The earliest example I’m aware of is the “visi-sonor” from Asimov’s works (in “The Mule” in 1945). Amusingly Asimov had a very similar device called the “sono-visor” in “The Stars Like Dust” (1951)
Agreed.
I forget the specifics, but at some point during this episode I remember thinking either some bit of dialogue or interaction was clearly written for Talla, as opposed to it having been previously written for Alara.
Possibly when Gordon goes to see her, but I can’t remember exactly.
Just gleaned from one of the review sites that apparently her fate will be dealt with in the next new episode, in two weeks’ time.
I’ve been thinking about the conflict we’ve been talking about between humor and trying to take it seriously as a work of original sci-fi. The biggest offender of that this episode was the delaying tactics for the diplomats. It’s hard to reconcile in the real world that if you treated the diplomats of a hostile race possibly open to discussing a peace deal in that way, you’ve just blown your peace deal. But at the same time, that scene worked for me comedically. The growing frustration of the humorless, angry Krill being asked for more and more ridiculous things was funny.
I think you just have to sort of turn off your brain and suspend disbelief when trying to watch this series for stuff like this. Because on one hand, it’s story-breaking when they compromise the main story for humor, but on the other hand I don’t want them to miss out on the humor because it’s implausible, we’d lose a bunch of funny scenes that way. There’s no real good answer to this, you just have to sort of turn your thinking off and let it happen.
It’s the willing suspension of disbelief, something required from any work of fiction, especially sci-fi. Okay, we’ll premed for this story that this one guy can fly and see through walls without turning into a pervert. We’ll pretend that there are explosions in space and that they make a sound even though is no air for which sound waves travel. We’ll pretend that Kaylons need red eyes even though they don’t since they don’t actually “see” anything. You’re right; in order to enjoy this show, you really have to suspend your disbelief as far as what’s required in a sci-fi TV show. I thought the rubber glove was hilarious without having to explain what was about to happen next. Whether it happened or not was irrelevant.
The bigger suspension of disbelief required (and the less in-universe consistent it is) the bigger the payoff for it need be. It’s a price (as it takes you out some) and the question is if the price is worth what you get for it.
Things blowing up just don’t feel so satisfying without a BOOM so we ignore the fact that we should not hear a BOOM and call those who point out that there really shouldn’t be one silly nerds. It doesn’t take many of us out of the story much and it adds enough.
The glove bit though was not funny enough to justify the price. IMHO. YMMV.
I’m of mixed mind about things in previews being considered spoilers (but I’ll try to respect it) but knowing that some here are that sensitive to such things was this post really necessary? At least box it.
They inserted the Orville ship into to the latest Family Guy.
Having both the urine sample and the rubber glove was kind of redundant. I would have been perfectly happy if the scene had been cut down to Talla asking “Mother’s maiden name?”, Ed demanding she stall them a few more minutes, then going straight to the rubber glove.
:o Simpsons did it.
I disagree that mentioning that a character with an unresolved story line (as commented in this thread) will appear in a future episode is unforgivably spoiler-y, but I’ll avoid any future trouble by just staying out of the thread. Cheers.
If one is really concerned about seeing spoilers (including the “next week on” variety) then the solution is really very simple: don’t read the thread. Commenting on what has already aired, including making predictions based on what is currently known, is completely understandable in a discussion thread about a show. If I miss an episode, I stay out of the thread until I’ve caught up. I was also wondering what happened to yellow-nosebleed girl and I’m glad to hear her lack of resolution wasn’t just an oversight by the writers.
As far as that goes I am of similar mind but am willing to comply with a request that is so easy to comply with. I can box them easily if I remember to.
But my comment was not about something that had already aired or simple speculative prediction but (claimed) knowledge from another *not aired *source, a spoilery review site, about a future plot development.
Me? I don’t care about spoilers. But sharing that sort of information knowing that some here don’t even want to know about trailers seems like jerkish behavior to me.
And if someone wants to flounce because that behavior was criticized? Fine with me too.
I was half-expecting a Frankenstein head to show up when she did it.
I defend the humor of this show 80% of the time. The rubber glove thing was an example of the other 20%. It was like something out of “Airplane” or “The Naked Gun”, which is not the type of humor they use most of the time.
Every time this comes up on any site, there are always people who take this hard-line attitude. There are also almost always others who share my personality type: we really enjoy the show, and want to talk about it with people, but don’t want to see the “next week on” previews, nor do we want to hear them described. We love the shows in question, and feel they are partly ruined by those things.
It’s not much different really than people talking about the first few seasons of “Game of Thrones” and not wanting those who have read the books to reveal upcoming plot points. And even if you find it strange that we feel this way, you can be considerate to our feelings simply by boxing discussions of the previews/spoilers. One wonders what the motivation is to so aggressively desire not to do this. 
That’s what spoiler boxers are for, to give information that some people may not want to see and others will, so that would be right along its intended purpose. So it seems like it would just be courteous to box anything about future episodes, even if it seems a bit silly to their sensibilities.
Considering Mercer’s “girlfriend”, I would have liked a bit of dialog showing that they at least considered that Orrin was a Krill in disguise. Let alone his “daughter”.
I liked that the last line was Gordon saying to the effect “nothing will damage our friendship. Except maybe a cute girl.” Then the trailer for next ep has him involved with a cute girl.
The Doctor med scanned him right off the bat.
And then, just in case anyone missed it, you go ahead and quote the offending spoiler. Kettle meet pot.
mc