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March 28, 2024, 02:56:59 PM

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The Orville Series 3: The End

Started by Cloud, August 02, 2020, 10:15:00 PM

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Mobbd

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 15, 2022, 02:31:01 PMThe episodes don't need to be so long and I'm in two minds about the humour being dialled down, but I'm generally enjoying this. I've not got around to Strange New Worlds, so this is the closest thing to a proper Star Trek show for me at the moment.

I'd say Season 2 of The Orville does the best job at this. Even before I fell out with Strange New Worlds at Episode 9, The Orville Season 2 felt closest to the real deal.

SNW is probably more ambitious (the sets, for example, are gorgeous and quite original) but that middle period of The Orville just understands the source material better and has tighter, more legible stories.

I think S2 struck the right balance of humour too. It wasn't sitcom jokes like they tried to do originally but something more like in-world banter between colleagues. I think that was the winner. It made sense and was enjoyable. S3 so far is a bit bleak; I think they've gone too far in the right direction if that makes sense?

Blumf

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 15, 2022, 02:31:01 PMI'm not sure I really bought Gordon taking the story of his erased alternate life so nonchalantly - apologising for it, no less. Even if that version of him didn't experience it, surely it would be a bit disturbing to find out that his best friend would be willing to do that to him.

Yeah, it would be a pretty big head-fuck to deal with. Could have done with something more substantial, but end of episode wrap up called.

And yeah, the length of the episodes are a bit too long. Snappier editing would help as they don't need the runtime.

Malcy

Liked ep 7 a lot. I thought the episode was going to be

Spoiler alert
Kaylon infiltrate a society as Bicentennial Man servants. 50,000 complaints and I thought oh shit this society are fucked! Then I realised.
[close]

Thought it was great. And was nice to see a return of humour as well as like Blumf has said it's been quite serious recently.

Malcy

Episode 8 bored the arse off me for the first half hour but really picked up and it was quite enjoyable overall.

The
Spoiler alert
Dolly Parton cameo was just odd.
[close]

Ep 9 was great from the start. Really felt like a big finale episode. Really thought from early on that Charlie and Gordon
Spoiler alert
were going to declare feelings for each other but it didn't take too long for the foreshadowing to come in and I realised what ended up happening was coming.
[close]

Interested to see what they will do with the last episode next week. The Novella of the episode that didn't get made in the end has been released as well.

Blumf

S03E06 (heatwave + stuff has slowed us down)

A bit of levity, finally, but still with some darkness.

Lamarr and Talla was good fun, even if Lee seemed to be underplaying the injuries a bit.

The diplomatic side plot was interesting enough, although why on earth would anybody think opening up negotiations with a blatant lie was a good idea I don't know. But, what the hell, bit of farce is okay, and Bortus' "Awful people" line was a brilliant reading to top it all off.

The meat of the episode, the Kaylons and their creators, was quite well done. Seeing a riff on a 1950s style society, all atomic family, neglect, and abusiveness, was a decent way to go about things. Maybe a bit more depth would have been nice (surely at least a few people there would have supported Kaylon rights), but for expedience sake, it does what it needs to (The Animatrix has possible the gold standard on this topic). Then, in the present, we see a possible solution the Kaylon war. Echoes of Data and his emotion chip, but handled much better. I'm hoping that HughTimmis sticks around for the end of the season, could see space for an emotionally enabled Kaylon interacting with the crew whilst they figure out how to use this discovery. The Isaac/Claire story carried along nicely around all this.

Overall, maybe not an amazing episode, but covered a lot of ground neatly.

Blumf

S03E07

Mixed bag, this. We're back on Topa's story, and the wider Moclan social issues. We start off nice enough, the female colony under a tense diplomatic compromise. Still amusing to see Dolly Parton being an inspiration. Then Haveena trying to get Topa in on the Moclan underground railroad. I suspected this was a trap, being setup by one of the Moclan team in disguise, but no, a genuine scheme. And that went south quickly.

Now we go back to the mindless Moclan bashing, no shades, just pure strawmen. So poor Topa gets thrown right through the wringer. And once again, whilst I'm in agreement with the principals, I just wish there was more depth to the Moclan stance, at least some reasoning, even if flawed, for their stubbornness. Allow some room for debate. Without that, it's very unsatisfying, and ultimately a hollow victory. As much as it is nice to see Klyden back, does it feel earned?

Tying it back to the real world; this kind of shallow fantasy does not help the cause of Trans (and wider LGBT+ groups). Far from it, it just becomes yet more 'Hollywood liberal' stereotypes using their position to reflexively attack the right, who, in return, will just entrench their position. A better thought out story could reach at least a few, and breach the gap. As it stands, it just reinforces everybody's stance. That's not progress.

