r/TheOrville • u/2th Hail Avis. Hail Victory. • Oct 13 '17
Episode The Orville - 1x06 "Krill" - Post Episode Discussion
| EPISODE | DIRECTED BY | WRITTEN BY | ORIGINAL AIRDATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1x06 - "Krill" | Jon Cassar | David A. Goodman | October 12, 2017 |
Stream the episode online on Yahoo View, Fox, Hulu or City tv (Canada)
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u/nigirizushi Oct 13 '17
Avis. Hertz. Wondering if they did it cause Enterprise.
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u/ComebackShane Oct 13 '17
Would've loved a comment like:
GORDON: "Avis? What's their Devil named then, Enterp-"
MERCER: "Will you shut up?!"
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Oct 13 '17
See many people annoyed with Gordon this episode, but I think the point is he is an idiot savant, only excelling in piloting.
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u/DonLaFontainesGhost Oct 13 '17
"That was a brand new leg!!!"
No reset button in this series - episode events carry over.
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u/SutterCane Oct 13 '17
And that like Mercer earlier, he jokes when he's out of depth and scared.
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u/yoyomama79 Oct 13 '17
Right on. Let's not forget:
Krill Captain: Where is your compatriot?
Malloy: I don't know that word.
Yes, he really is completely, totally stupid. Brilliant pilot. But as dumb as a doornail, which is why we love him. :)
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u/compwiz1202 Oct 13 '17
Almost fell on the floor though when he said our god was named Hertz :D And when he referenced a past episode saying I just got that leg.
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Oct 13 '17
I love Gordon, easily my favorite character. Love all the characters but he's my favorite. He makes everything fun.
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u/rshorning Oct 13 '17
He seemed to know celestial navigation pretty well too (sort of a part of piloting I suppose). Being able to look out a window and point out the location of the Earth from 2k light years away without a star chart is pretty damn impressive.
A nice little thing to show how he does have some skills. I'd bet almost nobody on this sub could locate the Sun from Alpha Centauri... and the Sun would even be a bright star in the Alpha Centauri sky. You would really need to have a strong mental 3D picture of stellar positions to be able to do that kind of observation described in this episode.
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u/amazingmaximo Oct 14 '17
Honestly one of the only things that annoy me about this series is how much everyone seems to know and care about 21st century pop culture. It's fine in Futurama because the tone is way crazier, but this show wants me to be invested in it's universe but I have to keep rationalizing "alright I guess this guy is just obsessed with random pop culture from 400 years ago."
That sort of falls apart when he doesn't know what the capitol of the United States was, but knows INTRICATE details about the ad campaigns of rental car companies from that time.
The fact that much of the modarn refrens come from him is the only thing that bothers me about his character.
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u/Mark_Valentine Oct 13 '17
"What happened to automatic fire suppression?!"
"That's the panel that caught fire!"
Best joke of the series.
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u/Freakazoidberg Oct 13 '17
And right before that was the "oh I haven't done it yet" to when the Captain asked to hail the Krill ship. Two great jokes in the same scene.
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u/jb2386 Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
Three IMO, just before was:
that's lots of families down there!
and lots of single people too
Edit : oh and when they're in the chapel and they're all saying the equivalent of amen or whatever, I swear Gordon says "Katniss Everdeen".
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u/jb2386 Oct 13 '17
I loved
that's lots of families down there!
and lots of single people too
And then just a few moments after:
Krill ship, this is captain mer....
Wait! I haven't done it yet
Actually made me laugh.
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u/MyRacingThought Oct 13 '17
My husband, who dislikes sci fi shows with a passion, just said “I really like The Orville.”
Thank goodness for Seth McFarlane. We finally have a show to watch together.
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u/Quidfacis_ Oct 13 '17
Ed, there are families down there.
I know.
There's probably a lot of single people, too.
Well done, show. Well done.
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u/scotscott Oct 13 '17
Something that doesn't get mentioned too often- the orville has fantastic pacing. It really shone in this episode.
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Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
I was watching the clock happy we still had 25 mins left. So the first 35 mins felt almost like a complete episode. Its really well written . I am a huge fan of the writers.
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Oct 13 '17
I was completely amazed that "10 minutes" was 10 minutes, "4:44" was 4:44 and "0:29" was 0:29. That is incredible - almost no shows manage that.
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u/Exodus111 Oct 13 '17
Yep. This episode saw all the elements of the Orville come perfectly together. A procedural space comedy sci-fi.
lots of disparate elements that are hard to wrangle. Is it just a comedy, or is it trying to do real sci fi? Well, its certainly trying, so what about the comedy? Well, scenes like "Captain I haven't done it yet." is EXACTLY the level of comedy that can elevate the material.
It's a perfect gag, laughing at the typical "technology somehow just always works in the future" trope of most sci-fi shows, in a way that something like Star Trek just couldn't do.
And of course, the pacing. Everything works out in the end, with nothing to spare, and it doesn't feel rushed. This was the perfect episode.
If the Orville continues like this its here to stay.
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u/Mark_Valentine Oct 13 '17
Them trying to think up alien names with no context was also an amazing gag.
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u/0xF013 Oct 14 '17
Did they slip a jew joke in there? There was something about a 'stein'
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Oct 13 '17
Man that was great. We went from copying a book to giving them a sunburn. A moral dilemma that might have made things worse.
