When I first started this show I found it to be a really awkward mix of comedy and seriousness. It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times as some kind of comic relief from a really serious situation. Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough or maybe the show just grew on me, but by season 2 I found myself loving this show.
To me it seems as every bit as comfy, intellectually interesting and even funny as some classic Star Treks while still clearly being its own thing. I wish more comfy space shows like this would get made.
What are your thoughts on The Orville? Also I miss Alara.
It was the best trek on TV since Star Trek Enterprise.
But I now also love Star Trek Strange New Worlds.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really loved the first season. To me it felt like the good old optimistic utopia Trek but with real people. I tought the episodes had nice and creative topics, including the zoo critique, multigenerational space travel, upvote/downvote society, time-irregularity planet - it was mostly decent sci-fi with some well thought out and fun relationships (Cupid’s danger) some outstanding social commentary (About a girl) and a rather weak time-travel episode, which is always a bummer, but never mind.
Then, by season 2, the characters started to transform into plastic figurines with soap opera dialogue and arches (which is a symptom many Trek shows suffer from, to be fair). For example the whole “Oh, captain and first commander cannot date, because the captain couldn’t be objective then” (never mind him having feelings anyway). It felt to me like some of them’d been shoven a ruler up their asses. We get some average and some cringe ill-thought out episodes (like the porn-addiction one - the topic could have been a treasure trove if treated properly). It’s old-school Trek with all the bad things along the good ones.
Season 3 involves much more action and shooting and it doesn’t add any value to the stories. The good arch involves Topa and the Moclan society. The Kaylons (including Isaac) are overall a disappointment. They are supposed to be extremely intelligent but they are not written to really seem that way. They appeared to me to be very stupid and slow-learning. The main characters lost all appeal to me, because they often act in a cold and hostile fashion (like being jerks to time-traveling Gordon instead just leaving him with his familly and picking him up earlier without making the whole ugly drama).
I miss Alara too.
This show is very profound to me. It explores important issues, timeless and topical moral questions, and social/political dilemmas with such depth and thoughtful consideration. I really hope it gets a fourth season
Hated the pilot because of the cheating + having to work with the person who cheated. Dropped it there.
Excellent show. It took a little bit to get it’s tone, but half way through the first season it really hit its stride.
The third season of the show is some of the best sci-fi ever made with political and social commentary that rivals things like ST:TNG’s “Measure of a Man” and ST:DS9’s “Siege of AR-558”, but with a good mix of humor similar to ST:LD.
If you haven’t watched Orville, you’re missing out on some absolutely fantastic Sci-Fi. I’m only sad it’s unlikely to get a fourth season, because it deserves it.
