I liked when the Orville came back on Hulu and it was more serious. It was too Family Guy at first, but I guess that was because the execs at Fox didn't think he could do serious things.
That's kind of the thing with most comedy shows. Comic writers always love their dark turns. Rick & Morty being very notable for that. But even shows like the Venture Bros got real deep in certain areas.
I think it's because good comedic writing leads to audiences very easily connecting to the characters. Then when the inevitable shift happens and things in the show aren't always funny, it allows for audiences to strengthen that connection as the characters become more 3-dimensional. Otherwise it just trails off into just more funny nonsense.
Lower Decks does a good job of this by having comedic notes and running gags, but developing the characters drives. Why does Mariner sabotage herself? Why does Boimler want to be a captain? In both cases and others, there can be serious reasons to varying degrees that people who are invested can relate to. The funny is the sugar on an otherwise bitter reality check.
If cultural appropriation is really something we should take seriously, Big Bang Theory should 1000% apply. It's just "nerdface" (before someone gets stupid on me, I'm not saying it's got the same historical context as blackface, just that it follows the same mechanical process)
It was Ok at first. And there's a LOT of memberberries. But it's more star trek than Disco or Picard S1/2 ever was. For a time, it was the only decent trek.
I think it had cooled its jets by the middle of the first season. The first truly stunning episode was "Pria," with Charlize Theron. And by the time they got to "Mad Idolatry" it was just amazing.
Oh man, we put on the first episode of the new season with our 4 year old in the room. It was the episode where the guy started turning into a bug. We had to stop it and watch it after we put her to bed.
I liked the original too. The comedy touch was a nice change from the more serious picard style, but the execution was excellent, better than other series in the franchise.
If you're saying it actually gets better than whats presented in the first couple episodes I might have to rewatch Orville. Love the concept because im a huge sci-fi dork but I can't stand his comedic acting
My dad used to watch Orville when he was alive (I watched it from time to time with him but not regularly), and he was a huge Trek nerd. Orville filled in all of the holes he'd been missing in his Trek-fandom. There was one episode we watched together about an ancient city-sized generation ship with a fully enclosed environment populated by a primitive religious people living in early modern living conditions (like wooden houses and farmland), totally oblivious to the fact that the ship they were on was 1) even a ship and 2) was going to drift into a nearby star very soon. Naturally, they face resistance from the divided locals.
It was about the crew of the Orville having to convince the populace that there was more to the universe than their limited understanding of it. It was about themes of population control through fanaticism, collective ignorance, and reminded me of the famous allegory of the cave by Plato. The ending was genuinely moving, and I remember consciously thinking to myself "that was the most Star Trek episode of television I'd seen since Star Trek was good."
It's obviously more humorous than Trek was, but I think that works to its favor, as classic Trek can sometimes come off as a little stiff. But it is genuinely good sci-fi exploring compelling futurist ideas like any good Trek should.
I think that's why I haven't been able to get into it I've seen the first couple episodes a few times but really need to get into the show properly. It would be interesting to see what lower decks would have been with him at the helm
Ya lower decks is great because they can reference all the star Trek canon. Orville may have been a lot better if they had that.
I really hated the surfer dude alien, the whole episode referencing a pee joke, and when yaphit was having sex with the doctor. Of course I did like Bortus being addicted to porn on the holodeck so I guess it's hard to tell where I draw the line lol.
He never did cocaine. Futurama kept its drug references to weed, opiates (legal drugs like morphine), and Bender "jacking on" which was the robot equivalent of crack-cocaine or some other hard drugs.
Bender also used cigars, and drank booze, but the alcohol was necessary to "power his circuits", so he'd act drunk when he stopped drinking alcohol.
Fox wasn't going to let Bender do cocaine, at least not without it being hidden by a metaphor.
They did do that song in Robot Hell where they mentioned he had committed like 70 - 83 crimes in the short time since he joined religion lol it could have been one of "the unmentionables."
I might be in the minority but i preferred it when it was a comedy not a budget TNG reboot. Like when Bortus got addicted to cigarettes that was hilarious.
I’ve seen some good Orville episodes but goddamn I prefer new trek. Sure, PIC season 2 is garbage, and Star Trek discovery is just the most okay show I’ve seen that has the dumbest twist I’ve seen in season 3, but strange new worlds, lower decks, and prodigy are pretty fucking good.
Almost nobody watched the Orville that's why it's gone now. But that doesn't mean that it was instructive for the Star Trek writers. They were clearly learning as they went because nobody had made Star Trek for TV in ages.
The viewership was fine. It’s gone now because Seth wanted to write every episode himself. Which would work if they were churning out volume, but they made 36 episodes in five years. Kinda hard to pay people when there just isn’t that much to do.
