The Orville

Sympathy for the Devil

By: Seth MacFarlane

Narrated by: Bruce Boxleitner

Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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

A welcome additional story to the latest season!

This latest TV season of the orville has been nothing but thought provoking, this novel falls right in line with those stories. I read a lot of negative comments on the subject matter for this one, a somewhat heavy handed and unbarred story that takes place in a early WW2 occupied Germany for the 1st half of the story. Honestly, reading other audible comments left me apprehensive of what I was getting into, but I'm glad I chose to dive in anyways. A lot of reviewers not acknowledging the importance in telling these kinds of humane thought provoking stories. "Sympathy for the Devil".

Working through the story was definitely worth it, and although the Orville crew do not get introduced until later chapters, the preceding story is one that feels like another Orville story, with messages being delivered in a time where it's most needed. Handled delicately with that veil of Orville charm, and never pandering, allowing the reader to have a much deeper conversation of the events unfolding.

All of the conversations felt very organic to the series, I could instantly visualize each member of the crew as they were introduced. Being a Tron fan, and appreciating other Bruce Boxleitner's work, having his voice guiding through this adventure was very welcome as well.

At the end of the day, I'd implore anyone interested in this one ignore the negative comments, and take a chance to form your own opinion on this one. I can see how it won't be for everyone, but the Orville is doing (and clearly has taken notes from) what the original Star Trek did.

Without ruining anything, after Chapter 8 hit, I could not put this one down (I listen to audio books on the way into work and almost didn't go in to hear the next chapters). The "Orville twist" is worth it when it gets introduced.

Thanks Seth and everyone that makes this universe happen, as well as everyone for this specific production, you are appreciated!

Pleasantly surprised

I really enjoyed this. I have always liked this series and love the new season. I hope we get more of these as well as a season 4. The narrator was excellent.

yay

it was okay, a bit preachy, but whatev, wow, a word minimum, look at you, what would plato say?

Great Orville Eposide!

Loved it! I am so glad we got to experience this adventure. Thank you to Seth!

deceiving

as I was listening to the story I thought that I had purchased the wrong audiobook but finally it kicked in and boy it would have made a nice episode on TV at least the two parter if not three say what you want about McFarland but the man is pretty talented

It wasn't COVID

Best episode of the series, but it wasn't filmed, and the reason why wasn't COVID. Thank the Gods of Kobol the story got rescued in book form.

A story of the future right for our times

This was a truly great listening experience! How can you go wrong? An original Orville story written by Captain Mercer (Seth McFarlane) and read by Babylon 5's Captain Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner). But more than simply a fun science-fiction audio experience, there was a message for our times underlying "Sympathy for the Devil." Specifically, the ease with which otherwise average people can be seduced into cults capable of the worst brand of evil in small, incremental steps that seem completely reasonable at the time, until the cult is their only reality and any action, no matter how horrific, becomes just as reasonable. Consider: The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt and 'The Final Solution, by Bernard J. Bergen, which explored how completely ordinary Germans, not fire-breathing, red-eyed monsters, were seduced by an authoritarian movement. Beautifully written and wonderfully voiced, the only problem I have with this Orville story is that it's the only one so far! More, please! MORE!

Great story, great voice, great value

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 :)

Well, that was fun!

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!

No spoiler review

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.