Gimme That Star Trek Bonus: Discovery and Orville Trailers

Out of nowhere they both came - FINALLY a Star Trek: Discovery trailer, and beating it by a day, Seth MacFarlane's The Orville's - so Siskoid and guest David Ace Gutiérrez got together in an impromptu recording session to discuss both. Engage!

Helpful - the trailers on YouTube:
Star Trek: Discovery
The Orville

Listen to Episode 9.5 below!

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Credits: "Star Trek Theme" by Alexander Courage, with the Irredeemable Shagg on vocals. End theme: "Deep Space Nine Theme" by Dennis McCarthy.

Bonus clips from: "Star Trek: Discovery Teaser Trailer"; "Star Trek: Discovery Trailer" starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, James Frain, Doug Jones, and Sam Vartholomeos; and "The Orville Trailer" starring Seth MacFarlane, Victor Garber, Peter Macon, Penny Johnson Jerald, Halston Sage, Norm MacDonald, Mark Jackson, Scott Grimes, Adrianne Palicki, J. Lee, Brian George, and James Horan.

And thanks for leaving a comment!

24 responses to “Gimme That Star Trek Bonus: Discovery and Orville Trailers

  1. Fun little episode, guys. No surprise there.

    I was reasonably certain DISCOVERY wasn’t going to happen at all, but I’m happy to be wrong. The trailer looked really promising and the series has been booked for 15 episodes. I don’t know if this series will hook me yet, because I still don’t know enough about these characters and a I have a loyalty to Kirk and his crew, be it the classic iterations or the modern/Kelvin versions.

    THE ORVILLE, on the other hand… Meh. I’m not a huge fan of MacFarlane’s work. I don’t like FAMILY GUY, but I do like MacFarlane as an awards show host and variety show guy. His talent is incredible… But I wasn’t really feeling this trailer. The only thing I really like is Adrienne Palicki, one of my celebrity crushes, but she wasn’t enough to make me stick with AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. so she probably won’t be enough to get me into this show.

  2. Fun discussion guys. But I’m not impressed with what I see of Discovery so far. I don’t think it’s too nerdy to expect this to have some look and feel of TOS. The creators set it in that time frame, so they should expect backlash when the tech looks more advanced that what we last saw in Nemesis. Plus…it’s Star Trek. You have to appease the fan base first, and hope you pull in the general audience with them. “Trials and Tribulations” proved you CAN go back to the TOS look and make it interesting, like a retro-future Mad Men. Heck, the Kelvin Timeline fits in better.

    Had they set this after TNG/DS9/Voyager, I’d be more receptive, but either way, I’m not sure it would grab me. The idea that you have to pay for another service to watch it is also off-putting. I know that’s no fault of the creators, but it’s still CBS/Paramount messing with the brand.

    I’m glad you guys are stoked, and I hope word of mouth proves me wrong.

    The Orville…well, if it were a one-off movie (which is what I initially thought it was), it might be a fun distraction. Not sure about a series. I admire MacFarlane’s talents, but I gave up on Family Guy long ago when it became nothing but one mean-spirited joke after another. Despite looking like a less interesting Galaxy Quest, the cast is pretty impressive. How’s Victor Garber going to do this and Legends of Tomorrow? Just a recurring guest spot?

    I’ve thought this before, but if you could rein him in enough to keep things clean, and put him on a workout regimen, Seth MacFarlane would make a pitch-perfect Captain Marvel (Shazam!). I now await the throng of vitriol coming my way for that statement.

    Chris

    1. You can’t make show on a huge budget and hope it draws in new people only after pleasing a devoted few. The good of the many, man. I’ve been in these type of meetings, Franklin. “The fans’ll pay if only to complain. How do we broaden the IP’s appeal to hit our numbers?”

      Also, as a society we’ve moved close to and beyond some of the tech and fashions we saw in TOS (and even TNG). A thing can immediately look dated and tired. Why tie something to nostalgia? Even if something is set in continuity, that doesn’t mean it can’t be changed. It’s all fictional. It can change.

        1. I think it gets harder to make things work the farther out you go into the future. Siskoid’s tackling this at some point.

          It can’t/doesn’t have to fit in nicely. If the stories are solid, does it really matter if it brushes up against something said or done 50 years ago?

  3. I get and appreciate what you’re saying, Chris Franklin, but creatively and promotionally it’s a noose. It’s not like telling a story about the 13 colonies and throwing a flame thrower into George Washington’s hand. These are all just stories held together through a brand. Some work better than others, but it’s all just fiction. It should be allowed to grow and change just like anything else, and should be allowed to play in whatever era works best for it.

    I think Siskoid said it best when he said these are all just stories told through the lens of its timeframe.

    If it’s good, I’ll take it. That’s what should be the main concern.