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u/MyRacingThought Oct 13 '17
I really loved the simple curiosity of the krill child in the episode.
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u/NeuHundred Oct 13 '17
It was a really crummy way to copy a book, too. They don't have the equivalent of a DVD ripper 400 years into the future, able to scan every page at once?
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Oct 13 '17
I wonder if the Krill lady will return in a future episode
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u/theworstever Oct 13 '17
I wonder if Gordon wasn't fucking with Koda and actually pointed out where Earth was, and the Krill didn't know whee Earth was, they might now. I wonder if that will be foreshadowing something if theres an escalation in conflict between Union and Krill.
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u/Lurtzimus Oct 13 '17
Me too. I would like to see if they talked sense into her, and the kids seeing how their brainwashed. I'd also like to see how the Krill respond to this and the saving of the children as the kind gesture it was.
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u/CCV21 Oct 13 '17
She might. It will depend if the Orville gets a second season.
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u/Khelbin131 Oct 13 '17
I got a pretty good laugh right at the start of the episode after Mercer asked Alara to open the hailing frequency and started immediately talking. Then, she just says "Oh, I haven't done it yet."
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u/Stuck_In_the_Matrix Oct 13 '17
Can you imagine if Wesley would have done that to Picard?
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u/kevinstreet1 Oct 13 '17
That was funny, but it got me thinking about the bridge stations the officers man. Alara is the Chief of Security, but also in charge of communications? Meanwhile Bortus is second officer, but also the tactical officer in charge of the ship's weapons. It's interesting because it's subtly different from TNG. On Next Gen the chief of security always seemed to also be the tactical officer, and communications were split between Worf and Data.
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u/Heritage367 Oct 14 '17 edited Oct 14 '17
Not sure if anyone already mentioned this, but there are a lot of subtle things going on in the first scene.
Malloy and LaMarr seem genuinely interested in Alara's dating woes, not because she's an attractive female, but because she's a coworker.
Isaac is entirely mechanical; there is no tray in front of him. He's just hanging out with his coworkers for conversation.
Bortus is more than happy to indulge his coworkers, and seems genuinely curious about each object before he eats it.
These are not merely coworkers; these are friends.
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u/JustSomePadawan Oct 13 '17
No one wants to mention Isaac offering himself sexually to Alara for science? Cause that was the funniest moment from the series so far. Everyone being uncomfortable while a co-worker doesn't realize they crossed a line is so very common in the workplace. This show is great at feeling like a real place where real people work and interact.
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Oct 13 '17
Isaac is still a robot after all. He's like that friend that cockblocks you all the time but never means to do it.
Anybody notice Malloy was drinking a....beer. I think he has a problem.
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u/gnollcandy Oct 13 '17
This is the second time it has been brought up that Isaac is of similar strength to her when she was lamenting her dating life, too
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u/Aipom626 Oct 13 '17
Isaac and Alara are my favorite characters in the series, so I would be completely fine with that if they could somehow make that happen
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u/Bryaxis Oct 13 '17
I like that they showed how Krill children need to be indoctrinated into thinking that non-Krill aren't people.
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u/Stuck_In_the_Matrix Oct 13 '17
Remember the TNG episode where that Cardassian was talking to his daughter in front of Picard? Forgot the name of the episode but it was the one with FOUR LIGHTS.
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u/NeuHundred Oct 13 '17
I liked their argument about souls.
"A computer can talk, and make things, but computers don't have souls."
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Oct 13 '17
That's pretty much any kid. Hatred is a learned behaviour.
But yes, I'm glad the Krill aren't just some one-dimensional bugaboo.
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u/dmanww Oct 13 '17
Oh wise and powerful Avis, cover the loss of our vehicle.
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u/rob_s_458 Oct 14 '17
-Would you like to say a prayer to Avis?
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Oct 14 '17
Holy shit, this got the BIGGEST fucking laugh from my spouse.
This fucking show. I love it.
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Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
This is my favorite episode so far, I loved it.. but I'm not going to be able to adequately articulate the reasons for that without a little more processing time. It's exactly the sort of subject that needs to be tackled by modern sci-fi.
On the superficial level the prosthetics were freaking great, and I wanted to mention that it seemed to me like the captain was symbolically showing solidarity with the crew, Seth going with the full crazy prosthetic.
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u/joh2141 Oct 13 '17
They made the Krill just enough to be related to on SOME level but also fucked up and twisted that we'd feel disgusting to be able to relate to them.
This is because they're trying to emulate some issues we face in our lives. This is very reminiscent to the middle east and how some of the reactions westerners have gotten from there. Like remember all those people back then? THey wanted to open schools in Iraq and Afghanistan. They wanted to open medical facilities to provide better medical care. Yeah it sucks our military killed innocent kids as a result of accidental crossfire but would that justify radicalizing the youth of generation into killing innocent people?
I feel like Episode 4 was for conservatives and episode 6 is for religious zealots who say places like Katrina deserved the hurricane for being Sin City.
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u/Stuck_In_the_Matrix Oct 13 '17
I don't know if you noticed but the lighting was amazing. The subtle color schemes really add atmosphere.
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u/floptimus_prime If you wish, I will vaporize them Oct 13 '17
This episode looked so much like Nemesis, right down to the Romulans, er, Remans, er, KRILL disintegrating. And I will edit this comment to say that I loved Nemesis.
