[7.8/10] This was a ton of fun. It lives up to its Next Generation meets Rick and Morty pedigree, capturing the look and atmosphere of the 80s/90s Trek series nicely, while embracing the motor-mouthed, absurdist glory of the modern day cartoon well too. The two make for a better marriage than I might have guessed, and even my wife, who isn’t a Star Trek fan, really enjoyed it, which is a good sign for its appeal.
Being a big Star Trek nerd, I couldn’t help but enjoy the little touches. There’s amusing inside baseball gags about how many “ops” stations there are on the readout, fun bits about the warp core just being a big giant tube, and a plethora of Star Trek tropes the show pokes gentle fun at.
Plus, with the freedom of animation, you can easily unleash scads of the franchise’s aliens without having to worry about your latex budget. It’s nice to see that the ship’s doctor is a Caitian (a la M’Ress from the 1970s Animated Series) and Ensign D’Vana as (to my knowledge at least) the first non-sexualized/slave girl Orion woman we’ve seen in Star Trek.
Animation also lets the show casually do crazy things that would mean blowing the budget in live action. Explosive rage zombie attacks on the ship, no-big-deal spacewalks, and being “suckled” by a giant spider in the same episode allows the show’s animators to flex their muscles more than a bit and give us a colorful and visually exciting presentation beyond the nice storytelling.
That said, what really makes this work and promising as an ongoing series is the characters. The show does a good job at setting up a central contrast between Ensign Mariner, the commander-skeptical, Starfleet-doubting troublemaker, and Ensign Boimler, the by-the-book stick in the mud who envisions himself in the captain’s chair someday.
The dynamic between the two of them is very amusing, and there’s a nice little arc for them here, with Boimler cutting Mariner some slack despite her coloring outside the lines when he realizes she’s right about the senior officers’ obliviousness to the lower decks folks. The reveal that at least part of Mariner’s prodigious knowledge of Starfleet history and her attendant disdain for those trying to make it comes from her parents being high ranking Starfleet officers is a compelling one.
Likewise, the show does a good job of introducing the other two ensigns as well. The aforementioned Ensign D’Vana gets some nice shading as a new-in-town, idealistic recruit who’s about to get a snootful of what working on a Starfleet ship is really like, while maintaining her enthusiasm despite being thrown into a pretty gross crisis straight away. And Ensign Rutheford gets some laughs from his new Vulcan-made, emotion-suppressing, cybernetic implant, his “Let’s go on a date while the ship’s going to hell” routine with a colleague, and his being more interested in running Level 2 diagnostics than on a kiss.
This series premiere does a nice job of establishing each of the main quartet’s essential personality traits and likely conflicts, and it’s a gang I’m happy to spend time with on a weekly basis. At the same time, the show does a good job at setting the dynamic between the senior officers and our heroes, with the usual protagonist-type characters saving the day in a knowing fashion that’s familiar to Trekkies, while the show implicitly tweaks them for ignoring the hard working folks below who help make it happen and get no credit. That’s a fun dynamic to play with and has a lot of mileage in it.
Beyond the obvious TNG/R&M influences, there’s hints of other shows here. The tack of exploring less-renowned characters and their personal problems amid world-threatening tumult has the same flavor as “The Zeppo” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show also has a lot of Futurama’s DNA as well, with a more loopy and cynical take on the traditional Trek utopia.
On the whole, that’s a great mix of influences to have. “Second Contact” works as a pilot to set up the characters and premise. It works as a dose of Trek-themed comedy with subtle bits and humorous set pieces that play off expected tropes. And it works as an extension of the franchise, back to animation but also back to that TNG-era feel that’s so warm and familiar to fans like me. Definitely excited to see where the series goes from here!
After seeing some negative reviews I was actually pleasantly surprised. Right away it was exactly what I always wished and expected The Orville to be. Even the title sequence was pretty funny. And it wasn't at all dumbed down or Disney-fied as you might expect of a cartoon like this. There was some actual violence and swearing. It is almost like Rick and Morty meets Star Trek. Even if it's not amazing (only one episode so give it a chance sheesh), a cartoon that expands on and makes fun of Star Trek lovingly is something that I've always wanted.
quite boring and not funny. Not gonna invest more time with this show...
