Your thoughts on The Orville?
Your thoughts on The Orville?
When I first started this show I found it to be a really awkward mix of comedy and seriousness. It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times as some kind of comic relief from a really serious situation. Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough or maybe the show just grew on me, but by season 2 I found myself loving this show.
To me it seems as every bit as comfy, intellectually interesting and even funny as some classic Star Treks while still clearly being its own thing. I wish more comfy space shows like this would get made.
What are your thoughts on The Orville? Also I miss Alara.
I loved it. I thought the actors did a great job with some of the more sensitive content. It was pretty generic in general, but I didn't mind that. I like shows that don't take themselves too seriously.
I watched the first 2 seasons. The "sitcom in space" parts work quite OK, Kaylon's concept was somewhat interesting, space battles are well animated, particularly in the 2nd season which clearly got more budget, but...
Whenever the scripts stray away from "personal drama of the week" and dumb jokes about starships it becomes uninspired and shallow. It's clear to me that MacFarlane tries to "dunk on both sides". Sadly, his attempts at political/social critique look like "enlightened centrist" reddit rants which don't try to think about broader consequences and context of points being made. To the point of some stories being somewhat problematic when dissected.
I watched the first episode of the third season to see where does the series go. It took a highly sensitive topic, again reiterated high-school philosophy arguments and made this potentially hard and relatable for viewers subject into an awkward bedtime conversation. I decided the rest of the season is not worth my time.
Luckily Strange New Worlds premiered soon after and I never looked back. SNW beats Orville on all measures.
I really liked it.
The early seasons were less serious than later ones. But overall, it did well with serious social issues and addresses some very relevant topics.
The storyline with Topah was absolutely amazing. At every step, each character was portrayed well, and respectfully. It's rare that there is a story like that that still has conflict without having a clear villain.
The time travel episode with Gordon was also especially brutal with some great performances from everyone on screen.
There were a few misses. I found the Isaac / Doctor relationship... forced, even if it did bring us the best line in decades ("As I am incapable of stuttering, I must conclude that you heard me."). I also don't think I'm alone with disliking the Charlie character in season 3.
I expected the Orville to be a funny homage to Star Trek. For a short time it was just that. Actually a randy one with too much toilet humor. But then suddenly they became serious SciFi. Which I consider a bold move and mostly but not utterly a successful one. And in hindsight, it would have been hard to deliver good SciFi-Humor for more than one Season except if they went the Futurama-Path.
The part of the funny homage to Star Trek nowadays has been taken by Lower Decks. Humorwise it beats everything Orville had ever offered.
Orville is good. Not great but worth watching. They had some AMAZING episodes with depth and ideas among the best ST-Episodes. But they also had a lot of mediocre episodes. Still Better than ST-Discovery for sure. Even surpassing ST-Picard. Which is something Seth can be proud of.
Orville started when there was no Startrek and no serious Soap-SiFi at all (The Expanse is something different).
For me it is "Startrek when Startrek wasn't" and basically revived the Franchise it wanted to make fun of.
I like it.
It felt way more like Star Trek than the Star Trek being made at the time (primarily Discovery). Though I do like Strange New Worlds and think it's more in the right direction, The Orville still feels way more like TNG-era Trek.
Now we just need a Galaxy Quest / Orville crossover to really confuse everyone.
Always thought the whole parody aspect was just a means to get funding to just make a regular star trek series in disguise. If someone would just give the man money for exactly that we would have an awesome star trek series.
The Orville is my favorite Star Trek franchise. It's canon - you can't deny it. The Orville revived the Star Trek Franchise and gave it a pulse. It's like blockchain. You can say it doesn't belong, but it will always be there and nothing can change that. It has great attention to detail and decent story writing with that original "there's a moral in this episode" that endeared ST in our hearts, something the newer ST franchises lack.
After the first season, which was an obligatory “Star Trek Type Show Finds Its Feet” season, it really hit its stride to become the best Star Trek since DS9. Not in name, but certainly in spirit. So earnest, with a great message throughout. Sure it had some mediocre jokes here and there but so did TNG, let’s not forget. I was sitting around just the other day thinking how I missed watching The Orville
I was initially turned off from it too because of the awkward comedy early on. But I have it another go and ended up enjoying it as an extension of Star Trek.