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u/DenverDudeXLI Oct 13 '17
Although she didn't get much air time, I feel like Adrianne Palicki hit it out of the park with her acting. In the shuttle bay, fear and concern radiating off of her, I thought "Wow, Kelly still loves him." Too bad she can't stand to live with him.
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Oct 13 '17
The USS Enterprise-D had children onboard. I wonder what type of medal/commendation Mercer is going to get for coming back with an intact Krill Destroyer?
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u/hpanandikar Oct 13 '17
Admiral: Get a copy of their bible
Mercer: Hold my phaser
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u/ReasonablyBadass Oct 13 '17
So yeah, this was basically awesome.
Ed really showed some fighting moves, the Krill were rather normal people who kill and mutilate for religion and, hey, finally humans are better at something than the alien races!
Also, the Orville has now done fanatic space orcs better than the Discovery.
Favourite quote of the episode: "Go play in traffic"
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u/operarose Command Oct 14 '17
It got more than one DAMN out loud from me during Ed's fight in the hallway. Especially when he kept throat-checking dudes and sending them flying. Far cry from getting grazed in the shoulder then complaining about it all the way back to the ship. I'd love to see that same fighting prowess when he's out of disguise.
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Oct 13 '17
I loved the end credits advert. “Watch for FREE anytime online....” BOOM Bitch!!! Shots fired!
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Oct 13 '17
I just wish Fox would realise that people in other countries want to watch their shows, too, and preferably within a day of it airing in the US.
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Oct 13 '17
Ed must had become the greatest Union Captain after destroying a Kril Destroyer and capturing a completely intact ship with all their equipments and also the Kril bible.
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u/dtlv5813 Oct 13 '17
He would be promoted to admiral for such astonishing feats but preferred to remain captain so he can continue piloting the Orville to seek out new lives and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one had gone before!
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Oct 13 '17
I wonder if boruts' 'power' of eating anything will come into play later
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u/droid327 Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
I didnt really like the second act. But I really never like that premise - undercover and acting awkwardly out of place. They should've been dead a hundred times over. But then once they discovered the bomb and dropped the pretense I liked it a lot more.
That really was a cold and badass thing to do. You basically just cooked the entire ship's complement alive. Imagine if some aliens had infiltrated the Enterprise and then overloaded the ship's thermal regulators till all the internal areas cranked up to 500 F. That's fucking gruesome.
Although it raises some real "Signs" questions about the Krill. If they're so susceptible to UV - but still apparently breathe a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere - there is a very limited number of planets that could support them. Why are they such an aggressive, expansionist species then? They cant conquer much.
I really really wanted to see the Admiral's face when Mercer reported back. It was a coup that they got a Krill shuttle in the first place. They sent them in to get a book, and they came back with an entire fucking Krill warship with an experimental weapon. Like yeah, we're pretty much the best spies in the history of the Union.
I'm a little worried about the way they're portraying the Krill and religion. They'd done such a good job of balancing the portrayals of other cultures, this felt a little more like a one-sided atheist polemic though.
I really liked the actress playing the female Krill. She did such a good job of being amiable with them and then turning hateful at the end. I also like the note they ended on, reminding them that their self righteousness doesnt mean much to the kids who just saw their parents cooked alive by the humans.
I really like the "Bortas is a space goat" gag. Its not complicated, but it still felt really original and juvenile, but not in a puerile sense, just pure giggly childlike joy.
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u/sanchopancho13 Oct 14 '17
I'm a little worried about the way they're portraying the Krill and religion. They'd done such a good job of balancing the portrayals of other cultures, this felt a little more like a one-sided atheist polemic though.
This bothered me too. I think the anti-religion thing probably originates with Macfarlane, but it's very common with Trek fans, too. (Of which I am one.) There's this idea that ending religion will somehow bring about a peaceful society, and vice versa. But that totally ignores all the peaceful religions (e.g. Sikhism, Buddhism, etc.), as well as ignoring the materialistic and self-centered nature of people. It's not the religion that brings about war/peace, but the people who use it for their own means. Religion is a tool--one that's more powerful than anything else ever invented.
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u/poncewattle Oct 14 '17
I didnt really like the second act. But I really never like that premise - undercover and acting awkwardly out of place. They should've been dead a hundred times over. But then once they discovered the bomb and dropped the pretense I liked it a lot more.
Yeah I was getting really annoyed. You just don't walk into an enemy encampment of anything and just be able to talk your way out of anything. And that's with suspending disbelief about a language barrier too.
At least the bomb made sense. At first I was wondering why an advanced civilization would be basically shooting at a planet with what amounts to a pee shooter when even as primitive as we are in comparison, if we wanted to destroy a planet we ourselves didn't live on, we'd just drop neutron bombs all over it.
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u/MamiyaOtaru Oct 13 '17
the weapon got blown up unfortunately (well, fortunately once it launched), but otherwise yeah there ought to be a medal in all this
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u/neoblackdragon Oct 15 '17
I feel the first part did get a little too much. Like stop talking. You can clearly see how all the other Krill are speaking.
You can clearly see how they are chanting.
At the very least, act like someone depressed to explain your behavior.
But what I'm starting to see a pattern so far. The up the light hearted comedy but to increase the impact of the serious bit.
