Science Fiction

I loved it. I thought the actors did a great job with some of the more sensitive content. It was pretty generic in general, but I didn't mind that. I like shows that don't take themselves too seriously.

It felt way more like Star Trek than the Star Trek being made at the time (primarily Discovery). Though I do like Strange New Worlds and think it's more in the right direction, The Orville still feels way more like TNG-era Trek.

Now we just need a Galaxy Quest / Orville crossover to really confuse everyone.

I expected the Orville to be a funny homage to Star Trek. For a short time it was just that. Actually a randy one with too much toilet humor. But then suddenly they became serious SciFi. Which I consider a bold move and mostly but not utterly a successful one. And in hindsight, it would have been hard to deliver good SciFi-Humor for more than one Season except if they went the Futurama-Path.

The part of the funny homage to Star Trek nowadays has been taken by Lower Decks. Humorwise it beats everything Orville had ever offered.

Orville is good. Not great but worth watching. They had some AMAZING episodes with depth and ideas among the best ST-Episodes. But they also had a lot of mediocre episodes. Still Better than ST-Discovery for sure. Even surpassing ST-Picard. Which is something Seth can be proud of.

Orville started when there was no Startrek and no serious Soap-SiFi at all (The Expanse is something different).

For me it is "Startrek when Startrek wasn't" and basically revived the Franchise it wanted to make fun of.

I like it.

Always thought the whole parody aspect was just a means to get funding to just make a regular star trek series in disguise. If someone would just give the man money for exactly that we would have an awesome star trek series.

I really liked it.

The early seasons were less serious than later ones. But overall, it did well with serious social issues and addresses some very relevant topics.

The storyline with Topah was absolutely amazing. At every step, each character was portrayed well, and respectfully. It's rare that there is a story like that that still has conflict without having a clear villain.

The time travel episode with Gordon was also especially brutal with some great performances from everyone on screen.

There were a few misses. I found the Isaac / Doctor relationship... forced, even if it did bring us the best line in decades ("As I am incapable of stuttering, I must conclude that you heard me."). I also don't think I'm alone with disliking the Charlie character in season 3.

It's the best Star Trek show since Next Generation.

Kidding. I actually liked DS9 and Voyager

It's on par though.

Microwave reheated Star Trek. I feel like it started out being too humorous, hit the perfect balance, and then veered into trying too hard to be Star Trek. If your Star Trek parody isn’t a parody anymore I’ll just…watch actual Star Trek. Lower Decks filled the Star Trek comedy hole much better.

The Orville is my favorite Star Trek franchise. It's canon - you can't deny it. The Orville revived the Star Trek Franchise and gave it a pulse. It's like blockchain. You can say it doesn't belong, but it will always be there and nothing can change that. It has great attention to detail and decent story writing with that original "there's a moral in this episode" that endeared ST in our hearts, something the newer ST franchises lack.

After the first season, which was an obligatory “Star Trek Type Show Finds Its Feet” season, it really hit its stride to become the best Star Trek since DS9. Not in name, but certainly in spirit. So earnest, with a great message throughout. Sure it had some mediocre jokes here and there but so did TNG, let’s not forget. I was sitting around just the other day thinking how I missed watching The Orville

what star trek should be

It is the best Star trek show on right now even though it is not Star trek. Loved it. It reminds me of Firefly

I thought it was a parody at first, and it certainly treated itself as such in the beginning, but in the later seasons, it took itself more seriously, and I found it a more "realistic" take than star trek.

Star trek is awesome, don't get me wrong. But the captains were kind of "perfect", basically. Captain Mercer and his crew are all flawed people, in their own way. They make poor decisions sometimes, out of selfishness, pride, or whatever, and it's fun to see them deal with the consequences.

I loved it. Reminded me of my beloved farscape

we need a new season!

I didn't think the Star Trek formula would work with silly jokes instead of everyone taking themselves super seriously.
I was wrong.
Love it, way better than Spores-are-actually-the-Force-now-all-of-a-sudden-Space-Jesus

I generally dislike the typial Mc Farlane type of comedy and I don´t think it fit´s particularly well in a Star Trek like show. Beside that, The Orville is a really good show, way better than Nu Trek (with the exception of SNW). When watching The Orville I feel like I can tell that the people who made it actually like and even respect classic Star Trek - which is the opposite of how I felt when trying to watch DIS and PIC.

It was the Star Trek we needed before SNW and Lower Decks. Seth and the Orville are not universally appreciated but I doubt the Orville escaped the notice of the writers and producers at Paramount. The Orville charted a sometimes difficult and uneven course to the golden age of Start Trek we are currently enjoying and along the way made some excellent episodes and introduced some good lore and characters.

It was a breath of fresh air after the disappointment of Discovery and proof that there are people who still believe in Star Trek's optimistic vision of the future. I think for that reason I and many other fans gave it a pass for a lot of it's flaws.

My biggest problem is that I feel the social commentary is rather poorly done. I've gotten into some nasty fights on reddit for saying so.

I'll start by saying what I think it does well. It's good at humanizing people who live in an oppressive society and portraying their point of view.

But the ideas it discusses aren't especially original or insightful. The world building doesn't exist to support them. The Moclans might be a fine allegory for trans and intersex issues, but they only work as an allegory and make no sense at face value. And they're portrayed inconsistently to allow whatever kind of episodes the writers want.

