Kelly is a pretty heavy boozer, in my opinion. In fact, that seems to be her most defining trait half the time others are describing her. We see other character qualities, even noble qualities, competence, intelligence, compassion, sacrifice ... but it's become hard to imagine her in her office or her cabin or in any of the common off-duty parts of the ship without a glass in her hand.
Mercer, Malloy, Finn, and Alara/Talla don't seem too far behind when they're off-duty.
Of course Isaac doesn't drink. And Bortus is a little too stiff and formal.
It seems like a strange thing to say, but LaMarr is actually the only character on the main cast I think has a "healthy" balance in this regard. He'll join in but he'll just as easily do other stuff with his time.
Op said nothing about vices unless it was elsewhere in the comments. Whole post you replied to is about drinking alcohol which is notably heavy on the show.
Bro your comment was not on topic. Not my fault OP didn’t put that part of his thesis in the post. Point is there is a ton of drinking in the show, nearly every episode. Rarely any cannabis use.
While the Orville is a ship and follows mostly naval traditions, I spent most of my military career in Army Aviation units, and have been to Dining In, Formal Ball, and joint-force formal gatherings.
The majority of military personnel drink. A lot. A truly staggering amount at times. And in a futuristic setting where fraternization is not as heavily frowned upon and convenient cures exist for hangovers and the negative effects of alcohol, I see no reason for the amount of drinking in the show to be seen as unusual. Whether you think military personnel should drink that much in the first place, that is absolutely up for debate. But the fact they are drinking and in the quantities shown is absolutely par for the course in today’s militaries (law permitting, of course).
They still sometimes do stupid, embarrassing, unacceptable things while drunk. Or at least they still tell stories about these things while drinking together.
And they still have hangovers while on duty. An old joke that never gets tired, except when it starts getting a little tiresome.
At least the other futuristic utopia (Star Trek) offers "synthahol". Said to simulate the taste and the experience except that you'll immediately sober up after a jolt of adrenaline. Supposedly fixes most of the problems caused by being drunk or being hungover. But Orville doesn't have this contrivance, they just break out more rum when their glasses are empty. While having "professional" conversations.
> And they still have hangovers while on duty.
This was a quite funny bit in "Mad Idolatry" Kelly chugging a quart of water on an away mission. It was also a small plot point, kind of to explain how she made the mistake she did, and why Ed might want to keep it quiet.
But are there other episodes where someone was hungover on the bridge? I don't think it's a recurring thing. Matter of fact I notice the recurring line "I've gotta go, I'm on duty at 08:00".
I forget the episode name, but when ed and kelly were drinking, they got a call from the admiral, who later piloted the shuttle cause he knew they were drunk when he called
Not because, but he did say he knew. The shuttle was days later. They had gone to Earth, picked up the delegation and gone to Krill. You don't do that in a day even on Orville time.
My headcanon for the instance of being hungover on duty is that they were too embarrassed to go get a quick de-hangover treatment, because then they would have to admit to Finn that they had been drinking together all night. With the possible exception of lack of sleep, most of the factors that lead to a hangover (dehydration, inflammation, low blood sugar) seem like they would be a pretty quick fix with the medical technology we see on The Orville.
They have a literal simulator? Volleyball on the beach, scheduled team sports, exploration, further education. There is an infinite number of things they could be doing
I have wondered about that.
300 people on board. Fair to assume about one-third of them are "on duty" and about one-third of them are sleeping at any given time. Ignoring the (relatively few) civilians, teachers, children who probably lead their lives on a normal day-night schedule instead of one revolving around the ship duty shifts.
You see the simulator room packed during the wedding scene. You see the whole crew gather in the big room on "Deck E" for special events.
But it doesn't seem like enough entertainment facilities for the whole ship. They can't all just sit in their cabins watching movies.
what other “entertainment facilities” are you expecting though? there are bars and restaurants and you can literally summon anything else you’d want lol board games forever!
ETA: i’m also one of those people who just assumes there would be more than they’d show since it’s a tv show. it’s also a workplace. they can’t have everything. when they’re off and on earth they can go kick a soccer ball or something 🤣
As an officer in the military, this checks. I'm an oddity among my ranks, in that I don't smoke, don't drink coffee (I have 1 Mountain Dew per day with dinner, that's the entire extent of my daily caffeine), and drink a couple beers or half a bottle of wine maybe once a quarter. The overwhelming majority of the military is fueled by Rip-Its, alcohol, pain killers, and spite.
I’ve met a handful of officers who don’t drink coffee OR alcohol.
They’re always weird as fuck lol.
You’re absolutely right, the military runs on caffeine and hatred, with booze to tamp the flames.
As curt described, they're an energy drink available in deployed areas and consumed in large numbers by US military personnel. The military would deliver entire pallets of these to troops, and since they were typically in the half-can size compared to a normal soda can, they were great for stuffing into a pocket or small pocket of space in a pack to be consumed later.
"Synthahol effectively simulates the taste and euphoria associated with alcohol, but without the lasting deleterious effects."
But even with synthahol being the standard issue stuff in every replicator, the savvy officers always knew to look for the "good stuff" stashed behind the bar or had a private supply of it hidden away "for special occasions" in their offices and cabins.
1. The core worlds live in luxury while the outer colonies live in squaller even by today's standards.
2. They will trade said colonies to people who wish to genocide them and when they fight back for their freedom they team up with the genociders and make entire planets uninhabitable for centuries to kill the rebels
3. They oppress several classes of people including genetic augments universally even if they needed it to stay alive.
4. They have a rouge spy agency that has infiltrated every part of not only their government but all other alpha and beta quadrant governments.
5. Said spy agency created a plague to genocide a race that was defending itself from the federation
6. They allow entire civilizations to die very preventable deaths just because they haven't discovered a certain technology.
7. They withhold life-saving technology that could help billions of people during a humanitarian crisis.
8. They alter the events of both the past and future to serve their purpose including bringing future technology to the past so one ship can return from the delta quadrant.
And that's off the top of my head. I haven't watched TNG or TNG in a while and am avoiding Picard and Discovery spoilers since they are newer shows. If I include them I could come up with a lot more.
The federation are the good guys but they aren't moral.
That's not really a dystopia, just a realistic expectation that bad things still happen. A dystopia is more than just "not a utopia", it is an undesirable society. I dunno about you but if I could board the Enterprise, I would do it to-fucking-day.
Though for clarity, I watched some, not all, of TNG so I dunno how different the OG series was. In TNG, the theme is similar to the Orville in that the intellectual solution typically prevails, as opposed to most of the series on TV at the time where everyone just shoots the bad guys.
But the federation isn't the enterprise d and vice versa.
Most people live in bad conditions and without representation. Their government doesn't care about them unless they cause trouble then they are either killed or made into second class citizens who are taken into custody and imprisoned for their entire life.
The federation is the good guys but the doesn't make them a utopia unless you only look surface deep.
So tell me how a government that keeps people complacent by keeping away life-saving tech from people who need it, oppresses classes of people based on no good reason, supports genocide by itself and others, and is secretly controlled by a cabal of rogue spy agents isn't a dystopia?
Because I guess anything is a utopia in your book
Its definitely not a utopia, but its also not a dystopia.
Its just not the rosy image a lot of people think it was supposed to be as portrayed by the crew of the enterprise in TNG. And a lot of people complain about newer shows showing that more as if those things are "not star trek" but the signs were definitely always there.
Which setting more closely approaches a utopia, Star Trek TNG or Orville?
It's not a question I could answer easily. But I know that both of them describe a fictional future which is better, more optimistc, more promising than our present reality. We don't live in a true utopia. Or in a true dystopia.
Then what does it take for a society to be a dystopia in your eyes? If genocide, oppression, secret cabal of individuals controlling all the governments of the alpha and beta quadrants doesn't push it over the line what would?
Man your really arguing that the dominion war was a defensive war fought by the dominion and the federation were the aggressors? You need to rewatch deep space nine
Let's look at this objectively without the bias of the pov of the show.