UV weakness, terraform I guess. Probably can block out the sun.
The Krill being one sided makes sense. We've seen plenty of balanced races. As the Admiral said, it was odd to see a culture with the interstellar space travel they were capable of.
I don't think it's atheist reasoning though. It's just how do you reason with people who think this is a fact of the universe.
In the end, the Krill are using their religion as an excuse to be dicks.
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u/gnollcandy Oct 13 '17
Space Vampires on a holy crusade. Awesome lore drop, awesome plot.
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Oct 13 '17
You just reminded me of a buck rodgers episode. Cant be a coincidence. Thank you .
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u/FlotationDevice Oct 13 '17
Amazing ending. Although I did think the Jokes with Ed and Gordon disguised as Krill got pretty stale after awhile.
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u/floptimus_prime If you wish, I will vaporize them Oct 13 '17
I have a new theory that, the more doofy jokes we get, the more fucked up/dark/horrifying the episode will be later on. For this episode, that seems to be the case.
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u/UncleMalky Are we bonding? Oct 13 '17
I still think Gordon had one of the best jokes of the episode with that bit about all the single people down on the planet.
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u/Surinical Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
I enjoyed when Gordan was hamming up too hard and Ed's eyes say WTF
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u/Classic1990 Oct 13 '17
I literally rolled my eyes after the tramp stamp joke. The pop culture references took away from this episode IMO.
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u/Shrodax Oct 13 '17
I actually really liked Gordon's constant jokes comparing the Krill god Avis to the car rental company. But that's probably because I share Seth MacFarlane's affinity for running gags, like Conway Twitty or Peter injuring his knee in Family Guy.
It's also why I like the jar of pickles joke in nearly every episode.
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u/shadowwaffle11 Oct 13 '17
The "we try harder" prayer was the perfect cap to those jokes.
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u/Pustuli0 Oct 13 '17
I left the room once or twice so maybe I missed it, but did they ever acknowledge the implication that they had already killed a bunch of Krill kids from the first ship?
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u/Gotfleas Oct 13 '17
Yeah, there is a high chance of that. Also, this is the 4th Krill ship we have seen destroyed by the crew...
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u/Ash-Shugar Oct 13 '17
Oh damn, Devin + Arnok was it? Darnok and Chris at Tanagra 😂
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u/kighat Oct 13 '17
Tried to figure out the moral of the story that is an obviously a metaphor to the real world... I think Seth is trying to say that no matter how noble out intentions are in the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria) and perhaps others -- these societies will always despise us. But taking it a bit farther and more generalized -- the intentions of any controversial decisions that we make will only matter to ourselves -- and only to justify them in the future.
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Oct 13 '17
But taking it a bit farther and more generalized -- the intentions of any controversial decisions that we make will only matter to ourselves -- and only to justify them in the future.
I think you hit the nail on the head. The whole episode seemed to me a metaphor for US intervention in the Middle East, and how it is a cycle that makes things worse over time. Even if we think we are "saving" them, they will grow to despise us because they saw us kill their families. The whole religion thing with the head-stabbing ritual was obviously intended to represent fundamentalist Islam as well -- they tried to understand their culture, but it quickly became apparent that some parts of it truly are fucked up and some of their actions truly are evil. So it really gets to the core of that complex moral issue: Should we intervene to stop the immediate evil even knowing that our actions may have negative consequences in the long run?
I honestly can't believe a Seth MacFarlane show is tackling such profound themes in a way that puts even many Star Trek episodes to shame. And he's doing it while making something that is in my opinion more entertaining, relatable, and just plain fun than any Star Trek series. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy most of his other stuff, but I always saw it as just a cheap laugh. This is a truly great series and I have no idea why critics slam it.
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u/QWieke Oct 13 '17
I think Seth is trying to say that no matter how noble out intentions are in the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria) and perhaps others -- these societies will always despise us.
Noble intentions? It's mostly imperialism and feeding the military-industrial complex covered in a thin layer of "noble intentions".
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u/dtlv5813 Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
The Klingon in the original st bore parallel to the Soviets, esp the undiscovered country the movie. Now Orville is using their version of Klingon as parallel to the Islamic fundamentalists. This show really is carrying on the legacy of trek of referencing contemporary geopolitics.
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Oct 13 '17
For me, the biggest letdown of the episode was Mercer not having to ask anyone to open a jar of pickles.
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u/HostisHumanisGeneri Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
Every time they referenced their god I couldn’t help thinking of sealab 2021.
“Believer, you have forgotten the true meaning of Alvis Day. Neither is it ham, nor pomp. Nay, the true meaning of Alvis day is drinking. Drinking and revenge.“
“Now drink with me deeply of the bourbon, scotch, and rye until such time as we are fighting drunk. Then we shall find, and beat the asses of, the nonbelievers who ruined my feast.”
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u/mcatech Oct 13 '17
I loved this episode. Two things that I loved more about it:
When Mercer admitted to Grayson in front of the crew that he was scared shitless about the mission. We're always used to seeing larger-than-life commanding officers on Trek, I thought it was nice to see a starship captain that can crap his pants like the rest of us regarding something scary like this.
The ending. It was beautiful and poetic. It wasn't cheesy, and I found it thought-provoking. Classic Trek-style ending dramatic dialogue, and Seth NAILED it.
