Mike's Thoughts
Hello friends! I decided that I wanted to do a editorial series for GGR because I got lots of thoughts that I don’t always share, and gosh darnit I want you all to know every stupid thought I have! Really, this new editorial series is going to be me giving some teases to stuff I’m working on and a commentary on the goings on in the world. So here goes, the first ever “Mike’s Thoughts!”
Orville? Disco. Disco? Orville.
Since their premieres, I’ve watched both Star Trek: Discovery and The Orville. In fact, I wrote about this for another publication I used to write for (“during the dark times…” lol). Their second seasons are in full swing right now, Disco only 1 episode in, The Orville now going on 4 episodes.
They’re an interesting balance: Orville is better if you want old-school Star Trek storytelling. For example, do you miss Star Trek: The Next Generation? Do you wish it had some Seth-MacFarlane-patented-pop-culture-inspired humor, some updated social commentary and newer, clearer CGI? Then The Orville is exactly what you’re looking for. Discovery is a much more modern story-telling aesthetic: big moments, shocking reveals, explosions, lens flare everywhere and the characters are more flawed. You can thank Netflix and Hulu for this being the type of story people want to see. They love the shocking cliffhanger, and apparently so does the audience. They both work in their own ways, they both have failings, too. And because they’re both “Star Trek” and they were released nearly simultaneously, the shows will always be compared. Many fans say this is unfair, but so is life. Deal with it. You release two similar shows at the same time, they’re going to be compared. Even Bruce Banner and Thor had the argument. See below:
current #1 seed in the eastern meme championship bracket
What was shocking for me was the most recent episode of The Orville. I’m gonna let you know right now, there will be spoilers. If you want to be surprised, then you’re going to have to skip to the next bullet point. Like…do it now.
In the most recent episode, we find out that Captain Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) has a love interest and the two decide to go on a vacation together! Yay for Captain Mercer! He found love after his ex-wife broke his heart! The trip doesn’t go too well as they are captured by a Krill ship. The two are separated and his girlfriend, Lieutenant Janel Tyler, is tortured to get Mercer to yield his command codes. After he has given the Krill what they want, it is revealed that Lieutenant Tyler was in fact, a female Krill impersonator! Not only was she a Krill, she was one who Captain Mercer had captured in season 1 who vowed vengeance against him. This story twist in itself is not unprecedented. Star Trek has done this countless times in the past, seeing Federation officers impersonate their rivals and vice versa throughout just about every series. But let’s talk about why this was so shocking.
In Season 1 of Star Trek : Discovery, one of the biggest reveals (there were like 3) was that Lieutenant Ash Tyler, who was a captor aboard a Klingon vessel, was actually the Klingon sleeper agent Voq. He had been surgically modified to look human and assumed the identity of Ash Tyler. The process was incredibly painful. Voq’s identity was absorbed into Tyler’s and would only present itself when his handler, the Klingon L’Rell spoke a Klingon prayer.
In this episode of The Orville, Captain Mercer’s love interest is named Lieutenant Tyler. Originally a Krill, she was modified to look human through a surgical procedure described as “incredibly painful.”
Here’s the problem with this: why name Mercer’s new love interest Tyler? That seems super sketch and a direct rip from Discovery. Not only that, to make the surgery “extremely painful,” it just…it reeks of poor writing. And with these shows so closely tied, it looks even worse. It looks lazy. The surgery could have been painful, but why not name the false identity ANYTHING ELSE?
Now, in the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t a bad episode. In fact, the plot twist fits really well with what happened in season 1 and pays off that there are consequences for Mercer’s actions. But damn guys, mix it up a little! Even if you wrote the script before the reveal episode of Discovery, go back and change the name of the love interest. You look like you’re intentionally ripping on DISCO for whatever reason. I still will watch the whole season of The Orville and Star Trek: Discovery for that matter, but man that rubbed me the wrong way.
Oh, For The Love of Disney!