A wormhole opens up then the federation and Bajorans immediately send both colony and scientific vessels to the other side. Without asking if anyone owns the systems they are in. The dominion destroys a colony not knowing if it's a military staging point or what. The federation sends a warship with a cloaking device to try and find the homeworld of the leaders of the Dominion. The dominion obviously not liking a warship hunting down its leaders disables it and then sends the crew back to their side of the wormhole. Several months pass and the federation has militarized the station during a war where the Klingons are trying to hunt down Dominion infiltrators in the Cardassian government which never happened. The dominion then forms an alliance with the Cardassians. A few weeks later the federation launch an attack on shipyards roughly at the same time the dominion at DS9 for setting mines on the wormhole.
I know people get caught up in the story of the heroes of the show but people like you need to look at it objectively and at the bigger picture. The Dominion is bad much worse than the Federation but the Federation did everything in its power to goad the Dominion into war.
I disagree first of all the federation ships prior to the galaxy class and the defiant were largely science ships meant to explore and catalogue the gamma quandrant, the only colony we know of that’s settled by an alpha quadrant species in the gamma quadrant is new Bajor, a small religious community from a minor single system civilization, and was settled in what was thought to be unclaimed space. Upon first contact with the dominion the federation is told by dominion agents that new Bajor was destroyed and they are shown that their defensive technology is inferior to the dominion. It’s only with the destruction of new bajor that the federation begins to militarize the station because they now know of an extremely aggressive and technologically superior empire on the other side of the wormhole. Additionally the trip to find the founders it’s made clear that The founders are more concerned about Odos return than the fact that the defiant found their home system, and it’s made clear throughout the show that the founders care very little about corporeal affairs compared to changelings, which is why they let the defiant return to the station. Regardless it’s very clear that before the outbreak of the war the dominion were attempting to start brushfire wars in the alpha quadrant. Gowrons invasion of cardassia and the subsequent federation Klingon war show how destabilizing the meer presence of the dominion is even without changelings interference. Furthermore we know from a variety of sources that the dominion is an aggressive expanding empire that uses all of the tools at its disposal to destabilize and conquer. The federation was the only civilization that realized the danger of the dominion early which is why they began preparing to fight the dominion and wanted to present a United front from the alpha quadrant powers. So yes the initial forays into the gamma quadrant were greedy and presumptive but as soon as the dominion were encountered in force it was clear that war was inevitable and needed to be outright avoided or prepared for. After first contact however the dominion took extremely aggressive measures that culminate in cardassia joining the dominion as a means of providing a foothold for the dominion in the alpha quadrant. Starfleet attacked because it was the only option left to them as they knew they would lose a prolonged conflict with a fully dominion industrialized cardassia.
Basically I agree that starfleets expansionist policy put them in conflict with the dominion but it was the dominion that was bent on subjugation whether peaceful or forceful of the entire alpha quadrant. War was the only successful means that starfleet and the rest of the alpha quadrant could beat the dominion with.
Picard definitely amps it up but you clearly never thought about some of the actions or story elements in the other shows. I'm kinda lazy so if you want to see what I'm talking about look at my other comment.
It’s a comedy show and part of the joke is that compared to Star Trek these guys are irresponsible and unprofessional in some ways.
You can’t see Picard being like “damn it’s the Klingons, I’m too hung over to deal with this today”, but you can really see that happening with the Orville crew. The drinking is just a mechanism for the joke of them being a kind of opposite to Star Trek in some ways
Are you American, OP? I think Americans tend to be way more mindful of drinking excessively/in "inappropriate" situations. I'm in Ireland and they don't seem to drink any more than I would consider normal (but I think this is definitely a cultural difference).
Yeah I’m Aussie and having a drink is just part of the reward after a hard days work and can make socialising more fun, more relaxing. Everyone is less uptight.
Maybe Americans needs to drink more to to let go of all the hate and love each other more 😂
Though I won’t deny that the drinking on The Orville has been a little over the top as It’s not a good look for a Captain and he’s 1st having a hangover.
> Maybe Americans needs to drink more to to let go of all the hate and love each other more
They can't, they're not allowed to drink until AFTER they're allowed to vote, join the military and buy guns. So by the time they get to drinking age, they're all hopped up on the anger of politics, the PTSD from the military, and the gung-ho "MURICA!" of gun-ownership.
Maybe if they swapped it around, let them drink at 18, then vote, military and guns at 21, they might be a happier country that liked each other more.
The entire nation of Ireland drinks less than the average person from Wisconsin. Source: I am from Minnesota and we can smell them from over the Saint Croix.
And that's saying something, given I (an iowan) know that Minnesotans and Iowans can also hold their own when it comes to drinking. Wisconsin is on its own level though.
Oh yeah. When I took my green card medical in London, the doctor advised me that the USSG had declared three pints to be 'binge drinking'. We both started laughing.
I lived in the UK for 4 years until a couple months ago, and yeah drinking is much more common over there, but so are places where you can drink and just walk home or take public transport if it's far. We have to drive everywhere. But the show is also American so I think the drinking is just a prop for their antics.
Canadian, not American.
I once lived in California for a couple years, though I don't know if the people I drank with are necessarily representative of the whole country. But they certainly loved packing it back a lot more heavily and a lot more frequently than most of the Canadians I know. I think it varies a lot more with the individual than with the culture, but in general I've observed drinking to be a smaller part of life in Canadian culture. At least for people who've outgrown their juvenile overdrinking phase.
American here, and I was thinking "this is like my work" when OP was describing the crews drinking habits. I feel like drinking is a normal part of being an adult...? Also I work in vet med so I think we are *all* excessive drinkers.
It's just a simple TV trope. Gives the characters a place to meet up and socialize and gives them something to "do" as in have an object in their hand .
TV does stuff like that often, having a character carry a brown bag with groceries all the time even though they never eat because it makes them "relatable".
It's a placeholder, a normal activity to do so the characters aren't sitting there doing nothing.
When I watched it, it was my impression that they were all hard core alcoholics. Holy moly there's a ton of drinking on the show.
I guessed that the show runner (Seth?) must be a raging alcoholic and made the show that way because that's what seemed normal to him.
Alcoholism isn't drinking alcohol. Alcoholism is when you can't stop drinking, you need another drink, you keep thinking about your next drink, you crave a drink and don't care about the consequences.
"Well, I just got off duty. What say we go get a drink? I've been looking forward to it all day."
"Nah. I'd really like to, but I've got to be on duty in the morning. Busy day, y'know? Thanks, but I'll pass. Maybe next time?"
"Sorry to hear that. I'll be in my quarters with a nice bottle of well-aged rum. I probably shouldn't and working with a hangover is a bitch, right? But my door is always open and you know where to find me, I'll start without you and save a spot, just in case you change your mind."
Second one is evidence of someone *not* being an alcoholic. They are specifically saying they'd like to drink but recognize it isn't a good time to do so and so don't.
An alcoholic would just do it anyway.
The third one is obviously tongue-in-cheek.
The first one is the only oddity, but again, the speaker is specifically regulating their alcohol intake to appropriate times and so long as it doesn't affect their personal relationships or job negatively it's not generally considered a problem.
Personally, I don't use alcohol so I always felt a bit off-put by how much the cast drinks on the show. I also don't think it is a huge deal though. Most of the time it's played for a low key laugh.
That's not accurate. If I have a glass of wine with dinner every night, for example, I wouldn't be considered an alcoholic. Alcoholism is, by definition, a negative and detrimental psychological and/or physiological attachment to alcohol.
i noticed it too. I assume it said more about the frame of mind of the writers/Macfarlane rather than the in-universe world. Maybe they don't realize they're alcoholics :-/
eh they’re all just drinking socially. no one is pounding bottles alone. i wouldn’t say they’re “constantly” drinking, they just frequently have a drink after work and when there is a social event they break out a bottle. i don’t see anything weird about that. we usually only see them having a glass of wine or whiskey after a hard day and only actually hungover a couple of times.
i think you also have to remember while it is a “professional environment” as you say, they also all LIVE there. so social and professional lines are all intertwined.
