Old Wounds

I never watched the original Star Treks so there's no nostalgia bias when I say I enjoyed this a lot. I would definitely choose it over the unnecessarily bland, unfun and unimaginative Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 pilot. But I think what the critics didn't get about it is that it's not meant to be a comedy or a serious drama either. That's what gives it its charming vibe, that it's a combination of the two, unlike most of what we see on TV these days.

There's a hopefulness about the future of humanity here which you don't get that much anymore. To be sure, darkness and grittiness have their place but it's nice to have a show like this that can present space travel with the excitement of a five-year-old child instead of filling it with the angst we already see in enough other shows. The CGI does a serviceable job, you can tell it doesn't have the budget of STD but it manages to do well despite that. A lot of visual details are done well, like the depiction of a futuristic Earth which it clearly revels in. The ships, the death-by-ageing and the lab on Epsilon 2 are all eye candy as well here. They don't look as realistic as what you see on higher-budget shows but that's made up for by the creativity.

One thing that really makes it tick is the relations between its characters, with sharp dialogue which is underlined by unsubtle but welcome humour. Sure, not all the jokes land. But it's hard to deny there's an upbeat vibe and a hopefulness that the future of humanity doesn't have to be all dark and gritty.

The plot itself is about what you'd expect from a first episode whose primary aim is to introduce you to the concept and the characters. It's interesting enough to keep your attention and has enough charming quirks (like the role the redwood seeds play) but it can easily be reduced to the 'crew protect powerful technology from bad people' trope. At one point there is also an escape scene that is pretty cheesy, and not in a charming way.

This consistently put a grin on my face in spite of its flaws. Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Surely grading on a curve considering the new shows I've seen promos for, but The Orville has potential. Sure there were a few bumps in the launch of the pilot, but it is at least watchable. Some of the humor was somewhat unnecessarily coarse and some viewers may find it objectionable. The character introductions were sufficient and set up the interactions to follow for the crew. I'd put the ratio of actual story to comic relief to be about 70/30. By the end of the episode I was interested in the story and satisfied with the conclusion. "Issac set the DVR to record".

I enjoyed this episode. I believe The Orville may become an alternative to space shows, which includes irony and certain parody to star trek Although not a fan, I'm prepared to give it a shot.

Overall, I actually enjoyed it.

Most of the humor was lame, though. Get an editor to strip out the potty humor, and just leave in the parts that use the situation - joking about the use of a tree as a weapon, or arguing about the divorce to stall - those schticks actually worked for me.

I do like the premise of "enough with the 'dark, and EDGY!!!'" - keep it upbeat. I would like to see the show evolve into an old school comic book kind of style, with both an action plot, but still lighthearted. But they need to work on subtlety.

As for the cheap production values - good! If they keep the budget down, they may be able to use the money to hire/keep some better writers and actually keep the show on for a few seasons, if it earns more than it costs.

I'm late to the party, watching this for the first time in 2020 and I had tears rolling down my cheeks by the end of the first episode. This is so much better than the grey unwatchable sludge of Discovery and Picard. It looks like real Star Trek, is definitely sounds like real Star Trek with a fantastic evocative score, and the episodic format is like real Star Trek. The humor is great... It's Seth MacFarlane after all. But this is absolutely NOT a parody of Star Trek... it's Star Trek with likeable, funny characters acting in relatable ways. It's so well written, so well made.

It's a genuine crime that so few people have been able to see it, and that critics and networks have unfairly ganged up against it in favor of promoting the abysmal Discovery and Picard. Much love to Seth MacFarlane. Thank you so much for making this. It's one of my favorite shows of all time.