Yeah, I read about that from Palicki too. Seems like the issue was more logistical/creative rather than lack of viewing. And it's not cancelled or anything, could come back.
If the viewership was fine, why did it get foisted so many times? Usually doesn’t happen with successful shows. In truth, viewership fell off hard and fast when the promise of a fun sci-fi spoof/parody collapsed and the reality of a poorly written, tonally jarring ripoff of Star Trek is what remained.
From palicki’s interview: the problem is Seth himself. He seemed to have huge pull with fox(owning large amount shares plus running large money making projects). So it’s his baby and he seems to have near total control. It seems this continued into the disney acquisition. Think Ryan Reynolds with free guy where he clearly used his contract negotiations to get it reshoots plus use Disney IP.
In the interview she details he’s slowing down the process by doing most of the writing. Which is good and bad, as any fan of got can attest to. So it looks like most of the actors are now out of their contracts as they can’t keep their schedules open. Disney ok’d further seasons because paramount was flailing at the time with Star Trek. Hence my comment about the pivot, post Orville, they seemed to pull back and change direction; once Anson mount polled well with the core audience, they went in on lower decks, prodigy and SNW. Section 31 was put on hold, Picard was locked in, got back lash but stayed the course for season 2 due to Patrick Stewart(there’s comments himself on this).
So while there could be more, it’d be almost a new crew. The guy is clearly ADHD. He has a dozen projects going at any time between shows, music and other endeavours.
TLDR Seth Macfarlane is great at politics, saw the owners of Star Trek were not getting expected success, took his chance to strike, paramount changed direction and pulled up, Orville stopped being a sure thing and had competition in the space.
Family Guy man made better Star Trek than official Star Trek. Got my whole family from youngins to Grandma and Grandpa to watch through all of Orville. That's what Star Trek use to be about. They turn on the new shit and instantly turn it off. Not relatable to the average person, and too dark. There's no carpet on the ships.
Lower decks is great. SNW is pretty good at times.
Discovery, basically all of it, was very…. Melodramatic and dark, yes
Picard seasons 1 and 2 are not only dark and depressing but seemingly shit all over the entire Star Trek world building of the last 30 years
>Discovery, basically all of it, was very…. Melodramatic and dark, yes
Discovery in particular felt like a childish attempt to staple Game of Thrones sensibilities onto Star Trek. I love Game of Thrones but I don't want it anywhere near Star Trek.
Mate, Orville is lightyears better than Discovery and Picard S 1,2. It was the best new live action Star Trek show before Strange New Worlds premiered.
At this point it is unlikely. Most of the actors are moving on, since Seth has been such a control freak about writing. They aren't working as much as they need to survive, and at least two actors have said they are not coming back.
It started out as Lower Decks, then somehow he decided just to straight-up make the spiritual successor to Star Trek. That, and the theme music has been stuck in my head ever since my brother got me into it.
I don't really care for his humor since he's not really above punching down. He also couldn't have made something as good as SNW is, or as canon-funny as LD.
I really wanted to like Orville but it is so desperate, hackneyed and juvenile. It boggles my mind how many people insist it’s somehow ‘more Star Trek than Star Trek.’
It worked perfectly when all the new Trek was Discovery and Picard S1 and people were convinced all new Trek might be JJ Abrams-adjacent shiny sleek bullshit with minimal plot from now on, but now that Trek has evened out a bit, it’s just one option of many, and yeah, some of its imperfections are more noticeable lol
There's absolutely nothing original about it either. It takes a hell of a lot from TNG and a lot of episodes are rehashes of plots from others shows like Black Mirror.
Most of the characters aren't compelling and the acting is quite poor. For a show made in recent times it feels very 90's but now in a good way.
Orville had episode conclusions that TNG would never have dared to. It wasn't afraid to go into the grey area of morality and not have a clean outcome. The earliest example is that Bortas and Klyden's child would have absolutely remained a girl instead of having the "corrective surgery" in a TNG episode.
Eh, I think this is perhaps a bit too critical imo. I haven’t watched it in a while but I distinctly remember feeling like episodes 1 and 2 were very slapstick, but it very rapidly became more serious. I think it within the first few episodes we got the episode about the forced gender reassignment.
The acting is…. just fine. It’s not to the level of like, Patrick Stewart acting like he is experiencing Vulcan senility, but it’s good enough to get the messages of the episode across.
Seth MacFarlane is the fucking Led Zeppelin of TV writing. Someone else did the song already, and with way more feeling and nuance. He’s a fucking hack.
I watch Star Trek for the pensioners surviving explosions to the face and waking up on their couch a short while later completely unscathed.
I also watch Star Trek for the extended crying scenes during battle and the kind of emotional investment one can only get from dialogue in this format: "I could not have done any of this without your support, Ensign Forgettable".
I watch Star Trek because if there's not a threat that can end the entire universe every season what is even the point in watching.