The vibe I get is he wanted to make a Star Trek show, but since he’s that comedy guy he probably got it greenlit as a comedy and then just slowly morphed into just Star Trek while the producers weren’t looking. I’m basing this on nothing, it’s just a funny head cannon.
It’s not a stretch to say it’s the only thing of this era that picks up the legacy of TNG trek. Lower decks is fun but too short to really do what full episodes could and while Strange New Worlds is ok… it still doesn’t feel in the spirit that I’m looking for.
I loved it because it had all the eye candy and high concept stuff I'm looking for but they didn't take themselves too seriously.
I didn't mind the acting or the incongruent personality quirks. I actually found most of it pretty endearing in a little relaxing. He probably should have broken the fourth wall a little more often.
Overtime the formula got a little too predictable. With the exception of an episode here and there are the story arcs were getting tired.
I enjoyed watching it, I wouldn't mind seeing more, but I have no urge whatsoever to go back and do a rewatch.
I'd describe it as a more irreverent version of a Star Trek universe with more realistic interactions among peers on the ship. A place where instead of it being an idealistic utopian society where everyone is a driven, passionate genius in their field, they're just people with jobs, have normal messy social interactions, and also sometimes deal with really big important political and military situations. They're capable members of the crew, but they still fuck around with their buddies like real people do. I find it refreshing, compelling and endearing. I love the Orville 90% of the time.
I thought it was a parody at first, and it certainly treated itself as such in the beginning, but in the later seasons, it took itself more seriously, and I found it a more "realistic" take than star trek.
Star trek is awesome, don't get me wrong. But the captains were kind of "perfect", basically. Captain Mercer and his crew are all flawed people, in their own way. They make poor decisions sometimes, out of selfishness, pride, or whatever, and it's fun to see them deal with the consequences.
It was a breath of fresh air after the disappointment of Discovery and proof that there are people who still believe in Star Trek's optimistic vision of the future. I think for that reason I and many other fans gave it a pass for a lot of it's flaws.
My biggest problem is that I feel the social commentary is rather poorly done. I've gotten into some nasty fights on reddit for saying so.
I'll start by saying what I think it does well. It's good at humanizing people who live in an oppressive society and portraying their point of view.
But the ideas it discusses aren't especially original or insightful. The world building doesn't exist to support them. The Moclans might be a fine allegory for trans and intersex issues, but they only work as an allegory and make no sense at face value. And they're portrayed inconsistently to allow whatever kind of episodes the writers want.
I feel like one issue is that McFarlane does not share the ideals of Star Trek. I don't get the impression that he sees the value of non-interference, for example. But nevertheless, the Union believes in it because the Federation does. Politically, he's a more conventional thinker than the classic Star Trek writers.
Absolutely love this show. The bf and I still yell "PREPARE FOR THE SEXUAL EVENT" at each other when the moment calls for it.
I thought it was the best comedic Star Trek until Lower Decks dropped. It's still the best modern Trek show as a regular Trek show, albeit a lot more goofy than it needs to be since it's made as a comedy first. I watch it because it's actually about as good in the drama and set design as TNG was, but the humor, being driven by McFarlane, is just not my thing anymore. He's just got too much shit that's all over the place and I'm tired of it, not that it's bad in and of itself.
It was the Star Trek we needed before SNW and Lower Decks. Seth and the Orville are not universally appreciated but I doubt the Orville escaped the notice of the writers and producers at Paramount. The Orville charted a sometimes difficult and uneven course to the golden age of Start Trek we are currently enjoying and along the way made some excellent episodes and introduced some good lore and characters.
The Orville is what would happen if the offspring of Star Trek and Galaxy Quest married Lexx and had a baby.
It actually has a lot of the same style social commentary that really Trek ToS and TNG had, combined with the absurdity and humor of GQ and periods of no-punches-pulled raunchy. I mean, go Yaphit and we all know kinky shit happened in holedecks too but it's something else to see on screen.