    And look at what’s happened when Trek tries to do it all – the Kelvinverse. It took them killing off Prime Spock in their continuity to keep that character from shackling them to a the original series. They never had to make an alternate timeline. They should have just started over. It doesn’t negate anything that came before. It’s just another story.

    1. I appreciate the Kelvin timeline as a way that doesn’t totally throw out my childhood heroes to make them hip and edgy. They are still out there. I do think Star Trek Beyond is the best of the three, and it’s honestly now one of my favorite Trek films. It’s edged out all the TNG crew movies for sure.

      If DC could figure out a way to do a reboot line like the Kelvin timeline, and keep a few titles in the OLD universe, they would have saved themselves several headaches and reboots by now. Here we go again trying to fix what they’ve messed up in the past.

      I get what you’re saying about telling the story through the lens of the time you’re in. We don’t want to see current Superman flashback to getting his job at the Daily Planet in 1938 or whatever. But they are hanging a lantern on “10 Years Before Kirk” and we know what that looks like…and this ain’t it.

      But that’s not my biggest hang-up. The trailer and the premise of all this just doesn’t grab me. Plus it stinks of reshooting, rethinking and corporate interference before the first episode has streamed. It may be a great series, but I’m personally not excited for it. I’m glad you are, and I hope it turns out great.

      Chris

      1. So do you feel that anytime there’s a reboot or relaunch or whatever that your childhood heroes are thrown out? I’ve never been able to understand that. All those stories are still there. They’re not erased or really negated any more than you allow them to be, right? When I was working with some writers on the Bart Allen-Flash I was witness to a lot of fan hatred over the loss of Wally West. They said their Flash was taken from them. This Bart Allen kid was all wrong for the character. Whether or not the latter is true is subjective. But their anger over Wally West didn’t make sense to me. Nobody went into their collections and deleted those comics. Nobody erased him from their minds. The stories were still there. They just stopped being told. It happens. Things stop.

        Isn’t DC’s big continuity problem the fact that they keep trying to adhere to past continuity? I’m not sure this is the forum to debate the company’s failings, but if they just said “screw it,” and really started everything over, they’d be in a lot better shape story-wise. I’m not discounting the ire it would probably raise from its staunchest fans, but that Silver Age reboot was the best thing they could have done to keep their trademarks while launching a new line of books. In fact, I think that’s what the new 52 should have done. But to be fair, I have no real attachment to these characters outside of my memories of them. I can enjoy the new stories, but I’m not anywhere near as invested in them as I was twenty years ago.

        ST:Beyond is a great movie. Some logistical problems, but I freaking loved it. I’m perfectly fine skipping that second installment.

        1. No, not necessarily. If it’s done well, I can deal with it. I think the ’09/Kelvin reboot was done pretty well. If they had just said “we’re starting over” with no ties to the original (Nimoy Spock), I’d have probably rolled with it eventually. But less so.

          The Bart Allen Flash series wasn’t necessary. No one but DiDio wanted Bart as the Flash. And honestly he was the only one who really wanted Barry back as well. Bilson and DeMeo did great work on the original TV show but stumbled with Bart. It wasn’t a good series. The sad part is it got better AFTER they decided to end it.

          I agree DC probably should have just rebooted from day one with Crisis back in 1985, like Wolfman wanted to. Either crap or get off the pot. But they never have. OR, just focus on a new world, likey the retroactively did in the past, shifting from Earth-Two to Earth-One.

          And yes, those stories are still out there, of course they are. My problem with something like the continuity disconnect of Discovery is that they are telling you in no uncertain terms “This is 10 years before the Star Trek you know”. And isn’t that really Pike’s time? So it’s already been seen. Now, I’m not saying they HAVE to have lamps on their consoloes and wear turtleneck sweaters, but they know Star Trek fans are UBER passionate about their continuity. I mean, hell, Shatner goofed on that 30 years ago! They are courting disappointment at best by so firmly planting it in a timeline fans know. They’ve really done the show a disservice by not putting it in a more nebulous time frame. Even the show runners on Enterprise were more careful than this, and they got flack for it as Siskoid mentioned.

          Chris

  4. re: Flash series – One day, perhaps privately, I’ll share with you what I saw during Danny and Paul’s tenure on the series. I have my conspiracy theory on that one.

    The thing about even flirting with Trek continuity is realizing that it’s always been kind of wonky. The Federation wasn’t the Federation until well into the series. Even the acronym “USS” wasn’t solidly defined outright.

    I think the best example of Trek playing around with things is how Klingons are depicted. Their TMP appearance tore a whole through a continuity hull (RIP Mark Lenard)! But it smoothed over and worked out fine. Even DS9 managed to wring a joke out of it.