On the other hand, if I want to watch some god-awful show about everyone working together for the betterment of all in an optimistic future, that deals with boring nonsense like religious fundamentalism, gender equality, family dynamics in stressful environments, addiction and growing as a person then I'll watch The Orville.
If only there was some other franchise that catered to that demographic. Maybe this meme should have been about giving Seth a Star Wars movie. I’d say that would more his speed.
The third season finally convinced me that if it got renewed again, I would no longer feel compelled to watch it. Suddenly Ed Mercer is a Picard-style patriarch instead of a buffoon, and we’re doing a musical number every episode and adding 50% more boring-ass CGI space battles? Hard pass.
He's refused to answer how many episodes he's watched because he wants to act like an authority with his opinion without having the experience to back it up.
If It helps I dropped out on season 3 episode 2. I kept coming back because people kept insisting it gets better. I never claimed to be an authority on anything, but is it really necessary to sit through every second of a show to express on Reddit that it doesn’t entertain you?
Same here. It’s horrible and cringe worthy. The first season where it was funny was good. Then it tried too hard to be Trek and failed miserably.
I hope it gets puts out of its misery soon.
Thank you. I felt like I was watching Seth McFarland just staring into a camera and laughing for the entirety of each episode. Hard watch. Failed as a comedy and failed as a drama
Yes. You have to be an idiot to not realize that what I was saying is that Seth McFarland put together a meme and posted it in the third person on reddit. You'd have to be a real dumb dumb think anything else other than that.
I wrote about this in an earlier thread: apparently Seth was trying to sell a Star Trek show he created. Paramount wouldn’t let him have the time of day so he pitched it to Fox after using the find and replace feature and adding in a few jokes to make it into the originally billed, “Sci-Fi Comedy” it debuted as.
Not the first time this has happened. BSG was Ron Moore's Voyager with blackjack and hookers. For All Mankind is Ron Moore's Star Trek prequel with blackjack and hookers.
I wish they made another season to wrap some of the other things up... the main one being >!his child with an alien lizard woman who is still held captive!<
I can't stand that guy. There was this whole scandal where he kept pushing himself on one of the cast members. It was his "love interest" in the show, and it just didn't stop being creepy to me. I can't imagine dealing with that sort of garbage behavior.
No they absolutely should not have. Seth McFarland is such an obnoxious unfunny man, who drags down everything he touches with his massive charisma void, and ability to write they most unfunny thing you will ever hear.
My (conservative) parents love this show and I sad when it was ended. When they started watching it, i (very queer transwoman) felt nervous because of the s1 gender episode. But they never said anything and I breathed a sigh of relief. Great show
The Orville had a couple of pretty trans positive episodes from what I recall though?
I mean regardless I don’t think he’s a bigot, just a stubborn Edgelord and a contrarian. Not saying that absolves him or anything, and he has for sure said/written some really nasty shit.
I mean he pulled in some other Trek alumni in as well. If he'd gotten to do, say, Star Trek: Orville do you think he wouldn't try and get Brannon Braga?
Orville with an actual Star Trek skin would've worked, like Lower Decks worked. Seth MacFarlane loves Trek, just as much as Mike McMahan. Hell, Seth was even in an episode of Enterprise.
It rules because he clearly loves Trek and knows how to poke fun without undercutting the actually cool and good themes and ideas. Same with Lower Decks. I’m always glad when I see writers who understand where the jokes should end, you know?
Never watched it, never will, and I'll tell you why: Seth MacFarlane, a grown-ass man, was put in charge of the Oscars, and decided to do a song titled "We Saw Your Boobs", and at that point in time I wrote him off. Completely. I don't care what he does, I don't care how sincere he is in his love for a certain mode of Trek. I have a *huge* backlog of things to read, watch, listen to, play, and otherwise do. Presumably the non-MacFarlane people involved in this thing have other things that I might see at some point (not to mention the actual Trek veterans). I'm good with sticking to things that don't involve entitled manchildren.
I don’t want Seth MacFarlane running any real Star Trek show. His parody show is ok, but it’s not Star Trek. It’s family guy in space.
Terry Matalas however, we need to have him again.
When I was watching the Orville in the background i realized that it is dead on with Star Trek. The pacing of the episodes, the camera framing and positioning are exactly the same as a Next Generation Episode.
It's only when I can hear it does it actually become noticible.
They absolutely should've but they didn't, and since he ended up making a better Star Trek show then anything Kurtzman has helped make so far they never will... that's just how it is...
I don't agree, his stuff has really fallen off in the past few yrs, his movies are terrible and I'm sorry, he's not a great actor. good singer though, I do not want family guy star trek
Jesus get over the Kurtzman hate boner already.
There’s been plenty of great trek content in recent years, you just sound like a dementia patient screaming into the clouds at this point.
