The Orville Episode 4 Review: If the Stars Should Appear

I've seen the first four episodes of Orville (and soon to be fifth episode, tonight), but only the first episode of Discovery.

The reason why is simply because Orville airs on a regular television network and is readily available, whereas Discovery is available "exclusively through CBS All Access online streaming, only $5.99 per month ($9.99 if you don't watch commercials every five minutes), have your credit card ready NOW!!", and I refuse to pay that game with the greedy Ferengis at CBS. There are other ways to see Discovery, and I will eventually check out episodes 2-3, but I'm no rush to do so, given how lukewarm I felt about the first episode.

I've already posted a detailed analysis of Discovery's pilot.

As for Orville, I think it earned its place as a worthy successor of Star Trek with the third episode. MacFarlane GETS Star Trek much more than the SJWs at CBS, even though MacFarlane is a liberal too. Star Trek never had to TELL the audience it was "diverse", it let the characters speak for themselves, and it addressed current hot button political issues through the lens of science fiction, raised some interesting points about them, and sparked thoughtful debate from the audience. That's pretty much exactly what Orville did in episode 3 (touched on the transgender debate, foreign cultures altering babies at birth without their consent, woman's rights, etc., etc. in a lighthearted and fun way). Orville might have even "made history" by having the first "same sex couple" on TV that is NOT gay, and I think deliberately made it that way by having Bortus be the most straight-laced guy there is in the cast (I could just imagine Bortus visiting earth some day, being invited to a gay bar because he has a male mate, and storming away shocked and baffled by "gay culture" among humans ("which of you will lay the egg??"), since the concept of "gay" pretty much doesn't even exist on his planet)

Some liberals are actually trashing MacFarlane for the third episode, yapping about a "cis-gendered straight white male has no business making silly jokes about this serious issue that is emotionally distressful to many transright activists" blah blah blah. I love it when liberals eat their own.

We live in very odd times, when a parody of Star Trek is more Star Trek than the "official" Star Trek program.

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