Lower Decks is a bad spoof of what used to be Star Trek made by people who ruined Star Trek for the next generation, dumbing it down so much it becomes a different beast of what it once was. The comedy in this episode isn't for me, it's simple and basic and not even the little nods to TNG and others can save it.
The main character is ADHD Michael Burnham on speed, unlikeable, annoying and clearly the main thing. The other introduced characters are the classic ensign who just happens to be depicted as the dumb dweeb. The other two are there for filling and to introduce their love-interest for some reason or the other.
The ending of the episode has them go into a memberberry rant to make sure for all those Trekkies and Trekkers that have been disappointed by the last 10 years of Nu Trek that this IS actual Trek... Unfortunately... it isn't.
This show would have been great in the 90's or even 00's as a (still unfunny) spoof (unless other writers were involved) when Star Trek was still revered. Now it's just an extra dump on what Star Trek used to be... It's ironic that the actual Star Trek spoof (The Orville) has received the status of actual Trek whereas this will only go down as another kick in Trekkies' balls/labia.
Also not a fan of the art-style.
That was a lot of fun. It captures the cozy feel of Star Trek: TNG and manages to insert genuinely good laughs without going against the spirit of the franchise. These characters have ambition and want to be better than they are, they are just stuck at the bottom of the ladder for now. Perhaps with the exception of Mariner, but as we find out she has her own reasons for being the way she is (and as she clearly demonstrated, she wants to help others - the most touching moment being when she stuck up for Boimler). At this point, she's emerged as my favourite character and I'm fascinated to see what her arc will be.
Not an amazing episode from a story point of view, but I really enjoyed this and can't wait to see what's in store.
The title sequence was fantastic.
And wow, they mined some deep canon references! Highly appreciated.
7/10
Good
Star Trek Discovery
Is the GOAT of the
Star Trek franchise,
It's a Flawless Masterpiece.
Star Trek Picard S3
Knocked it clean out
the ball park so with
that being said I finally
got round to checking this
out and for the first
10mins I was a little
thrown by it, it seemed
Like all them daft animated
shows that I hate with a
passion, then I was thinking
God don't be like that
BS OV.
I was ready to tune out
and then the Star Trek
references started to
come in, and the
Green Girl got my attention
and I found myself warming
up to it.
I really liked it being
Naughty and Edgey
and straight up taking
the piss.
Good premiere and
I'm definitely up for
giving this show
"My 4 chance watch"
To see if it's worthy of
my time.
(So far So Good).
Very Rick and Morty vibe humour and animation. Fun episode but the stickler for protocol in me can't appreciate the captain's daughter dynamic. Her insubordination just wouldn't be allowed and she shouldn't stay in Star Fleet if she can't follow orders. But we'll see how it does.
The first ten minutes made me cringe. But after that I started warming up to the characters. This might be fun.
Kind of fun, good animation, didn't necessarily love the character dynamics. Wish there was an uncensored version available, censoring swears is just stupid in 2020.
what alien is rutherford's date?
A solid premiere of The Orville: The Animated Series, this one truly feels like Family Guy in space (though the humour is not as "dumb", thankfully, and it's actually quite on point). I really appreciated that, in between the funny bits, they managed to get a lot of Star Trek references, making this feel like a genuine Star Trek show. I absolutely loved how they make fun of certain Star Trek stereotypes, sort of breaking the fourth wall.
Can't wait to see the Klingon and the Borg animated!
Undoubtedly more entertaining than Discovery and Picard combined.
Felt like it tried too hard. It was okay, but I w really hoping for something special, not just meh.
They're probably still finding their voice and timing and stride, so I'm willing to give it a chance.
I want it to be good!
Unfortunately somebody startet killing Star Trek with Discover and it isn’t getting any better (although Discovery S2 was much better than S1, it still wasn’t good). Picard was simply boring (would have fit easily in a 2 hours special) and I don’t even know what to think of Lower Decks. Fast paced (in this regard much better than Picard) crap.
Seems like the Orville is still the only decent Star Trek at the moment ... :cry:
Cute; but it ain't "The Orville." I'm going to miss that show...
Shout by kmlVIP 4BlockedParent2020-08-06T10:35:20Z
Pretty good first episode. Nothing amazing, but it was entertaining.