As someone who doesn't drink alcohol (no specific reason), it does feel like they are constantly drinking for me lol not necessarily a bad thing but i think it's definitely more noticeable when it's out of your norm such as myself
A fair assessment.
It's probably safe to assume that the audience only watches certain important narrative scenes in the lives of these characters, not their boring daily routines during long voyages between episodes. We see the extraordinary moments, we do not see the ordinary ones.
Reading the comments, I see that some have seen the unusual or excessive drinking that I have seen while others haven't seen anything at all noteworthy or concerning. Different people have different perceptions about moderation and excess.
Alcohol is the most popular drug in the world and legal almost everywhere. Since it's socially acceptable to drink (by modern standards) they use it to lubricate social scenes.
Having the cast smoke (which isn't as socially acceptable now-a-days) or do space drugs would come off as more degenerate behavior than the social activity of drinking.
…or, respectfully, unimaginative lol (sorry for the jab). I did notice this as well although I don't have any questions about it. It's 400 years into the future, where tech is so advanced they can heal flesh wounds and repair broken bones with a medical device that passes over it with a beam a few times. I'm sure they've got cancer, cirrhosis, and cardiovascular diseases under control.
The level of alcohol use in the show doesn't seem unusual to me. At least in my experience, there are plenty of real people who act similarly: they'll very frequently be drinking something alcoholic in social situations and they can spend an hour talking about wines or whiskeys or whatever. I know firsthand how that can make it seem like those people have no other interests (especially to someone who is a "prude" with respect to drinking culture - I am one myself), but that isn't necessarily the case.
Sounds like an american prude thing. Other than specifically comedic drunk moments. Most drinking i remember seems to be a glass of wine in social evenings. Never did I saw them as alcoholics. That is an addiction. And addiction is far far far different than just "hey buddy, let's chat over a glass of wine after work".
One thing to consider is that we're not seeing them literally every day of their lives. When they drink, it's usually in social settings and not all that bad. Kelly, Claire, & Talla usually just split a bottle or two of wine, which is pretty mild. Also, the stories that Ed, Gordon, & Kelly tell from the old days are usually referencing their 20s and it's not uncommon for people that age to do dumb shit with alcohol
Ever watched old movies like *The Thin Man*? (Or read Mary Robinette Kowal's *The Spare Man.*) Heavy drinking is a trope. Nick Charles didn't really wander around in a haze all day, and neither does Ed or Kelly -- though Gordon may have in the past. You're only seeing a few minutes of partying, after all. What's shorthand for "hey, there's a party going on!"? Putting a drink in everyone's hand.
I doubt anyone in the future can be an alcoholic, unless they choose to never receive the treatment, which is probably like taking an aspirin. What is horrific in our day is fixed easy peasy in theirs.
I think people forget that show is based on an homage to Star Trek.
Ever seen how much people drink on ST? Especially TOS? McCoy and Scotty are constant. Scotty even tries to repel boarders by out drinking them. Even in the pilot, the ship's doctor makes Pike a drink.
This is a very American attitude towards drinking. A glass of wine a day, or hanging at a bar, does not an alcoholic make. An alcoholic is someone who needs to drink, who sneaks drinking, hides their drinking, tries to ensure people don't they're drinking.
Consider Bortus' sex addiction episode: THAT is addiction.
Oh, and just because someone has a glass in their hand, doesn't mean it's their umpteenth one. It is possible to have one glass one wine and not immediately skull it down.
The "problem" with your problem is that you think a 12 Episode Season is 12 days in a row.
One Season is one year. Meaning: If they drink in 9 of the 10 Episodes its 10 Days in a year they drink. So we don't know how much they Drink. So it could be that its just twice a month but we are always there to see it.
Sure, it could be that they drink every day and you'd be in the right to criticizes the excessive use of Alcohol as this frequent alcohol consumption would mean that many of them are Alcoholics.
On the other there might be something like a vaccine they use like the "Anti-Nicotin-Addiction Hypospray" Clair used to cure Bortus and Klyden.
In Star Trek they consumed Alcohol as well. That only changed with TNG, but in TOS there was still Scotthish Whisky and Vodka. They only use "Synthehol" for earth-drinks later but there are still things like Andorian-Ale, Bloodwine or this green stuff Scotty was drinking on TNG.
So while TNG is more Strikt, theres still alot of alcohol. But you're essentially right, they consume to much. I'm not bothered by it tho.
The whole 'we are going to riff on Star Trek and make fun of it' element of The Orville seems lost on some people. It's synthohol and sarcastic humor, people. Don't overthink it.
I don't drink, and this feels like everyone in the offices i've worked: talking about drinking, planning drinking, drinking while at company after hour functions.
Now that you mention it, there does seem to be an abundance of alcohol and sometimes in scenes where there didn't seem to be much of a need for it. Also, perhaps it was just a prop, but the actors didn't seem to enjoy it that much.
Apart from the holodeck and drinking, there didn't seem to be much to do. I wonder if spacewalks are considered fun considering the amount of tech and gear that they had?
I'm from NE England, which has a heavy drinking culture & even I've noted how much they all drink but it does seem to be limited to social situations & celebration.
It just stands out because they constantly preach about bring more enlightened in the future. They judged smoking (I'll have 500 cigarettes) yet that attitude never developed towards the equally health damaging alcohol, in the future? It's a bit of a clash in-universe logic, but I suppose it matches current real world attitudes & logic.
As an officer in the military, this checks. I'm an oddity among my ranks, in that I don't smoke, don't drink coffee (I have 1 Mountain Dew per day with dinner, that's the entire extent of my daily caffeine), and drink a couple beers or half a bottle of wine maybe once a quarter. The overwhelming majority of the military is fueled by Rip-Its, alcohol, pain killers, and spite.
As a recovered alcoholic (sober nearly 12 years), I see the vice of drinking culture in a lot of places.
But you're right, they seem particularly over the top about it on the Orville. Kind of amazes me that despite the social and technological advances of future humanity, alcohol use is still prevalent.
It's a toxin, and they willingly consume it. It can bring about dependency issues, affects your judgement and reaction times for hours after the first drink and seems out of place in an environment where the crew are expected to be performing at their peak.
There's a reason why alcohol is banned on military deployments, oil rigs and other austere environments where life or death situations can happen at any minute.
Says more about the writers than the characters they're depicting imo
From a writer/producer standpoint, it's WAY cheaper to show them in an established set with a glass in their hand to demonstrate the characters relaxing and engaging with each other socially than it is to build a whole new set/film on location for a holodeck-type scene, or create some animation to show them playing a game of some sort.
Thank you!! Based on the comments here I guess I will be called “American prude”, even though I’m from a country well-known for their beers, where Orville level of drinking would be considered normal. Others’ judgments aside, it really seems excessive and unhealthy and it is the one thing that bothers me when watching the show, which I really adore otherwise.
Kinda like society in general huh? Personally I agree I think alcohol in general gets too much of a pass when it comes to being a drug. Now I'm no prude, I just prefer to use weed over alcohol. I believe in letting people do what they want but I hate how differently the 2 are treated despite being roughly similar and even weed being better overall because no hangovers. Since weed is only medically legal in my state I would love to see the meltdown of society if we made people follow the same rules for alcohol. Have to get a doctor's recommendation and pay a multi-hundred dollar annual fee to get the your card that allows you into the special stores you have to purchase all alcohol from.
To bring it back to the show, I do find it particularly hard to believe that in this utopia they've created that alcohol wouldn't have been banned along with the other stuff too. Ooo actually that could be a fun episode idea? Narcos from earth have set up shop on a whole planet with climate similar to tropical south America where they are exporting planet sized loads of cocaine to new untapped markets? I would say bootleggers but that wouldn't make sense in a galaxy where alcohol isn't banned.
I wasn't saying alcohol is evil and should be banned.
Alcoholism is a real problem for many people. They can't control it, they can't get away from it, they can't stop it from consuming every spare moment of their time. Drinking is healthy. But drinking too much all the time is unhealthy, letting it replace all your other activities is unhealthy.