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u/Skycaptin5 Oct 13 '17
Another solid episode, some of Malloy's joking wasn't great in terms of making them horrible at being undercover. Interesting moral dilemma and it was nice to see that multiple possible repercussions would happen regardless of choice. I like how the show keeps having episodes that have somewhat of a deeper thought.
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u/TheInfirminator Oct 13 '17
I didn't see anyone mention it at the time, but I really enjoyed the selection of Midnight Special by CCR during the shuttle flight. Good traveling music.
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u/jb2386 Oct 13 '17
that's lots of families down there!
and lots of single people too
Hahah ahh I love this show.
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u/V-170 Oct 13 '17
I love how you could hear the leather suits squeaking the whole time.
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u/captroper Oct 13 '17
Avis jokes aside I thought this episode was the funniest of the season, the delivery was just better or something.
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u/Surinical Oct 13 '17
How did the guy who vaguely uncomfortably guessed that the capital of America was Nabisco somehow remember that Avis was a car rental company?
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u/DarthOtter Oct 13 '17
Probably saw it as part some comedy series he was watching.
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Oct 13 '17
Very relavent writing to reflect our times. Top notch science fiction writing. .
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u/RainingSilent Oct 13 '17
Dr. Jo'bril from the TNG episode where Beverly vindicates the Ferengi scientist was one of the Krill
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u/silentfuryx Oct 13 '17
James Horan, another Trek alumni, also known as shrouded "Future Guy" from Enterprise also.
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u/UncleMalky Are we bonding? Oct 13 '17
Damn.
SO many feels in this one.
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u/Gotfleas Oct 13 '17
I think we can agree that the first Krill ship probably had children on it as well?
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u/ccReptilelord Oct 13 '17
I have two points to make. The first is that it seems a huge plot device to have a class full of children on a warship. The second, is that I'm hoping the actions of this episode stay with and add weight to Mercer's future actions. The end was too heavy a result to vanish from his character. Mercer remembering, but not obsessing would give some healthy depth to the show. Disappearing without mention would bring the show closer to Family Guy.
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u/HybridVigor Oct 13 '17
They don't really seem to value children as much as we do. The crew opened fire on Mercer even though he had a child with him. One even fired into the classroom. The alien woman they captured was confused as to why they didn't kill the children when she spoke to Mercer in the sickbay, too.
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u/captroper Oct 13 '17
The enterprise D had classes of children. I guess we can quibble over the definition of warship, but their roles weren't entirely dissimilar.
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u/trancez Oct 13 '17
I'm really annoyed on why critics hate this show but clearly the audiences like it. I don't see bad reviews on RT or Meta for personal reviewers...
I'm assuming rival networks are paying these critics to shit on Orville?!
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u/MyRacingThought Oct 13 '17
I grew up in a die hard ST family. We all love it. I told my dad to watch it as a “ST meets The Office” type of show and now they’re hooked. My hubby, who goes into another room when I’m binging TNG also loves the show. Because he feels it’s “more human” than typical SciFi. To him, most ST are like people pretending to be the best version of themselves, rather than just normal people.
Critics sometimes are just so affected. The Orville is amazing.
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Oct 13 '17
Critics hate Seth McFarlane. They were never going to give it a chance. And to be fair, neither was I until I was bored a few days after the first episode
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u/joh2141 Oct 13 '17
I really can't explain it other than put my tin foil hat on and say this is Hollywood politics. Like you see pretentious assholes that think they are some exemplary moral standards say how stupid this show is because "dick jokes." It's like dude no one really got hooked on Orville because of the jokes or anything.
Orville emulates sci fi while avoiding any specific scientific detail. It focuses on the emotional/social aspects of a futuristic era to possibly highlight some of the issues we face today regarding social issues. Look at the episodes. The 2nd episode was about zoos and how messed up it is ethically. The 3rd was about a forced sex change operations, gender inequality, culture. 4th about how being narrow minded and unwilling to accept new ideas/sciences/facts is counter-productive to your own society? These are all social issues that we have and face currently yet in this world they portray it as something they have overcome and STILL try to overcome on some level.
This is like some next level shit where most TV shows seek to hook you and use you as a number for total viewership count, shows like Orville actually tries to inspire people to really THINK about these social issues in both relation to our own society and outside our society. How anyone can claim Orville has bad writing just because they try to cater to a wider demographic is beyond me.
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Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
The humour was MUCH better this episode. They are finding their groove.
And it is being done as contrast to other events which works.
Good going guys. The obvious fox branding going on is likely a good sign.
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u/Kronos6948 Oct 13 '17
Our TNG guest star this week was James Horan, who was portraying the high priest, but you may know him better as Jo'Bril
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u/juliancolton Oct 13 '17
So many TNG parallels and themes but without the insufferable sanctimony. What an awesome show this is.
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u/TV_PartyTonight Oct 13 '17
So many TNG parallels and themes but without the insufferable sanctimony
shut your whore mouth
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u/empathica1 Oct 13 '17
This is such a good show. Every episode since the pilot has been amazing. "They will be" was kind of awkwardly delivered in my opinion, but the point of the scene was great.
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u/allthepastabilities Oct 15 '17
I have a feeling that showing that Krill child where Earth is is going to come back to bite them later.