I am very much looking forward to the next season. It's actually one of the very few sci-fi movies I've gotten my wife to watch with me that she enjoyed
I enjoyed it at first, but I think season three was when the balance between comedy and seriousness made it fall apart a bit. Are we doing fart jokes or serious drama here?
Couple that with Seth driving off actors or elevating them to be main cast because he's sleeping with them, and my wife and I just couldn't get in to season 3. Thoroughly enjoyed the previous two light-hearted seasons with a touch of drama and trekiness.
I didn't think the Star Trek formula would work with silly jokes instead of everyone taking themselves super seriously.
I was wrong.
Love it, way better than Spores-are-actually-the-Force-now-all-of-a-sudden-Space-JesusI haven't caught up with the most recent season, but I really liked all adventures the crew went on. One thing I did remember wishing was for the show to drop the Ed and Kelly relationship subplot, since I liked the more friends and professional dynamic. And I miss Alara too, and wish she'd be part of the crew again.
Put me in the "like it don't love it" camp. It is very clearly Seth MacFarlane's love letter to 90s trek, pulled some good ideas from that era's writers, and has more heart than it seems in the first couple of episodes. Some of the character work is actually quite touching, and it seems like they're having fun with the show, so it's rarely a slog. Overall though, it is way too uneven to be great or even really good.
Seth is not a great actor, and several members of the cast are MUCH worse than him, like "low-end dinner theater" bad. The set design, costume, and prosthetics are pretty weak, and Seth's sense of humor just doesn't work for me, so in a context where he's trying to find the right balance with a Star Trek show, it hits even more awkwardly. It's also very specifically SETH MACFARLANE'S love letter to Star Trek, so there's way too much emphasis on 1980-2000 American pop culture, and I say that as someone who's only a few years younger than him. It's distracting how narrow the set of references are in a show that traffics in them so liberally.
There's also something just a bit off about the messaging of many of the more serious episodes, like Seth feels a need to come down on a definitive answer to the moral questions that come up. I dunno, I am having trouble recollecting specific scenes, but it's a lingering feeling I have. I almost imagine 20-something Seth in a dorm room at RISD screaming at Picard that he should have just shot that Romulan!
Seth McFarland fixing his lonliness in space. Or Seth McFarland and the girl of the week.
I liked it at first, but felt the constant story lines about Seth and his love life to be a bit much. Tone down on that, give me more space exploration and less broken heart lonely man stories, and I might enjoy it more.
For me after DS9, The Orville is (to me) the next canonical Start Trek series. Everything after is, from what I've seen is trash that exploits the name for an established fan base. Now I haven't seen everything, but like, how many times do you need to be kicked in the nuts to know that you don't like getting kicked in the nuts and you just stop!
I loved, FUCKING LOVED, TNG. Honestly, that show shaped a lot of who I am, especially since I didn't have a good father figure growing up.
The Orville isn't perfect. Seth for better or for worse tries some jokes and some of them really don't land. But to his credit he tries. And it felt like as the show went on it got more refined in what it wanted to be.
The people who are in charge of modern Star Trek can shove it up their ass. You can't tell me a single one of them ever sat down and ever actually watched Star Trek. TOS, TNG, VOY, and DS9 I'm here for it all. Everything after, Jesus Christ, just awful. I'd rather watch Dr Crusher get it on with a ghost repeatedly than sit and watch modern Star Trek.
But the Oroville like a breath of fresh air.
Up until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, it was hands down the best modern Star Trek (like) show. It’s definitely a little clumsy early on, but after a few episodes it’s very clear that Seth is finally fulfilling his childhood dream of doing Star Trek even if it’s his own version of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope season 4 happens.
Orville season 3 has a few episodes that are easily up to par in the top 10-20 star trek episodes of all times.
@Izzy true fact: Seth McFarlane developed the show after his friend and collaborator Ahmed Best (of Star Wars) pitched him the idea of a comedic Star Trek clone. It was called "The Nebula." I know because I was personally pitching the sizzle reel for the pilot to branded entertainment clients in 2009.