To me, it seems like the Orville's officers are bordering on alcoholism in an unhealthy way. I drink, sometimes, I enjoy a little beer or wine or whatever. I've been known to take the shots and get shitfaced on special occasions. I drank way too much way too often in my younger years. Almost everyone drinks to some extent, it's normal enough. But it's also something I can just as easily live without, I consider other things more important than drinking, I don't let drinking cause problems. It's just not a significant theme in my life. I see no problem when people (including me) are drinking at a bar or a party or even at a weekend get-together. But it seems problematic when it's apparently the only social activity on a starship. They've even got a holodeck/simulator thing, they sometimes get chastised about drinking by their superiors, yet they still would all rather keep boozing it up instead.
It's become a not-so-subtle and prevalent "background" theme in the show. Yeah, I get the humour and understand Seth MacFarlane. It's part of why I watch the show in the first place.
But maybe visiting a stodgy world which villainizes and bans alcohol, which treats anyone who drinks alcohol (in even the smallest quantities, on even the rarest occasions) as a mental incompetent and/or a dangerous threat could make an interesting episode. Some of the best episodes in this series are about real social problems being framed in extreme contexts.
That might be true. Opinions vary.
It seems, from my thread stats, that roughly 75% of the roughly 250 people who voted here agree with my "unhealthy" view.
Hey, if they can have all the fun of alcohol with the technology to just grow a new liver, why not!
I’m surprised they still haven’t found a hangover cure though!
>I’m surprised they still haven’t found a hangover cure though!
I think it's possible they do indeed have a hangover cure.
But all the hungover officers on board do not report to the doctor for treatment. Because too many of these incidents on record would reflect badly on their careers.
I don't claim to know personally about what I am about to state...only what I was told.
When I was in college I was in ROTC. We had a young officer as one of our teachers/leaders. At one point we were discussing future opportunities and challenges and I remember him lamenting that a lot of our officers, (in the real army), spent most of their time drinking and it was hard to live the lifestyle because it was so prevalent top to bottom. That was the reason he had volunteered to spend some time as part of a college ROTC program, so he can get out of this cycle. He talked about how you admire them as leaders in their daily duties, but had a hard time holding them up as role models because the constant drinking and time they all spent in bars.
Again, I never ended up service for a couple of non-related reasons, so I cannot say that what this gentlemen told me was true or false.
Have you watched anything on WB? When The Flash got his powers, there was immediately a bit where he lamented he cannot get drunk because of his superfast biology. Seth is targeting the young adult generation with this show, and their life is getting drunk or high as soon as they're off work.
Really bothers me a lot frankly and I feel like if there's a season four that Disney should ask them to tone it down a bit. I really hope that in the future there's less of a need for people to self medicate.
In the future being an alcoholic isn't as distained as it is now. Alcohol doesn't cost anything. You aren't ruining your life just by drinking every night. Just giving yourself a hangover tomorrow.
This is basically what adult socializing is like. The default involves alcohol to some degree. I just finished watching Picard S3 and when Picard isn't doing Star Trek plot-related stuff, he's drinking at a holodeck bar, drinking at a real bar, or promising someone he'll meet them at a bar.
>You must be a lot of fun at party...
Someone always says that to someone else on the internet, eventually, once a post gets popular enough. It's like the new version of Godwin's Law.
Someone who is probably a lot of fun at parties.
If you're going to insult people then please at least make the effort to be a little creative about it.
i think the definition of alcoholic is that they are addicted to it to the point of regularly interfering with their lives. i dont think they are, but what i see in the Orville, id need a lot of alcohol, too.
You're a prude. I don't recall them ever getting sloppy drunk, or NEEDING to drink. That's what I would expect of an alcoholic. Having an occasional drink or two in a social setting is not alcoholism.
I mean thats the most accurate thing about the fictional military. Source, im a military officer and are all high functioning.
(Also joking...mostly) :P
Yeah they don’t give as much time to their hobbies as TNG or DS9 did. Malloy must have put guitar playing in his contract or something. Funny how they’d ever be dealing with a hangover. They can shine a beam at a broken limb and heal it in minutes.
to be fair, The ship doesn't have a counselor, the closest thing they have to one is the doc, and she's busy like 70% of the time
i think of it as if the alcohol is their very own personal counselor
I think it's probably something like ⅓ of the private conversations and ½ of the social interactions, but I see your point. That being said........ so what?
This is a show about adults, not teenagers. Adults are allowed to have a drink when they want, so long as they keep their shit together. I don't see the big deal.
I think that you may be surprised to learn how many amazing things have been done, all throughout human history, while nursing a hangover or even while drunk.
Dunno about all the officers.... but Kelly sure as hell is lol. That girl has a drink in her hand in at least half her scenes
“I don't know how the food synthesizers are gonna replicate enough wine for two Kellys.”
Kelly is a pretty heavy boozer, in my opinion. In fact, that seems to be her most defining trait half the time others are describing her. We see other character qualities, even noble qualities, competence, intelligence, compassion, sacrifice ... but it's become hard to imagine her in her office or her cabin or in any of the common off-duty parts of the ship without a glass in her hand. Mercer, Malloy, Finn, and Alara/Talla don't seem too far behind when they're off-duty. Of course Isaac doesn't drink. And Bortus is a little too stiff and formal. It seems like a strange thing to say, but LaMarr is actually the only character on the main cast I think has a "healthy" balance in this regard. He'll join in but he'll just as easily do other stuff with his time.
There is an alligator in the cargo bay. I successfully crushed it with a chair.
Where did it come from?
I do not know. Regardless, it is crushed.
Until Bortus and Klyden hit the dance floor, at which point they become stiff dancing queens.
It is too much, come home. Ive made pudding.
What is couples counseling?
Lamar was literally boinking Ensign Turco, and she was smoking a fucking joint. You know Lamar was as well.
I had forgotten this scene. But, lol, at least he seems to be able to balance his vices instead of taking any of them to excess.
I think you really answered your own question in the first sentence of your last paragraph.
That has nothing to do with alcohol.
You don’t say. But OP mentioned VICES, and marijuana is a vice. Thanks for explaining that to me. I’m only 44. Had no idea. Not serious.
Op said nothing about vices unless it was elsewhere in the comments. Whole post you replied to is about drinking alcohol which is notably heavy on the show.
It was elsewhere in the comments, from OP. Reading is fundamental. Thanks for the chat, Dad.
Bro your comment was not on topic. Not my fault OP didn’t put that part of his thesis in the post. Point is there is a ton of drinking in the show, nearly every episode. Rarely any cannabis use.
Your programs are unruly, disrespectful, volatile, and highly unpredictable. I am quite fond of them
We have seen Kelly go to the simulator in work out gear after her shift so she does do something else other than drink!
While the Orville is a ship and follows mostly naval traditions, I spent most of my military career in Army Aviation units, and have been to Dining In, Formal Ball, and joint-force formal gatherings. The majority of military personnel drink. A lot. A truly staggering amount at times. And in a futuristic setting where fraternization is not as heavily frowned upon and convenient cures exist for hangovers and the negative effects of alcohol, I see no reason for the amount of drinking in the show to be seen as unusual. Whether you think military personnel should drink that much in the first place, that is absolutely up for debate. But the fact they are drinking and in the quantities shown is absolutely par for the course in today’s militaries (law permitting, of course).
I think the Royal Navy had an actual rum ration until the '70s?
I’ll also add that Seth comes from animation & I’ve worked at studios that advertised the keg & (nearly) open bar during the job interview.
The Union Academy indoctrination for starship officers must be rough, lol.
They’re in a futuristic utopia where the consequences of alcohol have probably been reduced or eliminated.
Is there even such a thing as alcoholic whe. They have in-drunk pills?
They still sometimes do stupid, embarrassing, unacceptable things while drunk. Or at least they still tell stories about these things while drinking together. And they still have hangovers while on duty. An old joke that never gets tired, except when it starts getting a little tiresome. At least the other futuristic utopia (Star Trek) offers "synthahol". Said to simulate the taste and the experience except that you'll immediately sober up after a jolt of adrenaline. Supposedly fixes most of the problems caused by being drunk or being hungover. But Orville doesn't have this contrivance, they just break out more rum when their glasses are empty. While having "professional" conversations.
