09/09/20 - Orville Envy

[Batman1016]

I mean, I'd hate to disappoint Liz, so sure, I'll open this can o' salt! Here Mae, let me help you with those fangirl beer goggles . . . .

Aaaannd Rotten Tomatoes says . . . Orville = 65%, Lower Decks = . . . also 65%. Wow, yes, what a huge leap in quality STLD has over Orville.

Wait, what's the audience score? Orville = 94%, Lower Decks = 35%?? BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! Gee, I wonder which one MOST Trekkies are standing behind . . . .

No no, but seriously, I actually liked STLD just fine. Liked it better when it was Futurama and Rick & Morty and Final Space and Solar Opposites, but still, I liked it fine.

As for The Orville, no, the show Orville wishes it was was STTNG. STLD is the show Orville wishes overly derisive Trekkies who won't accept it on its own terms would stop thinking it's supposed to be trying to be.

And yeah, it might be a long wait for the next season, what with corporate buyouts and media platform transfers and creator schedules and plagues and all the other chaos, I'll give you that. But hey, long waits for new content is certainly something Orville fans share with Trekkies. AND fans of this comic, for that matter!

DISCLAIMER: Hope all of the above is received in the "FRIENDLY ribbing" spirit in which it is intended. Not hostile, just snarking back.

[Rorschach]

You Americans.

There is only one true Orville. A tragic figure who encapsulates all the inherent self-doubt and loathing so inherent in human nature.

See here how his colleague/captor gaslights him in front of a silently-horrified group of witnesses. Which of us has not been Orville in our time?

[Doc Giggles]

If I remember right, Seth MacFarlane pitched The Orville as a Star Trek show, but they turned him down because they didn't want his brand of humor on a Star Trek show. He took his idea to Fox and they gave him the green light. He hasn't given up his dream of making a Star Trek show though. He and NBC were in talks with CBS to buy Star Trek at the beginning of the year, but he said they wanted too much.

It's surprising what a couple of years does to what they would allow in Star Trek.

[Roundtop]

As someone who has watched both....

Rick and Morty did it better.
Orville did it better.
Futurama did it better.

Lower decks isn't great. It is alright, but it so routinely devolves into not-trek, even more than Orville ever did, just to tell a [not so] funny joke.
The whole episode 5 about

mariner obsessing over boimler

was just over the top. It would have been fine for a 5 minute gag, not the entire episode.

[TomXP411]

I'm enjoying the show, but I'm not a fan of juvenile humor. The first two episodes really put me off... and this last episode had potential, but I really, really hated Boimler in this one.

I just do not like the Rick & Morty/Solar Opposites style of humor - and I like the show when it's not leaning too hard into the dumb humor. But so far, that's only two out of the five episodes I've seen.

The trouble is... the same can be said for The Orville. At its best, it is really good science fiction. But some epiosdes rely too much on the humor to drive the episode, and those fall flat for me. And if we have to sit through one more thinly veiled social commentary in the form of a Moclus episode, I'll scream.

I think both shows are enjoyable to me at their best... and annoying at their worst.

[TomXP411]

As someone who has watched both....

Rick and Morty did it better.
Orville did it better.
Futurama did it better.

Lower decks isn't great. It is alright, but it so routinely devolves into not-trek, even more than Orville ever did, just to tell a [not so] funny joke.
The whole episode 5 about

Mariner obsessing over Boimler

was just over the top. It would have been fine for a 5 minute gag, not the entire episode.

I actually liked that part. What I hated was

Boimler being a complete moron. I get that the plot needed him to be incompetent as a lover for the story to work but I still think that could have been handled much, much better.

For me, the low point (so far) was

The drunk Klingon on the shuttle who crapped on his own sword.

That did not amuse me. At all.

Something that's starting to bug me.... Why is Mariner so protective of Boimler? Like, obsessively so. Aside from annoying the command staff, protecting Boimler (and making things worse in the process) seems to be her primary motivation.

[auntmousie]

The trouble is... the same can be said for The Orville. At its best, it is really good science fiction. But some epiosdes rely too much on the humor to drive the episode, and those fall flat for me. And if we have to sit through one more thinly veiled social commentary in the form of a Moclus episode, I'll scream.

Um... did you even watch the original Trek? Thinly-veiled social commentary was the entire point.

[werefrog]

The Werefrog might take a free sample of that streaming to watch lower decks. However, nothing about any previews or reviews of it really make it seem that exciting to The Werefrog.

However, apparently you can buy Klingon Blood Wine from startrekwines.com. Not to advertise, but just thought that was neat.

[mysecret]

You Americans.

There is only one true Orville. A tragic figure who encapsulates all the inherent self-doubt and loathing so inherent in human nature.

See here how his colleague/captor gaslights him in front of a silently-horrified group of witnesses. Which of us has not been Orville in our time?

They'll never understand, he just wanted to fly! ;(

[Deacon]

Um... did you even watch the original Trek? Thinly-veiled social commentary was the entire point.

I was thinking the same thing!

[werefrog]

Um... did you even watch the original Trek? Thinly-veiled social commentary was the entire point.

I was thinking the same thing!

Problem is, Discovery wasn't thinly veiled. It was beat it over you head social commentary.

[Mae Dean]

If you watch Star Trek and expect anything OTHER than social commentary, I have to wonder why you watch it at all. It's like... the whole point.

I've been away from the forums, so I didn't see this until now, but now that the first season is concluded, I can safely say that Lower Decks is my favorite current Trek show, and that it probably "gets" Star Trek more than Discovery or Picard, and I love those.

It's not juvenile humor, it's quick-witted and insanely funny. The more Trek lore you know, the funnier it is.

(And honestly, don't come at me with Rotten Tomatoes. It's long been regarded as a completely useless metric for quality (It arbitrarily draws a positive/negative line on any given review, rather than taking the review on its merits), and if you want to use ANYTHING, use Metacritic. I've been relying on MC for years, and it hasn't steered me wrong yet.

Incidentally - on MC? The Orville - 35. Lower Decks - 59. Hrm. Weeeeeird. )

[Doc Giggles]

I've tried several times to watch Lower Decks an I have yet to enjoy any of it. I have never struggled to get through a Star Trek episode as much as I have with Lower Decks, and I was able to find things to enjoy in Voyager before they moved good writers to it. I find Lower Decks boring and didn't get a single laugh out of it. To me it is the worst Star Trek they have made yet.

Guess it's just not my taste and that's fine. I'm glad you enjoy it.

[Deacon]

I’m not a trekkie, but I did generally enjoy The Orville. I didn’t “love” it, but I didn’t expect to. I don’t have the right umpteenth subscription for Lower Decks, but I would expect to enjoy it very much.

[Doc Giggles]

You can find full episodes on youtube