I wish they chose their show's personality and stuck with it. I liked it when it leaned into the comedy, and I kind of liked it a bit more serious but willing to take on topics ST wasn't willing to. But It's really hard to accept the change mid way through the series.
Generally good though.
I wanted to like it, but didn’t get through S1. I found the humor so uneven that it made the whole thing almost uncomfortable. Is it an irreverent parody, sci-fi, slightly crude comedy, or is it Star Trek? It’s all of those things, and I’m happy folks enjoyed it. I’ll try to revisit at some point, but for now I’m so happy that Strange New Worlds is as surprisingly excellent as it is. For me, it nails the mixture of lightheartedness, sci-fi adventure, and earnestness that I like in Star Trek.
Best show ever. I almost peed myself when Ed Mercer tried to eat those stones in the admiral's office in the first episode. Took me like 5minutes of the first episode to love it. And it has so many good episodes, etical dilemmas and thought provoking stories. And I like the Moclans. And i like the storytelling. Especially that most stories take one episode.
I really disliked it. I thought it was a really poorly constructed clone of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and not a subtle one at that. The cut scenes, the sounds... It was all so incredibly "old" feeling.
The relationship between the robot and the doctor was excruciatingly cringy. It was so insanely contrived, and I can't conceive of why anyone tolerated it, let alone enjoyed it.
This said, it's not all bad. I enjoyed one or two episodes, I liked the comedy aspect, and I also enjoyed many of the CGI special effects.
I like it a lot. I hope there's a season 4.
Love the coincidence, I am actually watching "Twice in a Lifetime" right now. I love the show so much. In many ways I see it as a more realistic Star Trek. The characters are flawed, they bicker and squabble and make bad decisions so often that they can't feel guilty for them or else it would crush them. I adore Star Trek, but the writing and characterizations in Orville are so relatable for me. The people are projections of my friends and family, for better or worse.
Also, at least the actress who played Alara got to date Seth Macfarlane.
I had fun with it, and thought it had a pretty solid ending for the last season.
It's good
Great show in my opinion, liked season one and season two, while not so into season three until Charlie died. Definitely the highlight of that season.
Permanently Deleted
Absolutely LOVE it. I've lost count of how many times I've watched the series and I am currently on another go thru of it. It's definitely a joke in the beginning and some jokes miss, but I love how they get into some good topics halfway through.
Entertainment wise, I find it to be very fun to watch and am always engaged while I have it on.
Thematically, I think it has either a bad or watered down argument sometimes, but other times I think it really hits. Either way though, I find the way it approaches certain ideas very interesting and compelling to discuss with my SO while we watch it, so even when I don't agree with the thematic intent of the episode, I find it worthwhile to interact with.
That said, it did make me cringe a little bit for the first 2 episodes. They're still worth watching for context instead of skipping them, but don't make any judgements on it until episode 3.
All in all, I give it a 8.5/10 personally but a 7/10 critically.
Wanted to like it more than I did. Just didn't think it was all that funny.
Now I thought Avenue 5 (HBO) was absolutely hilarious. It's the funny I expected from Orville. Too bad it ended after 2 seasons.
This is a good show that is trying very hard not to be a great show. I would love to see it explode with popularity more than it already has.
When The Orville came out, I hadn't watched much Star Trek. Growing up, TNG was the one television show that my parents would break the "no TV at the dinner table" rule for, though it happened rarely enough that I really have no memory of it.
About 20 years ago I watched several episodes of TOS and liked it well enough.
I always wanted to like Star Trek, so ~10 years ago I tried season 1 of TNG, which I now realize is rather universally considered an error; and as a result, I didn't much care for TNG. But I still wanted to like it, and Star Trek in general! So when I saw The Orville, I decided to give it a shot. And while I agree that the early mix of comedy with more serious material was a bit off-putting, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. This was what TNG was trying to be (I mean, that's not really fair, but it was my initial sense).
