ALL SCI-FI

Custer · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 7:30 am Post subject:

Adrianne looks good in a little black dress... Very Happy

It may be a little unfair to compare an sf tv series to the Guardians of the Galaxy, as they are rather different beasts. Episode five seemed pretty strong; Seth and Charlize have history together, as they starred in his "A Million Ways to Die in the West" - which also had a time travelling aspect in a cameo. Charlize still looks good to me at 42; one could say she deserves a medal for that, and I'd be glad to give her one.

Having a time traveller from the future worked pretty well and was more original than some previous ideas, though there was a slight echo of the film "Millennium" perhaps. However, the idea that just destroying the time-gate would put everything right seemed a bit too simple...

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 8:53 am Post subject:

mach7 · Quantum Engineer Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 341

Might I respectfully disagree Bud.

I can't speak to the GotG movies. I haven't seen them.

And everyones take on entertainment is inherently personnel.

But,

I don't think "The Orville" is meant to truly be a comedy in the style of "The Family Guy" or "Ted". I think it's trying to be everyman's science fiction. We all use humor to some degree in everyday life, But real life isn't "Seinfeld".

The humor seems crude at times, but over all real. The Orville is not the Enterprise, it's not a flagship. Just a midlevel ship staffed with ordinary people reacting like ordinary people.

I agree the writing will need to step up a notch if I will continue to watch long term. So far the stories, while entertaining, are far too contrived, derivative, and clean. The notable exception so far being "About a Girl".

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:19 am Post subject:

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Based on your statements, it sounds like we actually agree about the nature and quality of The Orville.

We all heard that the series was "a spoof of Star Trek" before it premiered, but that turned out to be incorrect. It doesn't try to be a comedy, it just includes humorous moments that could be described as "irreverent".

However, I don't disagree that the humor "real".

A robot that thinks a good practical joke is to amputate a man's leg is pretty "over-the-top". The rest of the humor (which I agree is sometimes crude) needs to be funnier if they expect the audience to accept the way the narrative switches back and forth between serious and funny.

Otherwise the humor just seems like an unwanted interruption in a story which the viewer wants to take seriously.

My complaint with the humor is similar to the dissatisfaction we both have with the stories themselves — neither the humor nor the stories are as good as they should be. I'm not saying that humor shouldn't be included in this sci-fi series, I'm just saying that humor which is unsuccessful isn't a plus.

It's a minus, an unfortunate interruption in our "suspension of disbelief".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

mach7 · Quantum Engineer Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 341

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:29 pm Post subject:

Custer · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:32 am Post subject:

Time for another picture, probably - and with Charlize Theron involved, who could complain? Hey, it was either this one or the lift, er, elevator, scene.

Even the victim eventually agreed that Isaac's attempt at a practical joke was a good one... with the technology involved, there was no pain or lasting damage. And his joke on Isaac earlier, adding "Mr Potato Head" pieces to Isaac's head while he was recharging, was very funny. Very Happy

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 10:11 am Post subject:

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Okay, guys, ya got me!

I guess I've been too though on the humor in The Orville. It certainly isn't ALL bad.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Custer · Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:31 am Post subject:

I must say that I was very impressed with the latest, seventh episode. They took the old Star Trek idea of visiting a planet with uncanny similarities to Earth, and did something that comments strongly on life as we know it today.

With the whole populace "voting" on videos taken on phones and uploaded to (the local equivalent of) YouTube, giving positive or negative feedback on, say, someone fooling around dancing with a statue or failing to give up their seat on the bus to a pregnant woman, and people going on chat shows to try to apologise or justify their actions, it all seemed very close to home - though, of course, with a twist. Thinking afterwards, I tentatively entitled the episode "Planet of the Social Media" - but later I amended that to "Planet of the Apps."

One minor change I would have made would have been to change the voting system so that positive votes counted as well as negative votes - instead of 10,000,000 negative votes closing the contest, surely the positive votes should have been subtracted from that, even if that lowered the target figure? It would have made the last-minute attempts from Isaac to affect the voting more direct and believable...

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:55 am Post subject:

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The weakest part of that episode was the way the "away team" went down to the planet so poorly prepared — which result in near disaster. They had no idea how that wacky society worked!

And the scene where one the characters said, "What's money?" before they went down was pretty silly. Just how far into the future does this show take place? Money, in one form or another has been around for thousands of years! That's a little saying, "What are books?"
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Krel · Guest

Gord Green · Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm Post subject:

Or perhaps the "money" line was meant to be sacastic.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:00 am Post subject:

Custer · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:25 am Post subject:

Well, Mr Spock has been known to disguise his pointy ears under a woolly hat... taking someone super-strong along could have been useful. But those two researchers must have done enough research during their time there to be a bit more alert on public transport, one would have thought. And it was surprisingly easy to get those up-down badges on the black market!

The money thing was a bit simplistic. One might assume that our intrepid voyagers were so used to everything being done electronically, that the idea of cash didn't occur to them. After all, doesn't Amazon today have some sort of project where you just go into their shop, pick stuff up, and walk out with it, with the cost of your acquisitions just coming straight from your credit card...?

Anyway, it was still a strong, thought-provoking and timely episode. Wink

Krel · Guest