The Orville Audiobook By Seth MacFarlane cover art

The Orville

Sympathy for the Devil

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The Orville

By: Seth MacFarlane
Narrated by: Bruce Boxleitner
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An original novella set in season three of The Orville—straight from the pen of Seth MacFarlane, creator of the beloved sci-fi TV show! When Captain Ed Mercer and the crew of the U.S.S. Orville come face-to-face with one of humanity's most vile ideologies, they must solve the moral conundrum of who to hold accountable for evil deeds real… and imagined. Occurring just after episode 308, this is the Orville like you've never seen it before.

©2022 Seth MacFarlane (P)2022 Hyperion Avenue Fiction First Contact Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Science Fiction Space Opera
Thought-provoking Story • Compelling Moral Dilemma • Excellent Narration • Immersive Worldbuilding • Unexpected Plot Twist
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To quote the beginning of my review for the Kindle version, this story spoils the series up until season’s 3 ‘Midnight Blue,’ although I heard some reviews that it’s supposed to be after ‘From Unknown Graves.’ You’ll still enjoy the show and book if you enjoy them out of order, just be warned.

That said, what I wrote for the Kindle version can be applied here (I'm not sure if Audible counts Amazon links as external so I'll just say look for the review on the Kindle page titled 'Sympathy for the lost episode') so I’ll summarize: great sci-fi story and great addition to the Orville canon.

As for this audio version, Bruce Boxleitner has a great voice. I’ve only seen him as Alcuzan, the president of the Planetary Union in multiple season 3 episodes, but I've heard his name thrown about and I liked his work on the show. Whoever decided he should be the narrator for this clearly listened closely and knew his voice would be great for the 3 hours and 5 minutes needed for this recording. Just a great voice to listen to and he spoke clearly and steadily enough for an audio book.

If I have any negatives, it’s only in comparison to other audiobook narrators; the ability to play different roles. It’s not even his acting ability, it’s just the technical/art of copying other characters’ voices. He gets the emotions of every character, but I could always tell it was the same guy for everyone. For examples of a narrator making each character unique, listen to Star Wars: Dark Disciple (Marc Thompson, who is a near match for several characters, ESPECIALLY for Count Dooku) and Star Trek: The Return (William Shatner, who I surprisingly thought was better at other well known Star Trek characters than Kirk).

That said, even Mel Blanc would have a hard time voicing all the characters featured in this story and, short of this featuring a separate actor for each character (up to and including The Orville’s main cast), I can’t ding this too harshly for that. (Amazon needs to allow 1/2 star ratings for customers). If you prefer audiobooks or want to listen while doing other stuff, especially if it’s during an Orville rewatch, I’d recommend this over the Kindle version.

That said, as the price for both together is a measly $7.50, I highly recommend both just in case you’re ever in the mood for one or the other. The price point, compared to a lot of other audio book prices, makes this an EXCELLENT test subject to see if you want to get more into audiobooks. Even if you decide audiobooks aren’t your cup of tea, you’re only out < $5 (audio by itself) and still got to listen to a great sci-fi story, part of a great sci-fi TV series, read by someone with a great voice. Highly recommended :)

Great story, great voice, great value

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Hang in there...it's a bit of a long set up, but the payoff is SOOO worth it. Boxleitner delivers a fabulous performance through some tricky pronunciations. I loved this!

Well, that was fun!

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Just as well this wasn't an episode we could watch because the first part of the story doesn't include any characters from The Orville. This was engaging because we see the story from the bad guy's point of view. This leads to engaging us with The Orville crew as to how to deal with the problem.

No spoiler review

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This is a great story. Seth develops wonderful deep characters and this is a fresh new sci-fi story. It will make you think about how tech can impact the lives of everyone.

Wonderful Surprise

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This was amazing! I want more, the show has been soooo thought provoking in general so this was so thought provoking and will stick with me for a while.

Love Orville and loved this!

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This was so much more than expected, so powerful, so dang interesting! I would have loved to see this as a mini-Orville movie. As much as I love the show, it took me forever to finally purchase this book, then it took me another month to finally hit “play.” There is a very long setup to the reveal but damn, the reveal is an eye opener and intensely interesting. Very highly recommended!

Excellent writing!!

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I won't lie. I'm ADHD and I about gave up on this story during the first half. there was extensive character development and it didn't seem Orville at all. My patience was rewarded in spades. It was true Orville, very imaginative and creative. I want more

creatibe

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Awesome story! it's a shame they were unable to film it due to the COVID pandemic but at least I got to hear the story from the amazing voice of Bruce Boxleitner! An interesting ethical dilemma with the strong characters of one of my favorite science fiction shows. I hope they release more novellas in the style! The world of The Orville has so much potential to expand in future seasons and in print!

The World Needs More Orville

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The Orville takes us where current day stories have seldom took us before, to a place where all sides of the tribalist wars can look at each other and recognize what really matters, everything we have in common, as sentient manifestations of a expanding universe working together for a brighter future for all.
Also Bruce''s narration is superb.

Surprisingly Current, a must read for all mankind.

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I was thrown in the first few chapters by the focus on Nazi-era Germany, but worry not for our beloved crew members of the Orville are around. It was an incredible and moving story that I would have loved to see adapted to the screen. That being said, it was a real treat to briefly get in the mind of Ed Mercer and hear what he thinks of his coworkers. Highly recommend

Wonderful Orville story

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