Ep 8 : In The Fold

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Graham Kennedy
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Ep 8 : In The Fold

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Another weaker episode, I thought.

I do appreciate that the show is letting us know more about the different characters by doing episodes centred around people other than the Captain. But alas, the Doctor just really isn't that good of a character. And frankly we don't learn all that much about her here. We do learn that she has kids, and that she is a single parent by choice, apparently having conceived through artificial insemination.

But beyond that, all we really learn is that she and the kids bicker a lot, but that they love each other deep down. And I'm afraid "mother loves her sons" isn't really that much of a revelation. Had they done more with it it could have been interesting - for instance, what if the kids resent her because they don't have a father? Maybe they see other kids with fathers and got jealous? Then have her explain to them - and us - why she did it the way she did, and they could have come to some sort of understanding about it.

As it is, it's just breezed off as if it's just something some people do. Which you can do, sure, maybe that's just how Human civilisation works. But it leaves the episode without a whole lot to talk about.

One wonders if the kids live aboard the ship with her. We already know Bortas has his husband aboard, so it seems that the Orville follows the TNG line of families aboard ship... along with all that brings in terms of throwing children into harms way on a constant basis. We've seen this ship come close to being destroyed in battle with the Krill three times in the space of eight episodes already. Kind of weird to think back on those times and picture a couple of dozen kids running the corridors, isn't it?

Also we get our first Orville speed nit. The anomaly threw the shuttle approximately a thousand light years, and Isaac says it could take the Orville weeks to get there. Well according to Pria the ship can cover more than ten light years per hour, so actually they could cross that distance in a little over four days. In two weeks the Orville could cross several thousand light years. Not that big a deal, but little things like that annoy me because it's so easy to get right - and four days would serve just as well as weeks for the plot purpose.

We also see Isaac at work a lot, but again, we don't actually learn a whole lot about him. We find that he can speak in other people's voice, which is pretty mundane for an AI lifeform, and... well, that's about it. Why not let us know a bit more about his society? We've been told that his people are notoriously racist about other life forms, but so far we haven't really seen anything to justify it. Show us some of that.

Or let us learn a bit more about why he's studying humans - like say maybe there's a debate amongst his people as to whether to interact with Humans and the Union at all, and his study is intended to sway that one way or another. And imagine if the point of his study was to convince his people to break off contact with us because we're inferior! That would be genuinely interesting, and could be revisited in future episodes as he gradually changes his mind.

Oh, and in passing, the Union is apparently going to step in and assist that planet. Further evidence that their non-interference rule is something applied when they think it's needed, rather than being a blanket policy.

All in all, not a terrible ep but a weak one, and something of a missed opportunity.
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
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Re: Ep 8 : In The Fold

Post by Monroe »

I enjoyed it but I agree, it's kind of a filler episode. Though I will give the actress props. I didn't think she was a young woman in DS9 and here it is twenty years later and she's more active than she was in that show. I don't know her age but she did well. Good acting on her part too.

It looks like their prime directive can be superseded by Admiralty alone. This is twice they sought an Admiral's permission so I think that's good enough for a rule on who can allow them. I think the episode with the space ship could questionably not fall under that rule because they were already on a space ship.

The speed limit thing irked me some too. The statement about 10 light years an hour I would say is more canon because it was in a part where they were describing the specs of the ship whereas Isaac was in casual conversion and could be explained away as exploring nearby solar systems, etc.

One thing that was interesting is how close uncharted space is to the Union. A thousand light years isn't far when you're talking about the speeds they do and there was a Union amusement park right there. The Union seems to be kind of haphazard about spreading out between this and the Krill episode with the farmers. It makes me wonder if instead the thousand light years was the mistake, not Isaac's comment.
How many Minbari does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. They always surrender right before they finish the job and never tell you why.

-Remain Star Trek-
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