Mad Idolatry
- Episode aired Dec 7, 2017
- TV-14
- 44m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
The crew crash land on a planet from another universe; Ed and Kelly consider getting back together.The crew crash land on a planet from another universe; Ed and Kelly consider getting back together.The crew crash land on a planet from another universe; Ed and Kelly consider getting back together.
J. Lee
- Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr
- (as J Lee)
Chloe Alexa Ibanez
- Woman
- (as Chloe Russell)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaHeavily influenced by Who Watches the Watchers (1989) (the religion angle) and Blink of an Eye (2000) (the time dichotomy).
- GoofsThe 14th-century-period peasant's cottage has bright steel door hinges.
Not necessarily an error. Different cultures progress at different rates, and different cultures on worlds that are an invention of a writer can progress in any way he/she sees fit. In this instance, at time code 23.33, when a woman is disciplining her son, weapons are seen next to them that are obviously steel (or something that looks like it). There is no reason to think that a blacksmith or former solider, perhaps, couldn't have made the hinges.
- Quotes
Isaac: I believe what we have encountered is a planet locked in a multi-phasic orbit.
[in the conference room with all the senior staff]
Capt. Ed Mercer: Okay, let's pretend I don't know what that is.
Lt. Gordon Malloy: Do you know what that is?
Capt. Ed Mercer: I do not.
Lt. Gordon Malloy: So, we could just say that.
Capt. Ed Mercer: Thanks, buddy.
[sarcastically]
- Crazy creditsAfter having been credited as Lt. John LaMarr up to this point in the season, J. Lee is credited as Lt. Cmdr., reflecting his promotion from the previous episode.
- ConnectionsReferences Brigadoon (1954)
Featured review
Who Watches the Watchers 2: Electric Bogaloo
The worst episode of the series, in my opinion. It's a copy-paste of the Star Trek episode "Who Watches the Watchers", but accomplishes even less. The crew go to a planet that phases between dimensions and every time it's in the other dimension 500 years passes. Kelly uses advanced medical tech to heal someone's injury, then next time the planet appears there's a religion worshiping Kelly because witnesses misunderstood that act as a miracle; one miracle and she's got a religion that's lasted at least 500 years. Whatever you believe, real-life religions don't work that way and require more sustaining them than one act (Jesus is most well-known for one act, but Scriptures talk about many others Jesus also did). The episode only exists to say religion is bad, but doesn't even do so in an interesting or thought out way. Seth's avowed intention to portray that religion can be negative at times falls flat since this has been done so many times in sci-fi, religion can be a POSITIVE influence, attempting to religion has always yielded bad results in real-life (Soviet Russia and North Korea for two examples), and the behaviors people like Seth despise in religious people are also found among non-religious people.
The title of this episode also falls flat, because in the Abrahamic faiths, idolatry is a bad thing full stop so Mad Idolatry is a redundant title (like "a reddish scarlet color"). Mercer and the crew don't accomplish anything regarding the religion that sprung up around Kelly and all but one of them just abandon the planet when things go bad. (also villains based on the demonized version of the Spanish Inquisition popular in fictional media, never seen that before!). There's also the ending with its puerile, unexplained "societies outgrow religion" nonsense. This episode is the worst of the worst - the weakest episode of the series. Considering how bad this show is (I watched to give it the benefit of the doubt. When I first heard about The Orville, I thought "Seth MacFarlane doing a Star Trek homage? it's going to full of him ramming his views down people's throats I fear."), that's a hell of a thing.
The title of this episode also falls flat, because in the Abrahamic faiths, idolatry is a bad thing full stop so Mad Idolatry is a redundant title (like "a reddish scarlet color"). Mercer and the crew don't accomplish anything regarding the religion that sprung up around Kelly and all but one of them just abandon the planet when things go bad. (also villains based on the demonized version of the Spanish Inquisition popular in fictional media, never seen that before!). There's also the ending with its puerile, unexplained "societies outgrow religion" nonsense. This episode is the worst of the worst - the weakest episode of the series. Considering how bad this show is (I watched to give it the benefit of the doubt. When I first heard about The Orville, I thought "Seth MacFarlane doing a Star Trek homage? it's going to full of him ramming his views down people's throats I fear."), that's a hell of a thing.
helpful•1468
- AlbJohFan
- Dec 9, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Filming locations
- Park Plaza Hotel - 607 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles, California, USA(church hall where Valondis rules from)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime44 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD
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