Armory

All I could think of was "Oh, the big bad this season doesn't look to be another  Speedster? THANK GOD!"

The replicators on the Orville could be thought of as really fast 3D printers. Now, the problem with using that type of technology as a transporter is that you'd essentially be destroying the original and recreating it at the destination using available materials (for those following along at home, this allows the William/Thomas Riker problem in the TNG episode). But that also means that the transporter is essentially a suicide box/scanner with a really good printer on the other end. Sure, if it's done well, the end product "thinks" that it's the same person, but it really becomes a philosophical exercise at that point. I'd certainly not step into one willingly.
 
Now, there have been discussions from various folks associated with TNG who said that the matter/energy/matter explanation for transporters shouldn't have been used, as it opens up all sorts of problems. Most advanced technology in Trek is based upon some kind of manipulation of subspace fields, and Transporters wouldn't have the problems described if what they actually did is shunt the person or object through a subspace conduit of some kind*. That appears to be the method used in Orville episode 5 by Pria to get onto the bridge.
 
Star Trek TOS went with Transporters as a way to avoid the costs associated with showing a shuttlecraft each week. It then became overused as a plot device. Captain turned into a being of pure energy? No worries, just beam his consciousness into a stored pattern. Doctor has uncontrollable aging? Find a stored pattern and then run the Transporter to "fix" the problem. I'm kind of glad that The Orville can't do stuff like that.
 
 
 
*Bamf!

Same here.  I was 8 when WWW went off the air.  I think it was syndicated, as I seem to recall watching reruns after school when I was a bit older.  Then again, that was a long time ago, I don't remember.  I loved it like crazy.  Land of the Giants was another one I liked a lot, as well as Man from UNCLE, Mission: Impossible, and a short-lived high-tech spy show called Search, but WWW was the coolest of all.  I didn't know it was on Netflix.  I'm almost afraid to watch it again...but I'm going to.
 
Also, I know that Ross Martin missed a few episodes to film The Great Race (I should post that in the Lesser-Known Movie Recommendation thread, it's a lot of fun).

Grew up watching Wild Wild West. And other shows like The Invaders, The Fugitive, The Saint, Man fron Uncle and so on. There were a lot of great series in the spy or scifi action arena too.
 
Though Wild Wild West does occupy unique niche.

The Wild Wild West TV series is being repeated on the CBS Action channel in the UK. Now I never saw this at all growing up (3 TV channels until the start of the 1980s then a fourth and fifth followed by the satellite ones), so I had no reference at all for it until the Will Smith and Kevin Kline disaster of a film.
 
The TV series on the other hand is really quite a joy and perfect for Pulp. Granted there are no aircraft but you have virtually everything else and it strikes me as a goldmine for taking ideas. Dr Loveless is a great recurring villain and his escapes fit the mood.
One of the episodes just aired had a prototype tank, forty years before they were first employed.
There are also a variety of death traps for the heroes to evade which are just as relevant to the 1870s steampunk as they can be to the 20s and 30s.
The writers also made certain that a seeming disability such as blindness did not deter people from being effective villains.
 
So I would encourage people to look it up and pillage it for ideas.

I don't think many people in this era, at least in the United States, have much difficulty accepting the premise that the American government is malevolent. That's become a cliche across the spectrum of real-world-based fiction. I think when it strains credulity is when the malevolent government is also shown to be competent.

I'm digging the No-Prize reference!  I actually "won" one of those, back in the day.  I received a very colorful envelope (Hulk was on it, IIRC) with nothing in it.
 
It's not like the other Trek series didn't engage in techno-babble and play fast and loose with science, so the 'dark matter storm' didn't bother me much.  But time travel stories are difficult to pull off and Seth didn't quite get it right.
 
I find myself like this show so far.  It's earnest, and reverential of the source material... errr, inspirational material... while giving it a goose here and there at the same time.

I'm digging the No-Prize reference!  I actually "won" one of those, back in the day.  I received a very colorful envelope (Hulk was on it, IIRC) with nothing in it.
 
It's not like the other Trek series didn't engage in techno-babble and play fast and loose with science, so the 'dark matter storm' didn't bother me much.  But time travel stories are difficult to pull off and Seth didn't quite get it right.
 