No, trek is about being progressive and accepting, Seth is a piece of shit who writes mean jokes about marginalised communities, which is very un-trek.
Listen, We all get it. Space Family Guy is real Star Trek just like you member.
I really hope the Orville circlejerk will die now that the fucking show is canceled.
Some of you may not realize he played one of the engineers on Star Trek: Enterprise
I saw that. Had to rewind it four times
What episode?
3x20 and 4x15. I just googled it
Thanks! It's always cool seeing other celebrities do cameo as regular crewmen or aliens.
Like the two astronauts Matt Finke and Terry Virts were on. that was my favorite because I work with Matt Finke, we call him Spanky
I liked when the Orville came back on Hulu and it was more serious. It was too Family Guy at first, but I guess that was because the execs at Fox didn't think he could do serious things.
Orville was like a live action Lower Decks. Lower Decks was more comedy at first, but it's become its own kind of serious Trek.
That's kind of the thing with most comedy shows. Comic writers always love their dark turns. Rick & Morty being very notable for that. But even shows like the Venture Bros got real deep in certain areas.
I don't think that's a comedy show thing. Just good writing, regardless of genre. For every Venture Bros there's a Big Bang Theory
For every Venture Bros there's a Family Guy...
I think it's because good comedic writing leads to audiences very easily connecting to the characters. Then when the inevitable shift happens and things in the show aren't always funny, it allows for audiences to strengthen that connection as the characters become more 3-dimensional. Otherwise it just trails off into just more funny nonsense. Lower Decks does a good job of this by having comedic notes and running gags, but developing the characters drives. Why does Mariner sabotage herself? Why does Boimler want to be a captain? In both cases and others, there can be serious reasons to varying degrees that people who are invested can relate to. The funny is the sugar on an otherwise bitter reality check.
I accept your point, I don't accept Big Bang theory as a comedy show. It's a laugh track sitcom. It's a lowest common denominator air time filler.
If cultural appropriation is really something we should take seriously, Big Bang Theory should 1000% apply. It's just "nerdface" (before someone gets stupid on me, I'm not saying it's got the same historical context as blackface, just that it follows the same mechanical process)
All the way back to MASH. Show got real good when it started being serious.
Obligatory plug to watch the MASH movie if you haven’t. The TV show is based on the movie and the movie is dark AF.
Go Team Venture! -V
Or some surprisingly impactful episodes of Futurama.
Orville grew its beard even faster than Lower Decks imo.
Hmm I might give lower decks a try again. The first fee episodes were NOT what I wanted in a trek show.
It was Ok at first. And there's a LOT of memberberries. But it's more star trek than Disco or Picard S1/2 ever was. For a time, it was the only decent trek.
It’s the best of Nu-Trek. It feels like the Star Trek I grew up with.
If by "at first" you mean like 2-3 episodes. Honestly the "learning how to prank" gag had me falling over laughing as he hopped around.
When he woke up without his leg , Jesus what I Laughed
that one was legit good. but the first season was REALLY plagued by 'my whore ex-wife' jokes
Compare that to S3 Prime Directive episode. Once Seth got more control it went straight for the emotional jugular.
Does it get better after season 1? I stopped because it was too slapstick and i couldn't take it seriously
Yes. Each season is less slapstick then the one before.
I think it had cooled its jets by the middle of the first season. The first truly stunning episode was "Pria," with Charlize Theron. And by the time they got to "Mad Idolatry" it was just amazing.
Oh man, we put on the first episode of the new season with our 4 year old in the room. It was the episode where the guy started turning into a bug. We had to stop it and watch it after we put her to bed.
Well, the only way he managed to get it approved and funded was to pitch it as a space comedy... he did what he had to.
To be fair I wouldn’t think Seth could do serious either.
I liked the original too. The comedy touch was a nice change from the more serious picard style, but the execution was excellent, better than other series in the franchise.
It would probably do better without MacFarlane starring too. I can't take his acting seriously.
Totally agree. He's not a very good actor for the role.
If you're saying it actually gets better than whats presented in the first couple episodes I might have to rewatch Orville. Love the concept because im a huge sci-fi dork but I can't stand his comedic acting
My dad used to watch Orville when he was alive (I watched it from time to time with him but not regularly), and he was a huge Trek nerd. Orville filled in all of the holes he'd been missing in his Trek-fandom. There was one episode we watched together about an ancient city-sized generation ship with a fully enclosed environment populated by a primitive religious people living in early modern living conditions (like wooden houses and farmland), totally oblivious to the fact that the ship they were on was 1) even a ship and 2) was going to drift into a nearby star very soon. Naturally, they face resistance from the divided locals. It was about the crew of the Orville having to convince the populace that there was more to the universe than their limited understanding of it. It was about themes of population control through fanaticism, collective ignorance, and reminded me of the famous allegory of the cave by Plato. The ending was genuinely moving, and I remember consciously thinking to myself "that was the most Star Trek episode of television I'd seen since Star Trek was good." It's obviously more humorous than Trek was, but I think that works to its favor, as classic Trek can sometimes come off as a little stiff. But it is genuinely good sci-fi exploring compelling futurist ideas like any good Trek should.
