fauntleroy

Makes sense in retrospect that's why his death scene was just a still shot with a few blood droplets floating around - no dialog. Abrupt but timed well so plausible enough. The scenes of Naomi struggling in that tin can by contrast way too drawn out. I didn't understand what happened to the Martian ship at the end. They could have used some of the Naomi gasping for air time to explain the mechanics of the ring passage.

Missed about a third of the dialog because subtitles not available in English and the default was Bahasa Melayu, which I am sorry to say a bit rusty on. Quite a difference from the previous episode in which not much seemed to happen. Pacing pretty uneven. A lot to unpack looking forward to reading reactions and gaps explained, been away from this forum for a while. Wish they could just like get a friggin break for a bit, it's all so exhausting. English subtitles available after the fact.

Yea. If they could shoot properly the writers would have to give more thought to these interchangeable tedious chase sequences. Also the silly marching in lockstep attack at the outpost. I lose track of 'alternate' vs 'fixing' timeline. As in 'in this timeline, blah blah blah'. Either there are multiple timelines or there aren't. If there are, then the 'original' one is out there, they are just aware of it when ordinarily they would not be. They don't have to 'restore' it, as it were. Time nonsense doesn't bother me as much as bad shooting though, because nobody can reconcile the paradox of time travel, whereas the popgun shooting scenes are just lazy.

Agree about 'bottle' but would go even farther and say it was a suburban Connecticut episode. That is, nothing to do with space, or space exploration. Virtually nothing out the window, again! Could have occurred at your future nana's condo complex. That they tacked on a bit of Kaylon chase suggests even these soap opera writers must have noticed gee maybe we should give lip service to sci-fi, and not just be The Many Loves of Dobie MacFarlane.

Saw Martin-Green out of character in an ad for CBS All Access. She is gorgeous wow but they rely too much on lingering on her about-to-cry face. Her eyes shimmering with incipient tears. It seems harder for her to emote in other ways. Maybe it's the script. The other characters are less one-dimensional, and manage some light moments but for her it's pretty much one note IMO. That plus the harsh cold blue lighting puts me off. And the plots of course 🙂

Occurred to me later that the above reaction reminded me of my mum back when kids were expected to be outside during the day rather than vegging on the couch watching TV or whatnot. Remaining in the house was viewed with suspicion. Seth is the kid who doesn't want to go outside. He wants to stay in his comfy Orville house and play video games and do teen shenanigans with his friends. People who think he should be out exploring are like mum telling the brats to go outside. Get outta the hoose! Aww mom, you never let us have any fun!

I'm gonna try this next time a prof gets me for plagiarism. Can't you see I'm doin an homage here! Maybe with a New Jersey accent. Not just some lazy rehash. They are in a SPACE SHIP - go fly to interesting places. The funny Moclan cigarette B plot is enough homage, now come up with a real idea for the A plot. Stop dicking around and go do something. Leighton Meester is a good singer! Agree re Discovery. These shows aggravate in almost exactly different ways.

Was there even a mission this week? Episodes of Love Boat and now a girl-in-holodeck romance rerun. It's a futuristic soap opera in New Jersey. Why do they even have a space ship?

Yea the lebensraum rationale doesn't make sense. They do not need individual human being-shaped machines that galumph around like out of a cheap '50s sci-fi movie. Another homage, which is cute in the context of a lighthearted show. But if we're getting serious I would assume an AI collective would exist in Skynet form with purpose-built bots only for specific tasks, rather than individual semi-autonomous units. And would not need to expand to planets suitable for organic life. The galaxy is big (!) plenty of room for satellites, asteroids w minerals etc. I keep falling into the trap of taking the premise seriously. But after a mountain of bones, how are we expected to react?

That escalated quickly, as they say. I go with elaborate test/are you worthy simulation. How could they let that kid just run around like that. Otherwise there's no going back to the lighthearted hijinks and yuks, it's a full-on doomfest which I think is too great of a change in the basic nature of the show. The tone already changes too abruptly but this would be too much. If it's real though and they are Daleks after all I assume they will be saved by a change of heart Isaac who will engage some kind of species-wide OFF switch to deactivate the lot of them. He may get left over as the only one of his species, since he has a heart Tin Man style, if they want to continue with the implausible Claire romance. I don't get what she sees in him at all, plot convenience only I guess, and could really do without the kids. Other notes, it's funny that the units talk to each other and seem to have data-entry jobs, using their hands tapping on that wall. Such physical activity is silly, all that would be done internally. Doesn't come off as so advanced! Again, semi-comical, like Daleks confronted with stairs. Gordon saying boy we are a long way from home, arriving like two seconds after they left, I thought was a joke. And, why did they not just send down a shuttle?

