# The Orville-Seth McFarlane **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814 "2017-05-17T03:28:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 47
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/921 "2017-10-13T20:37:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > China in the 60s and 70s. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/922 "2017-10-13T20:48:31Z")
I flat out loved this episode. Sure, the initial incompetence of the navigator dude in trying to blend in bordered on grating, but other than that, this was just great from start to finish. And it ticked back up to a 1.0 in the demo! First time it has gone up from one week to the next. If it can stay at a 1.0, it should be in good shape. Anyone notice how Mercer cranked up the badass, Kirk style, this episode? Not only was he showing some strong moves in hand-to-hand combat, let’s not forget the beginning of the episode when he came up with a brilliant and creative maneuver to defeat the much bigger and stronger Krill ship. Meanwhile, it continues to look like they are setting up a love triangle with Alara, Mercer, and Grayson. I’m down for that. > [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I appear to be part of a minority of people who enjoy _The Orville_, but are otherwise ambivalent to both Seth McFarlane and _Star Trek_. That definitely strikes me as a narrow slice of the population, but you’re welcome–more the merrier! 🙂 Personally, I’m ambivalent to McFarlane, but a definite “Trek” fan. > [@Mijin](#): > > Also: really shocked that Discovery has had a very positive critical response on rotten tomatoes and Orville had a very negative one. > Clearly they understand trek no better than Abrams, and I’ll remember to ingest a fair amount of salt next time I check their consensus view on something. > > Or: do they have some beef with macfarlane or something? A critic score of 19% vs audience score of 91% is about as big a disparity as I’ve ever seen. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > But how many critics are Star Trek fans? It might be a big factor. The audience rating is self selecting I believe, so he is doing great with Seth fans and Star Trek fans. But that is all. > > \*\*Lucky for him, those are 2 fairly big audiences that can defy the critics and keep this show on the air. \*\* Yeah, I just wish it didn’t sit there with that terrible Rotten Tomatoes score, discouraging people from even trying it. One influential critic who I know \*is \*a Trek fan going way back, and who will revisit shows from time to time if enough people tell him they are getting good, is Alan Sepinwall. I would suggest that all of you who like and support the show take to Twitter as I have, and tweet at him @sepinwall and urge him to check out last night’s episode and explore whether if he finds more merit there than he did in his review (which was based on the first three episodes). He just released a book about _Breaking Bad_, so it wouldn’t hurt if you mentioned something about maybe buying that! (It does look like a good book, for real.) ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/923 "2017-10-13T20:54:16Z")
> [@simster](#): > > It was the left leg - but it was cut off below the knee - here he was stabbed in the mid -thigh. you are correct, I looked it up on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/924 "2017-10-13T21:14:04Z")
Nobody has mentioned this yet, I don’t think–I enjoyed how much fun they were all having getting Bortus to eat things. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/925 "2017-10-13T21:22:33Z")
Yes, that was great! And then they followed it up by asking him to eat the “Krill’s” gun. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/926 "2017-10-13T21:53:16Z")
There are lots of little references to earlier star treks (and other shows) in this episode. The Krill (krull) name is from the the old Forbidden planet movie. They also show how difficult it would be to try to go undercover in another planet/society without knowing the culture. Loved the Avis/Enterprise jokes. They looked to be mocking all religions, nothing specific. The plot point at the end where Seth (by saving only the children) foreshadows further repercussions on them. The crew making fun of the humorless “Bortus” was quite fun. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/927 "2017-10-13T22:06:40Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > The Krill (krull) name is from the the old Forbidden planet movie. Or they might be [a little crustaceany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krill).[URL=“[Crustacean - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean)”] ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/928 "2017-10-13T22:09:46Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > you are correct, I looked it up on YouTube. Looks above (or at) the knee: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G39W5lFZDn0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G39W5lFZDn0) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/929 "2017-10-13T22:13:59Z")
> [@Tinker\_Grey](#): > > Looks above (or at) the knee: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G39W5lFZDn0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G39W5lFZDn0) Huh, yeah: that’s weird that people kept saying it was below the knee. I took their words for it and adjusted my memory to fit. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/930 "2017-10-13T23:59:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, yeah: that’s weird that people kept saying it was below the knee. I took their words for it and adjusted my memory to fit. Just like they adjusted the leg! @the knee then - still below where he was stabbled and still shorter than the one that fell from the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/931 "2017-10-14T00:07:55Z")
Actually the Ancient Race in FP was the “Krel”, but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/932 "2017-10-14T00:22:54Z")
Looked like he got stabbed approximately where the leg was cut off. Why is everyone so caught up on the leg? Seems like weird nitpicking. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/933 "2017-10-14T01:41:00Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > …Killing the crew but saving the children seemed like something they didn’t think through, and the last line from the Krill teacher was worth remembering. You can’t be both the villain and the hero… I loved that line. > [@terentii](#): > > …I had a hard time believing there would only be one copy of a book that important on board the Krill ship. There should have been a copy in every bedstand in every crew cabin, just like Gideon Bibles. Mercer and Malloy could have just stolen a copy, rather than go through the whole _ **Mission: Impossible** _ thing of photographing every goddamned page!.. That’s assuming the Oncana is meant for laypeople to just read on their own instead of having trained clerics interpret it for them. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/934 "2017-10-14T01:44:16Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Looked like he got stabbed approximately where the leg was cut off. Why is everyone so caught up on the leg? Seems like weird nitpicking. I liked it as another piece of world-building. Growing new legs is so common, he wasn’t so much annoyed at being stabbed in the leg, as he was annoyed at it being the _new_ leg. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/935 "2017-10-14T01:56:59Z")
That leg thing could become another running joke. (Or has someone used that already?) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/936 "2017-10-14T02:13:17Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Actually the Ancient Race in FP was the “Krel”, but close enough. Yes. I thought the bad guys being Krill, Krel, what ever was a salute to _Forbidden Planet_, again, the first Star Trek pilot. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/937 "2017-10-14T02:22:17Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > That leg thing could become another running joke. Christ, please don’t do that. “He who would pun would pick a pocket.” -Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first dictionary of the English language. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/938 "2017-10-14T02:51:56Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > “He who would pun would pick a pocket.” > -Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first dictionary of the English language. [This guy?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSYiT2iG08) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/939 "2017-10-14T03:08:12Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > That’s assuming the Oncana is meant for laypeople to just read on their own instead of having trained clerics interpret it for them. My assumption was that the book itself is considered to be a sacred artifact, sort of like the Koran, and that it would be inappropriate to demean the text by presenting it in a lesser context. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/940 "2017-10-14T03:52:42Z")
What could have been funny was if “polishing my chin horn” were a Krell euphemism for, well, you know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=48)