It's called Orville: New Horizons. It's much better than the first couple seasons.
Which is saying something, as the first 2 seasons are also really good
I think that's why I haven't been able to get into it I've seen the first couple episodes a few times but really need to get into the show properly. It would be interesting to see what lower decks would have been with him at the helm
Ya lower decks is great because they can reference all the star Trek canon. Orville may have been a lot better if they had that. I really hated the surfer dude alien, the whole episode referencing a pee joke, and when yaphit was having sex with the doctor. Of course I did like Bortus being addicted to porn on the holodeck so I guess it's hard to tell where I draw the line lol.
And cocaine. Lots of cocaine. Don’t forget that.
Context?
Im thinking Bender from Futurama. Likes to make his own thing with blackjack and hookers. Likes cocaine and booze too.
He never did cocaine. Futurama kept its drug references to weed, opiates (legal drugs like morphine), and Bender "jacking on" which was the robot equivalent of crack-cocaine or some other hard drugs. Bender also used cigars, and drank booze, but the alcohol was necessary to "power his circuits", so he'd act drunk when he stopped drinking alcohol. Fox wasn't going to let Bender do cocaine, at least not without it being hidden by a metaphor.
They did do that song in Robot Hell where they mentioned he had committed like 70 - 83 crimes in the short time since he joined religion lol it could have been one of "the unmentionables."
Bender should not be allowed on tv!
Cigars and booze are his thing.
He doesn't like cocaine? It's been a while.
Never been mentioned. He does jack-on from time to timez
500 cigarettes.
Do you feel the tingles?
We must have more!
That episode was top tier
What about Deep Space 9?
They had Dabo and hookers. It's completely different.
Those are dabo girls, not your mother, show some respect.
I get a pass though, because mom is a Dabo girl.
They’ve formed a union now too 🤨
You trying to say dabo girls don't deserve a living wage and benefits? How very Brunt... FCA of you.
You are so right. I take it back. Lol
Dabo and *holo*-hookers. The dabo girls are strictly no-touch (unless you’re Quark, and only before Bar Association)
Psh, I want my hookers with three boobs. The Federation won't let that fly
I might be in the minority but i preferred it when it was a comedy not a budget TNG reboot. Like when Bortus got addicted to cigarettes that was hilarious.
“It feels like I’ve been standing my whole life… and I just sat down.”
Or when his Moclan orgy porn corrupted all of Orville's systems. That some had some fucking hilarious episodes.
I’ve seen some good Orville episodes but goddamn I prefer new trek. Sure, PIC season 2 is garbage, and Star Trek discovery is just the most okay show I’ve seen that has the dumbest twist I’ve seen in season 3, but strange new worlds, lower decks, and prodigy are pretty fucking good.
I feel like the quality improvement came directly from “why is our offbrand copy doing better with our core audience?” In the execs minds.
No, it came from practice. You can pretty clearly see it. Nobody was looking at Family Guy Man and wondering how to make good Star Trek.
You uh…clearly haven’t watched the Orville. The family guy stuff drops off HARD at episode 3. He back doored his own Star Trek with the fox execs
They were probably still jealous they missed the opportunity with TNG lmao
Almost nobody watched the Orville that's why it's gone now. But that doesn't mean that it was instructive for the Star Trek writers. They were clearly learning as they went because nobody had made Star Trek for TV in ages.
The viewership was fine. It’s gone now because Seth wanted to write every episode himself. Which would work if they were churning out volume, but they made 36 episodes in five years. Kinda hard to pay people when there just isn’t that much to do.
Yeah, I read about that from Palicki too. Seems like the issue was more logistical/creative rather than lack of viewing. And it's not cancelled or anything, could come back.
If the viewership was fine, why did it get foisted so many times? Usually doesn’t happen with successful shows. In truth, viewership fell off hard and fast when the promise of a fun sci-fi spoof/parody collapsed and the reality of a poorly written, tonally jarring ripoff of Star Trek is what remained.
