The Orville [SPOILERS WITHIN]

The number of folks who caught the pilot on Hulu were pretty high, so it has a chance to hang around.

I liked the episode though I found the character arc for the girl (don't remember her name) to be predictable. I liked the solution and I thought it was pretty funny and a bit of social commentary.

That game was unusual because it ran long due to a weather delay. I adjusted my DVR record time so I got the whole episode.

Fortunately it looks like they're moving The Orville to Thursdays so football won't affect it (though baseball playoffs might).

I thought it was always the plan to air The Orville after the first two weeks of NFL football to get some lead in from the football crowd and then move it to Thursdays.

I'm not sure.

BTW, didn't anyone else notice that Braga is a producer on the show?

I didn't see that but I did see that he's the director for the episode that runs this Thursday.

I knew it but I was trying to avoid talking about Brannon Braga.

I'm also sorely disappointed that they didn't use the line, "Fly casual" when they had the chance to.

this episode was much better. To be sure it was paint-by-numbers on most of the plot points (albeit the resolution was both fun and not TOO "comedy" to take you out of it - kinda reminded me a bit of what Scotty did with the Tribbles)

I still don't think it's without issues but it's encouraging that maybe McFarlane had to joke up the pilot to please Fox and now he can relax into his Trek-rip-off grove without so much forced humor.

The one unusual thing about this episode that I think really sets it apart from Star Trek was the zoo part. Not that there was a zoo but that no effort was made to free anyone other than Ed, the XO, and that kid.

You just know in Star Trek they would have found a way to rescue everyone.

Well...Pike didn't save the other creatures when you think about it.

One of the things I have seen in the world of anime is parody series which pay incredible homage to their inspirations while also having a stand alone plot that would be interesting for the viewer who has never seen the material being parodied. One of the prime examples of this is Martian Succesor Nadesco. If you know enough about mechanical anime the series is a blast of references and even follows a timeline of ship design advancement that parallels the change over time of designs in the series it parodied. On top of that the series had a great plot and characters along with some fantastic surprises that made it a legend on its own merits.

It seems McFarlane is going that route. We will see if he can accomplish it. His knowledge of the material being parodied is superb as he is a highly knowledgeable nerd. His humor and ability to reference material are top notch as anyone can see from his family guy material. Aside from Seth green I could not imagine anyone better to make something funny and pay homage to sci fi awesomeness while also having its own stand alone quality. Seeing the first two episodes he seems to be doing a great job. It is not just parody, but he is also setting up character development. The second episode starts putting the junior officer in the spotlight while also giving us insight into the all male species, continuing on the relationship with his executive officer ex wife, teasing a upcoming plot point with the hatching of the egg, played homage to the pilot episode of trek while also being it's own plot, and had some good chuckles.

The only sort of complaint I have is that Seth speaks like Brian from family guy. So I keep expecting Brian jokes to come from him and if I look away from the screen I see Brian in his place. Aside from the I am looking forward to this and I really liked what was done.

This is exactly the thought I had.

This is Firefly all over again. Next they'll end up showing the episodes out of order...

List people you'd like to see as guest stars and what role they'd play.

Jeffery Combs - as an alien Captain in the Federation who despises Ed Mercer and is in turn also despised by Mercer. The ships captains competing against each other on a mission puts the mission at risk.

Colm Meaney - as an Admiral pining for the days when he could just be a simple chief instead of having gone to officer school.

Peter Jurasik - alien ambassador that Ed Mercer insults putting the Federation in danger of war with Jurasik's species. The insult? Ed tries to teach Peter Jurasik the Hokey Pokey. You put your right foot in, You take your right foot out, You put your right foot in, And you shake it all about, You do the hokey pokey, And you turn yourself around, That's what it's all about

So, the next episode is going to deal with gender identity. http://www.tvguide.com/news/the-orville-about-a-girl-exclusive-clip/

I think that was pretty implied by the teaser at the end of episode 2. Every person is a man in their society and now they birthed a girl.

Scientifically this would be inaccurate as it would be an asexual species that would have its own way of reproduction and would be genderless or gender fluid throughout. But I guess they will be hitting the social constructs of gender. F or the third episode that is a huge topic to unleash, but I do have some confidence in McFarlane. I know he has an understanding of the issues, and he has the humor chops and confidence to not end up half assing it. I will say right now it will offend some of the trans people because some of them are a little raw. That is for good reason, but I am looking forward to what he is going to do. I also have my thick skin ready and am aware he mocks everyone. It is like Dave Chapelle talking about transsexuals. I give him a pass because he plays a crack addict stereotype. He finds humor everywhere.

We will see. I am actually eagerly awaiting it.

Topics for the times!

The gf was annoyed by that cliffhanger. "How the fuck do they automatically know the baby is female, if all of them are male? They shouldn't even know what a female member of their species looks like!"

One more reason that in Star Trek or Star Trek like series I wish that there were no aliens. Or at least no sentient aliens. Or if there were sentient aliens NO HUMANOID sentient aliens.

There are non-humanoid aliens in Trek.

Some yes. But humanoid aliens predominate. Which in this day with modern CGI and other effects makes no sense.

And in The Orville.

Prosthetic makeup is still cheaper and faster than CGI. And honestly, I think that the laws of physics and chemistry are going to dictate that sentient life capable of interstellar travel is going to be vaguely humanoid.

Based on what? No life form we know of has even achieved interstellar travel yet?

Species 8472 had interstellar travel, so did the Xindi aquatics and insects as well as the Tholians and Gorn. Q and the Orcans also aren't humanoid, just to name a few.

It makes total sense that most sentient life would evolve along the same basic lines and would be humanoid.

Nope. In humans, our brains demand more energy than the rest of our parts. So, a centaur-like creature would need to consume lots more food than humans do, if it wanted to support a brain as powerful as ours. This puts a limit on the amount of limbs a sentient creature could have, without having a vastly more efficient metabolism than we do. Elephants, for example, have a neuron to body mass ratio similar to that of humans, but elephants have to spend far more of their time eating to support their bodies than we do. Part of the reason for this is that they are vegetarians, but another part of it is that they can't use fire to cook their food. Fire makes food easier to digest, as well as provides more nutrients, by breaking down the food.

For another example, take whales. Ignoring the fact that they have to spend vastly more of their time eating than we do, and their lack of hands, how would an aquatic species such as theirs develop advanced technology like computers without being able to spend time on the surface? Electricity and water aren't great combinations when it comes to computers. Or the various forms of life on a gas giant, like Jupiter, that Sagan speculated about. How does a floating gas bag develop tools?

Well that's easy.

If it comes out and it doesn't look like you than it's not a male. Odds are than that it is a female.

Fantastic episode.

Hilarious dick joke from the slime. What's his role on the ship anyway?

Loved how they solved the big rock is going to hit a planet in five minutes. Would have taken TNG a whole episode. (to be fair that rock was far bigger)

Messing with the holodeck without it trying to kill anyone! A Dance Off! "What?"

The Bortus and Klyden was well done. Was expecting Mercer to find a huge number of females on the planet but instead he found the planets greatest writer but Bortus still lost the case. It shows that change takes time but I expect we will see more females in Moclan society. I wasn't expecting him too lose.

The Moclan ship was cool. Whoever is making these ship designs it doing a fantastic job.

The jokes in this were far better than the previous two episodes.