I find myself like this show so far.  It's earnest, and reverential of the source material... errr, inspirational material... while giving it a goose here and there at the same time.

I'm digging the No-Prize reference!  I actually "won" one of those, back in the day.  I received a very colorful envelope (Hulk was on it, IIRC) with nothing in it.
 
It's not like the other Trek series didn't engage in techno-babble and play fast and loose with science, so the 'dark matter storm' didn't bother me much.  But time travel stories are difficult to pull off and Seth didn't quite get it right.
 
I find myself like this show so far.  It's earnest, and reverential of the source material... errr, inspirational material... while giving it a goose here and there at the same time.

The Orville is clearly fantasy with a science fiction coating. Dark Matter storm. Yeah. And axion particles. Uh huh. Plus, for bonus points, a time travel story that made absolutely no sense. But no worse than many a Trek episode. Plus, why is the helmsman surrendering control of the ship to Pria? In the pilot we were told he was a hot **** pilot par excellence. Now he's all "this is above my pay grade" about dodging some giant bubbles?
 
That said, I'm still watching. Gene Roddenberry once said that westerns (which were much more popular on tv at the time than they are now) were not about authentic 1870s characters, but about characters with the same values and traits of contemporary viewers. Which is correct. Just like the crew of the TOS Enterprise didn't act like people from two hundred years in the future--they were basically contemporary humans from the 1960s.
 
THAT'S where the jokes are in The Orville. It's people like us--or, at least, people like Seth MacFarlane--plopped into a Trek-style universe. They make the same stupid jokes people now would make. They watch the movies and tv shows we would recognize, even if they call them oldies. It was more jarring at first because you don't expect that from characters in a Star Trek show, but this _isn't_ Star Trek. It's an homage, certainly, but with less refined and genteel characters.
 
Plus, we learned something about the Orville universe in this most recent episode.
Their medical tech is good enough that a) the robot could amputate the guy's leg and heal it completely in the space of one night, and the doctor could regenerate it in only hours.
The Orville can travel 10 light-years per hour, and that's considered fast.
The Union apparently is well aware that time travel is at least theoretically possible, since they have a policy of not messing with the timeline.

Seems like a good enough explanation of the ending to qualify for a No Prize.

I coulda sworn I'd done this already but the thread isn't starred for me, so...
 
How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)?
My first Champions character was a powered armor type called Arsenal.  When I started playing City of Heroes, that name wasn't available so I took Armory.
 
What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed?  
AD&D, back in 1978 or '79.
 
What was the first tabletop RPG you Played?  
Same answer.
 
What are you currently Playing/GMing?  
Since my discovery of Champions in 1982, I have not played nor GMed any other RPG.  My current campaign has been running about 10 years with the same group of players, a current-day superhero game (I share a universe with two other GMs who each runs a separate team).  We're still using 5Er for that one.  The link to the Obsidian Portal site is in my sig.
 
When did you start to play Hero?  
1982, I think it was 2nd Edition (gray cover).  It was just me and a friend of mine, we both fell in love with it immediately.  He had already been trying to run a superhero game in AD&D; my Half-Elven thief PC had obtained a 'suit of the gods', enchanted leather armor that gave her all kinds of powers.  It was stupid, but we were 17 and new to the whole concept.  Champions and the Hero System were exactly what we were looking for.

I coulda sworn I'd done this already but the thread isn't starred for me, so...
 
How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)?
My first Champions character was a powered armor type called Arsenal.  When I started playing City of Heroes, that name wasn't available so I took Armory.
 
What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed?  
AD&D, back in 1978 or '79.
 
What was the first tabletop RPG you Played?  
Same answer.
 
What are you currently Playing/GMing?  
Since my discovery of Champions in 1982, I have not played nor GMed any other RPG.  My current campaign has been running about 10 years with the same group of players, a current-day superhero game (I share a universe with two other GMs who each runs a separate team).  We're still using 5Er for that one.  The link to the Obsidian Portal site is in my sig.
 
