Star Trek spoof The Orville (by Seth MacFarlane)

[Newbian]

I admit I snickered about the whole "did the egg come out of his butt" thing.... because I was thinking the same thing.

So far the best comedy parts have been with the blob of Norm Macdonald once again.

In either case it looks like they liked this tng episode.

 

[Fritzo]

Really liked the 3rd ep. It's funny, you come here and everyone hates everything. You go to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc and everyone is happy for the show. Why is everyone here so angry at someone trying to entertain you???

 

[ViRGE]

Well, About a Girl is without a doubt going to be a divisive episode. I foresee that a lot of people are going to love it, and a lot of people are going to hate it. But such is almost always the case when dealing with a "heavy" episode, never mind the fact that The Orville is still new and is walking a fine line between comedy and drama.

One thing is for sure: the show definitely put on its big boy pants for this one. It's the most dramatic episode, and it's a downer ending at that. But I feel it's also the strongest episode to date, as it had a very clear focus and the muted humor was interspersed well with the drama.

I do think this episode got a bit heavy-handed with its gender moralizing, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's very difficult to do right. Even Star Trek could struggle with the same problem. And while I'm not enough of a critic to be able to pick apart just where the episode didn't work, I do think it could have been done better. If we're still talking about the show in a few years' time, it may end up being a show-defining episode, but I suspect it won't make any top-ten lists. Still, I'm glad they tackled it as they did. And if nothing else, while it wasn't perfect I think most people can agree it did a better job than Trek's last effort on the subject, which was Enterprise's Cogenitor.

Overall, it's the most Star Trek-like episode of the series so far. And while this series still needs to get out from under Trek's skirt if it's going to make a name for itself in the long-run, for now I'm happy just to have a show that is willing to stage such a heavy, dramatic episode.

 

[Thebobo]

Really liked the 3rd ep. It's funny, you come here and everyone hates everything. You go to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc and everyone is happy for the show. Why is everyone here so angry at someone trying to entertain you???

Ack I missed it I thought it was next thursday. It's on FX at weird hours as well?

 

[amdhunter]

I saw yesterdays episode by accident. It's the first of the series that I watched. I was ready to hate it with the green blob made a penis, but it kept my attention after.

The only thing that really irked me was at some point someone said "get your ass up here" or something like that. It just seemed really out of place.

I was able to find episode 2 on the web, but can't find the pilot episode. I'm interested in watching those two now.

 

[Charmonium]

Skip the pilot.

 

[Jon-T]

Ack I missed it I thought it was next thursday. It's on FX at weird hours as well?

Looks like they are streaming it on fox.com

 

[Fritzo]

Ack I missed it I thought it was next thursday. It's on FX at weird hours as well?

You can download the Fox app to Roku/FireStick/etc and watch it for free there.

 

[Fritzo]

I saw yesterdays episode by accident. It's the first of the series that I watched. I was ready to hate it with the green blob made a penis, but it kept my attention after.

The only thing that really irked me was at some point someone said "get your ass up here" or something like that. It just seemed really out of place.

I was able to find episode 2 on the web, but can't find the pilot episode. I'm interested in watching those two now.

It's still finding it's balance, but the vibe is "What if modern office schmoes were put aboard a starship?" It's still finding its stride, but the music, effects, and characters are really well done. I guess Norm McDonald is going to do a blob cameo every week. He's the new Adam West

 

[Elixer]

Well, got all caught up now, and I still haven't laughed at the comedy bits, guess it just isn't my type of humor. Shocked they don't have a laugh track.

If it is the only thing on that night, suppose I will keep watching it.

 

[JEDI]

wow... so serious.. didn't expect that.
thought this was a comedy spoof.

I liked the curveball it threw

 

[Charmonium]

Shocked they don't have a laugh track.

I give them huge props for that. Laugh tracks are so insulting not to mention inane and annoying. Most of the time all they do is remind you how weak some of the humor is.

This show needs to decide if it's going to be a STNG rip off in which case it shouldn't have started out being what is essentially a clone of that show. Otherwise they need to settle into traditional parody territory and work from there.

The most recent show was a ham-fisted attempt at cultural relevance by dealing clumsily with a complex and emotional issue. It's about what I would expect from MacFarlane though given his resume so far.

First of all, if they really wanted to be relevant, they wouldn't have chosen a plot device of gender reassignment at birth. They would have worked with a character that was struggling to get recognition for how they identified in terms of gender.

But aside from that, some of the arguments didn't even make logical sense. For example that really stupid example about having a third leg. All of the other analogies were equally weak.

So far, over the first 3 episodes, this show has been all over the map and with the sole exception of the second episode, I haven't been impressed on any front with the story, acting or production. Of those, the production is probably the strongest though.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Well, got all caught up now, and I still haven't laughed at the comedy bits, guess it just isn't my type of humor. Shocked they don't have a laugh track.

