The Orville

[jzmtl]

Has anybody been watching this show? It's a complete star trek rip off, well it's from Seth MacFarlane so what did you expect.  But it's freakin hilarious, taking jabs at everything from the usual TV hero stuff to current social phenomenas.

Highly recommended.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orville

[Lynn LeFey]

We've followed it from ep 1.

It's a lot more serious than I thought it would be. Still has some moderately effective humor. And the kind of shenanigans amongst the crew that wouldn't ever fly in a Star Trek series.

It has a surprisingly 'Star Trek' feeling, and by that I mean experiencing new and unexpected things. I swear, I don't remember the last time I felt like a Star Trek show actually FELT like Star Trek to me. I haven't seen Discovery, but deeply disliked Enterprise, thought the first 3 seasons of Voyager were utterly forgettable, and loath Deep Space 9 with the burning passion of a million super novae.

I have at least been briefly entertained by the Abramsverse Star Trek movies, but they don't feel like STAR TREK.

The Orville, despite it's silliness, FEELS to me like Star Trek.

I like it. I don't LOVE it. But I do LIKE it, and have kept with it so far, which is saying something, considering how picky I am.

[jzmtl]

Yeah it's more serious than I thought it would be. The poke at those classic invincible hero is pretty funny, captain goes on every mission along with every senior officers, goes to steal bible but comes back with an entire enemy battle cruiser (nevermind the fact why would anybody install lighting that could instantly kill them throughout the ship). The episode about up down voting is good too.

[Alan K.]

I've been watching it. I like it a lot better than I thought I was going to.

[Kev D]

I've watched the first 6 episodes so far. It's great, hopefully it runs for many seasons.

[Yadda]

Possibly the worst sci-fi show ever IMHO. 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Been watching from the start, and it's a very uncomfortable show......

If it was a comedy, they could get away with a lot less special effects.......which are rather good.

If it was a sci-fi show, they should ditch the comedy......the horny blob, the gay Klingon.......

Some episodes have verged on social commentary and were actually very unfunny 

I'm still watching, but I "get it" less & less...... 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I really like it.  I am glad they didn't go completely off the weird end like Family Guy or Ted or Million Ways To Die In The West, but I am glad to see some silliness in it.  I love the Data-like android, and how he struggles to understand humanity just like Data, but Data never cut a guy's leg off.... 

Sometimes it does get a bit silly, but I am enjoying it, and I love the guest stars that have shown up so far.  Rob Lowe and Charlize Theron were great in their bits, and I am even happier to see Norm MacDonald continue on with the bit part of the blob.  All too often we have seen a relatively big name actor like him do a voice in the pilot episode, only to be replaced by someone cheaper from then on.

Yeah, there are some bits I find annoying, some parts that are too weird when they should have been serious, some parts that should be weird but they take seriously, but overall I think the show is a serious win.

Def

[Lynn LeFey]

Yeah, there are some weird tonal shifts.

I expect they'll iron that out. I hope...

[Kev D]

I wonder why they don't have any transporter type technology in it, or they haven't in the episodes I'm up to. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

It is interesting that they have replicator technology but not transporter technology, despite the two being more or less the same thing.  My guess is they have it, small scale, but as in Enterprise, maybe it is not approved for biological use?

The thing that you have to remember about transporters is that they actually kill the user and create an exact duplicate somewhere else.  I can see why that wouldn't be an ideal choice for travel.   

Amusingly enough there may be another reason for the not to have transporters, and that may be because they actually are far more advanced than Star Trek. 

In the original series the strict budgets limited hair, makeup and special effects, which is why early on Klingons just had messy hair and unkempt eyebrows, rather than the head crests we have come to associate with them.  They also needed a cheap and easy way of moving the crew around without building fancy shuttlecraft sets or the special effects to fly them around, so they filled a tube with water, added some glitter and the transporter was born.

Even if Seth McFarlane was to fund every episode of The Orville using only the change found in his couch I am certain he could afford any special effects he ever wanted and then some.

Def

[pfrsantos]

I've watched it when there's nothing else to see. Entertaining, but not something to revisit later on...

