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5 hours ago, Jay said:

The Orville 2x06 A Happy Refrain

 

Great episode!  Funny and touching.  It's actually quite nice and refreshing to watch a show with optimism and romance amidst all the usually bleak prestige dramas made these days.

 

The main A story that covered 90% of the episode was really good, and the B story of Bortus's moustache was absolutely hilarious, I wish he had kept it!  

 

The funniest moment by far was the Norm MacDonald cameo though, that was brilliant!

 

I think my favorite minor character on this show is Dann, the alien in engineering voiced by Mike Henry (voice of Cleveland Brown from Family Guy)

 

Extremely short score from Andrew Cottee this week, no surprise considering most scenes were unscored and most of the ones that were were scored by source music.  

 

My friend was in this episode and I missed it!   He was an alien horn player.  Fun trivia, he also played on the The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi sessions, so Orville is in very "sound" musical hands.

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52 minutes ago, karelm said:

  

My friend was in this episode and I missed it!   He was an alien horn player.  Fun trivia, he also played on the The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi sessions, so Orville is in very "sound" musical hands. 

I was wondering if the orchestra consisted of any of the session players.

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That was actually a really nice episode!

Funny, clever, positive; all good things in life.

(Ok... Perhaps not ALL of them...)

 

I was wondering who was the conductor who showed up in the episode.

Shame it wasn't Broughton, Debney or McNeely.

That would've been an extra-nice touch.

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52 minutes ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

I was wondering who was the conductor who showed up in the episode.

Mark Graham. He's the "head of music preparation" in pretty much every modern movie and TV show, including all of the Star Wars films since TPM.

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45 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Mark Graham. He's the "head of music preparation" in pretty much every modern movie and TV show, including all of the Star Wars films since TPM.

Thanks!

That's still quite a nice touch then. :)

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I've seen enough of McFarlane in other things to now not think automatically of Brian when he speaks, but it's going to take a while with Patrick Warburton's 'slobby' new alien crew member to not think of Joe every time HE does.   

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Well, he was only in 2 episode and he's gone now that Alara's replacement is in (and added to the main cast)

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Orville 2x07 Deflectors

 

Jeez, that was another incredibly good episode.  This show seriously just keeps getting better and better.  I love how it's not just pure escapist fun, but also doesn't take itself too seriously, its a great balance of adventure, humor, exploration, romance, AND an intriguing look at societal issues.  There's nothing remotely close to it on TV right now, and I look forward to it every week, and am never let down!

 

Kelly's new boyfriend was a total dud, him and Kelly had no chemistry at all, and I'm glad they broke up.  I wonder how long it will take for her and Ed to get back together or if he'll be the next one to get a multi-episode love interest.

 

I still am not warming up to Alara's replacement - Jessica Szohr as Talla - at all.  Part of it could be the terrible hairdo they gave her, which I'm pretty sure was done just so they would only have to put the forehead and ear makeup on half of her head.  But also, she doesn't seem to be a very good actress.  She delivers most all of her lines the same way.  I hate to say stuff like this, but I wonder if she only got the part because she used to sleep with Macfarlane.  Come back Hallston Sage!

 

Was that Bruce freaking Willis as the voice of that plant gift???

 

The main A plot was really really good.  I didn't see his "murder" coming at all and the way everything unfolded after that was quite good!  I don't know why Bortus and Moclan get more screen time than any of the other main characters, but I don't mind because all of his stories have been good ones.

 

Perfect amount of humor this week, the jokes about Isaac and Claire and the weird things that have happened on the ship so far were good funny scenes.

 

This week we got what is certainly Andrew Cottee's best score for the show so far.  The fun, trumpet-fanfare-filled cue for the deflector test was aces, and the cue later when they hunt for Locar was great too!

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Amazing that a comedy on mainstream TV would pursue a storyline where homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuality gets you locked up. Star Trek flirted with this but was never so overt. 

 

I didn't pay attention to the plant voice, and I'm not able to fast forward my on demand broadcast to return to that scene. 

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Just watched A Happy Refrain, my favourite episode of season 2. The Orville is BY FAR the best show on tv. I adore it as much as I do Buffy, Stargate etc. Seeing that Orchestra play in the episode itself and for a long time too, was glorious. Seth is a brilliant guy, and appreciates orchestras and classic hollywood so much. I was squeeling like a little girl when Isaac basically confessed his love for Dr. Finn. Just love love love the Orville more each day.

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I love The Orville too but it will never be the best show on TV (even the best comedic show) while The Good Place is still going...Orville is far more variable in quality compared to the consistent awesomeness of that program. :)

 

That said, I adored "A Happy Refrain" and it's not only my favorite season 2 episode, but my favorite episode of the show to date.