    My escape clause for Discovery is the fact that we didn’t get to see a whole lot of gear from Pike’s time. Every ship had its own insignia/logo and potentially its own “look.” I’d kill to see those turtlenecks and lamps back, but am glad the new show isn’t freaking out about a woman on the bridge – like Pike did. In fact, I don’t think most ships would use a police artist’s sketch of a Talosian.

    Glad we can discuss this civilly.

    1. Oh, for sure, they were flying by the seats of their pants at first. The TMP Klingons are of course the biggest concession to better budget and technology. They had the means to do something more impressive than fake beards and dark grease paint, so they went for it.

      I think one of the reasons Trek fans can feel so disenfranchised when things are changes is because they really were the ones who helped corral continuity. The Bjo Trimbles of the world helped save the show AND fill in all the gaps and Roddenberry heavily involved the fans. He made them feel like they were part of the family. He openly thanked them for keeping the series alive during the down years. So even though those days are long gone, a lot of that feeling remains.

      I’d like to hear that Flash story some time if you feel like talking about it.

      Chris

  5. Wasn’t Rodennberry’s initial pitch that the series was a “tales of the Enterprise crew,” lending itself to the loosey-goosiness of it? Mind, this was way before continuity was ever a concern, hence stardates being random dates.

    1. Yeah, I think the show was originally conceived as somewhat of an anthology show with a cast to frame it. Kind of like what you guys were talking about with Discovery. Or…somewhat like Fantasy Island or The Love Boat. 🙂

      TOS writers were some of the same folks writing the sci-fi anthologies like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, so that added to that feel early on. A lot of them just adapted sci-fi short stories they’d already written for other venues.

      Chris

  6. DISCOVERY looks interesting enough to me to sample, but since CBS is making it impossible to access, I guess I’ll have to live without it.

    I would not watch ORDVILLE for any amount of money. Toilet seat jokes! That is some edgy material. I can’t wait until I hear the ship captain’s take on airline food. Or maybe his Jack Nicholson impression.

    Fun episode guys!

    1. It’s not “impossible.” It’s just on another streaming service for something like $5/month. That’s only about a buck and change for a show.

      1. Fair enough, “impossible” was a little unfair. But there isn’t a single show on CBSAA that I want to see other than ST:D, so paying $6 just to see it is uncertain for me. I pay $10 a month for Netflix for 1000x the content.

        If CBSAA allows binging, I may wait until the whole season airs, subscribe, watch it all, then unsubscribe.

  7. I’ll be listening to your episode this week.

    I’m fresh off watching the Orville trailer just five minutes ago. I didn’t realize a trailer existed until just now, after stumbling across this “very special” episode of Gimme That Star Trek. I’d only heard that the show existed just about a week ago. I’m very much going into this cold.

    I laughed during the trailer – a lot. I thought it was pretty funny. I’m guessing we’re just seeing scenes from the pilot episode. If Seth can borrow a bit from Trek troupes, and keep it fresh and funny (and topical), then I think it can do good. Of course, this is a sci-fi show on FOX, so it may not happen. I guess we’ll see.

    As for ST:D. I’m still “meh” about it. Seeing something on film finally was good. I’m concerned about the method of delivery – not for myself, but for others and this program. Having it behind a paywall just doesn’t seem like a way to get more than the fan base paying up.

    I’m willing to pony up the money because I’m on the verge of cutting the cord/satellite dish and moving to digital content only. There are a couple of other CBS shows (Survivor, Amazing Race) that my wife loves, and cutting the cord, and giving her access to those shows (and I get ST:D, as well?), works fine for us. But I know I’m in the minority there.

  8. The Orville feels more like Star Trek to me than Star Trek: Discovery does. Discovery seems very bleak and grim. The Orville (and yes, some of the jokes don’t land) seems a lot more fun and optimistic. Seth MacFarlane has said that it’s not really a comedy, though it does have some jokes, but he’s aiming for a more thoughtful sci-fi show that he feels has been missing from television for years. I’ll watch Discovery just because it’s Star Trek, but right now the one I’m looking forward to the most is The Orville.

  9. I really can’t bring myself to have an opinion on Discovery at all because I can’t get over the fact that it’s being put behind a pay wall in the US, which I’m 99.99999999% certain means it’s guaranteed only to get one season. I bring myself to even get an internal gauge of my interest when I’m not able to see it when it premiers and pretty sure it won’t last long.

    Orville (like much of McFarlane’s work) is a mix for me. It kept bouncing between things I did and didn’t like from scene to scene. I like the quality of the alien prosthetics, but the bathroom joke landed with a thud and dragged on. I love the idea of a captain who has more enthusiasm than skill, but him having an incompetent (or drunk) crew I don’t need so much. I think the idea of him having to work with his ex is really trite, but I liked the chemistry the two of them had on screen. It probably won’t be great but I got a chuckle or two out of the trailer and it has enough core ideas that I think could work that it has a shot. A long shot, but a shot.

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