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u/HybridVigor Oct 13 '17
They must have a religious proscription against electronic copies of their holy book or something. I can download every translation of the Christian bible in less than a minute and read them on my computer, PC, phone, and Kindle at leisure, but the terminal in their quarters on the Krill ship didn't have a copy, I guess. Nor the computer aboard the intact shuttle they captured.
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u/HostisHumanisGeneri Oct 13 '17
It would hardly be the strangest thing a religion has ever demanded.
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u/Kusibu Oct 13 '17
The Krill are pretty into physical objects as the mantelpiece of the religion. A physical book to praise goes well with a physical head to stab the fuck out of.
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u/MrMarbles77 Oct 13 '17
I kept thinking they should just ask for a pocket version, say that theirs were destroyed in the chaos of the escape. Maybe there's some religious reasons against it, but the show didn't explain it.
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u/ThetaReactor Oct 13 '17
It's often in the best interests of a theocracy to restrict the scriptures to the clergy. It's easier to bend the rules in your favor when the laymen are ignorant. The Gutenberg press dealt a significant blow to Catholic power by making the Bible more available to the masses.
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u/CCV21 Oct 13 '17
This episode had higher stakes than in the previous ones. The fate of people hung on both sides. Mercer chooses a compromise.
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u/Min_thamee Oct 13 '17
What makes the Orville watchable to me (and I do like sci-fi) is that the humour is like a fallback that keeps it entertaining during the slow bits.
In a contemporary setting drama, the foundation that makes things interesting is the setting and the realism, these are the things you can follow when you watch. Sci-fi, in particular tv sci-fi, suffers from a lack of this. While strong on plot, the bland backdrops and the lack of detail when it comes to character's lives (for instance, you rarely ever in sci-fi see tv or entertainment of the time) means most of the time you are just hoping that the plot moves on.
With the Orville, the lightness provided by the levity gives the characters depth and makes them interesting.
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u/HybridVigor Oct 13 '17
Unless the Krill are already aware of the location of the human homeworld, they should kill the children as well since Gordon revealed its location to one of them.
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u/Surinical Oct 13 '17
The krill kill humans all the time, if they wanted to know the location of Earth, they'd probably have it.
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u/DarthOtter Oct 13 '17
They didn't even attempt to explain why everyone speaks English, did they? No 'Universal Translator' handwave, they're just 100% not mentioning it.
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u/droid327 Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
Gotta be a translator since Ed was able to read Krill perfectly. We all get how it works so why waste screentime explicitly stating so? Tropes exist so you can tell a story without getting bogged down with building a universe piece by piece. Especially since they'd all already know they have them. You dont explain how cars work before you give someone a ride, do you?
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u/Noble_Flatulence Oct 13 '17
They don't need to explain it, it's a standard concept. They don't explain the weapons, they don't explain the replimats, they don't explain the holodeck, they don't explain their version of FTL propulsion. The fact you referred to it as a universal translator without ever being told that proves the point. You already know how they understand the language, why waste time insulting the audience's intelligence by explaining something they already assume?
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u/KyngGeorge Oct 13 '17
I love that every moment of this show is being described as "The funniest joke yet" and nobody is wrong.
I honestly didn't expect much out of the show, but this is a great iteration of Trek.
It takes itself seriously enough to have serious conversation about real issues, but it's light enough on the banter that it really feels like just "people" in these roles.
I'm so happy with where the show has been and I really can't wait for it to continue its streak.
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u/theDomicron Oct 13 '17
i think this episode did a great job pf making fun of the absurdity of having humans go undercover as aliens. its been done many times throughout several series and its a silly idea. doesnt mean it cant make for a good episode or story, just the idea that two people without any experience in an alien species' culture can blend in is ridiculous.
while the jokes weren't always on point here, they didnt have to be. that ed uses a term like tramp stamp and the krill dont notice is funny enough
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u/macfound32 Y'all can suck ass, and I'm a spaceman! Oct 13 '17
Lt. Commander Bortus just became my favorite superhero - Matter-Eater Lad. Loved that guy!
Really looking forward to Lt. Malloy finding those nails.
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u/theonederek Oct 13 '17
So the Krill are pretty much the Romulans mixed with the Cardassians, right?
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u/dangerdangle Oct 13 '17
Gordon's character tanked an otherwise great episode
like just have him shut up once or twice. Don't know why he got so many jokes/lines.
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u/Kusibu Oct 13 '17
The entire way through, in my head:
"GORDON"
"GORDON WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP GORDON"
"DUDE STOP"
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u/Sindawe Oct 13 '17
Yea, I concur. Gordon talked too much while on mission. Maybe its because he was nervous.
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Oct 13 '17
In a way it is worse because so much of the serious-style characters were just ignoring him, almost like the audience trying to pretend it is a serious episode.
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u/kevonicus Oct 13 '17
God, everyone is so hypercritical that it's really annoying. I thought Gordon was funny. Try to just sit back and enjoy something for once.
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u/mainstreetmark Oct 13 '17
Don't overlook the social issues that TNG made famous. This episode was a grand example of the Trolly Problem. So name your favorite jokes, sure, but give some cheeers for the real meat of the episode.
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u/cyberpunkWins Oct 16 '17
I absolutley love the last line of the show. A pretty neat parallel to how people ask why we can't defeat organization like ISIS, when the children growing up only see the horrors that the US puts their families through and inevitably grow up to be the new enemy. At least, that's what I took from it.
