Having now watched the first two seasons, here's a brief summary for each episode:
First Season
1x1 "Old Wounds"
Introducing Ed Mercer and how he obtains command of the ship. Immediately proves that this is a version of Star Trek that won't deify its captain/lead character, and that in itself is pretty refreshing.
1x2 "Command Performance"
First attempt at a regular episode, sort of Orville working on its Star Trek while also trading on Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy tendencies. Not the best example of that, but workable.
1x3 "About a Girl"
The episode that has come to define the series, both as its best and most influential episode, leading to several second season sequels. If you wanted to watch some but not all of the series, you might start with the first episode, or just skip to this one. If modern Star Trek fans demand allegory episodes relevant to the times, they will find this one about gender identity most surprising.
1x4 "If the Stars Should Appear"
Fairly routine Star Trek style episode. (Features a cameo from Liam Neeson, who co-starred in MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West.)
1x5 "Pria"
The only thing you need to know about this one is that Charlize Theron is featured in it. (She also co-starred in Million Ways. Great movie, by the way.) Also best early use of Isaac.
1x6 "Krill"
First episode I saw of the series; amusing running joke concerning the Krill god, who happens to be named Avis. Like "About a Girl," hugely important to the second season.
1x7 "Majority Rule"
After "About a Girl," best topical episode of the series to date, ruthlessly mocking the concept of social media.
1x8 "Into the Fold"
Isaac begins his arc as a adopted member of Finn's family.
1x9 "Cupid's Dagger"
Mercer and Grayson's relationship, which is like Picard/Crusher or Riker/Troi, receives a huge spotlight when Darulio (Rob Lowe!) comes back into their lives. Kind of responsible for the breakup...One of the highlights of the season.
1x10 "Firestorm"
Alara in one of those spotlight episodes you can find throughout Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager/Enterprise.
1x11 "New Dimensions"
Yaphit is one of the great characters of this series. But it's LaMarr who receives the La Forge promotion to engineering this episode.
1x12 "Mad Idolatry"
Sort of "meh" season finale. Still a weak imitation of Star Trek, which is Orville when it doesn't really know it actually has its own strengths.
Second Season
2x1 "Ja'loja"
The first of the many Bortus/Moclan episodes (too many in the season, this one being so pointless it barely even revolves around Bortus or the Moclans).
2x2 "Primal Urges"
The second episode of the season and...Bortus/Moclan again. Already. At least at the end of the episode we learn the connection to "About a Girl."
2x3 "Home"
Alara decides she's going to go back home. And she's replaced by another Xelayan, the deceptively strong species (heavy gravity) which provides Mercer his security chiefs (Alara was invariably used as a visual joke; she's replaced by a character who is just automatically accepted by the crew; by far the most awkward element of the series; but for my protests here none of it is actually too disruptive, and I really liked Alara).
2x4 "Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes"
The follow-up to "Krill," the familiar story of being stranded with the enemy and being forced to survive together. But it really works here, and will be used shortly to dramatically advance the Krill arc.
2x5 "All the World Is Birthday Cake"
A fairly awkward version of the familiar Star Trek religion question.
2x6 "A Happy Refrain"
Some great visuals make up for this weird retread of Data Is Going on a Date: Bortus with a mustache, the holographic human version of Isaac. Otherwise I'm not really a fan of the Isaac/Finn relationship. Like the worst aspects of Next Generation, not the best.
2x7 "Deflectors"
Another Moclan episode. Pointless, given that much better material is only a few episodes away.
2x8 "Identity"
The huge reveal of Isaac's robotic people, the Kaylon! Immediately plunges the series into "The Best of Both Worlds," a development that is second only to "About a Girl" in the budding reputation of The Orville as something greater than merely a version of Star Trek.
2x9 "Identity Part II"
I admit I didn't know how Isaac could possibly redeem himself. Part of that is because that part of the previous episode was handled poorly. But redeem himself he does in this one.
2x10 "Blood of Patriots"
This one's actually a kind of Andromeda (another "version of Star Trek series) episode, and an attempt to prove Malloy isn't just Mercer's frat buddy.
2x11 "Lasting Impressions"
Here's Malloy again in Orville's "Hollow Pursuits" upgrade, in which a lady's phone records are transcribed into a whole program. The season, and series, is officially blossoming.
2x12 "Sanctuary"
The best Moclan episode of the series ("About a Girl" is more specifically about Bortus himself), in which a colony of Moclan women seeks inclusion in the Union.
2x13 "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow"
Realizing Grayson has so often been left unexplored, this episode explores...two of her!
2x14 "The Road Not Taken"
Sort of the Mirror Universe episode, or the "Timeless" (Voyager)/"Twilight" (Enterprise) of the series. So a nice and totally unexpected way to finish out the previous episode's thought process. And a nice way to end the season.
