The Orville

[Madner Kami]

Rotten Tomatoes is giving The Orville a critical rating of 20% and an audience rating of 91%. I think that second number is more important. But it is Fox, so...

I have been finding RT lately to be really off for some of their stuff. For example, I really do think that RT should never rate TV shows. They are so off on it.

It's never important what is written. The real trick lies in knowing how to read it.

[Archanubis]

So, on the heals of last night's episode, I'm starting to think that while MacFarlane and the writers are going to try to make the series' nature overall positive, they're not always going to sugar coat the outcomes of an episode's end.

[lsgreg]

I just watched the Krill episode. I never understood this plot thread. I know they are trying to explain the bad guys, but the plot makes no sense. Rather than study the ship and break down their technology, we are gonna send two guys who have no clue about the Krill to infiltrate and steal their bible. Star Trek did this too. Don't they have trained spies and experts who are better qualified to do that?

[LittleRaven]

Nope. Just like the Federation, the Union sends captains to do everything. And I mean, everything. Do you need to send a team to covertly infiltrate Klingon High Command? Send a commander of a major space station and his chief engineer. Why not? Planetary survey mission? Captain of a major starship. An away team to the bridge of a hostile Klingon ship? Captain and first officer, of course!

Yeah, it's silly, but it's just one of those things you roll with in the Trekosphere.

[Madner Kami]

Nope. Just like the Federation, the Union sends captains to do everything. And I mean, everything. Do you need to send a team to covertly infiltrate Klingon High Command? Send a commander of a major space station and his chief engineer. Why not? Planetary survey mission? Captain of a major starship. An away team to the bridge of a hostile Klingon ship? Captain and first officer, of course!

Yeah, it's silly, but it's just one of those things you roll with in the Trekosphere.

I always wondered how a Trek-series that is more rooted in the "middle management"-area would play out. At best the commander joins an away team, but usually that team would be lead by a recurring (mission-specific) specialist, one or two redshirts and whatever auxiliary personal seems necessary, has a story-reason to be there or is a recurring character.

[technobabbler]

I always wondered how a Trek-series that is more rooted in the "middle management"-area .

This could have been addressed in Orville. Make Seth McFarlane (or ex-wife) head of astrobiology or sick bay. And he leads a bunch of B-characters in Star Trek: The Office/MASH down below who deal with the weekly B-plot while the other McFarlane is the captain of Orville.

To find money in the budget, merge the helm Black Guy and the pilot Red Head Guy into one character a la Tom Paris. Merge Borus and the Super Strong Woman into one character. and fill out the bridge with extras like TNG or back of the head of implied Ensign Wildman on Voyager

[Darth Wedgius]

Don't they have trained spies and experts who are better qualified to do that?

Kirk always beams down, enough that TNG started with trying to get Picard not to. The doctors on House ran their own tests. SG-1 was able to get way from this somewhat, with the team often separated from Stargate Command's resources, but even then they were the lawyers, commandos, and test pilots.

[Archanubis]

I just watched the Krill episode. I never understood this plot thread. I know they are trying to explain the bad guys, but the plot makes no sense. Rather than study the ship and break down their technology, we are gonna send two guys who have no clue about the Krill to infiltrate and steal their bible. Star Trek did this too. Don't they have trained spies and experts who are better qualified to do that?

The Main Characters Do Everything is a very common trope in fiction.

I think I understood the plot fairly well. The Union was looking for a way to understand Krill religion - a central part of their culture - so they could find some way to negotiate a peace with them. War's is not much of an option, because the Krill would consider it a holy war that could last for decades. They send in Malloy and Mercer for what is a basic "Xerox" mission; it's only later things get complicated.

Besides, they got the book they were looking for and a whole destroyer out of it, so I doubt the Union's complaining too loudly.

I always wondered how a Trek-series that is more rooted in the "middle management"-area would play out. At best the commander joins an away team, but usually that team would be lead by a recurring (mission-specific) specialist, one or two redshirts and whatever auxiliary personal seems necessary, has a story-reason to be there or is a recurring character.

Star Trek: Discovery.

[Darth Wedgius]

I was pretty meh about most of the episode, but I really liked the ending. Spoiler below; highlight to reveal.


They were clever and defeated the enemy in the nick of time, saving a hundred thousand people, in true Trek style. And killing a bunch of people can have consequences.


It reminds me of something an enemy official (Iraqi, I think) said in one of the wars in the Middle East. Even enemy soldiers have families. I'm not saying that the captain and helmsman didn't do the right thing, or that enemy soldiers aren't legitimate targets in the real world. I just like the show saying that even victory isn't clean.

[Redem]

This week episode was a bt uneven, I liked it overall, but I'm not a big fan of John's characterization that seemed the same Gordon

Also The union SUUUCKS at infiltrating alien socety