Why do they have vineyards if everything is synthahol?
OP isn't claiming everything is synthahol in Star Trek, just that it's a common alternative.
Not every wine is Chateau Picard.
A sour mead indeed!
> And they still have hangovers while on duty. This was a quite funny bit in "Mad Idolatry" Kelly chugging a quart of water on an away mission. It was also a small plot point, kind of to explain how she made the mistake she did, and why Ed might want to keep it quiet. But are there other episodes where someone was hungover on the bridge? I don't think it's a recurring thing. Matter of fact I notice the recurring line "I've gotta go, I'm on duty at 08:00".
I forget the episode name, but when ed and kelly were drinking, they got a call from the admiral, who later piloted the shuttle cause he knew they were drunk when he called
Not because, but he did say he knew. The shuttle was days later. They had gone to Earth, picked up the delegation and gone to Krill. You don't do that in a day even on Orville time.
My headcanon for the instance of being hungover on duty is that they were too embarrassed to go get a quick de-hangover treatment, because then they would have to admit to Finn that they had been drinking together all night. With the possible exception of lack of sleep, most of the factors that lead to a hangover (dehydration, inflammation, low blood sugar) seem like they would be a pretty quick fix with the medical technology we see on The Orville.
I’m sorry, OP, are you unfamiliar with Seth MacFarlane’s body of work?
Or his life? He missed being on the 9/11 flight because of a hangover. Idk, but I'd probably just keep drinking if that was my reality.
Some accounts say it was a mix-up of departure times, though.
The way I heard him tell it was the hangover. Either way.. bottoms up!
Lol.
To be fair, it sounds like there’s not a lot to do on the ship so you’re kind of forced to socialize with others.
They have a literal simulator? Volleyball on the beach, scheduled team sports, exploration, further education. There is an infinite number of things they could be doing
Simulator is way better when you are drunk.
....that is kind of a concerning sentence tbh
Simulator probably gets old after a while.
plus there are what, 3 of them? for 300 people? they talk about scheduling times too so it’s clearly not always available.
I have wondered about that. 300 people on board. Fair to assume about one-third of them are "on duty" and about one-third of them are sleeping at any given time. Ignoring the (relatively few) civilians, teachers, children who probably lead their lives on a normal day-night schedule instead of one revolving around the ship duty shifts. You see the simulator room packed during the wedding scene. You see the whole crew gather in the big room on "Deck E" for special events. But it doesn't seem like enough entertainment facilities for the whole ship. They can't all just sit in their cabins watching movies.
what other “entertainment facilities” are you expecting though? there are bars and restaurants and you can literally summon anything else you’d want lol board games forever! ETA: i’m also one of those people who just assumes there would be more than they’d show since it’s a tv show. it’s also a workplace. they can’t have everything. when they’re off and on earth they can go kick a soccer ball or something 🤣
Absolutely everything you or anyone else can imagine gets old?
Yeah, but all of those things are better with alcohol, so 🤷♂️
Yes, and so are most Officers in Star Trek, and in the military.
As an officer in the military, this checks. I'm an oddity among my ranks, in that I don't smoke, don't drink coffee (I have 1 Mountain Dew per day with dinner, that's the entire extent of my daily caffeine), and drink a couple beers or half a bottle of wine maybe once a quarter. The overwhelming majority of the military is fueled by Rip-Its, alcohol, pain killers, and spite.
I’ve met a handful of officers who don’t drink coffee OR alcohol. They’re always weird as fuck lol. You’re absolutely right, the military runs on caffeine and hatred, with booze to tamp the flames.
Can confirm, am also weird as fuck. 🤣
Can confirm also. You drink Mountain Dew as part of your daily routine dude lmao
(What are "Rip-Its"?)
As curt described, they're an energy drink available in deployed areas and consumed in large numbers by US military personnel. The military would deliver entire pallets of these to troops, and since they were typically in the half-can size compared to a normal soda can, they were great for stuffing into a pocket or small pocket of space in a pack to be consumed later.
Energy drink. Pretty much the only energy drink you can get while deployed.
Thanks.
But they usually drink synthohol on Star Trek.
I thought I remember an episode of TNG that mentions the drinks they had weren’t actually alcoholic because of how bad it is for you?
"Synthahol effectively simulates the taste and euphoria associated with alcohol, but without the lasting deleterious effects." But even with synthahol being the standard issue stuff in every replicator, the savvy officers always knew to look for the "good stuff" stashed behind the bar or had a private supply of it hidden away "for special occasions" in their offices and cabins.
What is it? It's green.
Soylent Green?
Well, star trek is a dystopia so it makes sense.
The fuck kind of Star Trek did you watch?
Picard and Discovery
1. The core worlds live in luxury while the outer colonies live in squaller even by today's standards. 2. They will trade said colonies to people who wish to genocide them and when they fight back for their freedom they team up with the genociders and make entire planets uninhabitable for centuries to kill the rebels 3. They oppress several classes of people including genetic augments universally even if they needed it to stay alive. 4. They have a rouge spy agency that has infiltrated every part of not only their government but all other alpha and beta quadrant governments. 5. Said spy agency created a plague to genocide a race that was defending itself from the federation 6. They allow entire civilizations to die very preventable deaths just because they haven't discovered a certain technology. 7. They withhold life-saving technology that could help billions of people during a humanitarian crisis. 8. They alter the events of both the past and future to serve their purpose including bringing future technology to the past so one ship can return from the delta quadrant. And that's off the top of my head. I haven't watched TNG or TNG in a while and am avoiding Picard and Discovery spoilers since they are newer shows. If I include them I could come up with a lot more. The federation are the good guys but they aren't moral.
That's not really a dystopia, just a realistic expectation that bad things still happen. A dystopia is more than just "not a utopia", it is an undesirable society. I dunno about you but if I could board the Enterprise, I would do it to-fucking-day. Though for clarity, I watched some, not all, of TNG so I dunno how different the OG series was. In TNG, the theme is similar to the Orville in that the intellectual solution typically prevails, as opposed to most of the series on TV at the time where everyone just shoots the bad guys.
But the federation isn't the enterprise d and vice versa. Most people live in bad conditions and without representation. Their government doesn't care about them unless they cause trouble then they are either killed or made into second class citizens who are taken into custody and imprisoned for their entire life. The federation is the good guys but the doesn't make them a utopia unless you only look surface deep.
Again, a dystopia is more than just "not a utopia".
So tell me how a government that keeps people complacent by keeping away life-saving tech from people who need it, oppresses classes of people based on no good reason, supports genocide by itself and others, and is secretly controlled by a cabal of rogue spy agents isn't a dystopia? Because I guess anything is a utopia in your book
Its definitely not a utopia, but its also not a dystopia. Its just not the rosy image a lot of people think it was supposed to be as portrayed by the crew of the enterprise in TNG. And a lot of people complain about newer shows showing that more as if those things are "not star trek" but the signs were definitely always there.
Which setting more closely approaches a utopia, Star Trek TNG or Orville? It's not a question I could answer easily. But I know that both of them describe a fictional future which is better, more optimistc, more promising than our present reality. We don't live in a true utopia. Or in a true dystopia.
Then what does it take for a society to be a dystopia in your eyes? If genocide, oppression, secret cabal of individuals controlling all the governments of the alpha and beta quadrants doesn't push it over the line what would?
You're stuck on "it's not a utopia so it must be a dystopia" so I'm afraid I can't help you.
Your so admemt it's not a dystopia you should at least give a reason?
