not a parody either.

The characters are going to be a particularly interesting development. The show is clearly optimistic, but the characters themselves are not saints, or even idealists. Instead they're clearly flawed people dealing with things like divorce and infidelity, but also people who are trying to do better.

Can it hit the dramatic highs of the shows it idolizes? We'll see. The show is going to be walking an incredibly narrow line between homage, comedy, and drama. But it's a properly lit spaceship show that doesn't require taking a prozac to watch, and that alone means it's starting on the right track.

 

[Charmonium]

I found myself liking the show more than I thought I would but being mad at myself for doing so. It's sort of how I feel about most of what MacFarlane does.

The real issue is whether or not I'll keep watching and I'm not sure I will. Like Virge said, it's not a straight up parody but it's also not straight up sci-fi. It seems to want to be somewhere in between and I'm not sure any place like that exists.

I did laugh when they showed the seat belts on the shuttle which looked like they were taken from a 70's GM production car. It's one of those little elements that can help make a show entertaining. But I kept getting pulled back and forth between the comedy and the science fiction and being reminded of the contrast every time it happened.

It could be that this is just such a new idea that I'll need time to get used to it, we'll see. The closest thing I can think of is Galaxy Quest but that was straight parody. It was also a classic movie. I suspect that like most new ideas, this isn't going to go over very well.

 

[ViRGE]

And on that note, that's the reason why I can see why the critics had such a hard time with this. Do you judge it like a drama? Like a Futurama? Like a parody?

If I had to compare it to any one show, maybe Stargate Atlantis played a little less straight and with more jokes? Both shows were genre-aware in their approaches (Col. Sheppard was Captain Kirk), but this elevates the humor and doesn't try too hard to avoid being Star Trek.

On which note, I wonder if they're filming this show in 4K and HDR? Atlantis was fairly brightly lit and consequently was damn gorgeous on HDTVs; I could see The Orville doing the same for 4K w/HDR.

 

[Exterous]

I'm not sure how I feel about it. Some of the production values seemed good for a first year Sci-fi show, some pretty bad. Sad to see some of the same old tropes though: I'll stand in the open and hit crouching enemy soldiers wearing full body armor and every shot knocks one down. Meanwhile they all miss their shots except for one token hit to a shoulder that does really 0 damage. But maybe the absurdity of that is the joke? I'll keep watching but am wary

 

[KB]

And on that note, that's the reason why I can see why the critics had such a hard time with this. Do you judge it like a drama? Like a Futurama? Like a parody?

This is the problem I am having with it. It wasn't funny enough to be a straight up comedy, but wasn't geeky enough to be a sci fi drama. I will have to give it a few weeks.

 

[sdifox]

Caught the last few mins. Arbor Day. Seemed really stupid.

 

[ctbaars]

Liked it very much. Very new style. So much better acting than, say, STTNG episodes 1-6. And the humor is subtle but perfectly captures things like the Spock, Kirk, McCoy humor at their endings too.
I'm guessing a lot of people are waiting to see if they like it depending on whether their peers like it too.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Bad Trek is better than Great NCIS!

 

[Iron Woode]

Caught the last few mins. Arbor Day. Seemed really stupid.

actually, it wasn't bad at all. nothing great but not bad.

The arbour day joke was kinda meh.

 

[sdifox]

actually, it wasn't bad at all. nothing great but not bad.

The arbour day joke was kinda meh.

No as in who the fuck get something from the enemy and activate it without thorough investigation first?

 

[Thebobo]

I liked it, was better than the trailer. But the bad people are horrible shots.

 

[dainthomas]

I enjoyed it and will definitely be watching it every week (assuming they maintain the quality). Yeah, not every joke hit, but it was enjoyable from a scifi and a comedy angle. (Lol'd at the alien captain getting pulled into their relationship argument). Plus I like how different it is than every doctor/lawyer/cop/reality show.

However I also enjoyed Galavant and that didn't last long. So...

 

[local]

I enjoyed it and will definitely be watching it every week (assuming they maintain the quality). Yeah, not every joke hit, but it was enjoyable from a scifi and a comedy angle. (Lol'd at the alien captain getting pulled into their relationship argument). Plus I like how different it is than every doctor/lawyer/cop/reality show.

However I also enjoyed Galavant and that didn't last long. So...

Galavant was awesome. Maybe I am just tired of the same old crap being redone with different names so these shows that are a little different are more appealing.

 

[BoomerD]

I thought the show met the expectations set by the trailer. Yes, IMO, it was that bad. Was it tbe worst thing I've seen on television lately? Nope...not even close, but it was bad enough that I'm not sure I'll keep watching. I'll give it one or two more episodes before I make a decision. (And see what the other networks come up with as competition for the time slot...although, with a Dish Network Hopper3, that doesn't matter as much as it once did)

 

[Insomniator]

Haven't watched it yet, but I am concerned that this spoof will end up being better than the actual new star trek series coming out.

Not that I want either to be bad, I just hope this show doesn't embarrass Star Trek's attempted return.

 

[Thebobo]

Haven't watched it yet, but I am concerned that this spoof will end up being better than the actual new star trek series coming out.

Not that I want either to be bad, I just hope this show doesn't embarrass Star Trek's attempted return.

Speaking of Star Trek Ive been watching the original show on BBC and man they really cleaned up the video and of course added all new exterior graphics and despite the interior sets it looks rather modern.

 

[Fritzo]

actually, it wasn't bad at all. nothing great but not bad.

The arbour day joke was kinda meh.

Would have went with "YOU GOT WOOD!!!"

 

[Fritzo]

Haven't watched it yet, but I am concerned that this spoof will end up being better than the actual new star trek series coming out.

Not that I want either to be bad, I just hope this show doesn't embarrass Star Trek's attempted return.

Hence the lawsuit...

 

[Charmonium]

Galavant was awesome.

Galavant really was awesome. I absolutely detest musicals but I still enjoyed it. The difference though is that you knew what Galavant was and how to judge it. With this show, it an odd kind of synthesis that might work, but might not.

There were definitely a lot of iffy moments in the show. The whole gun battle sequence, as has been noted. The ending with the redwood. To those you can probably add things like the cliche infidelity argument, the security officer's super strength and probably a host of other things if you wanted to get a catalog going.

The problem is that all that stuff is fine if we're looking at this as a comedy but doesn't cut it if we're looking at it as scifi. So I guess the real issue is do we think that the humor is good enough to compensate for the lack of scifi credibility?

 

[Stopsignhank]

I tried. I had a hard time with Seth Macfarlane's acting. The show was OK, but it was tough to watch him. I wanted to like it.

 

[Skel]

Hence the lawsuit...

What lawsuit?

 

[Elixer]

I tried. I had a hard time with Seth Macfarlane's acting. The show was OK, but it was tough to watch him. I wanted to like it.

I tend to agree with this, I didn't laugh once at any of those "jokes", and the whole tree thing was just stupid. How is it supposed to grow without nutrients & sunlight?

So, as a comedy, it failed big time.
As a sci-fi show, lots of very stupid parts.
So far, I give it a average rating, just enough to see where it goes from here.