Critic Reviews
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36
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
positive
2(9%)
mixed
11(48%)
negative
10(43%)
Showing 23 Critic Reviews
Jun 2, 2022
91
Overall, "Electric Sheep" is definitely a great episode, but it would maybe be better if the show didn't continue in the same vein for the rest of the season. Serious stories like this, while important, don't exactly fit in with The Orville's brand of humor and wonder. As a rare treat, it's certainly satisfying, but here's hoping we get to see more classic sci-fi adventure stories in the next episodes.
Jun 7, 2022
70
The Orville: New Horizons is back for a third season with a new home, some light, effective tweaking, and more seasoning for its core cast.
Sep 11, 2017
58
While the series is initially disjointed, by episode three I had gained some insight into what MacFarlane was striving for with The Orville.
Sep 8, 2017
57
It mostly plays like an unproduced early 1990s “Star Trek” spinoff, complete with holodecks, replicators, alien crew members and missions of the week. It’s also pretty dull.
Sep 6, 2017
50
The retro-futuristic effects in The Orville work well, and the show looks like it cost Fox a fair amount of money. Whether viewers will respond to sincerity and professionalism, but limited mirth and very few thrills, when they've been promised Seth MacFarlane hilarity remains to be seen.
Sep 7, 2017
50
The outcome is an ersatz facsimile of the original “Trek” and a couple of spinoffs. Their heart and overall spirit are present, along with some decent special effects. The dumb jokes and ham-fisted setup lines just tend to diminish them.
Sep 7, 2017
50
The Orville needs considerable work to accomplish whatever it wants to be--assuming that MacFarlane and company even have that answer. For now it’s boldly but very unsteadily going forth, with its jokes working here and there while the action and “messages” bump along at best.
Sep 7, 2017
50
The humor is more throwaway and often falls flat while a lot of the drama can become stiffly serious. It’s not that the series is badly made. The action and effects are decent. The cast is fine, though the characters are still mostly unformed. ... Viewers may find the tone of series perplexing.
Sep 14, 2017
50
The show's smirky tone, embodied in MacFarlane's smug frat-boy demeanor as the captain, never quite gels with the universal humanism the episode is aiming for. [18 Sep - 1 Oct 2017, p.27]
Sep 21, 2017
50
It’s got top-notch special effects and terrific makeup (for its space-alien characters). But it just doesn’t quite gel. At least not yet, anyway.