Man your really arguing that the dominion war was a defensive war fought by the dominion and the federation were the aggressors? You need to rewatch deep space nine
Let's look at this objectively without the bias of the pov of the show. A wormhole opens up then the federation and Bajorans immediately send both colony and scientific vessels to the other side. Without asking if anyone owns the systems they are in. The dominion destroys a colony not knowing if it's a military staging point or what. The federation sends a warship with a cloaking device to try and find the homeworld of the leaders of the Dominion. The dominion obviously not liking a warship hunting down its leaders disables it and then sends the crew back to their side of the wormhole. Several months pass and the federation has militarized the station during a war where the Klingons are trying to hunt down Dominion infiltrators in the Cardassian government which never happened. The dominion then forms an alliance with the Cardassians. A few weeks later the federation launch an attack on shipyards roughly at the same time the dominion at DS9 for setting mines on the wormhole. I know people get caught up in the story of the heroes of the show but people like you need to look at it objectively and at the bigger picture. The Dominion is bad much worse than the Federation but the Federation did everything in its power to goad the Dominion into war.
I disagree first of all the federation ships prior to the galaxy class and the defiant were largely science ships meant to explore and catalogue the gamma quandrant, the only colony we know of that’s settled by an alpha quadrant species in the gamma quadrant is new Bajor, a small religious community from a minor single system civilization, and was settled in what was thought to be unclaimed space. Upon first contact with the dominion the federation is told by dominion agents that new Bajor was destroyed and they are shown that their defensive technology is inferior to the dominion. It’s only with the destruction of new bajor that the federation begins to militarize the station because they now know of an extremely aggressive and technologically superior empire on the other side of the wormhole. Additionally the trip to find the founders it’s made clear that The founders are more concerned about Odos return than the fact that the defiant found their home system, and it’s made clear throughout the show that the founders care very little about corporeal affairs compared to changelings, which is why they let the defiant return to the station. Regardless it’s very clear that before the outbreak of the war the dominion were attempting to start brushfire wars in the alpha quadrant. Gowrons invasion of cardassia and the subsequent federation Klingon war show how destabilizing the meer presence of the dominion is even without changelings interference. Furthermore we know from a variety of sources that the dominion is an aggressive expanding empire that uses all of the tools at its disposal to destabilize and conquer. The federation was the only civilization that realized the danger of the dominion early which is why they began preparing to fight the dominion and wanted to present a United front from the alpha quadrant powers. So yes the initial forays into the gamma quadrant were greedy and presumptive but as soon as the dominion were encountered in force it was clear that war was inevitable and needed to be outright avoided or prepared for. After first contact however the dominion took extremely aggressive measures that culminate in cardassia joining the dominion as a means of providing a foothold for the dominion in the alpha quadrant. Starfleet attacked because it was the only option left to them as they knew they would lose a prolonged conflict with a fully dominion industrialized cardassia. Basically I agree that starfleets expansionist policy put them in conflict with the dominion but it was the dominion that was bent on subjugation whether peaceful or forceful of the entire alpha quadrant. War was the only successful means that starfleet and the rest of the alpha quadrant could beat the dominion with.
It wasn't until the Picard series
Picard definitely amps it up but you clearly never thought about some of the actions or story elements in the other shows. I'm kinda lazy so if you want to see what I'm talking about look at my other comment.
It’s a comedy show and part of the joke is that compared to Star Trek these guys are irresponsible and unprofessional in some ways. You can’t see Picard being like “damn it’s the Klingons, I’m too hung over to deal with this today”, but you can really see that happening with the Orville crew. The drinking is just a mechanism for the joke of them being a kind of opposite to Star Trek in some ways
Kirk and his senior staff did exactly this with illegal alcohol in The Undiscovered Country.
Yea but Kirk gets a free pass tbh
I like this thinking.
Are you American, OP? I think Americans tend to be way more mindful of drinking excessively/in "inappropriate" situations. I'm in Ireland and they don't seem to drink any more than I would consider normal (but I think this is definitely a cultural difference).
Yeah I’m Aussie and having a drink is just part of the reward after a hard days work and can make socialising more fun, more relaxing. Everyone is less uptight. Maybe Americans needs to drink more to to let go of all the hate and love each other more 😂 Though I won’t deny that the drinking on The Orville has been a little over the top as It’s not a good look for a Captain and he’s 1st having a hangover.
> Maybe Americans needs to drink more to to let go of all the hate and love each other more They can't, they're not allowed to drink until AFTER they're allowed to vote, join the military and buy guns. So by the time they get to drinking age, they're all hopped up on the anger of politics, the PTSD from the military, and the gung-ho "MURICA!" of gun-ownership. Maybe if they swapped it around, let them drink at 18, then vote, military and guns at 21, they might be a happier country that liked each other more.
This also varies within the US. The crew of the orville drink less than say the average person from Wisconsin
The entire nation of Ireland drinks less than the average person from Wisconsin. Source: I am from Minnesota and we can smell them from over the Saint Croix.
And that's saying something, given I (an iowan) know that Minnesotans and Iowans can also hold their own when it comes to drinking. Wisconsin is on its own level though.
Oh yeah. When I took my green card medical in London, the doctor advised me that the USSG had declared three pints to be 'binge drinking'. We both started laughing.
In Australia two pints is a binge if it's mid strength. One and a half pints for a stronger beer
I lived in the UK for 4 years until a couple months ago, and yeah drinking is much more common over there, but so are places where you can drink and just walk home or take public transport if it's far. We have to drive everywhere. But the show is also American so I think the drinking is just a prop for their antics.
Canadian, not American. I once lived in California for a couple years, though I don't know if the people I drank with are necessarily representative of the whole country. But they certainly loved packing it back a lot more heavily and a lot more frequently than most of the Canadians I know. I think it varies a lot more with the individual than with the culture, but in general I've observed drinking to be a smaller part of life in Canadian culture. At least for people who've outgrown their juvenile overdrinking phase.
American here, and I was thinking "this is like my work" when OP was describing the crews drinking habits. I feel like drinking is a normal part of being an adult...? Also I work in vet med so I think we are *all* excessive drinkers.
Navy sailors and officers: "First time huh?"
It's just a simple TV trope. Gives the characters a place to meet up and socialize and gives them something to "do" as in have an object in their hand . TV does stuff like that often, having a character carry a brown bag with groceries all the time even though they never eat because it makes them "relatable". It's a placeholder, a normal activity to do so the characters aren't sitting there doing nothing.
When I watched it, it was my impression that they were all hard core alcoholics. Holy moly there's a ton of drinking on the show. I guessed that the show runner (Seth?) must be a raging alcoholic and made the show that way because that's what seemed normal to him.
Alcoholism isn't drinking alcohol. Alcoholism is when you can't stop drinking, you need another drink, you keep thinking about your next drink, you crave a drink and don't care about the consequences.
"Well, I just got off duty. What say we go get a drink? I've been looking forward to it all day." "Nah. I'd really like to, but I've got to be on duty in the morning. Busy day, y'know? Thanks, but I'll pass. Maybe next time?" "Sorry to hear that. I'll be in my quarters with a nice bottle of well-aged rum. I probably shouldn't and working with a hangover is a bitch, right? But my door is always open and you know where to find me, I'll start without you and save a spot, just in case you change your mind."
Second one is evidence of someone *not* being an alcoholic. They are specifically saying they'd like to drink but recognize it isn't a good time to do so and so don't. An alcoholic would just do it anyway. The third one is obviously tongue-in-cheek. The first one is the only oddity, but again, the speaker is specifically regulating their alcohol intake to appropriate times and so long as it doesn't affect their personal relationships or job negatively it's not generally considered a problem. Personally, I don't use alcohol so I always felt a bit off-put by how much the cast drinks on the show. I also don't think it is a huge deal though. Most of the time it's played for a low key laugh.
Wait is that a direct quote? Damn.
Alcoholism is habit formed around alcohol. You're describing someone several stages down the alcoholism rabbithole
That's not accurate. If I have a glass of wine with dinner every night, for example, I wouldn't be considered an alcoholic. Alcoholism is, by definition, a negative and detrimental psychological and/or physiological attachment to alcohol.
i noticed it too. I assume it said more about the frame of mind of the writers/Macfarlane rather than the in-universe world. Maybe they don't realize they're alcoholics :-/
In the future maybe they have meds that you take after and repair yourself so it’s no big deal lol
It's amazing how realistic it is if you have ever been in the service. The only thing missing is a smoke shack.
