Tag: Main cast member joins

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Orville, The Season 2

All The World Is Birthday Cake

The OrvilleThe process of search for Alara’s replacement has finally settled on another Xelayan security officer, Lt. Talla Keyali, though Mercer still seems apprehensive about anyone stepping into Alara’s shoes. Commander Grayson and Bortus discuss holding a joint birthday party, an idea whose merits she seems unable to sell Bortus on. A radio signal from a distant planet – “is anyone out there?” – signals an imminent first-contact situation, but despite the initial introductions going smoothly, the Orville crew’s hosts suddenly hold them at gunpoint and have Grayson and Bortus sent to an internment camp, all because a casual mention of their imminent birthdays means that they fall into a star sign that this society’s astrologers consider extremely dangerous. Mercer and his new security chief try to parlay for their officers’ release, while Grayson and Bortus become resigned to the fact that any escape attempt will surely only prove that they are dangerous and violent.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Ted Danson (Admiral Perry), Chris Johnson (Cassius), Mike Henry (Dann), John Rubinstein (First Prefect), Niko Nicotera (Rokal ), Jennifer Landon (Ukania), Robert Curtis Brown (Chief Advisor Makkal), Heather Horton (Science Prefect), Marie-Francoise Theodore (Advisor #2), Gigi Hessamian (Physicist), Meredith Thomas (Nurse), Matthew Foster (Regorian Doctor), The OrvilleArriane Alexander (Regorian Doctor #2), Erica Shaffer (Obstetric Surgeon #1), Brandon Young (Obstetric Surgeon #2), Carlos E. Campos (Obstetric Surgeon #3), Carlos Arellano (Burly Man), Evan Angone (Cameraman), Chet Grissom (Aide), Julienne Irons (Prisoner), Blesson Yates (Topa), Kyra Santoro (Ensign Turco), Charles Maceo (Camp Guard #1), Cory Tucker (Camp Guard #2), Chad T. Wood (Warden), Jack Kennedy (Military Security Guard), Thai Edwards (Holding Cell Guard), Troy Vincent (Man in Lab Coat)

Notes: There’s in interesting Star Trek connection in this episode’s cast-of-almost-thousands: actress Julienne Irons played Lt. Uhura in the earliest episodes of the fan-made series Star Trek: New Voyages.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Discovery Season 3 Star Trek

That Hope Is You – Part 1

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given (3188): In debris-filled space above the planet Hima, Burnham – still encased in the time-traveling Red Angel suit – emerges from a wormhole and collides with a space freighter piloted by Cleveland “Book” Booker, a courier who doesn’t take kindly to her intervention in his escape from a rival courier. 930 years in Discovery‘s future, the Federation has collapsed following “the Burn”, an event a century earlier during which most of the dilithium in the galaxy destabilized catastrophically. But as if learning this information isn’t traumatic enough for Burnham, there is no sign of Discovery having survived its own trip into the future through the wormhole. Booker, though informative, quickly proves that his loyalty lies only with himself, and Burnham finds herself navigating a strange future without much help – and with a great deal of danger. After earning Booker’s grudging respect, Burnham is taken to what may be the last vestiges of the United Federation of Planets: one man on a mostly-abandoned space station who has been waiting decades for a commissioned Starfleet officer to give him further orders.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Michelle Paradise & Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman
directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Adil Hussain (Aditya Sahil), Nicole Dickinson (Hadley), Riley Gilchrist (Andorian Regulator), Julianne Grossman (Sanctuary voice), Brandon McGibbon (Ithyk the Andorian), Jake Michaels (Ithor the Orion), Fabio Tassone (Book’s ship computer), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Cosmo Traitt), and Grudge

Notes: Quantum slipstream drive is common in the 32nd century, but not in a damaged ship (Hope And Fear, Timeless). The Burn – the event in which much of the galaxy’s dilithium “went boom” (according to Book) happened 120 years before Burnham’s arrival. Book mentions “temporal wars” as a thing of the past (see much of the first two seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise), following which all time travel technology was banished. This marks the first sighting of Lurians (Morn’s race) and Cardassians since the Star Trek Discoveryend of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala are the only regular cast members to appear in this episode.

The third season of Star Trek: Discovery was finished filming before the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 brought TV and film production to a halt, but the sudden, unexpected shift to an all-remote post-production model posed significant obstacles to completion of post-production on the series, particularly in the areas of visual effects, video editing, and music scoring. The premiere date of season three, originally announced as April 2020, shifted to October 2020 as a result, and the first season of the animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, premiered prior to Discovery’s third season, despite originally being intended to launch after Discovery in late 2020 or early 2021.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orville, The Season 3: New Horizons

Electric Sheep

The Orville: New HorizonsIn the Union’s orbital docks near Earth, the Orville undergoes extensive engineering refits and takes on new crew members, including one Ensign Charly Burke, late of the U.S.S. Quimby and one of the few survivors of that ship’s destruction in the Kaylon battle near Earth the previous year. In the mess hall, Burke makes it clear to Isaac that she is far from the only member of the crew who questions his reinstatement – and that she wants as little to do with him as possible. When Isaac returns to the science lab, he finds the word “MURDERER” scrawled across the controls in red paint, with great care taken to cover the tracks of the responsible party. But the message is eventually traced to Marcus Finn, Dr. Finn’s oldest son, who has also been disturbed by Isaac’s presence since the Kaylon attack. Perceiving that he is at the center of an ongoing series of incidents of distraction and inefficiency on the part of the crew, Isaac makes what he believes is a logical decision to terminate his own existence. What he does not anticipate is that this “unemotional” decision sparks extreme emotions among his crewmates, leading to a series of desperate attempts to reverse the damage and revive him. Isaac’s “life” now lies in the hands of someone who’s more than happy that he’s dead.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Seth MacFarlane
music by Kevin Kaska

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. Commander John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Anne Winters (Ensign Charly Burke), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Marcus Finn), B.J. Tanner (Ty Finn), Alexis Knapp (Irillia), Mike Henry (Dann), Jim Mahoney (Brosk), Norm MacDonald (Yaphit), Amanda Joy Erickson (Amanda), Kyra Santoro (Lt. Turco), Deep Rai (Crewman), Jonny Siew (Engineer #1)

The OrvilleNotes: Bearing the subtitle “New Horizons”, this is the long-delayed third season premiere of The Orville, initially announced in 2019 as an exclusive for streaming service Hulu after The Orville was removed from the Fox schedule. But like many other series intended to premiere in 2020, The Orville had to shut down production at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, and only began shooting again in late 2020 after series creator/star/showrunner Seth MacFarlane brought in hand-picked virology consultants. (With his avid interest in science, as demonstrated in his producing the revived Cosmos series for Fox, MacFarlane knew who to call.) Production stopped and started again in 2021, and the extent of VFX work needed meant that the third season got a March 2022 premiere date, which then slipped to June of that year. The episode is dedicated to the late Norm MacDonald, the voice of Yaphit, who died in 2021 before the series’ return, but had recorded all of Yaphit’s dialogue prior to his death.

LogBook entry by Earl Green