Dukat-4

It starts quite rocky as it is one of those 'incompetent ignorant management running things' type of shows. And at the beginning all of it, and all of the characters, follow this scheme, which makes it just another one of those shows with a 'been there, done that, heard that joke' vibe.

It gets better, and funnier, as the writers build the world and the characters get fleshed out, but, since this is a sci-fi setting, it becomes painfully obvious that it is not made by people who know science or sci-fi, which would help writing better stories and better jokes.

And I can't help thinking that it would work a whole lot better if it were set in a Star Trek-like world.

ETA: The above was my initial impression after watching the first three or four episodes. Well, I'm glad I decided to continue. It gets better. MUCH better. It finds its own way of doing things, and gets science (fiction)- ier and funnier in the second half of the season.

Hey, it's pure escapism. Sure it's not real... but it's fun, and has better stunts than the average Hollywood action movie.

Then again, I'm probably prejudiced, because I live an hour's drive away from where the bulk is filmed, and It's a nice change to see my neck of the woods the location of exaggerated car stunts and full-auto shootouts instead of Los Angeles.

The makers are quite aware of the ridiculousness, given the amounts of in-jokes regarding Autobahn locations (most of them the standard rush-hour traffic jams you would know from such radio stations as the WDR2) that everyone here knows, though they do not look remotely like the real thing.

That's what it is. It's Star Trek TNG. Not a spoof. It's a straight-up version of Star Trek TNG (except in name) with some annoying little things improved. Things like not having aloof, over-the-top idealized characters. Humor. Better music (TNG had this annoying habit of engaging a large classical orchestra, and then not use it).

The Orville avoids the big pitfalls of the official reboots who kick out about everything of Star Trek, even the large chunks that are good (production design first and foremost), and not knowing how to improve upon it because they do not what makes Trek Trek.

It's very annoying to read professional critics who slam the Orville, which is very nice, fun, and Trek at heart, because they completely miss the point. They see it as another Seth-MacFarlane-humor vehicle, which it isn't at all.

It's a better Trek. And a damn fine one at that.