 

Yavar

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2 hours ago, Yavar Moradi said:

I love The Orville too but it will never be the best show on TV (even the best comedic show) while The Good Place is still going...Orville is far more variable in quality compared to the consistent awesomeness of that program. :)

Between the two of those...

I'll just enjoy them both! :D

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Tonight's episode... holy fucking shit. That episode took a dark turn halfway through. Was not expecting any of that. Won't say anything more until everyone's gotten a chance to see it.

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Just watched 'Deflectors.' A powerful episode, and a nice focus on Talla to get to know her more. 

 

It reminded me of the episode of TNG called 'The Outcast,' where the Enterprise visit a planet where the aliens have no gender. And one of them, Soren, is attracted to Riker, and confesses to him that she has female instincts and traits. And she explains that being male or female is considered disgusting and criminal on her world, so she, and others like her, hide their true feelings. In the end, her people find out and she is punished with a procedure to purge the female from her, which makes her basically like a drone. The episode really hit me hard when I first saw it. It was so far ahead of its time discussing gender identity and prejudice about it. Still one of my favourite TNG episodes ever.

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So I am late the party since I had trouble figuring out the schedule of The Orville this season but I absolutely loved Identity Part 1.  The visual effects and world building were excellent for TV and the score was fantastic (shout out to the Goldsmith nods and blaster beam).  The show itself was very much indebted to Star Trek The Motion Picture with its story of AI achieving consciousness and evaluating its creator as unworthy.  Very good episode with excellent writing, special effects, score, etc.  More of this please and I think this show will assure itself in TV sci-fi history.  In a slightly humorous way, it reminded me of the great sci-fi animated series, Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet".  Another fantastic series very much worth exploring if you aren't already familiar with it.  Great sci-fi mixed in with comedy/lovable characters.

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I THOUGHT I was hearing the 'Darkest Day' homage in there. Completely agree, I cannot get enough of this show. I've already had quite a few emotional reactions to events this season, and it appears we're just getting started. Also, I was thrilled they finally let Gordon sing! 

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I had to laugh when I heard Willow during the landing sequence. But I was on the edge of my seat with my hand on my face from the boarding sequence to the very end. 

 

I am very disappointed that Xfinity on demand had neither Identity nor Deflectors on Friday night, and watching Fox's website through my smart TV's web browser was unwatchably laggy, but fortunately Hulu had it the next day. I wonder if they carry it the same night after airing, or if they need to wait for it to air in Hawaii. 

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Yea Horner's danger motif showed up with made me smile

 

I watch The Orville every week via Hulu and it shows up by my lunch break on Fridays

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Just watched Identity Part 1.

 

OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm saying it right now. I LOVE the Orville as much as Stargate and Star Trek, and I've been watching those all my life (29 years) but The Orville has only been on for not even 2 seasons yet.

 

Every week I am so excited for each episode. It's an event every time for me. I just smile throughout the entire 45 minutes, but tonight I was in horror! Never saw that coming. When they were stood in shock, I was guessing maybe they experiment on different lifeforms to study them, but when I saw all the dead bodies. Holy shit! 

 

During that long and amazing fly through the city to land as they arrived on Kaylon, I thought to myself "huh, that kind of looks like the Matrix and its giant mega cities of computer systems that Neo visits and talks to the giant robot baby head." And damn they ARE the AI in the Matrix. They did the exact same thing and exterminated the life of the planet.

 

I loved it when they said "Coexistence is impossible." A nice nod to "Resistance is futile."

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2x09 Identiy, Part 2

 

A good, but not great followup to last week's terrific episode.  The biggest weakness, I think, is the high "reset button" feel to everything by the time it was all over.  Nothing REALLY changed for our main characters - sure, Claire and Isaac's romance is over, but that only began 3 episodes ago anyway.  Other than that, the only real lasting change is now the Kaylons are another bad guy species, just out there waiting pop up every season finale or sweeps month for another big budget spectacle episode.  I wish there had been more to it after the immense buildup we had last week, where it felt like sweeping changes were really incoming.

 

The other nice aspect was the Krill angle, how they became temporary allies (although they were convinced a little too easy and left a little too early imo).  Of course, it was not a surprise at all that Isaac eventually turned on the other Keylons, (I mean I predicted as much last week in my post), but I really liked that that aspect wasn't the only reason the good guys won; it was just as much Yaphet and Tye's message to the earth fleet, and Gordon and Kelly's trip to the Krill fleet, that all combined to save the day.