I give it a MEH...

[raistlin65]

Yes. Such a great TNG clone with Seth MacFarlane's spin on it. Huge fan 

As far as the transporter technology, Seth doesn't need it. Apparently, Roddenberry added transporters a few episodes into ST:TOS season 1 because it was cheaper and easier than setting up the shuttle in the scenes. I bet MacFarlane's budget is better, and, of course, he has CGI to put the shuttle wherever he wants.

[jzmtl]

Well the season is over, there's your transporter. 

I'm glad they didn't do a cliffhanger, hate those.

[Kev D]

Well the season is over, there's your transporter. 

I'm glad they didn't do a cliffhanger, hate those.

No spoilers!   

I'm only half way through

[Grant Lamontagne]

I can't believe what happened at the end!  That was an awesome battle!

And with another Union Ship!  I mean, who was on the right side there?  And what was that other ship on the planet?  And the wedding?  Straight out of left field!

What a cliffhanger!

Actually I am about two episodes behind, so I'm just screwing with everyone. 

Def

[jzmtl]

And the wedding?  Straight out of left field!

Yeah that was completely unexpected, thought they'd at least drag it out to season 3 or 4.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't think it'll last, I mean one is a blob and the other is a robot....

Def

[Kev D]

I'm just watching episode 8

[lister]

I decided to skip it. I found out that I cant even watch star wars anymore. I did as a kid and I still like science fiction. But space operas (is that what you call this genre?) just don't work for me anymore. 

Well, maybe Firefly, that was quite good. 

[raistlin65]

I decided to skip it. I found out that I cant even watch star wars anymore.

Sacrilege!

[GuacamoleBay]

I decided to skip it. I found out that I cant even watch star wars anymore.

BURN YE AT THE STAKE! 

[Lynn LeFey]

But space operas (is that what you call this genre?) just don't work for me anymore.

I would say, no. Star Trek and series LIKE Star Trek are not Space Opera.

Space Opera could generally be thought of as High Fantasy with the superficial trappings of Science Fiction. Meaning, Daring Heroes on a quest to vanquish a great enemy, usually with a strong romantic thread as well. The only thing separating something like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are the external trappings. Instead of mystical elven blades, you have light sabers. Instead of Sauron, you have the Emperor. In BOTH cases, you have the wise old wizard guiding the new young hero.

Star Trek, The Orville, and the like are something different. As Gene Roddenbury put it, Star Trek was 'Wagon Train to the Stars'. It's about exploring possible ideas, with aliens standing in for the social issues in question. It's not a Wagnarian Opera with starships, in other words. It's a forward looking, speculative, or frequently currently relevant look at what humanity is or might become.

Very different beasts in my opinion.

But if you're sick of them, you're sick of them, regardless of what the genre is called.

[lister]

But space operas (is that what you call this genre?) just don't work for me anymore.

I would say, no. Star Trek and series LIKE Star Trek are not Space Opera.

Space Opera could generally be thought of as High Fantasy with the superficial trappings of Science Fiction. Meaning, Daring Heroes on a quest to vanquish a great enemy, usually with a strong romantic thread as well. The only thing separating something like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are the external trappings. Instead of mystical elven blades, you have light sabers. Instead of Sauron, you have the Emperor. In BOTH cases, you have the wise old wizard guiding the new young hero.

Star Trek, The Orville, and the like are something different. As Gene Roddenbury put it, Star Trek was 'Wagon Train to the Stars'. It's about exploring possible ideas, with aliens standing in for the social issues in question. It's not a Wagnarian Opera with starships, in other words. It's a forward looking, speculative, or frequently currently relevant look at what humanity is or might become.

Very different beasts in my opinion.

But if you're sick of them, you're sick of them, regardless of what the genre is called.

I looked up space opera on wikipedia and they list star trek as an example. But definitions are not that important. It is not like I don't like fantasy.

What puts me off in star trek is all the technobabble. And all the humanoid aliens. I mean, obviously our body shape works well for a technological species. But It can't be the only viable option? And the universal translator. And the unofficial motto of the show: One small shag for a man, one giant gang bang for humanity. I mean, why do all aliens have boobs? Off all primates only humans have those. I think that off all animals we are the only ones that have them when not lactating. 

