Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

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Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Mikey »

OK, some weak points, but well done all things considered. Some of the "twists" were terribly obvious/tired. I could wish that a) Kelly was wrong, there was a completely different plot, and the whole "too good to be true" thing really didn't pan out; there wasn't a timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly reset button (perhaps Pria could have been imprisoned contemporaneously, leading to a possibly reappearance...); there wasn't such a simple temporal device leading to the aforementioned reset button and hackneyed moralizing.

The positives: a) the performances, including and especially Theron's; b) for the hackneyed devices, they were done well, and the "she's not who she seems" bit was drawn out better than usual; c) Yaphit actually has a job.
Also, I guess we know for sure now that the Union doesn't have transporter tech.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Liked it, but I have to say I thought it was one of the weaker episodes they've done.

It was supremely obvious that Pria would turn out to be a bad guy. Therefore the the whole segment devoted to showing us how nice and helpful she was, was a bit pointless because I never believed it.

Having an insta-romance with Mercer was also kind of cliche. I thought it was handled believably enough, but it was just kind of there.

And oh my god, how many times are we going to get "Jar of pickles / Alara opens a door" thing? It happened in the pilot, it happened in episode four on the alien spaceship, then it happened again in episode 5. I guess they're trying to make it into a running joke, but it seems like they are over-using it.

That said, I did like the practical jokes. I like how this crew likes to banter and joke with one another, it comes across as very natural. And I love that Isaac thought it was funny to take Malloy's leg off!

I also thought Pria had an interesting motivation for stealing the Orville, which worked for me. Liked the weird alien ship from the future too, and appreciated seeing a non-humanoid alien.

The ending didn't make a lot of sense. Destroying the wormhole meant Pria had never come back in time... so she vanished from the timeline? But wouldn't that mean that the Orville would indeed have been destroyed in the dark matter field? Not sure what happened there.

Oh, and nice to see them wearing civvies in their off duty socialising. You got the impression that TNG crews wore those things almost 24/7.

Small point... Mercer's quarters have a spiral staircase in them. So his quarters occupy two decks, which I thought was interesting. Presumably his bedroom is upstairs?

Interested to learn a little more about the ship - it can do more than ten light years per hour, which is over 87,000 times the speed of light. Considerably faster than Federation warp drive (TNG Warp factor 9.99978 by my estimate. Or TOS Warp 44.4!). I like that, it makes their travel times more believable.

Also interesting that their shuttle doesn't have the engine power to break away from a sun. Surface gravity of our sun is about 28 gees, so... are they limited to quite low sublight speeds?

All in all I won't say it is a bad episode. It was weaker, but I still very much enjoyed it. I find myself seriously jonesing for the next episode of The Orville each week! Love this show!
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by T'Pau »

Mikey wrote: Yaphit actually has a job
Yes, that was nice to learn, as I was beginning to think he was like the keyboard 'cyber cleaning' goo for the entire ship.

Theron could have used a better plot device, to utilize her acting chops. But I can see why her character was written in the way that it was, if for no other reason that it was simplified to get it to screen quickly. I hope when they feature Scott Bakula and Patrick Stewart, they get some meaty storylines to flush out.

I am still happy with the overall feel for the show as a whole. Each time I see the opening credits, I am reminded that this is what STDiscovery should have been, and I quietly applaud Seth for making something all fans of Star Trek can appreciate and enjoy!
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

I like that Yaphit got a job too - and what a great job for him! He can ooze into all the little nooks and crannies nobody else can fit into.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by stitch626 »

Hit and miss on all the points mentioned.

I really liked the shot zooming into the ship when they were at the party. Gives a nice feel of scale. I wonder if it is consistent with other shots (past and future) or if this will be a case of the Bird of Prey.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

stitch626 wrote:Hit and miss on all the points mentioned.

I really liked the shot zooming into the ship when they were at the party. Gives a nice feel of scale. I wonder if it is consistent with other shots (past and future) or if this will be a case of the Bird of Prey.
It is much easier to keep a consistent scale with CGI than with models - though of course The Orville is a real model at least much of the time.

I would really love to know how big the ship is supposed to be, though.

Oh, and another observation. Can Adrianne Palicki just wear the HELL out of a dress, or what?!
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Mikey »

Graham Kennedy wrote:Can Adrianne Palicki just wear the HELL out of a dress, or what?!
Indeed. Makes me wish that spin-off with her as Mockingbird had panned out.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Monroe »

I think 87,000c is a good pace. It let's them flush out a lot of the Galaxy. The Federation is really confined to a tiny little area in Star Trek. But on the other hand, it's still slower than Star Wars and their crossing 5,000 lightyears in a few hours. That leaves some frontier areas for them.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

An interesting observation on the little party. If you notice, all the humans are stood in a group talking - and both of the aliens (Alara and Bortus) are alone and silent as they watch everyone else.

I find that intriguing... was it just a coincidence? Or was it a deliberate choice, to imply something about cultural differences? Alara and Kelly seemed like close friends in the previous episode, so surely they'd have no problem talking at a party? Bortus doesn't seem to socialise at all, of course, which I find rather odd.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Monroe wrote:I think 87,000c is a good pace. It let's them flush out a lot of the Galaxy. The Federation is really confined to a tiny little area in Star Trek. But on the other hand, it's still slower than Star Wars and their crossing 5,000 lightyears in a few hours. That leaves some frontier areas for them.
That hit me, too. Obviously there are lots of speed nits in Trek, but the official scales really are far too slow to be reasonable even when the writers stick to them. Especially when you consider that Starfleet ships don't often run around above Warp 6, and civilian ships are usually slower still - either it takes decades to cross the Federation, or the Federation and other powers are absolutely tiny on a galactic scale. If the latter, then all the talk about "the fate of the alpha quadrant" becomes absurd. It also makes occasions where, for instance, DS9 personnel pop back to Earth for weekend visits look ridiculous.

In contrast, at 10 light years per hour, setting off from Earth, The Orville could reach any of about 250,000 star systems within 24 hours. In two days that rises to two million systems. They could do Voyager's 70,000 light year trip in nine months, and trips to other galaxies would be within the bounds of possibility.

So the Orville galaxy is comparable to the size of Earth in the days of sail, where visiting the far side of the world and returning would be a trip of a couple of years or so.

That feels like a good decision to me. The ships are fast enough to get around a sizeable interstellar society comfortably, or to get anywhere in the galaxy in a long haul - yet the galaxy is still going to be the kind of place that has plenty of blank spots on the map. Good storytelling possibilities.
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Re: Ep 5: Pria (spoiler-iffic!)

Post by Nutso »

Graham Kennedy wrote:An interesting observation on the little party. If you notice, all the humans are stood in a group talking - and both of the aliens (Alara and Bortus) are alone and silent as they watch everyone else.

I find that intriguing... was it just a coincidence? Or was it a deliberate choice, to imply something about cultural differences? Alara and Kelly seemed like close friends in the previous episode, so surely they'd have no problem talking at a party? Bortus doesn't seem to socialise at all, of course, which I find rather odd.
Bortus probably has problems with his spouse, and keeps his distance so no one asks about the spouse. Just a guess, though. I would prefer the implications of cultural differences because there's drama there.
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