When did you start to play Hero?  
1982, I think it was 2nd Edition (gray cover).  It was just me and a friend of mine, we both fell in love with it immediately.  He had already been trying to run a superhero game in AD&D; my Half-Elven thief PC had obtained a 'suit of the gods', enchanted leather armor that gave her all kinds of powers.  It was stupid, but we were 17 and new to the whole concept.  Champions and the Hero System were exactly what we were looking for.

Hmm. I have to disagree with you there. I felt DS9 was far better than TNG.

Seems DC/Warner have finally realized what most of us have been saying for years now.
 
http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/dc-cinematic-universe-is-being-downplayed.html

I'd call it more of a comedy homage to sci-fi in general, and ST in particular.  But I wouldn't exactly call it a parody.  I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, so I guess those critics are good for something:  they lowered my expectations.

I don't think they will.  The various Trek series have certainly had their lighthearted moments--heck, "The Trouble With Tribbles" was basically one big fat lighthearted moment.
 
I especially liked this one from The Orville--
 
MACLIN SOLDIER: "Do you realize how fragile you are?"
 
MERCER: "There's an anti-bullying law named for me, so, yeah."

Playing our Space:1889 game last night.
 
We're in an underground complex filled with jungle and find a bollard-like thing with a grille on it. Unable to work out what it is we move on.
 
Then we find another one, identical to the last.
 
Me: We've got grilles - they're multiplying.
GM (catching on): And you're losing control

The INT-challenged brick in our group, upon encountering zombies for the first time:
 
"You called 'em undead?  That's confusin'.  I mean, "un" means "not", right?  So living people are un-dead too, right?  How does anybody know who "undead" is about, then?  It's about everybody, not just zombies.  Why not call 'em "unalive"?  Naw, that don't work, 'cause they's walkin' around, so they's kinda-alive. Plus, everything that ain't alive is unalive, like cars and rocks.  I know!  Used-ta-be-dead!
 
"See, ya'll really need me more for my brain than my muscles.  I'm the only one who can keep this stuff straight."

The INT-challenged brick in our group, upon encountering zombies for the first time:
 
"You called 'em undead?  That's confusin'.  I mean, "un" means "not", right?  So living people are un-dead too, right?  How does anybody know who "undead" is about, then?  It's about everybody, not just zombies.  Why not call 'em "unalive"?  Naw, that don't work, 'cause they's walkin' around, so they's kinda-alive. Plus, everything that ain't alive is unalive, like cars and rocks.  I know!  Used-ta-be-dead!
 
"See, ya'll really need me more for my brain than my muscles.  I'm the only one who can keep this stuff straight."

The INT-challenged brick in our group, upon encountering zombies for the first time:
 
"You called 'em undead?  That's confusin'.  I mean, "un" means "not", right?  So living people are un-dead too, right?  How does anybody know who "undead" is about, then?  It's about everybody, not just zombies.  Why not call 'em "unalive"?  Naw, that don't work, 'cause they's walkin' around, so they's kinda-alive. Plus, everything that ain't alive is unalive, like cars and rocks.  I know!  Used-ta-be-dead!
 
"See, ya'll really need me more for my brain than my muscles.  I'm the only one who can keep this stuff straight."

Anyone else seeing this as:


 

I honestly don't see that. The worst government excesses we saw in the movies were under the manipulation of Hydra. The debate between Nick Fury and Steve Rogers that we witnessed early in Winter Soldier, over the use of the super-helicarriers, outlined their differing positions, neither of which was unreasonable given their relative priorities, freedom versus security. Ditto the debate in Civil War concerning governments of the entire world understandably concerned over a small group of very powerful individuals acting as they saw fit around the globe, with no supervision or accountability, and sometimes dire consequences.
 
WE know that our heroes are virtuous and have the Earth's best interests at heart; but few people within the MCU know them as well as the audience. Those intentions also haven't kept them from doing some things which haven't turned out so well.
 
 
We can agree to disagree, then.

I don't believe anyone who was involved with the production, nor anyone who has actually watched the show, has ever referred to it as a Star Trek parody. Mostly I think that label got applied by people who only saw the commercial teasers and who don't really know what parody is. Basically, your expectations were falsely set by the quick-to-judge and the ignorant.