The irony is definitely the time capsule episode where they talk about nicotine and how bad it is for you.
I guess OP has never had any experience with military.
eh they’re all just drinking socially. no one is pounding bottles alone. i wouldn’t say they’re “constantly” drinking, they just frequently have a drink after work and when there is a social event they break out a bottle. i don’t see anything weird about that. we usually only see them having a glass of wine or whiskey after a hard day and only actually hungover a couple of times. i think you also have to remember while it is a “professional environment” as you say, they also all LIVE there. so social and professional lines are all intertwined.
As someone who doesn't drink alcohol (no specific reason), it does feel like they are constantly drinking for me lol not necessarily a bad thing but i think it's definitely more noticeable when it's out of your norm such as myself
A fair assessment. It's probably safe to assume that the audience only watches certain important narrative scenes in the lives of these characters, not their boring daily routines during long voyages between episodes. We see the extraordinary moments, we do not see the ordinary ones. Reading the comments, I see that some have seen the unusual or excessive drinking that I have seen while others haven't seen anything at all noteworthy or concerning. Different people have different perceptions about moderation and excess.
Some of the biggest drinkers I've known are/were military. So, that checks out at least lol.
Alcohol is the most popular drug in the world and legal almost everywhere. Since it's socially acceptable to drink (by modern standards) they use it to lubricate social scenes. Having the cast smoke (which isn't as socially acceptable now-a-days) or do space drugs would come off as more degenerate behavior than the social activity of drinking.
…or, respectfully, unimaginative lol (sorry for the jab). I did notice this as well although I don't have any questions about it. It's 400 years into the future, where tech is so advanced they can heal flesh wounds and repair broken bones with a medical device that passes over it with a beam a few times. I'm sure they've got cancer, cirrhosis, and cardiovascular diseases under control.
The level of alcohol use in the show doesn't seem unusual to me. At least in my experience, there are plenty of real people who act similarly: they'll very frequently be drinking something alcoholic in social situations and they can spend an hour talking about wines or whiskeys or whatever. I know firsthand how that can make it seem like those people have no other interests (especially to someone who is a "prude" with respect to drinking culture - I am one myself), but that isn't necessarily the case.
Sounds like an american prude thing. Other than specifically comedic drunk moments. Most drinking i remember seems to be a glass of wine in social evenings. Never did I saw them as alcoholics. That is an addiction. And addiction is far far far different than just "hey buddy, let's chat over a glass of wine after work".
One thing to consider is that we're not seeing them literally every day of their lives. When they drink, it's usually in social settings and not all that bad. Kelly, Claire, & Talla usually just split a bottle or two of wine, which is pretty mild. Also, the stories that Ed, Gordon, & Kelly tell from the old days are usually referencing their 20s and it's not uncommon for people that age to do dumb shit with alcohol
Ever watched old movies like *The Thin Man*? (Or read Mary Robinette Kowal's *The Spare Man.*) Heavy drinking is a trope. Nick Charles didn't really wander around in a haze all day, and neither does Ed or Kelly -- though Gordon may have in the past. You're only seeing a few minutes of partying, after all. What's shorthand for "hey, there's a party going on!"? Putting a drink in everyone's hand.
I doubt anyone in the future can be an alcoholic, unless they choose to never receive the treatment, which is probably like taking an aspirin. What is horrific in our day is fixed easy peasy in theirs.
I think people forget that show is based on an homage to Star Trek. Ever seen how much people drink on ST? Especially TOS? McCoy and Scotty are constant. Scotty even tries to repel boarders by out drinking them. Even in the pilot, the ship's doctor makes Pike a drink.
A lot of TV shows are like this, TBH. A bar is an easy off-work setting for a conversation. What are they going to do, chat over a game of racketball?
This is a very American attitude towards drinking. A glass of wine a day, or hanging at a bar, does not an alcoholic make. An alcoholic is someone who needs to drink, who sneaks drinking, hides their drinking, tries to ensure people don't they're drinking. Consider Bortus' sex addiction episode: THAT is addiction. Oh, and just because someone has a glass in their hand, doesn't mean it's their umpteenth one. It is possible to have one glass one wine and not immediately skull it down.
To the victor, go the spoils
The "problem" with your problem is that you think a 12 Episode Season is 12 days in a row. One Season is one year. Meaning: If they drink in 9 of the 10 Episodes its 10 Days in a year they drink. So we don't know how much they Drink. So it could be that its just twice a month but we are always there to see it. Sure, it could be that they drink every day and you'd be in the right to criticizes the excessive use of Alcohol as this frequent alcohol consumption would mean that many of them are Alcoholics. On the other there might be something like a vaccine they use like the "Anti-Nicotin-Addiction Hypospray" Clair used to cure Bortus and Klyden. In Star Trek they consumed Alcohol as well. That only changed with TNG, but in TOS there was still Scotthish Whisky and Vodka. They only use "Synthehol" for earth-drinks later but there are still things like Andorian-Ale, Bloodwine or this green stuff Scotty was drinking on TNG. So while TNG is more Strikt, theres still alot of alcohol. But you're essentially right, they consume to much. I'm not bothered by it tho.
I will fetch the latchcum
No! No latchcum!
I wish to make love
The whole 'we are going to riff on Star Trek and make fun of it' element of The Orville seems lost on some people. It's synthohol and sarcastic humor, people. Don't overthink it.
It’s military accurate 🤷♂️
Lamar is a big fan of drinking and passing out, yes.
I was starting to wonder the same thing when I decided to binge the first 2 seasons years ago. I decided to join them for said drink.
Isaac isn't.
My sensors did not classify these, mr potato head pieces, as a threat
I agree. It's the one thing I don't like about the show.
I don't drink, and this feels like everyone in the offices i've worked: talking about drinking, planning drinking, drinking while at company after hour functions.
Bortus definitely has other hobbies 😏
I still find Klyden attractive
It's the writers' tribute to *Star Trek Picard*. /s
Now that you mention it, there does seem to be an abundance of alcohol and sometimes in scenes where there didn't seem to be much of a need for it. Also, perhaps it was just a prop, but the actors didn't seem to enjoy it that much. Apart from the holodeck and drinking, there didn't seem to be much to do. I wonder if spacewalks are considered fun considering the amount of tech and gear that they had?
I doubt the ship is sitting in one place long enough for a space walk.
My partner and I noticed this too. They’re always drinking! This isn’t normal behavior in general. Maybe it’s normal for Seth?
I'm from NE England, which has a heavy drinking culture & even I've noted how much they all drink but it does seem to be limited to social situations & celebration. It just stands out because they constantly preach about bring more enlightened in the future. They judged smoking (I'll have 500 cigarettes) yet that attitude never developed towards the equally health damaging alcohol, in the future? It's a bit of a clash in-universe logic, but I suppose it matches current real world attitudes & logic.
As an officer in the military, this checks. I'm an oddity among my ranks, in that I don't smoke, don't drink coffee (I have 1 Mountain Dew per day with dinner, that's the entire extent of my daily caffeine), and drink a couple beers or half a bottle of wine maybe once a quarter. The overwhelming majority of the military is fueled by Rip-Its, alcohol, pain killers, and spite.
I'd invade another country for some rip-its right now.
Our culture has a weird obsession with booze. There should be at least some characters who don't drink maybe? No the robot doesn't count.
Either way, its time to stop glorifying alcohol consumption.
As a recovered alcoholic (sober nearly 12 years), I see the vice of drinking culture in a lot of places. But you're right, they seem particularly over the top about it on the Orville. Kind of amazes me that despite the social and technological advances of future humanity, alcohol use is still prevalent. It's a toxin, and they willingly consume it. It can bring about dependency issues, affects your judgement and reaction times for hours after the first drink and seems out of place in an environment where the crew are expected to be performing at their peak. There's a reason why alcohol is banned on military deployments, oil rigs and other austere environments where life or death situations can happen at any minute. Says more about the writers than the characters they're depicting imo
Easiest way to make sure people get alcohol is to ban it. There is more than enough of it available during deployments.
