The Orville

The Orville is a science fiction comedy-drama television series created by and starring Seth MacFarlane. The Orville is set on the titular USS Orville, a mid-level exploratory space vessel in the Planetary Union, a 25th-century interstellar alliance of Earth and many other planets.

Inspired by several science-fiction sources, but mainly the original Star Trek as well as its Next Generation successor, both of which it parodies and homages, the show follows the crew of the starship USS Orville on their episodic adventures.

Cast:

- Seth MacFarlane: Captain Ed Mercer

- Adrianne Palicki: Commander Kelly Grayson

- Penny Johnson Jerald: Dr Claire Finn

- Scott Grimes: Lieutenant Gordon Malloy

- Peter Macon: Lieutenant-Commander Bortus

- Halston Sage  Lieutenant Alara Kitan

- J. Lee: Lieutenant-Commander John LaMarr

- Jessica Szohr: Lieutenant Talla Keyali

- Mark Jackson: Isaac

- Chad Coleman: Klyden

@SympathysSilhouette @Stromboli1 Season 1 is really good, but you were right: season 2 is better and keeps getting better (so far - I'm at episode 6).

I think that McFarlane cares deeply for his characters and it shows. That's another big difference with Kurtzman's Trek (who basically hates traditional Trek and does everything he can to demean our favorite characters or at least denature them).

Also, episodes don't have a lot of FX (much fewer than Kurtzman's Trek), but it still feels like sci-fi and it feels realistic/believable (and at least consistent with itself). The humor is still there, but subtler.

Of course, I'm a little sad that Alara isn't here anymore. I liked her character a lot (and the actress too, she's really nice).

I think a great show is always a show where every character is important and that's the case here. Every character has an arc, with foundations, but also with progressions.

I really like all the characters, they all have something special and the scenario is always very ingenious when it comes to cultural differences.

Good well written show.

On 2/28/2020 at 4:48 PM, Stromboli1 said:

Good well written show.

I thought it was a parody, but it turns out to be one of the best Sci-fi show I've seen in years. The writing is great (and that's what missing to Kurtzman's Trek shows).

Season 2 is indeed even better than season 1, just like you said. I just watched episode 11. Pretty good and even if there's close to zero SFX in it, I liked it. Leighton Meester is good as the nostalgic memory/fantasy from the past (I've always found her cute. I didn't know she sang and it turns out she has a nice voice).

I like how easily the script can go from comedy to tragedy, adventure to sci-fi, crime to politics, etc. It can basically pull a lot of themes and it always feel organic and natural. That's both because the actors are good and the script is well written.

The making and editing of the show are very good too.

I remember some scenes that really surprised me, like when Bortus gets stabbed. In any other show, it would've been a dream, the editing hinted all the codes/tropes of dreaming and it felt natural for it to be a dream, but... it was not and that's really well played, because I'm pretty sure no one saw it coming. That's what you expect from a good show. There are lots of other instances like this one.

@Stromboli1  Remember this scene where Bortus gets stabbed?

15 hours ago, Enrico_sw said:

I thought it was a parody, but it turns out to be one of the best Sci-fi show I've seen in years. The writing is great (and that's what missing to Kurtzman's Trek shows).

 

Season 2 is indeed even better than season 1, just like you said. I just watched episode 11. Pretty good and even if there's close to zero SFX in it, I liked it. Leighton Meester is good as the nostalgic memory/fantasy from the past (I've always found her cute. I didn't know she sang and it turns out she has a nice voice).

I liked the Battle with the Kaylons.

All the characters are developed with good arcs.

Looking forward to Season 3 on Hulu.

9 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

I liked the Battle with the Kaylons.

Pretty good episode. It probably took most of the season's budget, but it was worth it and even the episodes with low budget are great.

They treat themes that are pretty common in Sci-fi (like androids), but with a very interesting and original approach (certainly better than what Kurtzman does).

9 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

All the characters are developed with good arcs.

Yup! All of them are great. Even the minor characters are well developped, that's really fine writing.

@SympathysSilhouette @Stromboli1  Did you guys remember that Seth McFarlane played a small part in Star Trek: Entreprise?  I didn't remember it, but recently I've been rewatching episodes of STE (particularly season 4, which is probably the best one).

It's really a small part though (he has a couple of seconds of screen time)

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Rivers

Nope

The Orville Season 3 Will Be Directed Entirely by Seth MacFarlane and John Cassar

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/orville-season-3-directors-seth-macfarlane-john-cassar/

Season 3 comes out on March 10.

I believe this is Norm Macdonald's final role.