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Showing posts with label The Orville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Orville. Show all posts
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Thursday, October 12, 2017
The Orville 1x6 "Krill"
the story: Mercer and Malloy infiltrate a Krill vessel.
what it's all about: This is the first episode of The Orville I've managed to catch. Like Galaxy Quest before it, Orville is both an homage to and parody of Star Trek. It seems to have been created in response to Discovery, which from the beginning was announced to be a dramatic departure from the Star Trek franchise. Whereas Babylon 5 ushered a floodgate of challengers in a previous generation of new Star Trek programming, Orville is the exact opposite. Actually, along with Discovery it signals an improbable resurgence of sorts of the kind of programming the Babylon 5 surge eventually ended, somewhat symbolically with the abbreviated run of Firefly some fifteen years ago (Firefly itself could be considered a literal interpretation of Gene Roddenberry's famous "Wagon Train to the stars!" pitch for the original Star Trek).
This particular episode even features the recurring Krill threat, another Orville parallel relevant to Discovery. The Krill, who sort of look like a cross between Deep Space Nine's Jem'Hadar and Nemesis's Remans, might otherwise be considered Klingon analogs, and of course the Klingons are at the heart of Discovery.
Obviously Orville has deep affection for Star Trek. It virtually is Star Trek. It's Star Trek with nitpicking commentary built into it, which is about as meta as you can get with Star Trek fifty years in. The nitpicking is the only real parody involved; otherwise it's just as if Seth MacFarlane gave himself permission to continue the Star Trek franchise as it has been traditionally known. The storytelling is more or less exactly the same. Mercer and Malloy find themselves in a moral dilemma where the Krill have developed a superweapon, and in order to prevent it from being used, they must decide whether to take out the Krill, or let them use it on an unsuspecting colony, basically in order to guarantee their own safety during the risky mission aboard the Krill ship. They end up killing most of the Krill, saving the children they find aboard, and a Krill woman Mercer has developed a relationship with. But the woman chillingly tells him that he hasn't saved innocent lives but rather created new enemies.
This is a twist that probably is only possible in the age of terrorism, in which the laws of cause and effect have been observed more keenly than perhaps ever before, how they take their time to play out, not merely action and reaction, but what happens with the next generation that has witnessed the sins of the past. Mercer makes the call that has always previously been considered the right one, but he's forced to accept that it maybe isn't as right as it used to be, so to speak.
It's fascinating. MacFarlane previously did this sort of thing with A Million Ways to Die in the West, which I think also worked extremely well on its several levels, but his fans, and audiences in general, will mostly think of him in terms of Family Guy and Ted. Which is a shame. I knew he was capable of something like this from his Family Guy Star Wars specials alone.
No matter how long Orville lasts (history doesn't favor Fox's patience), it'll be a worthy testament to Star Trek's legacy, and in some ways an expansion of it.
what it's all about: This is the first episode of The Orville I've managed to catch. Like Galaxy Quest before it, Orville is both an homage to and parody of Star Trek. It seems to have been created in response to Discovery, which from the beginning was announced to be a dramatic departure from the Star Trek franchise. Whereas Babylon 5 ushered a floodgate of challengers in a previous generation of new Star Trek programming, Orville is the exact opposite. Actually, along with Discovery it signals an improbable resurgence of sorts of the kind of programming the Babylon 5 surge eventually ended, somewhat symbolically with the abbreviated run of Firefly some fifteen years ago (Firefly itself could be considered a literal interpretation of Gene Roddenberry's famous "Wagon Train to the stars!" pitch for the original Star Trek).
This particular episode even features the recurring Krill threat, another Orville parallel relevant to Discovery. The Krill, who sort of look like a cross between Deep Space Nine's Jem'Hadar and Nemesis's Remans, might otherwise be considered Klingon analogs, and of course the Klingons are at the heart of Discovery.
Obviously Orville has deep affection for Star Trek. It virtually is Star Trek. It's Star Trek with nitpicking commentary built into it, which is about as meta as you can get with Star Trek fifty years in. The nitpicking is the only real parody involved; otherwise it's just as if Seth MacFarlane gave himself permission to continue the Star Trek franchise as it has been traditionally known. The storytelling is more or less exactly the same. Mercer and Malloy find themselves in a moral dilemma where the Krill have developed a superweapon, and in order to prevent it from being used, they must decide whether to take out the Krill, or let them use it on an unsuspecting colony, basically in order to guarantee their own safety during the risky mission aboard the Krill ship. They end up killing most of the Krill, saving the children they find aboard, and a Krill woman Mercer has developed a relationship with. But the woman chillingly tells him that he hasn't saved innocent lives but rather created new enemies.
This is a twist that probably is only possible in the age of terrorism, in which the laws of cause and effect have been observed more keenly than perhaps ever before, how they take their time to play out, not merely action and reaction, but what happens with the next generation that has witnessed the sins of the past. Mercer makes the call that has always previously been considered the right one, but he's forced to accept that it maybe isn't as right as it used to be, so to speak.
It's fascinating. MacFarlane previously did this sort of thing with A Million Ways to Die in the West, which I think also worked extremely well on its several levels, but his fans, and audiences in general, will mostly think of him in terms of Family Guy and Ted. Which is a shame. I knew he was capable of something like this from his Family Guy Star Wars specials alone.
No matter how long Orville lasts (history doesn't favor Fox's patience), it'll be a worthy testament to Star Trek's legacy, and in some ways an expansion of it.
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