The Orville is Seth McFarlane's new TV series which is an homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation. I just watched the first episode (Old Wounds), and aside from a couple clunky juvenile bodily function jokes, I found it very enjoyable, It's a surprisingly faithful and respectful updating of ST:TNG. The humor is definitely toned down to allow the old school optimistic sci-fi to take center stage. The Orville is definitely in the true spirit of Star trek, unlike the reboot movies which thought Star Trek was a shoot 'em up. I will definitely be watching next week's episode! *A*



BTW, here's an article from Forbes which I found to be on point:

The Critics Must Be Crazy: Seth MacFarlane's 'The Orville' Captures The Spirit Of 'Star Trek'

Saw the trailer and it looked shit. I didn't like any Star Trek version I've ever seen.

You're definitely outside the target market - which is those with a fond memory of ST:TNG and a capacity for some gentle ribbing.

Good point, Algren.

But I do like Seth's humour so I was disappointed not to want to see more.

I can't say this is anything like TNG.

I'd say it's more Galaxy Quest mixed with Enterprise, with more raunchy humor. Pilot had a meh kind of start, but it at least showed some promise at the end. Hopefully it moves more towards the latter.

Yeah I thought it was decent. Has potential to be good. I will probably watch a few more episodes.

The pilot was very force these characters on you. I really hope Seth can go more serious which he originally wanted.

It's definitely inspired by Star Trek by way of Firefly, although neither as groundbreaking as the former nor as clever as the latter.

It's definitely enjoyable and feels like a proper TV show, whereas so many TV shows in this genre try desperately to appear cinematic. But Seth's brand of humor and his own lack of charisma as an actor are distracting. I hope they tone down the Family Guy-style of comedy in future episodes. But there's not much to change his lack of screen presence. Every time he's on screen, I'm just seeing Seth MacFarlane.

But I'll keep going with it for now. I don't think it'll be a long-term hit. Might benefit from shortened seasons, if that's what they're going for.

Seriously, is English your second language?

The second episode of The Orville (Command Performance) was straight out of the Star Trek plot museum, combining the classic alien zoo and rookie commander storylines. Despite its familiarity, it is well done and helps to continue to establish the characters and universe as the series finds its space legs (ST:TNG took two full seasons to do so). Seth McFarlane didn't have much to do in this episode, but I think he has chosen wisely for his first series lead - he's an average actor, but he's got the looks and more importantly the charm to pull it off. I'm also liking the balance of humor and sci-fi so far, and looking forward to episode three! *A*

Nah but I can see the barrier is apparently bothering you,so I'll keep doing it. (Shh, I didn't hit space bar after the comma )

After very, visualize a "

Thegun is in prime form as of late

The second episode was a big improvement. I thought it was pretty good.

The third episode (About A Girl) is the best one yet - a classic Star Trek style story well told!

I'm beginning to think that The Orville has a good chance of out-star-trekking the new Star Trek: Discovery series.

*A+*

The fourth episode (If The Stars Should Appear) is even better than the third. The Orville is on a very promising trajectory, flying mother Star Trek's silver seed to a new home in the sun. Bravo Seth! *A+"

Another solid episode this week (Pria) featuring Academy Award^® winner Cherlize Theron. Nice to see thoughtful standalone episodes that address sci-fi ideas and philosophy and that retain the idealism of Gene Roddenberry. The humor also nicely complements the Star Trek homage by gently skewering Roddenberry era tropes - eg: Malloy's comment that he recommended rescuing the captain of the distressed ship based on her attractiveness. *A*

"Krill" was the first weak episode of The Orville. Ed and Gordon's incessant joking around on the Krill ship wasn't especially funny - and worse, it's the first time they let the humor undercut the story. *C*

I was pleased to see that you included the little ® symbol on Academy Award ... but then you misspelled Charlize Theron! My OCD went nuts!

You think that's bad?!? I just about had an aneurysm when I saw that you had mistakenly used the term "misspelling" for what is correctly described as a "typo". Here are three previous instances at KJ where I correctly hit the keys when spelling Ms. Theron's name, demonstrating that it is simply a typo in this thread.

Hmm..the e and the a are not exactly next to each other, not far apart, but not obvious as a mistype for me. I'm still on team "tree-and-a-half-accidentally-misspelled-Charlize"

"Majority Rule" - another great episode in which the Orville visits a planet governed by social media. *A*

Bad news. The Orville will end Season 1 with just 13 episodes.

Good news. It's coming back for a second season!

Algren is going to pounce all over you. How dare you use numbers to describe one season, and letters spelling out the actual number for another season. That is big no no. I personally don't give a shit. But apparently some see it as insane as a ransom note with cut out newspaper letters.

Good for the Orville, 13 is enough that I can catch up. I think I made it to 3 so far.

Anyone watching Season 2? The premiere and episode two didn't quite live up to Season 1 for me personally. They had a bigger audience for the premiere, airing after football, but they went for a more reserved premiere, when they should have had something a little stronger to try and retain an audience.

Episode two was just a holdover from the first season, and it showed. It felt like something they kicked around and decided not to air last year. But the show has enough good will built up that I'll keep going. It's OK if the show stops and focuses on a more dramatic storytelling style here and there, but I don't want that to be the norm.