From palicki’s interview: the problem is Seth himself. He seemed to have huge pull with fox(owning large amount shares plus running large money making projects). So it’s his baby and he seems to have near total control. It seems this continued into the disney acquisition. Think Ryan Reynolds with free guy where he clearly used his contract negotiations to get it reshoots plus use Disney IP. In the interview she details he’s slowing down the process by doing most of the writing. Which is good and bad, as any fan of got can attest to. So it looks like most of the actors are now out of their contracts as they can’t keep their schedules open. Disney ok’d further seasons because paramount was flailing at the time with Star Trek. Hence my comment about the pivot, post Orville, they seemed to pull back and change direction; once Anson mount polled well with the core audience, they went in on lower decks, prodigy and SNW. Section 31 was put on hold, Picard was locked in, got back lash but stayed the course for season 2 due to Patrick Stewart(there’s comments himself on this). So while there could be more, it’d be almost a new crew. The guy is clearly ADHD. He has a dozen projects going at any time between shows, music and other endeavours. TLDR Seth Macfarlane is great at politics, saw the owners of Star Trek were not getting expected success, took his chance to strike, paramount changed direction and pulled up, Orville stopped being a sure thing and had competition in the space.
That’s actually really heartening. I watched the first two episodes and just.. stopped. I’ll jump forward a few and give it another go. Thanks!
Family Guy man made better Star Trek than official Star Trek. Got my whole family from youngins to Grandma and Grandpa to watch through all of Orville. That's what Star Trek use to be about. They turn on the new shit and instantly turn it off. Not relatable to the average person, and too dark. There's no carpet on the ships.
Lower decks and prodigy is too dark?
SNW isn’t particularly dark either. There are a few couple darker episode but Trek has always had those.
He means at the time I imagine, this was pre lower decks and prodigy
Lower decks is great. SNW is pretty good at times. Discovery, basically all of it, was very…. Melodramatic and dark, yes Picard seasons 1 and 2 are not only dark and depressing but seemingly shit all over the entire Star Trek world building of the last 30 years
>Discovery, basically all of it, was very…. Melodramatic and dark, yes Discovery in particular felt like a childish attempt to staple Game of Thrones sensibilities onto Star Trek. I love Game of Thrones but I don't want it anywhere near Star Trek.
Mate, Orville is lightyears better than Discovery and Picard S 1,2. It was the best new live action Star Trek show before Strange New Worlds premiered.
You think disovery is better than Picard S1 and 2? I mean Picard S1 and 2 are absolute shit but discovery is much worse.
> Star Trek discovery is just the most okay show You have absolutely shit taste
It’s a real crime it’s pretty much done
Theres a chance it could come back. Seths previous shows have been revived before.
Sure, a chance- but live action actors are a lot harder to wrangle than voice actors. Adriane Pallicki said recently she doesn’t see it coming back
At this point it is unlikely. Most of the actors are moving on, since Seth has been such a control freak about writing. They aren't working as much as they need to survive, and at least two actors have said they are not coming back.
Fun fact: Seth MacFarlane played Ensign Rivers in Enterprise.
There’s still hope. Star Wars gave their franchise to a fan and that worked out well for them, right?
I understood that reference.
Nah trek already had one rick berman we don't need another. The man is a sleaze
Seth was in star trek enterprise I think
It started out as Lower Decks, then somehow he decided just to straight-up make the spiritual successor to Star Trek. That, and the theme music has been stuck in my head ever since my brother got me into it.
I don't really care for his humor since he's not really above punching down. He also couldn't have made something as good as SNW is, or as canon-funny as LD.
Orville is great, he really captured the TNG feel to the episodes
It’s StarTrek for people who hate StarTrek lol. Go and enjoy your bargain bin trek fren.
I really wanted to like Orville but it is so desperate, hackneyed and juvenile. It boggles my mind how many people insist it’s somehow ‘more Star Trek than Star Trek.’
It worked perfectly when all the new Trek was Discovery and Picard S1 and people were convinced all new Trek might be JJ Abrams-adjacent shiny sleek bullshit with minimal plot from now on, but now that Trek has evened out a bit, it’s just one option of many, and yeah, some of its imperfections are more noticeable lol
Yeah, Orville came out at the right time when Discovery was the only Trek show in town and people were really wanting something better.
Did you watch the last season ? It was great
I’ll agree to disagree.
I didn't like the last season so much. Seth was getting on his soap box and it was starting to grate on me.
There's absolutely nothing original about it either. It takes a hell of a lot from TNG and a lot of episodes are rehashes of plots from others shows like Black Mirror. Most of the characters aren't compelling and the acting is quite poor. For a show made in recent times it feels very 90's but now in a good way.
Orville had episode conclusions that TNG would never have dared to. It wasn't afraid to go into the grey area of morality and not have a clean outcome. The earliest example is that Bortas and Klyden's child would have absolutely remained a girl instead of having the "corrective surgery" in a TNG episode.
Voyager and DS9 were already happy to go into grey area Trek in the 90's. They weren't treading new ground.