Malcy

Think you might have missed an episode there @Blumf

Blumf

Humm... miscounted somewhere. Yep last two are one off. And too late to edit now :(

Malcy

Ep 10

Great stuff, really enjoyed it. A lot of great humour again which has been a bit lacking this time around. Especially loved

Spoiler alert
Isaac's 'Coital Deployment' line
Claire giving Lamarr a bollocking in engineering
Isaac inviting 99% of the Kaylon to the wedding
Bortus as Elvis
"YOU WILL BE SILENT"
The Kaylon Nipple Tassle Deployment
Klyden full of joy with over the top "Hooray"s
The Moclan Mating Ritual
Bortus' "All kidding aside" wedding speech
The return of Gordon's sandwich!

And of course the lovely Alara returning as well.
[close]

I really hope it gets renewed. It's been a bit hit and miss with the longer episode lengths and I feel only the last two have made full use of that properly but overall it's been worth the long long wait for it.

daf

Quote from: Malcy on August 04, 2022, 11:56:04 AM
Spoiler alert
The return of Gordon's sandwich!
[close]

Closing track from Brian Pern's Prog album!

Malcy

Quote from: daf on August 04, 2022, 07:27:08 PMClosing track from Brian Pern's Prog album!

Love it, that whole spoiler tagged bit was a struggle. I felt like adding 'The' & 'Sketch' to so much of it in homage to you!

daf

Haha! Yes, my trusty old workhorses - makes any old rubbish sound good!

Spoiler alert
"The Trusty Old Workhorses Sketch"
[close]

See - Pure spun gold!

RFT

Quote from: Blumf on August 03, 2022, 02:08:41 AMS03E07

Mixed bag, this. We're back on Topa's story, and the wider Moclan social issues. We start off nice enough, the female colony under a tense diplomatic compromise. Still amusing to see Dolly Parton being an inspiration. Then Haveena trying to get Topa in on the Moclan underground railroad. I suspected this was a trap, being setup by one of the Moclan team in disguise, but no, a genuine scheme. And that went south quickly.

Now we go back to the mindless Moclan bashing, no shades, just pure strawmen. So poor Topa gets thrown right through the wringer. And once again, whilst I'm in agreement with the principals, I just wish there was more depth to the Moclan stance, at least some reasoning, even if flawed, for their stubbornness. Allow some room for debate. Without that, it's very unsatisfying, and ultimately a hollow victory. As much as it is nice to see Klyden back, does it feel earned?

Tying it back to the real world; this kind of shallow fantasy does not help the cause of Trans (and wider LGBT+ groups). Far from it, it just becomes yet more 'Hollywood liberal' stereotypes using their position to reflexively attack the right, who, in return, will just entrench their position. A better thought out story could reach at least a few, and breach the gap. As it stands, it just reinforces everybody's stance. That's not progress.

I don't think changing the minds of the anti-lgbt right is the target (Because, let's face it, they aren't watching). An alternative reading could be towards the centre-left (or even the remaining left wing of the republican party) who still seek some sort of compromise with the hard right in the name of a bipartisan ideal or to fend off some sort of greater threat.

In any event, I'm glad the season (and maybe the whole thing) ended on a lighter note.

Spoiler alert
Even if I wince every time Scott Grimes is handed a Guitar.
[close]

Blumf

Quote from: RFT on August 05, 2022, 04:23:55 PMI don't think changing the minds of the anti-lgbt right is the target (Because, let's face it, they aren't watching). An alternative reading could be towards the centre-left (or even the remaining left wing of the republican party) who still seek some sort of compromise with the hard right in the name of a bipartisan ideal or to fend off some sort of greater threat.

You see, that's just the problem. This show won't reach anyone, even the wettest of Rep voters, never mind the foaming at the mouth Bible humpers. And it could, if they had put a bit of effort into making a real argument, rather than the lazy 'liberal' wet dream straw-manning. This doesn't mean they have to agree with trans-phobes, just that they need to work through some of the issues that cause people to hold that stance, as opposed to them just being violent unthinking monsters.

Quote
Spoiler alert
Even if I wince every time Scott Grimes is handed a Guitar.
[close]


Blumf

S03E09 [checks... 9? Yeah, 9. Wait, there was a novel/audiobook we should have done before this?]

Tired of outdoing Trek, now it's time to show up Star Wars. Action time! Ships go boom! HALO jumps with rocket packs! Dog fights! Women fights! Big countdown before a planet goes boom!

First off, how are they doing this? The effects work must be draining MacFarlane's bank account at a scary rate.

Plot wise, it's fine. Personally, I would have preferred something a little more cerebral to resolve the Kaylon threat, but this is okay. We needed an proper big dumb action episode this season. But if they do manage a season 4, they really need to expand on the details of the Moclans and Krills. The Moclans in particular must have issues with many people being dragged away from social circles within the Union when their government broke away, can't just be Bortas and Klyton.

Go back to The Good Place, Ted Danson, you were much better there. Not sure where you should go, Anne Winters, I've never really seen you in anything else.

Blumf

S03E10

A nice, easy going episode to close out with. Plenty of fun to be had. It's nice that the show can deliberately be more goofy than Trek when it wants to. Having the entire Kaylon society (save for a defensive contingent) turn up as guests is exactly the kind of funny idea you couldn't really do elsewhere, other than a straight up comedy.