 

It was also a bit of a bummer that Isaac was able to so easily de-activate every single Keylon on board, which also meant we lost every Keylon that we had seen talk, so the entire final space battle only had human and Krill pilots shown, with no humanizing of the remaining Keylon ships and their pilots at all.

 

McNeely's score was good, and exciting, but not as special as Debney's part 1 score. Why in the world couldn't they have planned it out for the same composer to do both parts, and have some recurring themes that played through both episodes?  Season 1 had many episodes with strong themes that recurring throughout their episodes, not sure why Season 2 has less of that.

 

Overall, still very good, I still am excited for the show every week, but just a bit disappointed that after the high water mark of part 1, part 2 was just "just" a good episode, and not a special one as well.

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I totally agree with you Jay. I guess they had to rush the ending to not make it a 3 episode thing. But overall not bad. I was wondering why I wasn’t getting the same vibe music wise as last week. But then I saw McNeely did it. It wasn’t bad, but as you said, not as good as John’s score, which was fantastic.

 All in all, I think it’s a show that deserves as many seasons as the best ST shows. Visual effects were stunning for a tv show.

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It's the same problem with the greatest two-parter in the history of Star Trek. The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1 set the bar so high that Part II just couldn't top it. 

 

I expected Isaac's defection but still cheered as it unfolded. I didn't expect the Krill cease-fire. 

 

I would LOVE for this show to resurrect Carlos Bernard's character as an evil character, in true 24 fashion. 

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Yea that was cool to see him, I saw the actors name in the opening credits and when he popped up I was like damn, he old now

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I agree with your basic sentiment, Jay. It just kinda 'petered out'. We were promised something more than what we were eventually given. But a lot of money must have gone into the CGI space battle.

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I too was hoping for more of a permanent or lasting change to the story. For a moment, I actually wondered if Gordon was going to be killed or captured during the final battle. They've thrown a few legitimate curve balls this season, so it wouldn't have been too much a stretch for me. There were some marvelous pre-commercial-tension build-ups with the orchestra; and I thought the battle music was pretty thrilling. But definitely agree that the entirety of part I's score was superior. It was wonderful to behold Ty's bravery; I LOVED that for once, Yaphet wasn't screwing around-- he was 100% serious and protective of Ty. There's something about those sparing moments, in a show like this, when the characters step out of their quirkiness and become sincere, that is very touching. And as for the final battle-- it was pretty awesome that they waited until this far into the second season to give us a battle of this calibre. There have been skirmishes, of course; but it was a slow burn to get to a full on dogfight /cruiser battle, which makes it all the more spectacular. Seeing Ed upright and focused in the Captain's seat, everyone at full alert and fighting hard--- loved it. The Kaylon ships arriving to Earth, and the ENTIRE Untion fleet awaiting them-- made me cheer out loud!  As a result, I was on the edge of my seat. I thought we were gonna lose Halsey! 

 

Not QUITE the payoff I hoped for, but I still loved it. And I think this two-parter cemented a 3rd season for us. 

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Yea, the 2 parter and general quality of season 2 seems to be creating some buzz, I saw some general "one of the best shows you're not watching" type articles fly by in the recent week

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27 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Some random person on Twitter said it, it must be true!

Hardly. I don't read 'SOME RANDOM PERSON' on twitter. That is for fan bois.

Its rratings have dropped dramatically and its on the bubble.

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Nice try, Joe

 

Despite the fact that its same day viewing is down year-over-year, that show continues to perform well in delayed viewing and still appears to be on track for a third season renewal

 

Source

 

And yes I will be sad if it is canceled.  It is the show I most look forward to watching every week currently.

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Loved Identity Part 2. My favourite sci-fi shows ever (Stargate, Farscape, Star Trek, Firefly) are never about Space Battles, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't react like a giddy little kid when big ones like this one happened. Battlestar Galactica is also one of my favourite Sci-fi's ever and that had the best space battles ever crafted in my opinion. They were works of art, yet still that show was about the characters more than anything. 

 

The Orville balances characters and action perfectly, and makes us care so much. For example, when they destroyed that Union ship that Ed gave the secret code to, I was absolutely pissed right off. I hated the Kaylon for all the death they caused to brave Union crew members. Screw their robotic asses for that. 

 

Overall I loved this episode. (Surprisingly, like I do every damn episode I've seen.) 

 

Random question; did Isaac know that the Kaylon always intended to destroy all biological life? Like before he was assigned to the Orville? Therefore he was always an undercover spy, or was he an unknowing participant, where he knew why he was secretly there, but not the genocidal intentions of the Kaylon?

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