The Orville - 1.05: Pria

[Dave]

1.05: Pria

You just can't do this kind of spaceship exploration SciFi without it being similar to something else.

This week it wasn't a Star Trek episode. There was an episode of Thunderbirds with this same rescue story!

...film nights...

How did I know? They just had an actual film night!

 

[Dave]

The rest of the episode bore many similarities to TNG: The Most Toys, when a time traveller wanted to steal Data and take him back to the future. I'm not sure that the jokes in this are that good. The Family Guy, Star Wars spoofs were much better than this comedy-wise. There is also far too much dwelling upon the bad divorce, though that is obviously an original element.

 

[Cli-Fi]

The rest of the episode bore many similarities to TNG: The Most Toys, when a time traveller wanted to steal Data and take him back to the future. I'm not sure that the jokes in this are that good. The Family Guy, Star Wars spoofs were much better than this comedy-wise. There is also far too much dwelling upon the bad divorce, though that is obviously an original element.

I hope they realize that the comedy, is just not working. I like the concept of an easy-going crew though. I don't laugh at any of the jokes. In fact, the comments made by the aliens crew members or unknown cultures are really what's sticking. They should keep doing those things. Tone down the comic relief to one or two characters. Keep Gordon & John as a comic relief team but don't let Gordon go off and do his own jokes. Bortus is better at that type of humor. Bits of Issac works too. Seth is just not funny in this and I honestly wouldn't care if they killed off Mercer.

Now besides for that one point, I really enjoyed this episode. Another time travel episode. While no cultures were destroyed they did technically destroy the universe for awhile there.

Spoiler

I was wondering if they were going to touch on teleportation at all (like why they don't have it) so it was cool to see that eventually humans would perfect it in the 29th century.

The concept of this episode (what Charlize Theron character alluded to) is a bit similar to what happens in my WIP. Only it's a much smaller scale than that since artifacts are not really worth that much. It was classic Treknobabble, but my in my WIP this type of stuff is background noise!

 

[Dave]

I agree, this would be much better if they left in the jokes that are due to conflicts of cultures, or allegories to our modern pop culture, but they left out all the poor gag telling. That is, spot on, where the problem is, the gags just aren't very good. At least they don't have canned laughter after each joke.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I agree, this would be much better if they left in the jokes that are due to conflicts of cultures, or allegories to our modern pop culture, but they left out all the poor gag telling. That is, spot on, where the problem is, the gags just aren't very good. At least they don't have canned laughter after each joke.

I probably would not have stuck with the show if it had canned laughter. It works for some shows, for The Orville it wouldn't. I'm a bit worried about the show. It's ratings have dropped substantially. From 9 million viewers to 3 million over four episodes? Granted 3 Million viewers is great for any TV show, but if the numbers continue on a downward trek (pun intended), it's going to be in trouble. After watching four episodes of this, and three episodes of Discovery. I must say, Discovery is loads better. I was blown away by Discovery. This is already getting tired, especially if they don't fix the comedy/jokes that pop up out of nowhere. This isn't Family Guy, Seth. This was probably the closest episode to Star Trek yet, I hope that this is not peak Orville (especially since it was about time travel and not space) and that it doesn't go downhill from here.

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler: 1.05 Pria

I think the show has reduced the comic elements to an acceptable level. Amputating and hiding a leg as practical joke was unexpected but outrageously laughable. Working in the Seinfeld Junior Mint episode was clever. Captain Mercer isn't all that funny, but he doesn't really need to be.
Adding the time travel element brought the usually slippery slope. If destroying the wormhole "erased" Pria, shouldn't it have also erased the ship -- destroyed in the dark matter storm in the original timeline?

I have no overall problem with The Orville. I see nothing wrong with an entire series paying tribute to the Star Trek universe. It's also an entertaining program for those one or two people on the planet who have never seen a Star Trek episode.

 

[clovis-man]

Spoiler: 1.05 Pria

I think the show has reduced the comic elements to an acceptable level. Amputating and hiding a leg as practical joke was unexpected but outrageously laughable. Working in the Seinfeld Junior Mint episode was clever. Captain Mercer isn't all that funny, but he doesn't really need to be.
Adding the time travel element brought the usually slippery slope. If destroying the wormhole "erased" Pria, shouldn't it have also erased the ship -- destroyed in the dark matter storm in the original timeline?

I have no overall problem with The Orville. I see nothing wrong with an entire series paying tribute to the Star Trek universe. It's also an entertaining program for those one or two people on the planet who have never seen a Star Trek episode.

I thought the Charlize Theron episode seemed to find an acceptable mix of humor and drama. Something the last couple struggled with. And I can live with the "handwavium" technology for now, although it really is pretty silly. But the overall comical aura makes it okay.

 

[J Riff]

The robot amputates the guy's leg as a practical joke. Ha. Looks like we're due for a a steady diet of romance, sex, jokes, social commentary and hey, spaceship!

 

[ctg]

Looks like we're due for a a steady diet of romance, sex, jokes, social commentary and hey, spaceship!

Yeah, but it doesn't make people to laugh. Instead it's just another soap situated in a classical SF scenery. Not necessarily a bad idea as the audience loves these types of shows. But for a serious SF lovers this is a bit long yarn. Where is the weightlessness or other things that we now expect to get in the shows like the Expanse?

 

[J Riff]

Yeah, we sat here during commercial wondering how the crew would get outen their predicament, and I said: 'Gee, I hope it's not time travel again.' But it was. The jokes are groaners, mostly, pretty tacky but hey, mainstream, and cool spaceship!

 

[Vince W]

This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes. While it would have certainly fit into a TNG setting, the abysmal humour aspect is starting to grind. This may have been my last episode. If I can't make it though the next, I won't bother with it anymore.

 

[clovis-man]

Yeah, but it doesn't make people to laugh. Instead it's just another soap situated in a classical SF scenery. Not necessarily a bad idea as the audience loves these types of shows. But for a serious SF lovers this is a bit long yarn. Where is the weightlessness or other things that we now expect to get in the shows like the Expanse?

My wife does not watch The Expanse or Dark Matter or other more conventional space operas. Yet she will sit through this lightweight offering. Which underscores my point that folks will not be offended by the lack of real science if the main theme is not too serious.

 

[ctg]

Yet she will sit through this lightweight offering. Which underscores my point that folks will not be offended by the lack of real science if the main theme is not too serious.

Or too painful to understand. I feel sometimes that the people are waving white flag because things fly over their head in the hard SF shows. The Orville makes it easy, because it doesn't adapt concept ideas, just safely goes through normal tropes that space operas churned to death.

 

[ReiWolfsohn]

Did no one notice that there’s a discontinuity in the end? If they destroyed the wormhole and Pria never arrived then they wouldn’t have been saved in the dark matter storm.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Orville. We need more optimistic SF. Just saying.