Which then led me to season 3 of TNG, which I started watching last year. And I absolutely love it, and find it overall better than The Orville (which I still really like); but The Orville was basically my gateway to actually enjoying Star Trek.
So maybe I'm coming inside-out from most viewers, but I really like The Orville, and as a bonus, it got me "back" into Star Trek proper.
While I don't regret watching it—and I'd probably even throw on a new season if it gets one—I felt like it was missing any true classic episodes. I also kept having this strange sense of familiarity with episodes, as if it was just repurposing or rehashing older Star Trek plots.
I kept thinking, "Wasn't there a TNG/DS9/Whatever episode that explored this same general concept/idea, but better?". It felt like it was maybe borrowing just a bit too much from it's inspiration.
Cheesy but a different kind of cheesy than Star Trek.
I loved The Orville when it was coming out, it scratched an itch that nothing else at the time did, but while it's been on hiatus/canceled we have gotten Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. One does the firm sci-fi with a relatable crew better, and the other does the comedy Star Trek better. I wouldn't be opposed to more episodes of the Orville, but I don't think that it is as needed as it was when it was coming out.
It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times
That's Seth humor in a nutshell.
Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough
Name a show that started off any other way though. Even SG1 is cringe in the first season. Lexx maybe, but even that one grew different after the first few episodes.
Blatant self insert early TNG fanfic. If you liked (or even wrote) that kind of thing in the 90s, you'll like Orville.
I loved it and it's definitely on the list of shows that I'll rewatch sometime sooner or later
I did it backwards and started watching Star Trek shows because I love The Orville so much! Hoping it gets renewed for another season soon.
I liked that they weren't the most important ship... and then they became the most important ship. Near the end the fate of every species in the galaxy hinged on the love life of three couples on a minor starship.
It also felt like they had 2 or 3 seasons of stories and hulu said "you get one", so they rushed it.
Excellent show. It took a little bit to get it's tone, but half way through the first season it really hit its stride.
The third season of the show is some of the best sci-fi ever made with political and social commentary that rivals things like ST:TNG's "Measure of a Man" and ST:DS9's "Siege of AR-558", but with a good mix of humor similar to ST:LD.
If you haven't watched Orville, you're missing out on some absolutely fantastic Sci-Fi. I'm only sad it's unlikely to get a fourth season, because it deserves it.
I thought it would be a parody show at first but its good casual sci-fi entertainment. I liked the first two seasons better than S3.
I stopped after watching a few episodes. I guess it just wasn’t for me. Most people I know like it though.
Love the Orville. Glad to watch more if they make more.
It strikes me as a show that was only meant to be 1-2 series but due to popularity has kept going and now its trying to find the balance between comedy and seriousness.
Loved Series 1-3. When is Series 4 due? Seth Rocks!
Recently binged the whole thing. Loved every minute.
I liked it, it is pretty star trek the next generation(which i love) though sometimes it gets really up its own ass. I like more philosophical/ethical subject episodes than constant interpersonal relationship episodes.
I'm sure this has been said in other comments but I would love to see Seth McFarlane given the Star Trek IP and free reign. I would actually pay Paramount Plus or whatever streaming service like $20 a month while this theoretical show was active. As an aside I think Garak is the best character in all of Star Trek.
The pure silliness is just too much for me. I know they are trying to hide something good under there, I can see glimpses of it, but I just can't get past the constant childish humor.
It's better Trek than most Trek, IMO. Had some cool adventures and raised some interesting on sometimes difficult questions about morality and how it's shaped by our societies.
This show is very profound to me. It explores important issues, timeless and topical moral questions, and social/political dilemmas with such depth and thoughtful consideration. I really hope it gets a fourth season
That the first season/part of first season was awkward qualified it as part of the Star Trek tradition, they all stumbled around to figure out what they were doing at first. I would say that it is Star Trek just as much as Galaxy Quest is a Star Trek movie, and perhaps that's the issue with some not liking it fully...it's a parody/alternate take of the idea carried out a bit too long, whereas Galaxy Quest was the perfect amount.
