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Thread: The Orville
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2017-09-07, 08:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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The Orville
I'm kind of surprised we don't have a thread on this already. Seth MacFarlane is writing and starring in a live-action sci-fi drama/comedy called The Orville, which is a clear take on Star Trek with an hour long format and suspiciously familiar ship design aesthetics. It premieres on Fox (and will therefore probably meet the fate of Firefly) on Sunday. They've been playing their cards fairly close to the chest re: plot and scenes, but there are two trailers.
For what it's worth, MacFarlane says he's trying to capture the old style aspirational sci-fi of early Trek, and that basically all the jokes in the first episode are in the trailers. I'm hopeful that this might actually be good.Last edited by Renegade Paladin; 2017-09-07 at 08:14 PM.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein
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2017-09-07, 08:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
A full season of hour long episodes seems like a bad format for parody. There's only so many jokes you can tell and then you have to actually be a good sci-fi show.
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2017-09-07, 08:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I like the design of the spaceship and the uniforms. Well-freshened nostalgia there.
That's about it. What the trailer shows of the characters, the humor, and the plot, doesn't capture my interest.
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2017-09-07, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
That... actually looks way better than the ACTUAL new Star Trek show. (I mean, there appears to be a starship battle of some sort - and i can tell what's actually going on), it appears to be an ensemble cast and the SFX look quite good.)
I might actually track that down if I can and try and see at least the first episode at some point (if/when it makes it to this side of the pond).
I would appreciate it if folk might provide a few (spoiler-free) thoughts on it after it shows over there.
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2017-09-07, 09:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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2017-09-07, 09:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Well, wish he actually made Star Trek version of this. Maybe Orville as a coward with fake reputation.
Or Rincewind for "mild" version.
Edit: Consider the quality of Family Guy, tendency to strawman, and such; I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe it would be Space!Flashman.Last edited by t209; 2017-09-07 at 09:38 PM.
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2017-09-07, 09:48 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Fortunately for all concerned, it isn't being pitched as a parody, but as a drama/comedy in its own right. MacFarlane said that basically all the jokes in the first episode are in the trailers; it isn't supposed to be wall-to-wall slapstick.
Second trailer (here because only one video per post and I didn't want to double post):
Last edited by Renegade Paladin; 2017-09-07 at 09:49 PM.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein
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2017-09-07, 10:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I gained interest in this when I read about the concept, and then lost interest as soon as I heard written and starring MacFarlane. For whatever reason his humor and mine just don't match. I never liked Family Guy, American Dad, or The Cleveland Show. And after that I haven't bothered with anything he's done.
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2017-09-07, 10:20 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I suspect this will not be the same as his cartoon shows; the format doesn't at all lend itself to that sort of humor and I believe he's smart enough to know that. Jon Favreau certainly is even if MacFarlane isn't. A Million Ways to Die in the West might be a better model.
There's also the fact MacFarlane appeared on Enterprise. The dude's a hardcore Trekkie. I'd at least give it a shot.Last edited by Renegade Paladin; 2017-09-07 at 10:22 PM.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein
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2017-09-07, 11:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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2017-09-07, 11:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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2017-09-08, 09:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein
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2017-09-08, 07:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Last edited by An Enemy Spy; 2017-09-08 at 07:52 PM.
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2017-09-08, 07:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
A Million Ways to Die in the West was what finally made me realize that MacFarlane has forgotten how to do comedy. The downturn in Family Guy was a bad sign, but there was always the possibility that he might have been reinvigorated moving onto something else (like Groening was with Futurama). Sadly, this was not the case.
If it hits and gets rave reviews, I might consider watching it. I doubt it will though. MacFarlane failing to be funny for at least the past five years is too long a down streak. He's in Eddie Murphy territory now.
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2017-09-08, 11:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Well, it looks like Fox is going to repeat the first episode on Tuesday. So hopefully one of those will be untrammeled.
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2017-09-09, 12:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
As in redenbacher's popcorn?
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2017-09-09, 12:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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2017-09-09, 03:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums.