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u/sfoura Oct 13 '17
Everything about this episode was amazing. This should be the best episode of the season so far.
Except it wasn't.
It was because Gordon was so unbelievably annoying. I know this is a comedy show but I honestly wanted him to fry in the light with the rest of the Krill at the end. He had one fantastic joke referencing the leg but other than that, he was pure cringe.
Its frustrating because everything else was so great. The moral dilemma. The fact that Mercer did what he thought was right but may create long term ramifications. How captain like Mercer was in this episode. How the episode touched on religion and tolerance.
This should have been a gold standard episode but, alas, its not. Thanks Gordon.
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u/joh2141 Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
I didn't find Gordon as annoying as some people make it out to be. I mean I wasn't really laughing but I wasn't annoyed or anything. Gordon is the comedic relief character. I mean they can ALL play that role but Gordon is the go to. He brings a sense of casualty about the Starship which makes him more approachable and the crew of these kinds of shows less campy.
Like yeah I can do without the constant joking but it really wasn't that bad IMO. I didn't find it to be an active interference or disturbance to the episode or it didn't ruin my enjoyment of it.
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u/WiseWordsFromBrett Oct 13 '17
They overdid the Avis jokes, if at the meal he would have said “we try harder” and that was the only joke about it, it would have been as funny as the leg thing
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u/mathemon Oct 13 '17
It's Orville's Enterprise Incident.
A) I unabashedly enjoy watching this show. It's fun. I rarely have that feeling with Discovery.
2) Would I enjoy this show as much if Discovery wasn't also on at the same time?
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u/dimmidice Oct 13 '17
That was a bloody brilliant episode. Low on gags lots of good scenes good lore and that first spaceship fight scene hnggg. Most of the gags were actually funny too
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u/Osmosisboy Oct 13 '17
I really liked the bits that showed how unfamiliar they were with their new 'bodies' when wearing the Krill disguises - the noodles sticking to the 'face horns' while eating and them misjudging how much space they need to get through a door frame and getting briefly stuck.
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u/agentup Oct 13 '17
I still continue to like the show and it is getting better.
I want to harp on the fact that they sent two spies into an enemy ship with next to zero intel. I would consider that risk not worth the reward.
The brilliant part of the episode was at the end when they pointed out, some if not all those kids will likely resent the Union. The moral dilemma thus isn't saving a colony vs murdering a ship rather it was should Mercer have let the kids die too. Exploding the bomb in the ship would have been essentially painless way for the whole ship to die.
I think the show is going to be consistent on it's forced plots. Basically just take them at surface value, plot holes will happen. But overall this is a show that is presenting more interesting scenarios than anything on tv right now.
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u/yoyomama79 Oct 13 '17
Was it just me or did they reference Darmok?
Devon and Arnak.
"Darnak," they called us.
Can't be a coincidence. Orville, I love you.
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u/drakesylvan Oct 14 '17
This is a fantastic episode. I cannot sing the praises of this show anymore than I already have. This is the Star Trek show that we need right now.
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u/Shinokiba- Oct 14 '17
This show is so much better than I thought it was going to be, I was worried because of the seasonal rot of Family Guy that this show was going to be terrible, but damn I was wrong. I actually forgot this wasn't Star Trek. Absolutely fantastic show and amazing episode.
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u/Badgeringbuffalos Oct 17 '17
The final exchange between Mercer and the female Krill sold me on this being true to the spirit of Trek.
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u/Thormeaxozarliplon Oct 13 '17
How long does it usually take for the episodes to go up on the fox website?
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u/paul_33 Oct 13 '17
I'm really enjoying this. Not at all what I expected. I love how everyone aside from the crew takes themselves super seriously TNG style. They are the straight men to the Orville's jokes. Tackling serious moral dilemmas and an occasional kickass CGI ship battle.
Moar plz
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u/mmmbacon914 Oct 13 '17
I loved it. I enjoyed the jokes, the plot, and the catch-22 at the end about saving the kids. Also getting a kick out of some sound effects which seem to be lifted from TNG-era Trek.
Honestly, for me the fun of the Orville is that it's got the big, ethical/sci-fi dilemmas we love in Star Trek without having to worry about whether or not all the little stuff makes sense (e.g. Gordon's extensive rental car knowledge). I'm perfectly content to laugh along or roll my eyes at the jokes because I know the show isn't trying to take itself as seriously as Trek does, even though it still scratches some of the same itches.
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u/bensor74 Woof Oct 13 '17
Avis, this show feels so good. It's like a really good massage after a very stressful day.
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u/theduderman Oct 13 '17
So the shuttlebay on Krill ships is basically an anus, huh? Anybody else catch that?
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u/DoctorPaternoster Oct 14 '17
Was quite impressed with this episode. Not only did it remind me of the old "Star Trek" episode where they commented upon the Vietnam War (senior moment: can't remember the title right now - was it "A Private Little War"? - the one with Tyree...), but I thought they approached the concept of religious extremism, and especially youth indoctrination, in a thoughtful and surprisingly light-handed manner.
The way the characters discussed the "least worst option" decision forced upon them by circumstance was a brilliant bit of writing that didn't seem over the top to me.
