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Huge Trek fan here and also a huge Seth fan as well. I couldn't wait for this show to air but since airing I can barely make it through an episode. I keep watching it though because I love scifi so much and I'll take what I can get but I cringe through most of it.
Sincere thanks for your post. I happen to agree with every word in it.
No hidden point, just what I wrote. Face value.
Ah, I feel ya. Well, actually I'm somewhere in the middle. Save for a couple weak (IMO) episodes I'm enjoying the show very much...until they 1) crack jokes, 2) reference the 20th/21st centuries (as the original Star Trek very often did, sure, but The Orville should either be judged for its own merits or not - can't have it both ways), or 3) both, as is often the case. Then they lose me, only to re-gain me as soon as the entertaining sci-fi plot and competent (enough) acting resume. Oh well. As you implied, patchy (IMO) science fiction on TV is better than no science fiction at all.
Barring personal egregious deal-breakers, of course.
Well that's pretty much a given.
I wasn't stating historical fact, but opinion.
(Statement of fact)
That should be obvious by the context
(Statement of opinion--but beyond an opinion of preference)
Oh, so you were wondering about the very last line. That need be read in the context of the whole post.
The whole purpose of the show (and it is the very essence of what Seth does) is to rework plots from the ST universe. Every single episode so far has referenced a story from TOS or TNG, only set in the "parodic universe" that mirrors our 21st century society.
The Orville can only be judged from this perspective. What value can you get from a retelling of the episode where Wesley Crusher violates a "Keep off the grass!" sign on a totalitarian rule planet and is sentenced to death?
For TNG, it's a chance to explore the moral implications of "The Prime Directive". For The Orville, when a crew member jokingly twerks a statue of a revered hero on a planet with instant direct democracy and it's captured on video, it's an opportunity to examine how pop culture (particularly social media) might affect an entire society.
That just annoyed me. The character isn't portrayed as brilliant but he was being entirely too stupid for suspension of disbelief. He wasn't new to the ship. He understands they're the aliens amongst people who don't know aliens exist. The character is basically there for comic relief but twerking on a statue that could be the leader of their civilization for all they know is something a misbehaved child might've done, not an officer. They could've found a less ridiculous way for him to go on trial. It's a small part of the point of the episode and the idea of a total democracy like that was really interesting, but it was still a bad writing choice.
I'm glad you pointed this out. There have been numerous "writing choices" during this first season which have instantly struck me as dubious. I hope it's just a result of the writers being unsure what they're going for as a team and the quality control isn't quite up to speed yet. If that's true, then we should see the stories become smoother in the next season.
I know this isn't a ST franchise and it's totally independent, but I think there are some generic comparisons to be made. The first season of TNG was mostly mediocre for me. There were a few really good episodes and more than a few bad ones, but mostly they just suffered from the writers' inability to know what the characters were supposed to be. There were many examples of bad writing choices that make me roll my eyes in disbelief watching reruns. It took until the 3rd season before the show really got good and they ironed out most of those wrinkles.
TOS had a similar first season. A few really good ones, and a lot of clunkers. The second season is widely regarded as the best overall. My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that TOS had its budget slashed for the 3rd sesaon and was shoved into bad time slots and then poorly advertised. This effectively killed the show for a fourth season which is right when it should have really come into its own had it been supported by the network properly. This is such a loss to the history of SF because I can imagine what TOS would have become had it had a chance to run for 250 episodes or so.
I was watching the episode and it was making me mad. Like what the hell are you doing? How about some discretion? He honestly should've been booted out if not court martialed. That's how unbelievably (literally) idiotic he was being.
TOS had a weird first season. Two pilot episodes. Vastly different Spocks. But it got going pretty quick.
TNG sure had some bad ones in season 1 and 2 but I love everything second of it. But I grew up on it so I have a different appreciation. I think there's less of an excuse these days, or at least there should be.
And then later he's reacting to the locals like "What did I do?" Acting as if his behavior is perfectly normal like he forgot where he is. It was just bad, bad writing. His crime could've been waaay more interesting. Something totally innocuous that none of the away team would've noticed was wrong but they went with twerking for ****'s sake. Just awful.
I absolutely love it because I tried so many times to get into start trek and just couldnt.
Whatever Seth is doing, it works for me.
Whatever Seth is doing, it works for me.
I think just the pilot, the others asked if they could keep bringing soft drinks to the bridge like the previous Captain allowed. And then there is the ex wife
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So they're a loose crew, proving my point. Wasn't his helmsman (the friend he recruited) drinking beer in the shuttle on one episode?
Everyone on Trek is basically a genius and it's fine that they've departed from that here, but the twerking was dumb. The idea of the planet with an absolute democracy is great. The idea to have a member of the crew inadvertently get arrested was also great. So they needed to have him commit a crime that wasn't apparently illegal to them and twerking was the best they could do? It could've been something clever. Almost anything. I'd rather he scratched his balls and get caught than the nonsense they came up with.
They probably thought grinding on the statue would be funny for the audience. I didn't think it was funny, but definitely outrageous.
How serious can you take a show where Mercer spits a marble back onto his commanding officer's desk in the first scene?
How serious can you take a show where Mercer spits a marble back onto his commanding officer's desk in the first scene?
You have just hit on what I like best about this show. It's "Idiot Frat Boys in Space," and along the way, they might learn to be human beings. I grew tired of the upstanding TNG world/universe. As I mentioned, not one crew member, even Riker, liked rock and roll on that stupid ship.
I wouldn't call it a bad writing choice, as it seems to be mirroring quite starkly
exactly what has been going on in our society the past few years.
People tried and found guilty in the media, on even less evidence...
They go to court, end up exonerated, only to face more wrath from the people
who refused to listen to the Evidence...but they sure listened to the News Hacks...
Bread and Circuses...keep the people busy while government is busy doing things
that it shouldn't...been going on since Roman Times...just now there's Video Everywhere.
If you think that was off, you shoulda joined the Navy...
that was LIGHT for some of the shenanigans that really go on
Altho, most of us know better than to eat ANYTHING in a superior officer's Office...
Example...two AE's get bored...steal a CPR dummy...put it in the Dress Blues
of a sailor who had recently medically retired...then snuck up on the roof of
the neighboring barracks...yelled, "GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD!!! AAAAAHHHHRGH!!!"
and tossed the dummy off at 2am-ish.
The Watch comes running, meanwhile the two AE's sneak downstairs with everyone else...
dummy happened to land facedown, and the two Watchstanders are arguing about
who is gonna check him for ID...whereupon someone says, "Why worry about that,
just go get the Duty PO!"...one of 'em does, whereupon he reaches down to check
for a pulse, takes a deep breath, and starts reaming them for waking him up at
2 in the blankity blank morning for a blanking blankety blank DUMMY!