As a Star Trek fan since the 70s, I can say that all versions have their highs and lows, there isn't a perfect one. And from the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC (Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations), this is how it should be. The more the better, even some of Discovery. I think the idea of Discovery was great, it just wasn't implemented well, but again, I could point out other Star Trek that shared that.
I like it, enjoy it for the most part and am glad it exists. But the politics comes off a bit weak and tips sometimes too far towards the self-congratulatory ethno-centrism of bad early 20th century anthropology.
I like it! It's a nice casual space show with a decent mix of humor and seriousness.
I find it to be more "star trek" than some of the new star trek shows.
It was fine. Had a lot of good parts and interesting plots. Also was completely cringy and stupid in plot decisions at times. I'd watch another season if it came out, but Seth Macfarlane can't act his way into a middle school play. His heart-to-heart scenes are painfully awful.
By season 2, I was also hooked to this show. I wish they would make more seasons!
Like others said, the humor started out really awkward and forced, but I feel like they hit their stride by season 2
I don't think it'll ever go down in the annals of the greatest scifi shows I history. But as you say, it's a really excellent "comfy" show
I tried to get into it but ultimately it was too campy and borderline cringey (Norm's terribly animated and written blob character) for me.
It was the best trek on TV since Star Trek Enterprise.
But I now also love Star Trek Strange New Worlds.
Really loved it, after the first couple episodes it felt like Star Trek with average people, without the overhype of modern star trek.
My initial reaction was that it was likely to be Seth Macfarlane's "Galaxy Quest the TV Parody"...but then I watched it, and then it grew on me. I've grown to like it quite a bit.
Love it. It changed a bit, but still dig it.
It’s a good show and I like it.
I hate the design of the ship, the shuttles in season 3 at least look cool. Other than that, it was great show until season 3 when I felt they took too much time for EEEEEEEVERYTHING. This is literally the first show ever where I started skipping through episodes.
What is it these days that series and movies maker seem to think quantity equals quality?
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really loved the first season. To me it felt like the good old optimistic utopia Trek but with real people. I tought the episodes had nice and creative topics, including the zoo critique, multigenerational space travel, upvote/downvote society, time-irregularity planet - it was mostly decent sci-fi with some well thought out and fun relationships (Cupid's danger) some outstanding social commentary (About a girl) and a rather weak time-travel episode, which is always a bummer, but never mind.
Then, by season 2, the characters started to transform into plastic figurines with soap opera dialogue and arches (which is a symptom many Trek shows suffer from, to be fair). For example the whole "Oh, captain and first commander cannot date, because the captain couldn't be objective then" (never mind him having feelings anyway). It felt to me like some of them'd been shoven a ruler up their asses. We get some average and some cringe ill-thought out episodes (like the porn-addiction one - the topic could have been a treasure trove if treated properly). It's old-school Trek with all the bad things along the good ones.
Season 3 involves much more action and shooting and it doesn't add any value to the stories. The good arch involves Topa and the Moclan society. The Kaylons (including Isaac) are overall a disappointment. They are supposed to be extremely intelligent but they are not written to really seem that way. They appeared to me to be very stupid and slow-learning. The main characters lost all appeal to me, because they often act in a cold and hostile fashion (like being jerks to time-traveling Gordon instead just leaving him with his familly and picking him up earlier without making the whole ugly drama).
I miss Alara too.
I liked it well enough to keep watching it while I had a service that showed it, but MacFarlane never stopped grating on me.
I like the humor aspect, every once in a while it has a joke or scene where I get a good laugh
Hated the pilot because of the cheating + having to work with the person who cheated. Dropped it there.
At first I thought it was full on satire but then it also discussed serious issues so I'm not sure. It's good but it feels like a Star Trek clone.
I thought it was great. At the time there was a void, no true startrek was being aired. Then this show comes along, and yeah it has humor, but it had just as much heart as startek.
I've never seen it, but in that poster, Seth is one of the few actors who looks like he's got his head on correctly. Greenie on the left looks like her head might actually fall off. (I'd probably watch it if that was one of the plots)