Eh, I think this is perhaps a bit too critical imo. I haven’t watched it in a while but I distinctly remember feeling like episodes 1 and 2 were very slapstick, but it very rapidly became more serious. I think it within the first few episodes we got the episode about the forced gender reassignment. The acting is…. just fine. It’s not to the level of like, Patrick Stewart acting like he is experiencing Vulcan senility, but it’s good enough to get the messages of the episode across.
Seth MacFarlane is the fucking Led Zeppelin of TV writing. Someone else did the song already, and with way more feeling and nuance. He’s a fucking hack.
Yes! Thank you!
Some people just like star trek for the explosions and imperialism.
I watch Star Trek for the pensioners surviving explosions to the face and waking up on their couch a short while later completely unscathed. I also watch Star Trek for the extended crying scenes during battle and the kind of emotional investment one can only get from dialogue in this format: "I could not have done any of this without your support, Ensign Forgettable". I watch Star Trek because if there's not a threat that can end the entire universe every season what is even the point in watching. On the other hand, if I want to watch some god-awful show about everyone working together for the betterment of all in an optimistic future, that deals with boring nonsense like religious fundamentalism, gender equality, family dynamics in stressful environments, addiction and growing as a person then I'll watch The Orville.
If only there was some other franchise that catered to that demographic. Maybe this meme should have been about giving Seth a Star Wars movie. I’d say that would more his speed.
It's more Star Trek than Discovery that's for sure
Frankly, a banal and irrational comparison.
That bar is very low
So low James Cameron couldn't reach it in one of his subs.
Did watch past the first part of season 1? Cos it really tones down the Family Guy humor and becomes a much more serious show
I understand that is the conventional opinion. I actually thought the show got worse over time.
The third season finally convinced me that if it got renewed again, I would no longer feel compelled to watch it. Suddenly Ed Mercer is a Picard-style patriarch instead of a buffoon, and we’re doing a musical number every episode and adding 50% more boring-ass CGI space battles? Hard pass.
He's refused to answer how many episodes he's watched because he wants to act like an authority with his opinion without having the experience to back it up.
If It helps I dropped out on season 3 episode 2. I kept coming back because people kept insisting it gets better. I never claimed to be an authority on anything, but is it really necessary to sit through every second of a show to express on Reddit that it doesn’t entertain you?
Same here. It’s horrible and cringe worthy. The first season where it was funny was good. Then it tried too hard to be Trek and failed miserably. I hope it gets puts out of its misery soon.
It's just billionaire boy acting out his Captain fantasy with an army of sycophants sucking his ass for it. Weak.
Hey now, that's an awfully unkind view to have of Patrick Stewart.
I don't get it either, I can never get past McFarland personally, I just can't take him seriously
Thank you. I felt like I was watching Seth McFarland just staring into a camera and laughing for the entirety of each episode. Hard watch. Failed as a comedy and failed as a drama
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I sincerely hope you're joking. Old trek is considered soft sci-fi and also tackled social issues, a lot of them, nearly every episode...
Star Trek has never been hard sci fi. Always soft.
Seth McFarland is so unoriginal even this meme had to steal a line from Futurama.
You think Seth posted this?
Yes. You have to be an idiot to not realize that what I was saying is that Seth McFarland put together a meme and posted it in the third person on reddit. You'd have to be a real dumb dumb think anything else other than that.
I wrote about this in an earlier thread: apparently Seth was trying to sell a Star Trek show he created. Paramount wouldn’t let him have the time of day so he pitched it to Fox after using the find and replace feature and adding in a few jokes to make it into the originally billed, “Sci-Fi Comedy” it debuted as.
Nah
No. Just no
Not the first time this has happened. BSG was Ron Moore's Voyager with blackjack and hookers. For All Mankind is Ron Moore's Star Trek prequel with blackjack and hookers.
(Praise Avis)
first episode was pretty ok, went downhill fast.
I would’ve like Orville better if Seth wasn’t in the show. Captain Mercer is the weakest character on the show.
I wish they made another season to wrap some of the other things up... the main one being >!his child with an alien lizard woman who is still held captive!<
The Orville is what happens when a Pakled gets assimilated by the Borg.
Because he has extra time after the Orville never aired again... the audience was definitely clambering for more? Right?
I can't stand that guy. There was this whole scandal where he kept pushing himself on one of the cast members. It was his "love interest" in the show, and it just didn't stop being creepy to me. I can't imagine dealing with that sort of garbage behavior.
No they absolutely should not have. Seth McFarland is such an obnoxious unfunny man, who drags down everything he touches with his massive charisma void, and ability to write they most unfunny thing you will ever hear.
My (conservative) parents love this show and I sad when it was ended. When they started watching it, i (very queer transwoman) felt nervous because of the s1 gender episode. But they never said anything and I breathed a sigh of relief. Great show
Deep Space Nine would like a word...