I might have introduced this 828 min error earlier, though am not adept enough in this new interface to find it. But I will defend the error! Because it exemplifies the cockamamie-ness of numerology. Why would whatever force is directing all this combine separate units ie hrs and mins into a single number. 82 of one thing, and 8 of another thing. 828 to mean 82 hrs/8 mins is arbitrary base 60 bullshit, could just as easily mean 8 hrs/28 mins. Or stick to single unit and say 828 hours. Microwaves as I said earlier interpret "100" as 60 secs but "61" as 61 secs. Overlords of fate should be better with their daffy numerology clues. Not only is it a load of tosh generally but is not necessary in the first place. And as somebody mentioned above it doesn't follow that they will die as Griffin did in (return date + amount of time missing) because the plane did not crash as far as we know - they did not find wreckage containing no bodies - the plane returned intact. Also does this formula make it a guarantee? Some were short-changed then. Some survivors have already died, does their unspent time get put into a time bank that other survivors can draw from? Google 'numerology 828' for additional goofiness. Wait just realized 828 backwards is...828 oh my god I take back everything I just wrote.

I didn't watch closely enough to distinguish 828 as total number of minutes which is 13 hrs+ as you say, vs 82 hrs and 8 mins. Half a day vs 3 1/2 days is quite a difference! I mean, in addition to being a perfectly arbitrary and unnecessary complication. Maybe they could get a calling stating what counting system they are using. Hours and minutes being human-based time, means that whoever the Dude is running this game is no alien at least. Maybe The Calling works like my microwave where 62 is longer cook time than 101. Michaela's monotone was particularly grating this episode. Melissa Roxburgh could invest in some voice lessons during the hiatus. Saw Athena Karkanis in S1 of The Expanse and though her role there was thankless pining after the noir detective, didn't hate her.

Right. I didn't say 300 crew either. Kitchen staff? Anyway yea, the wisdom of carrying non-crew including kids considering the routine risk is an issue not specific to this episode. More pertinent is the tone jumping around. Talking flower one minute, death panel the next. Better if the humor was integrated somehow or dispensed with, at least in this episode, imo.

300 on board! Wow. Not a fan of this. We never see them of course, too many to show but it means they can bring anyone forth for a plot or two - teachers, schoolkids, other parents, random aliens etc, without ever leaving the house as it were. Might as well be a town in 25th-cent Ohio. Also considering the pace of job automation today what the heck are all those people doing. No ship is going to need that much labor. Granted this is an homage and all the Enterprises were similarly (pointlessly imo) populous. Better to have a small crew so they have to go outside for the stories. Compare to (23rd-cent?) The Expanse where ships mostly have small crews doing specific chores. And where the people live are destinations - asteroids, planets. Because space is perilous! Like Moclans oopsy shooting torpedoes at you! Re this specific episode (and it certainly has engendered beaucoup of discussion), between main and subplots, might help to integrate the humor that is lying around into the main plot. Yaphit sidling up to angry Talla at the exact most inopportune moment, after she tore Klyden a new one, and asking her out for example. Or testifying for Locar at the trial. Something goofy can still be poignant. Otherwise if the issue is a serious one, eg Locar condemned, then the lighter moments seem out of place, a bit jarring even. Inconsistency of tone - as several above have pointed out.

This is gross and probably correct! Imagine the dreck he picks up sliding around the floor all day. A living slime dustmop that's our Yaphit - eeeuw! Still, a more fun alien, underused.The hetero-Moclan could have gone to him for advice, he is a Ladies Man after all.