No, it's that the comedy bits are not funny. It's a couple of weak jokes tossed into a bad Star Trek copy. I gave it three episodes and I'm done. It's not funny, it's not exciting, it's not really anything but a random collection of disparate parts that don't fit together to make something cohesive.

Ratings tanked hard on the regular night without football as a lead-in.

 

[UNCjigga]

I think the whole premise of this show is to punk CBS and Les Moonves for not putting Star Trek Discovery on network TV. As bad as the Orville is, I bet it'll still have more viewers than premium streaming only 'Discovery'.

 

[ImpulsE69]

The humor in this show falls pretty flat, but the 3rd episode was pretty good from a "Star Trek" perspective. It even had a few lines that made me laugh. I'll probably continue to watch this season and see if it catches its stride. It's kind of a let down that it isn't more Galaxy Quest'ish, it really is trying to be more serious than not. I was seriously not expecting an episode like this on this show.

One thing that kind of does bug me though is the blob character. It feels like it's supposed to be a "Ted" character, and it just feels out of place given how serious the rest of the show is.


That being said, again, if you've never seen Other Space, go hunt it down. It more represents what this show was thought to be.

 

[Aikouka]

One thing that kind of does bug me though is the blob character. It feels like it's supposed to be a "Ted" character, and it just feels out of place given how serious the rest of the show is.

Once we see it smoking some pot, then we'll know that it's the Ted character. Stoner humor is probably what I like the least about Seth MacFarlane comedies, and it was starting to rear its ugly head in the second episode. ...and then it got all super serious in the third episode.

 

[Fritzo]

The humor in this show falls pretty flat, but the 3rd episode was pretty good from a "Star Trek" perspective. It even had a few lines that made me laugh. I'll probably continue to watch this season and see if it catches its stride. It's kind of a let down that it isn't more Galaxy Quest'ish, it really is trying to be more serious than not. I was seriously not expecting an episode like this on this show.

One thing that kind of does bug me though is the blob character. It feels like it's supposed to be a "Ted" character, and it just feels out of place given how serious the rest of the show is.


That being said, again, if you've never seen Other Space, go hunt it down. It more represents what this show was thought to be.

Yeah, I think they'll even everything out by next season. I remember watching the first season of ST:TNG and seeing Data get drunk from a virus (how???), smile, crack jokes, etc. They didn't have him ironed out and consistent until the 3rd season. Worf was a mess. Troi was weird and annoying. It all worked out.

The characters on The Orville have room for development, and I'm sure they'll do the same. One thing that does bug me is Isaac looks like a cheap 1950's no-budget robot. I'm hoping he gets a makeover at some point.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Yeah, I think they'll even everything out by next season. I remember watching the first season of ST:TNG and seeing Data get drunk from a virus (how???), smile, crack jokes, etc. They didn't have him ironed out and consistent until the 3rd season. Worf was a mess. Troi was weird and annoying. It all worked out.

The characters on The Orville have room for development, and I'm sure they'll do the same. One thing that does bug me is Isaac looks like a cheap 1950's no-budget robot. I'm hoping he gets a makeover at some point.

I think he is supposed to..and I've thought he sounds very much like Data, but I'm assuming it isn't the same guy.

 

[Fritzo]

I think he is supposed to..and I've thought he sounds very much like Data, but I'm assuming it isn't the same guy.

A lot of people are saying that, but it's not Brent Spiner. It's a British actor doing a pretty good impression:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2961481/?ref_=tt_cl_t8

 

[JEDI]

Once we see it smoking some pot, then we'll know that it's the Ted character. Stoner humor is probably what I like the least about Seth MacFarlane comedies, and it was starting to rear its ugly head in the second episode. ...and then it got all super serious in the third episode.

in the 3rd episode, thought they were going to use the pot brownie in some way. maybe to escape the zoo.

boo for violating 'Chekov's gun'

 

[Puffnstuff]

I like sarcastic comedy so a ST spoof is fine by me.

 

[SKORPI0]

LOL at the 2nd Episode.
http://orville.wikia.com/wiki/Command_Performance

After Ed and Kelly are "rescued" from the Calivon zoo and traded with reality TV shows.. I couldn't stop laughing wishing that the Kardashian family would be imprisoned there forever.

 

[Malogeek]

I found that I really enjoyed The Orville quite a bit more than Discovery. I really enjoy Seth's work and I think so far it's shown a working combination of satire, self-deprecation and meaningful contentious subject matter to work in. As opposed to Discovery that seeks to be completely serious but ends up being a combination of JJ Abrams and Michael Bay crap.

 

[Puffnstuff]

The 3rd episode with Rudolph Ethics made me laugh so hard that I nearly fell out of my chair.

 

[ctbaars]

Love this show. A mission, humor and character development / setup.