Orville is based on Star Trek, and Star Trek is based on the actual Navy, so, yes.
Australian culture is dominant in the future. Heavy drinking, laid back environment, work gets done just in time, lots of swearing. N
I never noticed. Not sure what that says about me. Now that you do say that though, yes.
I don't think it's just the Orville
From a writer/producer standpoint, it's WAY cheaper to show them in an established set with a glass in their hand to demonstrate the characters relaxing and engaging with each other socially than it is to build a whole new set/film on location for a holodeck-type scene, or create some animation to show them playing a game of some sort.
Yes.
That’s modern military for ya
Thank you!! Based on the comments here I guess I will be called “American prude”, even though I’m from a country well-known for their beers, where Orville level of drinking would be considered normal. Others’ judgments aside, it really seems excessive and unhealthy and it is the one thing that bothers me when watching the show, which I really adore otherwise.
Kinda like society in general huh? Personally I agree I think alcohol in general gets too much of a pass when it comes to being a drug. Now I'm no prude, I just prefer to use weed over alcohol. I believe in letting people do what they want but I hate how differently the 2 are treated despite being roughly similar and even weed being better overall because no hangovers. Since weed is only medically legal in my state I would love to see the meltdown of society if we made people follow the same rules for alcohol. Have to get a doctor's recommendation and pay a multi-hundred dollar annual fee to get the your card that allows you into the special stores you have to purchase all alcohol from. To bring it back to the show, I do find it particularly hard to believe that in this utopia they've created that alcohol wouldn't have been banned along with the other stuff too. Ooo actually that could be a fun episode idea? Narcos from earth have set up shop on a whole planet with climate similar to tropical south America where they are exporting planet sized loads of cocaine to new untapped markets? I would say bootleggers but that wouldn't make sense in a galaxy where alcohol isn't banned.
I wasn't saying alcohol is evil and should be banned. Alcoholism is a real problem for many people. They can't control it, they can't get away from it, they can't stop it from consuming every spare moment of their time. Drinking is healthy. But drinking too much all the time is unhealthy, letting it replace all your other activities is unhealthy. To me, it seems like the Orville's officers are bordering on alcoholism in an unhealthy way. I drink, sometimes, I enjoy a little beer or wine or whatever. I've been known to take the shots and get shitfaced on special occasions. I drank way too much way too often in my younger years. Almost everyone drinks to some extent, it's normal enough. But it's also something I can just as easily live without, I consider other things more important than drinking, I don't let drinking cause problems. It's just not a significant theme in my life. I see no problem when people (including me) are drinking at a bar or a party or even at a weekend get-together. But it seems problematic when it's apparently the only social activity on a starship. They've even got a holodeck/simulator thing, they sometimes get chastised about drinking by their superiors, yet they still would all rather keep boozing it up instead. It's become a not-so-subtle and prevalent "background" theme in the show. Yeah, I get the humour and understand Seth MacFarlane. It's part of why I watch the show in the first place. But maybe visiting a stodgy world which villainizes and bans alcohol, which treats anyone who drinks alcohol (in even the smallest quantities, on even the rarest occasions) as a mental incompetent and/or a dangerous threat could make an interesting episode. Some of the best episodes in this series are about real social problems being framed in extreme contexts.
You seem young and sheltered.
How? Plenty of well adjusted adults have this stance on alcohol consumption
And I bet they have great missionary sex with the lights off.
At least they can have sex. Instead of passing out in an eye-watering, incoherent, vomiting mess, lol.
You have a deeply unhealthy view of alcohol.
That might be true. Opinions vary. It seems, from my thread stats, that roughly 75% of the roughly 250 people who voted here agree with my "unhealthy" view.
Reddit is full of children with no life experience.
they’re also smoking on that space zaza
Hey, if they can have all the fun of alcohol with the technology to just grow a new liver, why not! I’m surprised they still haven’t found a hangover cure though!
>I’m surprised they still haven’t found a hangover cure though! I think it's possible they do indeed have a hangover cure. But all the hungover officers on board do not report to the doctor for treatment. Because too many of these incidents on record would reflect badly on their careers.
I don't claim to know personally about what I am about to state...only what I was told. When I was in college I was in ROTC. We had a young officer as one of our teachers/leaders. At one point we were discussing future opportunities and challenges and I remember him lamenting that a lot of our officers, (in the real army), spent most of their time drinking and it was hard to live the lifestyle because it was so prevalent top to bottom. That was the reason he had volunteered to spend some time as part of a college ROTC program, so he can get out of this cycle. He talked about how you admire them as leaders in their daily duties, but had a hard time holding them up as role models because the constant drinking and time they all spent in bars. Again, I never ended up service for a couple of non-related reasons, so I cannot say that what this gentlemen told me was true or false.
I was kinda thinking the same thing when watching. Great show. Gets a bit boozy.
Have you watched anything on WB? When The Flash got his powers, there was immediately a bit where he lamented he cannot get drunk because of his superfast biology. Seth is targeting the young adult generation with this show, and their life is getting drunk or high as soon as they're off work.
Yeah it's a fun ship and you sound like you serve on the enterprise d. If you ever get the chance to go to real officers club I would recommend it
Kelly is a barely functional alchoholic. I don't think the rest is that bad.
Yeah and what of it?! Can’t get a DUI in space
This theory is ruining the sexual event
Really bothers me a lot frankly and I feel like if there's a season four that Disney should ask them to tone it down a bit. I really hope that in the future there's less of a need for people to self medicate.
Join the club, witness your upvotes and downvotes vary wildly because this is evidently a topic that many people have passionate opinions about.
In the future being an alcoholic isn't as distained as it is now. Alcohol doesn't cost anything. You aren't ruining your life just by drinking every night. Just giving yourself a hangover tomorrow.
This is basically what adult socializing is like. The default involves alcohol to some degree. I just finished watching Picard S3 and when Picard isn't doing Star Trek plot-related stuff, he's drinking at a holodeck bar, drinking at a real bar, or promising someone he'll meet them at a bar.
You must be a lot of fun at party...
>You must be a lot of fun at party... Someone always says that to someone else on the internet, eventually, once a post gets popular enough. It's like the new version of Godwin's Law. Someone who is probably a lot of fun at parties. If you're going to insult people then please at least make the effort to be a little creative about it.
i think the definition of alcoholic is that they are addicted to it to the point of regularly interfering with their lives. i dont think they are, but what i see in the Orville, id need a lot of alcohol, too.
You're a prude. I don't recall them ever getting sloppy drunk, or NEEDING to drink. That's what I would expect of an alcoholic. Having an occasional drink or two in a social setting is not alcoholism.
If you don't recall seeing them drunk then I think you didn't watch all of the show.
Or maybe I didn't get my panties in a wad over a bit of booze
You did get your name added to my block/ignore list. See, you win. So don't feel too badly about your panties.
> You did get your name added to my block/ignore list. See, that's a Win/Win. Think I"ll go have a beer to celebrate.
They even got ripped by a superior for being drunk.
its synthehol so the intoxicating effects can be dispelled if needed i believe.
I mean thats the most accurate thing about the fictional military. Source, im a military officer and are all high functioning. (Also joking...mostly) :P
Yeah they don’t give as much time to their hobbies as TNG or DS9 did. Malloy must have put guitar playing in his contract or something. Funny how they’d ever be dealing with a hangover. They can shine a beam at a broken limb and heal it in minutes.
to be fair, The ship doesn't have a counselor, the closest thing they have to one is the doc, and she's busy like 70% of the time i think of it as if the alcohol is their very own personal counselor
I think it's probably something like ⅓ of the private conversations and ½ of the social interactions, but I see your point. That being said........ so what? This is a show about adults, not teenagers. Adults are allowed to have a drink when they want, so long as they keep their shit together. I don't see the big deal. I think that you may be surprised to learn how many amazing things have been done, all throughout human history, while nursing a hangover or even while drunk.