I like borgs. I would prefer them if they were not slow zombie kind of a zombie but a fast one but still they are a terrifying opponents. 

I think my problem is I burned out my ability to enjoy most narratives by first reading to many books and later on listening to to many audio books. I mean I read 3 to 4 books a week when in high school and by now listened to well over a year worth of audio books (that is an actual year of time spent listening). I find it hard now to find anything that still holds my interest. 

Terry Pratchett's disc world books are a good example of how to get around that kind of a readers block. Read books that make fun of things that you grew tired of and you can enjoy them all over form a different perspective... 

[raistlin65]

I mean, why do all aliens have boobs? Off all primates only humans have those. I think that off all animals we are the only ones that have them when not lactating. 

So now we finally get to the important point, what really matters here for you 

[GuacamoleBay]

I mean, why do all aliens have boobs? Off all primates only humans have those. I think that off all animals we are the only ones that have them when not lactating. 

So now we finally get to the important point, what really matters here for you 

1- Breasts
2- Mammary glands
3- Boobs
4- The story line

[Lynn LeFey]

I'm not sure how to say this subtly, but Wikipedia is actually capable of being incorrect. And in this case, is. Or, at least, when 'Space Opera' was defined, it would be. If people are taking 'Space Opera' to mean 'any sci-fi show that isn't absolute hard sci-fi', well... then... not much i can do about shifting definitions. I assume 'The Expanse' would still fall outside their definition.

All (or most) aliens in different sci-fi series mostly look human for a very real-world reason... budgetary constraints. Light facial prosthetics can be done within reason. Masks or helmets (for instance with Issac on Orville or Twiki from Buck Roger) are easy. The more fully articulated suits, like C3PO become greatly more complex on television schedules. Occasionally puppets or muppets have been used, like Yoda, Rygel and Pilot from Farscape, There was an attempt, and huge failure of a puppet character on Babylon 5, named 'N'Grath'. He looked fine on camera, but the puppet kept failing and the character was written out of the show.

Outside of practical effects, there's the possibility of CGI, but on TV budgets, they're still iffy, although Yaphit from Orville is CGI. The problem is that cgi looks fake. Yaphit only kind of works because he's kind of supposed to look 'fake'.

Same as with humanoid aliens, the universal translator is simply a matter of budget. TV shows (most, anyway) don't have time or budget to develop a number of new languages, then train the bit-part actors to properly pronounce them. The exception here is 'Game of Thrones', which has 2 fictional languages used frequently, Dothraki and Valyrian. And like the exception to the rule, it's also allowed because it has an exceptionally high budget. I suppose we also occasionally hear untranslated Klingon on Star Trek, and we've probably heard untranslated Krill on Orville, although I'm not 100% sure on that (I watch Orville on Friday nights with friends, and am usually at least 3 beers into the evening by then, rendering perfect recollection questionable. )

As CGI continues to improve, we should see more very non-human characters in fantasy and sci-fi shows. As for universal translators... sorry, I'd prefer them over reading the translation at the bottom of the screen just so some show makers can feel clever, and a handful of disgruntled fans can find some other nit-pick.

[lister]

Ok, so you don't trust wikipedia, how about this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceOpera

But as I said, definition is not that important. The fact remains that most science in the show can easily be replaced with magic. And yet they pretend that it is all about science and engineering. I know a bit about both and I simply can't see it that way. And it is not that I don't like magic or universes with weird rules as I said before. It really destroys any chance that I could suspend my disbelief.

Anyway it is pointless to argue about it. You like it, I don't, though I did as a kid. I bet I could find a few shows that I like and you don't. No show is going to be liked by all.

[jzmtl]

I like borgs. I would prefer them if they were not slow zombie kind of a zombie but a fast one but still they are a terrifying opponents. 

Fast borg? The entire federation would be assimilated and series would end in two episodes. 

[Syph007]

This show is awesome.  Makes up for the actual new trek sucking (IMO) and is the best new trek style show in ages.