Similarly, throughout the season, Bortus (Peter Macon) has done a great job bridging the ridiculous (naked chase marriage thing) and touching (the Topa story line). But, I don't think his best man speech really landed (in our terms), and I can't quite nail down why. A bit too blunt and oblivious, maybe. However everything else surrounding that was great. In particular Bortas mugging Gordon for the best man gig, with Gordon being cheered up by the egg salad sandwich. You knew that sandwich would have to turn up, but the context was neat.

On the other side, we had the Lysella plot, and issues with pre-warp civilisation contact. Not sure why they chose to return to this story, space filler maybe? It's an important story to tell, but you can't help wonder why Grayson didn't jump straight to the point and tell/show her the major fuck up early explorers made with sharing tech. Surely would have helped with the survivors guilt Lysella was dealing with. Would have liked to see her interacting with more of the weirder aliens, perhaps talk about their species first contact experiences.

And that's Season 3! I am ready for S04, if it happens, and it needs to happen.

Mobbd

After a long break I have returned to Season 3. I think I found episode one (the last one I watched before my break) a bit too serious and even NuTrek-like, which is why I stopped. It was more that I feared for the direction of the show than anything.

Anyway, I just watched S03E02 and it was absolutely brilliant. It's the one where they find a mysterious high school on what looks like a forest planet. It was a genre of Star Trek I'd sort-of forgotten about (TNG's The Royale, that TOS episode with the White Rabbit) and it was very well-observed. It was strikingly original in many ways though and each new scenario gave an injection of energy despite the premise largely unchanging. I enjoyed the solution to it all too, just like TNG's Future Imperfect really but with a clever in-world spin on it. I enjoyed the discussion of death at the end, especially the Captain's desire to "see what happens," which is kinda how I feel about the mortality/immortality thing but rarely get to see voiced in anything. 10/10.

S03E03 was very good. It's basically Disaster plus Genesis I suppose but it felt largely original in the ways that matter. The scary bits were goodly scary and the mystery parts were genuinely intriguing. I like the sci-fi idea of "digital ayahuasca" being used to make holodeck imagery more convincing. Maybe a tad too long? The practical effects were brilliant. I also just love Penny Johnston so I was glad she got a lead role in this. 8/10.

I'm halfway through S03E04 now (these things are long so I tend to watch them in halves: I'm not as big a telly watcher as I used to be) and it's great. There were three excellent comedy scenes, one after another, and it was Orville comedy done right. Not parody but light jokes about Star Trek and also in-world humorous banter between friends and colleagues, which just works really well:

The first was the production of Annie: we see the Admiralty looking delighted and the Krill ambassadors looking pissed off and confused. It's the same joke as that one in TNG's Data's Day really, when Data thinks Barkley's performance as de Bergerac is smelly. But really well done.

The next is in the cowboy holodeck programme: the "first do no harm" joke about Bortus' moustache is good and I liked Captain Seth's line about not understanding the appeal of pub crawls (like the immortality line of last week I felt unusually seen!). Then Isaac comes in with a Stetson and moustache and his Data-like line, "the population of this town is too numerous for both us" (or whatever it was) and then "well, it was fun while it lasted." I liked this whole scene a lot.

And then there's the chat with the admiral on the laptop screen. "He didn't even know we'd been drinking. Today is a good day." 10/10 for those funny scenes. The stuff I'm going into now about populist politics on the Krill homeworld might be a bit much we shall see.

@Malcy 's notes about the score are spot-on btw. It's absolutely fucking amazing.

I'm glad to have ten or so more episodes to enjoy but I'm already hoping for a series renewal.

Virgo76

Is there any new information as to whether Season 4 is happening or not yet?

MojoJojo

No, and with the amount of time that's passed and all the actors being out of contract, it's looking pretty unlikely.

I should try and watch this, got about half way through season 1, might skip to season 2 as that seems better regarded.

Mobbd

Quote from: MojoJojo on October 06, 2023, 10:35:42 AMI should try and watch this, got about half way through season 1, might skip to season 2 as that seems better regarded.

Yes, it's a bit uneven and takes a while to find it's feet. S2 is probably the most representative of what it should be. Broadly speaking though, I like them all so far.

The second half of S03E04 wasn't what I want from The Orville but it was legitimately very impressive.


Mobbd

I have finished the series. I really really really really liked it. My early misgivings about the third season being more serious are in the bin: I loved it. It really came into its own.

The effort that went into this show is incredible: far more than was required. It looks like a real labour of love.

One question about the final episode: why does the actor who plays Lysella look so EXACTLY like the actor who plays Charly? Because of the break I took between Seasons 2 and 3, I have forgotten some of the information required for callbacks/continuity, so I just assumed there was a story at some point about Charley being doubled/duplicated in some way. But no. Weird.

Giorgia Whigman (Lysella):



Loved the sandwich return. I knew it would happen but I forgot, which it exactly what they knew and exploited. Touché! Plus "This is a weird-ass place to work sometimes."