In preparation for the forthcoming season of The Orville, c/theorville is having a rewatch party and you are invited! Yes, you can have beverages on the bridge as long as you keep it below the equipment and don't spill any.
Every Sunday, I will make an announcement post for each episode starting with the pilot episode, and continuing until the end of season 3. There should be enough time to go through the existing series before the premier of season 4.
Happy Arbor Day. Or as the kids say, You got wood!
WARNING: This thread WILL contain unhidden spoilers for The Orville episode "Old Wounds". You are allowed to talk about future episodes of the series, but put ANY information that comes after this episode behind spoiler tags.
The Orville season 1, episode 1 "Old Wounds"
Written by Seth MacFarlane, directed by Jon Favreau.
After a long wait, Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) is finally promoted to Captain and given command of his own ship; The USS Orville. Things are finally looking up for him until he learns that his new XO is actually his ex-wife Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki). To make matters worse, his first mission puts The Orville and its untested crew up against a Krill plot to steal and weaponize an experimental piece of Union technology.
Originally released: 10 September 2017
Check here to find out where you can stream or digitally purchase The Orville in your country. The Orville season 1 is also available on DVD.
What did you think?
This is the third time I've seen this episode. But I think this is the first time I've taken it seriously. I don't know if it's because of how much time has passed since the Star Trek Discovery vs The Orville zeitgeist or if I'm watching it with more experienced eyes, but this episode isn't nearly as bad as I remember it being.
I don't think I watched an updated or edited version, it is exactly as I remembered it. But I just don't have as much of a problem with its problems anymore.
One thing is clear, we're dropped into a universe that is very established. MacFarlane had already spent a lot of time fleshing it out by the time he was given a chance to show it to the world. We see several unidentified variations of Planetary Union ships before we even see The Orville herself.
This episode does have a lot of bad dialog. Either poorly written or poorly delivered. And there are a number of pretty funny mistakes: The Krill shuttles disappear and reappear during the firefight to escape the science center, the damage to the Orville disappears when the Krill ship is destroyed, etc.
(We also get our first stealth cameo with Rob Lowe as Darulio.)
This is still one of the weakest episodes of the series, but it's also an important episode to watch. For me, at least, it's not a chore to watch it. The plot is almost completely fat free and just as a classic episode of Star Trek would, it gets in and out. The visuals are still pretty impressive for an eight-year-old network TV pilot.
Third time for me, too. Similarly, I didn't really like it the first time around, but I liked it enough to keep watching and the show won me over after a few more. I was aware that MacFarlane was a longtime Star Trek fan and that helped: I'm not really a fan of his animated series, mostly finding them broadly watchable, but The Orville aligned more directly with my interests.
While the episode itself didn't quite satisfy what I was looking for yet and most of the comedy noticeably falling flat, the general vibe is good. I feel like we went a solid decade or so where all mainstream sci-fi was dystopian. I really missed this kind of optimistic futurism where people are, at bare minimum, doing better than us here in present day. That's not to say I don't enjoy the other kind, but it's not often in shortage.