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2017-09-09, 10:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Honestly, I may give this show a shot. I have no expectations so if it's good I'll be pleasantly surprised
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2017-09-09, 10:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I haven't seen the trailer yet, but considering MacFarlane is the star I have serious doubts about the quality of the show. He is an absolutely terrible actor. His voice acting is good, but when it comes to his facial expressions and normal acting he's really bad. He basically ruined every scene in A Million Ways to Die. It was really jarring to me. Admittedly, he might have got better at it, but I have my doubts.
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2017-09-10, 08:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I keep seeing ads for this on TV (what little I even watch) and YouTube. It looked like a forgettable show the moment I laid eyes on it. Then I saw Seth MacFarlane's name on it (didn't recognise his face from anything) and am now actively against seeing even a single episode of the thing. Live-action space shows are hard enough for me to get into, without that face and voice attached. If it's semi-watchable, that's fine, but there's literally every other show in the genre available, so "probably forgettable" and "has MacFarlane in it" are all the reason I need to avoid it.
And that's the end of me "complaining" about a show I wasn't going to watch, wouldn't have liked anyway, and don't particularly care about the genre of.I do not think the way you think. If you try to apply your own mindset to the things I say, there will be miscommunications. If something I say seems odd to you or feels like it's missing steps, ask for clarification. I'm not some unreasonable, unknowable entity beyond your mortal comprehension, I'm just autistic and have memory problems.
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2017-09-10, 11:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Welp, the early reviews are pretty scathing.
I think the harshest is IndieWire, who literally titled their review "‘The Orville’ Review: Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Star Trek’ Rip-Off is Creatively, Morally, and Ethically Bankrupt."
Which is a little rougher than I expected, honestly. Wow.
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2017-09-10, 12:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Honestly, I got a bad vibe off the trailer. Galaxy Quest did it better.
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2017-09-10, 12:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
So, it's basically Star Trek, written by a comedian who has forgotten how to be funny, trying to be both serious and funny at the same time, and failing to do either.
Sounds about right.
Also not surprised that the moralizing was hamfisted. Star Trek was never exactly subtle, but MacFarlane's rants on Family Guy (via the mouth of Brian typically) were often downright offensive even when I agreed with his basic premise.
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2017-09-10, 02:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
The idea of Seth McFarlane doing a parody of Star Trek doesn't appeal to me at all--for one thing, I've never really liked his humor. But if it's also supposed to work as a SF adventure, well, that's interesting. I'm not saying it'll be good, just that if it depended on McFarlane's joke writing, it wouldn't have a snowball's chance of working for me, but if there's more to it than that, it's not doomed to be bad (though my expectations are still low). Taking a genre show and adding humor but still making it enjoyable as a genre show was the formula for Maverick, after all, though off the top of my head, I can't come up with other examples that were successful both critically and ratings-wise.
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2017-09-10, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
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2017-09-10, 06:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I think this is going to suffer from viewers being confused by its tone. The trailers all show a comedy, but the reviews and its creator's self-description have it aiming towards something more dramatic and straightforwardly Trek-like. So, those in it for Family Guy-type humour might find themselves bored while the Trek crowd could easily be ignoring it altogether because why would you expect more from a MacFarlane production?
Honestly, I think MacFarlane getting this together as part of his sincere affection for the Star Trek franchise is kind of great and I wish the people who owned actual Star Trek were that passionate, but after finally getting that dream off the ground I also think he should have then created some distance from it -- to not be swept up in living out his own fantasy.Last edited by Kitten Champion; 2017-09-10 at 06:02 PM.
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2017-09-10, 07:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
Looks good so far
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2017-09-10, 08:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I only got to catch the last two thirds of the premiere, but I found it enjoyable. MacFarlane's acting didn't seem jarring at all, and in any case it's set up as an ensemble cast; he isn't carrying the whole thing. It leaned a lot of some of the more common sci-fi tropes, but so does basically all sci-fi. If you don't like science fiction, you won't like this. If you don't like MacFarlane's comedy, it doesn't feel like his comedy, because it's primarily drama; the humor is character driven rather than joke driven.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein
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2017-09-10, 08:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Orville
I thought the first episode was a resounding 'meh'. Not terrible, not great, just meh. Most of the funny stuff was in the trailers. And I thought the 'Happy Arbor Day' bit was pretty good. Most of it kind of fell flat, though. Also, hasn't the robot character who despises organic lifeforms been done to death? And were the Krill a reference to Idris Elba's character in Star Trek Beyond?