# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/161 "2017-09-13T12:32:29Z")
So, if anyone has seen both, how does it compare to _Hyperdrive_, my go-to Trek parody series. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/162 "2017-09-13T12:57:02Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It’s either that or the pioneers of popcorn. Who knows what they’ll be naming ships after in the 25th century. _U.S.S. Jiffypop._ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/163 "2017-09-13T13:28:25Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > I keep thinking that this is more The Office (Or maybe Office Space) in space than Star Trek, as ST had more military discipline. They didn’t have helm, weapons, or tactical doing inane chatter like they did here. At least, not in front of Picard! I don’t think the military would let them get away with some of it. I do, however, remember Geordie telling some off-color jokes to Data when he was still manning the helm. Data, of course, analyzed them to death. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/164 "2017-09-13T13:31:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > ST:TNG [also had an episode](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Timescape_%28episode%29) that involved pockets of accelerated or slowed time. And yeah, it is really, really, really stupid science (but actually IMHO acceptable in parody form than in what is supposed to be more serious SF.) Not really. The flow of time is not uniform across the Universe. It can be slowed by fields of high gravitational or other energies. Everything is relative. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/165 "2017-09-13T13:37:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > _U.S.S. Jiffypop._ I like it! 😃 ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/166 "2017-09-13T13:38:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not really. Yes, really. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/167 "2017-09-13T13:43:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yes, really. So you adhere to the Newtonian concept of absolute time? :dubious: ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/168 "2017-09-13T13:47:26Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > I also didn’t have a problem with the tree solution because, as others pointed out, not having the required resources for it to grow is Trek to m, which is based on something plausible and taken to the implausible. Someone upthread mentioned that the scientists had spliced [water bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade) DNA into the redwoods. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/169 "2017-09-13T13:55:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I like it! 😃 It has a pleated aluminum dome over the saucer section. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/170 "2017-09-13T14:20:12Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Someone upthread mentioned that the scientists had spliced [water bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade) DNA into the redwoods. Whch would make one wonder how ‘eating’ the seeds could be a good idea. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/171 "2017-09-13T14:28:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > So you adhere to the Newtonian concept of absolute time? :dubious: 1.) Yes, time is slowed down by movement and gravity, but there is nothing that we know of that _speeds up_ time relative to the external universe. 2.) Even if it were possible to speed up time within an small field, sticking your hand (as in ST:TNG) or head (as in The Orville) into that accelerated time field would not make your hand or head age until it was elderly because your blood is being pumped from your heart _still outside the field_, so that all blood supply would effectively be cut off to that part of your body in the accelerated time field and the cells in that body part would die within minutes from the POV of time passage within the field and virtually instantly from the POV outside. As to whether or not the body part (or a banana) will rot takes a little more speculation and depends on the nature of the field. One thing for sure is that it would be very dark inside the field–if time is passing 100 times (to pick one number) more quickly, then there will be 100 times less light available inside the field (the number of photons entering the field per second from the outside is fixed, but there are 100 times more seconds on the inside than outside.) That in itself is enough to end the possibility of growing crops inside such a field (unless you surround it with extremely intense floodlights.) Also air would be diffusing 100 times more slowly into the field than diffusing out of the field (and traveling 100 times more quickly on the inside from the POV of the outside–would that make the interior of the field turn into a partial vacuum? I’m not sure.) The inside of the field would loose heat very rapidly from the outside POV, and the human body part or banana would most likely freeze solid before they had a chance to begin rotting. Yes, it is really, really, really stupid science. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/172 "2017-09-13T14:33:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It has a pleated aluminum dome over the saucer section. \*Transparent \*aluminum, no doubt! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/173 "2017-09-13T14:40:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > …Yes, it is really, really, really stupid science. You sound like you could use a salad. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/174 "2017-09-13T14:42:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*Transparent \*aluminum, no doubt! 🆒 Now we are back to the “porthole for a ceiling” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/175 "2017-09-13T14:45:46Z")
Somehow I doubt they’ll have Neil deGrasse Tyson or Michio Kaku consulting on the science. It’s not the point, anyway…or perhaps it is the point, but in reverse. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/176 "2017-09-13T14:46:08Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Whch would make one wonder how ‘eating’ the seeds could be a good idea. My Mother warned me about water melon seeds. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/177 "2017-09-13T14:50:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 1.) Yes, time is slowed down by movement and gravity, but there is nothing that we know of that _speeds up_ time relative to the external universe. > > 2.) Even if it were possible to speed up time within an small field, sticking your hand (as in ST:TNG) or head (as in The Orville) into that accelerated time field would not make your hand or head age until it was elderly because your blood is being pumped from your heart _still outside the field_, so that all blood supply would effectively be cut off to that part of your body in the accelerated time field and the cells in that body part would die within minutes from the POV of time passage within the field and virtually instantly from the POV outside. > > As to whether or not the body part (or a banana) will rot takes a little more speculation and depends on the nature of the field. One thing for sure is that it would be very dark inside the field–if time is passing 100 times (to pick one number) more quickly, then there will be 100 times less light available inside the field (the number of photons entering the field per second from the outside is fixed, but there are 100 times more seconds on the inside than outside.) That in itself is enough to end the possibility of growing crops inside such a field (unless you surround it with extremely intense floodlights.) Also air would be diffusing 100 times more slowly into the field than diffusing out of the field (and traveling 100 times more quickly on the inside from the POV of the outside–would that make the interior of the field turn into a partial vacuum? I’m not sure.) The inside of the field would loose heat very rapidly from the outside POV, and the human body part or banana would most likely freeze solid before they had a chance to begin rotting. > > Yes, it is really, really, really stupid science. Interesting post. But since the flow of time is not uniform across the Universe, I’d say it’s more a matter of making things inside a pocket age _less slowly_ than in the surrounding environment, which to my mind is not quite the same as “speeding up” time. There are no absolutes in the external Universe, so there are undoubtedly regions where time \*does \*flow faster than it does for you and me here on Earth. What they did on _ **Orville** _ was to create these conditions artificially. As to how this might affect conditions \*inside \*the bubble, I haven’t really given it much thought. However, time travel \*does \*require the traveler’s arrow of time to continue in the same direction (and at the same rate) inside the field as outside it, regardless of whether he’s going into the past or the future. Otherwise, he would age abnormally or be rejuvenated, depending on his destination. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/178 "2017-09-13T14:52:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > My Mother warned me about water melon seeds. Spit or swallow! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/179 "2017-09-13T14:55:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Somehow I doubt they’ll have Neil deGrasse Tyson or Michio Kaku consulting on the science. It’s not the point, anyway…or perhaps it is the point, but in reverse. Which is why it’s called science **fiction**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/180 "2017-09-13T14:58:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You sound like you could use a salad. I predict this will become the new “Settle down, Beavis!” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=10)