I feel like one issue is that McFarlane does not share the ideals of Star Trek. I don't get the impression that he sees the value of non-interference, for example. But nevertheless, the Union believes in it because the Federation does. Politically, he's a more conventional thinker than the classic Star Trek writers.

I wish they chose their show's personality and stuck with it. I liked it when it leaned into the comedy, and I kind of liked it a bit more serious but willing to take on topics ST wasn't willing to. But It's really hard to accept the change mid way through the series.

Generally good though.

I thought it was the best comedic Star Trek until Lower Decks dropped. It's still the best modern Trek show as a regular Trek show, albeit a lot more goofy than it needs to be since it's made as a comedy first.

Up until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, it was hands down the best modern Star Trek (like) show. It’s definitely a little clumsy early on, but after a few episodes it’s very clear that Seth is finally fulfilling his childhood dream of doing Star Trek even if it’s his own version of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope season 4 happens.

It's the best Star Trek series since DS9.

I miss Alara, too. Lieutenant Replacement Goldfish isn't nearly as good.

It's BS that Yaphit got a medal for that business with the Kaylons but Ty Finn didn't. He was the actual hero there!

Dolly Parton cameo had me friggin' dying.

I'd describe it as a more irreverent version of a Star Trek universe with more realistic interactions among peers on the ship. A place where instead of it being an idealistic utopian society where everyone is a driven, passionate genius in their field, they're just people with jobs, have normal messy social interactions, and also sometimes deal with really big important political and military situations. They're capable members of the crew, but they still fuck around with their buddies like real people do. I find it refreshing, compelling and endearing. I love the Orville 90% of the time.

I enjoyed it at first, but I think season three was when the balance between comedy and seriousness made it fall apart a bit. Are we doing fart jokes or serious drama here?

Couple that with Seth driving off actors or elevating them to be main cast because he's sleeping with them, and my wife and I just couldn't get in to season 3. Thoroughly enjoyed the previous two light-hearted seasons with a touch of drama and trekiness.

I haven't caught up with the most recent season, but I really liked all adventures the crew went on. One thing I did remember wishing was for the show to drop the Ed and Kelly relationship subplot, since I liked the more friends and professional dynamic. And I miss Alara too, and wish she'd be part of the crew again.

Seth McFarland fixing his lonliness in space. Or Seth McFarland and the girl of the week.

I liked it at first, but felt the constant story lines about Seth and his love life to be a bit much. Tone down on that, give me more space exploration and less broken heart lonely man stories, and I might enjoy it more.

Best show ever. I almost peed myself when Ed Mercer tried to eat those stones in the first episode. Took me the first 5minutes of the first episode to love it. And it has so many good stories, etical dilemmas and thought provoking scripts. And I like the Moclans.

I was surprised by how good season one was. Season two was great fun. I hated season three.

I feel they tried too hard to make serious points and failed at telling good stories. They wanted to have big thoughts, but just weren't entertaining.

Like others said, the humor started out really awkward and forced, but I feel like they hit their stride by season 2

I don't think it'll ever go down in the annals of the greatest scifi shows I history. But as you say, it's a really excellent "comfy" show

Excellent show. It took a little bit to get it's tone, but half way through the first season it really hit its stride.

The third season of the show is some of the best sci-fi ever made with political and social commentary that rivals things like ST:TNG's "Measure of a Man" and DS9's "Siege of AR-558".

If you haven't watched Orville, you're missing out on some absolutely fantastic Sci-Fi. I'm only sad it's unlikely to get a fourth season, because it deserves it.

It was surprisingly good. I enjoyed it a lot. Didn't think I would but it's much better than Picard, such a boring show.

Blatant self insert early TNG fanfic. If you liked (or even wrote) that kind of thing in the 90s, you'll like Orville.

Great show in my opinion, liked season one and season two, while not so into season three until Charlie died. Definitely the highlight of that season.

This is a good show that is trying very hard not to be a great show. I would love to see it explode with popularity more than it already has.

While I don't regret watching it—and I'd probably even throw on a new season if it gets one—I felt like it was missing any true classic episodes. I also kept having this strange sense of familiarity with episodes, as if it was just repurposing or rehashing older Star Trek plots.

I kept thinking, "Wasn't there a TNG/DS9/Whatever episode that explored this same general concept/idea, but better?". It felt like it was maybe borrowing just a bit too much from it's inspiration.

Put me in the "like it don't love it" camp. It is very clearly Seth MacFarlane's love letter to 90s trek, pulled some good ideas from that era's writers, and has more heart than it seems in the first couple of episodes. Some of the character work is actually quite touching, and it seems like they're having fun with the show, so it's rarely a slog. Overall though, it is way too uneven to be great or even really good.

Seth is not a great actor, and several members of the cast are MUCH worse than him. The set design, costume, and prosthetics are pretty weak, and Seth's sense of humor just doesn't work for me, so in a context where he's trying to find the right balance with a Star Trek show, it hits even more awkwardly. It's also very specifically SETH MACFARLANE'S love letter to Star Trek, so there's way too much emphasis on 1980-2000 American pop culture, and I say that as someone who's only a few years younger than him. It's distracting how narrow the set of references are in a show that traffics in them so liberally.

There's also something just a bit off about the messaging of many of the more serious episodes, like Seth feels a need to come down on a definitive answer to the moral questions that come up. I dunno, I am having trouble recollecting specific scenes, but it's lingering feeling I have. I almost imagine 20-something Seth in a dorm room at RISD screaming at Picard that he should have just shot that Romulan!

I named my kid after one of the characters.