It's sort of an inside-out version of the old not wanting to be in a club that would have you as a member. On ST:Disco we are learning about Saru's home world in which his species is periodically 'harvested' by another species. Not clear if they eat them or what (use them as fertilizer?) but yikes worse than the Moclan! How did such a society ever get into the Federation? Answer was apparently that they were warp-capable which seems like that's all it takes? Saru was accepted into Star Fleet only by promising not to complain about the 'arrangement' (ie his people being eaten) due to prime directive - who are we to judge! If ever a Ba'ul showed up and felt a bit peckish would Saru have to let himself be eaten? It takes a more subtle mind than Seth's to present the rationale for a truly different set of values. So the show is this odd mix of the yuks for which he has an obvious talent and the more serious interpersonal stuff that he mostly seems to use as an opportunity to take jabs at beliefs and practices that he (and most of us) happen to disapprove of. Satisfying, but too easy. Are values universal, do they 'evolve'? It feels like they do to us - that open mindedness re who you are attracted to for example is obviously a sign of an advanced culture. But it dodges the issue that maybe they are not universal after all. It seems lazy because if you are going to bring up such a subject try to do better than simply be judgy about it. Anybody can do that. Otherwise steer clear? Also I think Jessica Szohr is a better fit for security than young Halston Sage. Tougher. And how does Yaphit see his console? He should have a chair.

Yea, The Anvil, more like.

The original basis of the show as I recall was that the ability of passengers to receive 'callings' resulted in danger to them from forces that would like to exploit this ability for nefarious reasons ("weaponize"!). But this is not a fair fight - our heroes do not have the resources to protect themselves from eeevil black ops govt whatever who could snatch them up at any time, especially Cal The Chosen One, if they wanted to and that would be that. That the Major backed off and disappeared seems like evidence the writers realized this. Ben's continued justification to barge half-cocked into dangerous situations because 'protect family' notwithstanding. He is not in a position to protect jack shit. But then if they are not in immediate peril, what 'standing' do they have to continue their investigation? What can they do that a blue-ribbon panel of the world's top physicists, with the help of cooperative passengers, could not do? Where is the blue-ribbon panel and why has Ben not got in touch with them? (There was such a panel wasn't there? Shown briefly on TV in like Ep 2.) To procrastinate this conundrum of their own making, until cancellation saves them, writers meanwhile spin out endless tiresome variants of romantic folly. When they get stale throw in a couple more characters to romance about, because they can write pointless soap relationships for years. Include some chase scenes which together with the longing/angry triangles eat up episode time so they don't have to deal with the fundamental problem with the premise. And make network happy by showing scenes of famileee working together, financial worries forgotten, doing google searches, preparing school projects, and galumphing around the house in big chunky shoes (looking at you Grace). Introducing others affected by the same phenomenon, more or less, dilutes the concept still further because it means there was nothing unique about the flight, or the duration of their absence, or if there was anything special about the passengers themselves, other than just wrong place wrong time. Secret govt program to weaponize electrical storms has surprising side effects of random time-jumping and giving varying degrees of poorly-understood clairvoyance to affected individuals. Govt follows up, affected persons organize and...well there is little they could do, really. Am reminded of old George Clooney movie The Men who Stare at Goats for some reason, will have to take another look at that.

Why don't they just use a real wolf. Not wolfy enough? The "I'm fine" after concussion/trauma trope is the worst! Interest flagging. It's not even that it's bad any more, just uninteresting. Watched on mute while reading The Expanse forum. Now there's a show! If any J Random Individual can go thru the same effect as the 828ers, then...zzzz. More half-assed numerology (is that redundant?) - robber guy was gone for exactly 828 mins! Yea sure. That timing could easily have been off and they'd be like, he was gone for...827 mins, that's weird!

What does the episode title refer to? I mean, i understand the reference but not how it applied here. Did one of the characters mention it? The old galaxy brain thingy was dying but... Did Burnham stick a quatloo in Saru's mouth?

I don't recall that Burnham and Saru were particularly close prior to this, to warrant such a weepy and prolonged goodbye - which ended up being oops never mind! anyway. Compared to say Stamets and Tilly where they have taken the time to develop a connection. Saru's sense of impending death is vague (whose death?), rather like Troi's 'I sense a deep urgency' - neither is sufficiently useful without the interpretation of a nearby Mary Sue. And the fact that his premonition was wrong in the sense that he himself is still alive, produced this new personality? And this has never happened before to a Kelpian? Presumably if he now wishes to return to Kaminar to begin the Kelpian revolution he would simply resign his Star Fleet commission then Order #1 or whatever it's called would no longer apply. Worf did a similar thing with Picard's blessing. It seems like a good direction for future stories but come to think of it am surprised the Federation let a planet whose primary species eats (ETA: is this right? What does 'harvest' mean) its other (obviously-sentient and intelligent) species become a member in the first place. Have we seen any Ba'ul in Star Fleet? Yes universal translator fail great idea. The show needs more humor to offset the over-earnestness of the main character imo.