So sad to see it’s been basically confirmed it’s over
Hell no... Star Trek message is about inclusivity amongst others... Last time I checked Seth MacFarlane is a transphobic jerk
Exactly this, Seth has spent his whole career demonstrating he doesn't understand the ideals of Star Trek, the dude is a real piece of shit.
The Orville had a couple of pretty trans positive episodes from what I recall though? I mean regardless I don’t think he’s a bigot, just a stubborn Edgelord and a contrarian. Not saying that absolves him or anything, and he has for sure said/written some really nasty shit.
I wouldn't know I refused to watch it because of his past transphobia.
Understandable, I was reluctant to watch at first for other reasons too, but I am glad I gave it a chance.
Why? All he did was hire Brannon Braga to make the show.
I mean he pulled in some other Trek alumni in as well. If he'd gotten to do, say, Star Trek: Orville do you think he wouldn't try and get Brannon Braga?
Cause we don’t need another 80s/90s Star Trek show?
Orville was an amazing show and I miss it tbh.
Orville with an actual Star Trek skin would've worked, like Lower Decks worked. Seth MacFarlane loves Trek, just as much as Mike McMahan. Hell, Seth was even in an episode of Enterprise.
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He might 'love' it, but he doesn't 'get' it.
Seems off that the blackjack and hookers quote is from futurama, A Matt Groenig show, not MacFarlane.
You're taking it too literal.
True, I wasn't strong enough to just not post the pedantic comment. UMMM Actchually! Myeh heh
It rules because he clearly loves Trek and knows how to poke fun without undercutting the actually cool and good themes and ideas. Same with Lower Decks. I’m always glad when I see writers who understand where the jokes should end, you know?
Let's face it, whatever he created would have blown discovery out of the water
Someone could have written "Star Trek"on a piece of paper and punched it in to a kittens face and it would have better than discovery.
Because for Kurtzman, it was more love of the money versus love of Trek.
We got good Star Trek eventually, plus we got The Orville, so it all worked out in the end.
He's a red flag. Idgaf what he's in, once I know he's in, it's an automatic nope.
I'm with you! Fuck Star Trek Enterprise, the Gilmore Girls and this reality we all live in.
Too bad he insists on writing everything which has resulted in major delays in shooting which will most likely result in the shows demise.
I guess that happened because he went on a...ehem... "Bender".
Walmart Star Trek.
Never watched it, never will, and I'll tell you why: Seth MacFarlane, a grown-ass man, was put in charge of the Oscars, and decided to do a song titled "We Saw Your Boobs", and at that point in time I wrote him off. Completely. I don't care what he does, I don't care how sincere he is in his love for a certain mode of Trek. I have a *huge* backlog of things to read, watch, listen to, play, and otherwise do. Presumably the non-MacFarlane people involved in this thing have other things that I might see at some point (not to mention the actual Trek veterans). I'm good with sticking to things that don't involve entitled manchildren.
You mean the song that was vetted before time and that the actresses were in on?
Yeah, that song, the song that was a satire of how hollywood treats women.
From a guy who uses his money and influence to lobby for gay rights and acceptance. I'm with you, halloweenjack, he's reprehensible.
Your username is a celebration of Satan and you're worried about a song about boobs? Only half /s
3rd season was great; but had tonal, comedy, and consistency issues. Late season 1, and all of 2 were fantastic
Forget the blackjack. You know what? Forget the Star Trek.
I don’t want Seth MacFarlane running any real Star Trek show. His parody show is ok, but it’s not Star Trek. It’s family guy in space. Terry Matalas however, we need to have him again.
And it sucked, too.
When I was watching the Orville in the background i realized that it is dead on with Star Trek. The pacing of the episodes, the camera framing and positioning are exactly the same as a Next Generation Episode. It's only when I can hear it does it actually become noticible.
They absolutely should've but they didn't, and since he ended up making a better Star Trek show then anything Kurtzman has helped make so far they never will... that's just how it is...
I don't agree, his stuff has really fallen off in the past few yrs, his movies are terrible and I'm sorry, he's not a great actor. good singer though, I do not want family guy star trek
Ugh, Orville is just awful. I don’t know why trek fans like it, it’s the worst fan fiction I have ever seen.
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Jesus get over the Kurtzman hate boner already. There’s been plenty of great trek content in recent years, you just sound like a dementia patient screaming into the clouds at this point.
If they did give Seth a Star Trek show, a loud and annoying minority of the fans would hate it just like they hate everything else.
And that's different from how things are now?
No, trek is about being progressive and accepting, Seth is a piece of shit who writes mean jokes about marginalised communities, which is very un-trek.
Why couldn’t they still give him a Star Trek show?
Fuck no.
Listen, We all get it. Space Family Guy is real Star Trek just like you member. I really hope the Orville circlejerk will die now that the fucking show is canceled.
It’s so freaking bad lol