Bandoman

I love those little throwaway lines. Like when he confronted the guard in front of the government building - "Remember me? Ed, from the lacrosse team?"

This is solid Trek-like entertainment. I'm sticking with this show for the long haul (assuming there is a long haul).

Why So Blu?

Great episode but I've been a fan since episodes 1, so...

rw2516

The baby is shown in a crib at the foot of the bed in opening scene.

Supermallet

It is?? I completely missed that.

MikahC

I'm still shocked Liam Neeson appeared on my screen while watching The Orville. There is some history there, though. Liam has done voice work on Family Guy. And now next week we get

Deftones

He was also in A Million Way to Die in the West as a major part.

RichC2

He also had a random ass cameo in Ted 2

BobO'Link

I thought it was more a mash up of the old Canadian TV series The Starlost and the TOS episode "The Return of the Archons," but can see the influence of "For the World is Hollow..." episode as well.

I can still do without all the penis/dick jokes - they're not the least bit funny and need to be excised. In spite of those I did get a few laughs out of this episode and felt it's one of the stronger ones so far (along with E3 last week). If E5 keeps it up I'll give up "live" viewing and just get the DVD set.

B5Erik

Actually, there was an old story printed in one of the pulp science fiction magazines like Astounding or Galaxy that had the same basic concept - people on a multi-generational colonization ship forget that they're on a ship and create a religion where, "The ship is all." It was turned into an episode of Dimension X or X-Minus One on radio (I think it was Dimension X, but I'm not 100% sure - I just remember the episode well).

Like this episode, those who believed in a world outside the ship were called heretics and faced severe punishment. "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky," borrowed liberally from that story. As did this one.

edit -

It was X Minus One, from April 24, 1956:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yKZdK1YMj9A?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's nowhere near the best episode of the series (probably in the bottom 1/3), but the concept is clearly what influenced both the Star Trek and Orville episodes.

Doing further research, it's actually a reworking of this story from May 15, 1955...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/todh6uqKQbo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This one was based on a Heinlein story. That story may be the source for all the stories like this.

(Still not one of the best episodes of the series, though... Dimension X and X Minus One were both usually very well written and acted.)

rw2516

At very beginning. An extreme long shot from above that shows entire bed and at the foot is tiny crib.

Eric F

Seth MacFarlane must spend a lot of his off-time reading a lot of classic sci-fi. Between last week's Ursala K. LeGuin influenced (stolen) episode and this week's, well, I guess it's hard to come up with original ideas in sci-fi at this point...

MikahC

Why bother? The whole show is homage to other shows and stories. They're not trying to break ground here; They're a cover band. They're a good band performing and making you re-appreciate the original as well as enjoying a new take on it. And then Sethifying it.


P.S. OK, how do I get the forum to leave my youtube links alone?

Eric F

I feel like I'm watching TNG with Brian from Family Guy as captain.

Bandoman

That's what makes it good.

B5Erik

I have never watched Family Guy, and I still love this show.

hdnmickey

I think this is a pretty accurate take on the series so far. And despite that last episode being essentially a repeat of the standard "religion that replaces reality" storyline, I thought it was well executed. And them being able to get quality guest stars, off what I would guess is some kind of personal connection, is a big bonus.

RichC2

They must have lost a bet on a Million Ways to Die in the West.

johnnysd

I am warming to this show. I like the crew. Some of it is juvenile, but some of it is actually funny and insightful. They seem like real people. I loved Palicki getting a pot brownie. I loved seeing people replicating just normal shit like clothes and a lamp, rather than "tea, Earl Grey, hot". I liked the complete panic of the security officer when she needed to take command and replicated a belt of tequila. That actually felt more genuine than a lot of things in real star trek. Not all the jokes hit, but some do. I also really like that they will build to these same narrative beats and then turn it into something funny. Like when the first office said the famous quote from his planet and then said something like "you are now supposed to share some literature from your culture" It was exactly the same beat you'd expect in TNG, but in TNG Picard would get all serious and recite some Shakespeare to profound music. CBS went entirely the wrong way with Discovery, and the Orville makes that crystal clear. It is more Star Trek than Discovery. Which is sad. Looks like ratings actually turned out pretty solid for the last showing after all.

TGM

I too enjoy it. i just think, given its large cast and likely impressive FX budget it has to be a pretty big hit to stick around. Hope it does.

PhantomStranger

That is an utterly perfect encapsulation of The Orville.

I'm still not sure why they have the Captain paired with his ex-wife as commanders on the ship. It's a strange concept for a television show and they could have gone in any direction with those two characters if they had a different history together.

This latest episode wasn't bad, it was probably the most likable episode yet.

Anyone else bothered by how poor the Robot's costume that hangs around the bridge is? It's 1970's Doctor Who bad. The budget for it must have been $300. I've seen better cosplay put together in a weekend.

TGM

I like the goofy looking android, and I actually thought Brent Spiner voiced it until I looked the show up on imdb

Why So Blu?

Yup, I thought Spiner did the voice, as well.

RichC2

I've seen a lot of comments on this being big budget, but I still don't see it. If I had to guess, I'd say it had only a slightly higher budget than that of a Stargate show.

TGM

big cast, very decent looking practical and CGI special effects, some elaborate set pieces... I'd say it's got a hefty price tag for a pilot season relatively speaking.

Eric F

I tend to think that they took some inspiration from Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in designing that robot. MacFarlane clearly has read it at any rate.