Forgot to mention Grace's remark that Olive is just like her dad! Upon Olive google image searching and finding Gemini. Indeed who but the child of a math professor would come up w such an inspired discovery! Young genius that one.

Random angry guy from last week vs Church of the Returned nutters this week like Life of Brian where a new religion sprang up based on Brian's dropped shoe, whose followers broke away from more traditional (ie an hour older) followers of the 'Holy Gourd of Jerusalem'. Am positive Michaela got her eyebrows trimmed. Nice! Though prob not as warm. When she knocked on the door to talk to Lourdes and no answer, and she walked away, who was surprised that finally somebody answered the door! Such a long leisurely use of episode time just to introduce an unnecessary (for us to witness) conversation. Crack team determines Ben's location. Good work! Major narrowing her eyes when 'America's enemies' and 'weaponize'. Love the subtlety. Though if you're going to weaponize a child with a not-yet-understood superpower, not sure it matters what his father 'does next'. And what happened to all those evil lab people? Ret-conned Grace is now simply uninteresting as opposed to hateable. Olive has something to do, google images! Agree with consensus that the writers are winging it and it will all come to nothing. Am shocked, shocked that long-term vision is not happening at this establishment.

Yes to 1, he and his ilk remain a cypher. Planet of artificial life forms a cool idea, rich area for stories. But work for the writers. Could be they didn't tell us more cause they haven't written out that part of the world yet. Just in Time writing? Sorry my recent one-note on this. How different could Kaylon (Kaylonia?) be from say, the Borg? It's probably boring right? No recreation. Do they have a sense of aesthetics? Maybe not. Like visiting a gigantic router? In four centuries my prediction no warp drive but preservation of human consciousness priority - captured before organic death and transferred to inorganic form. To which is attached increasingly advanced machinery. Upkeep paid for by perpetual trust hoping your children don't steal it. Eventually self-sustaining via solar energy/whatnot. Server farms w solar sails. Organic forms no longer needed, eliminated. Eek I know right? But we will reside on silicon wafers instead of these pathetic weak meatbags that wear out in less than a century. Terrible design - too short-lived! Warp drive not needed because space exploration is moot because physical location becomes moot. In other words a lot to potentially unpack. Maybe they will explore some in a future episode. As to your 2 above agree - am okay with the principal of human/robot love, but Claire seemed too emotionally self-aware shuttle mishap notwithstanding. Also Isaac should have downloaded complete Shakespeare sonnets etc. Do some prep lad! Pretty lazy for a machine guy. As it was, her interest was not convincing to me. Anyway I assume she will have a robo-human hybrid child in a couple episodes and that Moclan kid will be off to college the way he's growing. Thanks to all who write here by the way, the ideas in here are more entertaining than the show they describe most times.

Watched this and Ep 3 of Star Trek Disco (?) simultaneously (more input, more!) Each could use aspects of the other (<- witness formulation of original thought for sure). ST could dispense w the tiresome Klingons who cares - PLOKKGKAGH! (wgaf). And who gives such a hoot about Spock. Tell your own stories. Most of all, lighten the f up. Also literally, turn the lights up! Gloomy. The Tilly actress is wonderful saves the still-too-ponderous show. Whereas The Orville is The Donna Reed Show in Space. Updated for 25rd cent but uses precious space-story time on crew interpersonal shenanigans. Tx somebody upthread mentioned 3 eps w Claire's kids. Also tip o' the pin to @ottis above re plot threads. You are in a dang exploratory star ship. Go ye outward to the strange new worlds. Come on. Use the crew on adventures not heartwarming yuks. Golly shucks robots can be peoples too! Aww. 'Can a Robot Learn to Love' legit idea, but solid B plot used as A plot. Bortus mustache solid C plot (eg Data and his cat) used as B plot. 'A' plots presumably hardest, the most work. A perhaps lazy writing team could go light a few times, bumping the supporting stories up, play for a few yuks and a few awws, call it a day. Easy on the special effects/makeup budget, gives your actors more time. Still, could have used a Klingon flyby or something. Alien pod w tray of delicious brownies! Something anything, on the other side of the window. (ETA: well not anything - something with which to interact not merely view.) In conclusion, neither show hits the mark for me and since the misses are complementary enough my solution is watching them at the same time and merging a pleasing result in the ole noggin. Tilly and Saru would do great on the Orville - two gingers! Yaphit might get a genuine chuckle out of earnest Burnham.