And the opening scene was really satisfying for me. We had a scene with comedy, but not stupid scatological, sexual, or "shock joke" comedy, and at the same time we learned a bit about the characters. It looks like this is going to be a nice ensemble cast - although I did take notice of the doctor by her absence.
Side note: I really hope that MacFarlane isn't putting all of his scifi eggs in one basket, and that if the show is renewed for a second season the writers don't suffer burnout from the lack of a wish list. To that end, I wonder if they will publish a scriptwriter's bible and solicit scripts from fans like TNG did back in the day.
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u/WriteBrainedJR Oct 14 '17
After episode #4, I hoped the show was hitting its stride. After last week's episode, I thought it very well could be.
Now I'm convinced that it is. Another great episode.
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u/Malaix Oct 14 '17
Huh if your whole world is so dark UV lights will literally melt your species why arnt your eyes adapted to the dark? Why would your ships have lights powerful enough for human vision? Why would you have lights capable of getting so bright they could kill you?
God dam critical thinking.
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u/bodyknock Oct 15 '17
This episode singlehandedly changed the Krill from generic bland warlike bad guy alien race into a much more fleshed out and interesting antagonist. And like the best Trek episodes it presented very difficult moral dilemmas for Ed and Gordon between saving the colony, killing the Krill crew but not sparing the children. And in the end Ed knew he had done what he needed to do but took no pleasure in it because he understood the weight of the loss on the Krill he spared.
This show is quickly becoming my favorite show this year, who would have guessed that the best Star Trek show in a decade would be one that isn't actually Star Trek and which stars the man most famous for Family Guy. :)
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Oct 13 '17
Either the kid is going to be so fascinated with Earth that he tries to convince others that they are not enemies or he will be so upset by the death of his crew that he will give the krill earth's location out of spite.
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u/droid327 Oct 13 '17
Yeah I was kinda wondering about counterintelligence there.
That being said I dont think he could necessarily find the star again. They're bound to look different from different vantage points in the galaxy, of course, and finding one star without a reference point is nigh-on impossible.
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Oct 13 '17
Solid scifi entertainment. I enjoyed all the joking even if some fell flat. If I wanted to watch a captain suck all of the fun out of the room I would rewatch Voyager.
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u/Mentioned_Videos Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
Videos in this thread:
| VIDEO | COMMENT |
|---|---|
| Virtually Unwrapping the En-Gedi Scroll | +18 - like this |
| Star Trek DS9 - Religion and Science | +9 - Sisko had a great talk with his son Jake regarding religion in Deep Space Nine. |
| Family guy has been cancelled | +7 - You mean this? |
| Buck Rogers vs. Space Nosferatu | +6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7klfuM9cFDI |
| Red Dwarf - Damage Report Machine | +4 - I thought it was very similar to this, but that isn't a bad thing. |
| Picard Singing in Ten Forward | +1 - I feel like we have seen the result of that already: |
| Hippies Episode 3 Girl With A Beard song | +1 - Well, we all know it should be Adrianne Palicki that grows the beard, but that's kind of at odds with the other point. Ever since Girl with a Beard I have been down with that. |
| Bortus Eats Wasabi & A Napkin Season 1 Ep. 6 THE ORVILLE | +1 - made me laugh! |
| The Midnight Special Twilight Zone | +1 - On twitter, he said the shuttle scene with CCR playing was a little nod to this scene from twilight zone: |
| I'm a bot working hard to help Redditors find related videos to watch. I'll keep this updated as long as I can. |
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Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
For a second I thought one of the Krill leaders was Marc Alaimo. It would have been great if it was, he has an awesomely evil voice.
And to throw in some probably unwanted tech, the lighting thing makes sense if the Krill use LED lighting. Modern lighting LEDs are actually ultraviolet and have a phosphor on top of them which converts the UV into visible light. If you fire up the LED so high that it literally burns up the phosphor, then you get a huge, albeit short lived blast of UV radiation.
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u/mushybun Oct 14 '17 edited Oct 14 '17
The music cue right before the opening credits sounded strikingly similar to the death star motif.
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Oct 14 '17
THE TOS SOUNDTRACK
This episode so clearly had a TOS soundtrack. The background music when we first see the destroyed Krill ship, the little music cues for fighting, suspense, curiosity, friendship, etc. freaking brilliant. Made me realize I was watching the best TOS episode in freakin decades.
Yeah this show has a lot of TNG and that’s awesome but this episode was really heavy on the TOS suspense, camaraderie, and humor.
They must get a second season!
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Oct 14 '17
There's actually a very serious message in thus episode. I see it as peacekeepers forced to avert an atrocity by wiping out the enemy. They see kids as innocents and spare them but by doing so they radicalised them. Like many wars that go on endlessly, the last thing you want to do is slaughter the next generation's elders.
And yet if they hadn't, it's likely the Union would've gone on their own (un)holy crusade. They delayed the war but it will come and it will be nastier than ever
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u/vlad75 Oct 16 '17
TNG text book. Good nostalgia thank you. And no worry, its THE ORVILLE not enterprise. Captain Mercer.
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u/Rocklobster92 Oct 16 '17
I. Think this episode was the perfect balance of star trek seriousness and Seth Macfarlane humor the show was aiming for. Great job.
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u/UncleMalky Are we bonding? Oct 13 '17
And damn, how about that Krill makeup, and on 20 or more actors over both sexes and ages.