Of Robots and Sex

Last night's new Orville, written by Star Trek: Enterprise and Family Guy writer David A. Goodman, wove together four separate plots into a pretty satisfying piece of television. Maybe the weakest episode this season so far but it was not bad.

The ship hosts a diplomatic party from a fiercely matriarchal culture who expect all men to be treated as slaves. This is as good a premise as any but it ends up going nowhere. A few jokes about how Moclans are the opposite in their impression of the sexes come off a bit awkward coming after "A Tale of Two Topas".

Meanwhile, the crew also encounters a Kaylon capable of emotion. This leads to the inevitable question--should Isaac get an emotional upgrade? Those of us who remember how Data's emotion chip changed the character would probably all say, "No." Fortunately, this subplot's best moments are still about contemplating the nature of emotion, and whether or not Isaac's actions without the modification could be interpreted as emotionally motivated.

Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks to the Kaylon homeworld in ancient times, when a biological species created and owned the Kaylons as servants. Most of these scenes focus on a single family and their casual mistreatment of one Kaylon. I'm not quite sure what physical pain could mean to beings incapable of emotion and the fact that they seek revenge for it seems evidence enough in itself that they in fact do have emotions.

This subplot on The Orville doesn't bother me as much as Disney's attempts to reframe the droids in Star Wars as an enslaved sentient species. But in either case, I still find George Lucas' version more interesting--droids that can't truly think the way sentient beings can.

Finally, there was kind of an amusing romantic subplot between Talla and Lamarr. She keeps injuring him during sex because her species has super strength. And apparently insufficient self control. I wonder why they didn't consider restraints.

The Orville is available on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ elsewhere.

Twitter Sonnet #1601

The polka dots were caught disrupting threads.
For style points the casa fell to earth.
With pickled fish the shrimps remade the beds.
A sloshy stomach speaks of human worth.
The swirling stream conceals desired flicks.
You'll never watch the darkness yield a show.
As hours pass, your dinner's bucket kicks.
You wait for films but only dreams will know.
The rapid day decelerates to naught.
The static cake was cooked in velvet night.
The dizzy fish is seldom quickly caught.
And now the storm compels the dancing mite.
Companion pictures suffer same as you.
The final soldier's thirst requires dew.