Star Wars Land is coming this year. It’s not an if, it’s a when. Holy crap, Star Wars Land is coming! It’s finally gonna happen!!!! Now, Disney Parks know this is going to be huge and I’m sure that building it, marketing it, and ensuring that every detail about the new nerdtastic land is perfect cost them a pretty penny. To that end, The Mouse has decided that ticket prices in both Disneyland and Disney World will increase. Of course, people are losing their minds about this, and any news outlet reporting it uses hyperbole like “ridiculous” or “massive” when referring to the price increase. But let’s use reality here and actually look at the increases.
OH NO! NOT 7 - 14 DOLLARS!!!! HOW WILL I EVER AFFORD THAT????
I’m not Dave Ramsey here to give you sage-like advice when it comes to your personal finances, but if a small percentage increase is what makes or breaks your Disney vacation, maybe you shouldn’t be taking this trip. But, here’s the thing. It’s not like there aren’t other ways to save money throughout the year. Now I will admit, I am a huge Disney World fan. My family and I go every year, sometimes twice. But let me be abundantly clear: we are by no means rich. We are able to afford our trips by cutting out other expenses most people rack up throughout the year. I always bring my lunch to work, we cut cable and only have streaming services, we cut our data plan for our cellphones to a minimum, we grocery shop weekly for what we need and very rarely have a ton of excess, we monitor our other monthly expenses, and we don’t spend frivolously. Does it suck when everyone at work is ordering Chinese food and I’m rocking a frozen french bread pizza and some green beans? Yeah, but it’s worth it when I’m riding Space Mountain with my 10 year old. It’s worth it when I get to spend a week in Florida with my wife and kids and we have a shared experience that we’ll remember for years, instead of getting more “stuff.”
This whole outrage concept of “how dare a company raise the price of things!” irritates me to no end, especially when the cost of materials, labor, and maintenance are not static. And on top of that, the biggest increases you see are pass prices, which anyone who is that big of a fan of Disney will pay anyway and won’t even complain because THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE GETTING AND WILLINGLY PAY FOR THE QUALITY. There’s a reason Disney Parks are always packed: because it’s so worth the money spent. The rides are the best in the world, the food is top notch, the parks are always clean and you feel like you’re in a different world, even if it’s just for a day. Disney pays their employees (though I’m sure some would volunteer), and a good company will increase their workers’ wages every year along with including benefits to keep the good ones on staff. That’s how successful places continue to thrive. Look at good sports teams: there isn’t a lot of turnover: you keep the good players around and pay them what they’re worth. Same concept here. Isn’t that worth an increase in price to make sure the people ensuring your fun and safety remained compensated appropriately? Or are you really THAT cheap? If that’s the case, there are plenty of amusement parks hanging on by a thread. I recommend Six Flags for that sort of penny-pinching mindset.
Don’t Be A Juicebag
That particular phrase has been a stalwart description of who we are here at GGR. Every person from every walk of life, regardless of their knowledge about nerdy/geeky things is welcome, unless you’re a jerk. We recently cut our affiliations with two organizations I was working with. The reasons for our new found…independence is pretty simple when you really think about it. I’ve re-written this particular piece of this editorial a dozen times. It started as word vomit getting out all of my feelings about the situations but I’ve boiled it down to the most important parts so as to not bore you.
We at GGR are not interested in going for shock value in our content. There is too much anger, hate, aggression and ugliness on the internet. A lot of the geeky/nerdy content out there is all about tearing down what others have created or trying to “troll” others. We will not contribute to it nor will we associate ourselves with any website, blog, podcast or personality who does. This is a refuge for everyone to escape all of that, to share in the things we love and do so in a positive manner.
Our social media is not a place for hateful remarks, vile content, or objectionable material. You can share geeky/nerdy content without it being vulgar. If you’re not sure, ask me or MC. We’ll gladly tell you. You can ask Steve but he never uses Facebook haha.
We live in a beautiful world full of amazingly talented, passionate folks. THAT is what we want to share.
Well, that was fun, informative and therapeutic! I hope you all enjoyed this editorial as much as I enjoyed writing it. Make sure you guys subscribe to our podcasts! We got lots of great content coming up. I’m Mike Lunsford, and thank you for visiting the Great Geek Refuge.
