In the 25th century, Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) a once promising officer in the interplanetary peacekeeping/exploratory organization the Planetary Union finds himself in a slump following his divorce from his wife Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) following her affair with another man. One year after Ed's slump, he is given his long sought after goal of captaining a ship, the titular U. S. S. Orville, staffed by Helmsman and Ed's overly casual and childish best friend Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes), Chief Medical Officer Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald), Moclan 2nd officer Bortus (Peter Macon), young but very strong Xelayan Chief Security officer Alara Kitan (Halston Sage), Science Officer and artificial being Isaac (Mark Jackson), and the ship's casual and laid back Navigator John LaMarr (J. Lee). Ed is eager to set off on his assignment, but when he finds his first officer to be his ex-wife Kelly, Ed must contend with not only a galaxy of often life threatening challenges, but also personal and interpersonal relationships of himself and his crew throwing a monkey wrench into matters.
It's no secret that Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane is one of the major success of modern TV, which came from the unlikeliest of places. With Family Guy being cancelled by Fox twice only for Fox to end up eating crow following the show's massive second life in Adult Swim and DVD sales, what once seemed destined to go the way of other short lived animated shows like The Critic became one of the modern foundations for not just Seth MacFarlane's success, but much of the '00s decade's style and tone of humor (for better or worse). Written on spec by MacFarlane, The Orville was given a 13 episode production commitment in 2016 with its announcement as being a "sci-fi dramedy" certainly raising more than a few eyebrows. When the show began airing in 2017, it was savaged by critics who used words like "big budget fan fiction" and "rip-off" as well as making unfavorable comparisons to Galaxy Quest. But as the show went on, it found stable audience viewership and also much more positive fan reception in comparison to the same year's Star Trek Discovery and managed to amass a dedicated following. Now with its upcoming third season (give the comics a read if you're a fan since they fall well in line with the TV show being written by the show's writers), The Orville is certainly a strange experiment in TV, but you have to admit it works.
While shows that tried to attempt the Star Trek formula are nothing new as the 90s is littered with examples such as Sliders or SeaQuest that started with promise only to be brought down by executive meddling or Shows cobbled together from unfinished ideas salvaged from Gene Roddenberry's garage like Earth: Final Conflict or Andromeda with none of these series ever managing to match the critical or audience success of their inspirations. With The Orville, not only is it a bit more direct in what it homages, it even has Star Trek franchise veterans involved with the likes Brannon Braga, Robert Duncan McNeil, Johnathan Frakes, and others so it feels like a remix of Star Trek elements with a small seasoning of Seth MacFarlane's humor. Unlike the 90s Star Trek series however, The Orville isn't constrained by the TV-PG rating or Roddenberry's assertions that the utopian society in Star Trek would have evolved past the usage of profanity and vulgarity (among other things) so the crew of the Orville while still having that familial bonding dynamic also have friction in their interactions making sort of a mixture of Star Trek with a workplace comedy.
The series features familiar scenarios seen in other Trek series with interstellar conflicts, culture clashes with both primitive and advanced alien races, and other adventures and often times the show will play the exploration of these issues relatively straight. The third episode for instance goes into discussion with an alien race that sees being born female as something to be "corrected" with one parent who becomes against the procedure and one who is for it, and as the alien race in question is a prominent member of the Planetary Union the issue needs to be handled with certain options off the stable. Not every story ends happily or optimistically with episode 3 ending on a note of failure with the possibility of being able overcome it, and the show does manage more than once to strike chords of emotional resonance that make these characters endearing and memorable.
The show does have the occasional stumbling point, especially in season 1 where they hadn't quite struck the balance between humor and drama and scenes in episodes such as Majority Rule or Krill have a tendency to undermine themselves by going maybe a bit too broad with their comedy or satire at the expense of the situation. I think the show does stumble out of the gate with the first two episodes feeling rather clumsy in terms of their execution. While the first two episodes aren't terrible, they do lean a bit more towards feeling like parody rather than the balance the series strikes later. The series really doesn't find its footing until episode 3 and as only episodes 1-3 were given to critics at the beginning of the show's run, it really didn't give a complete picture as to what the series entailed. But with that said, once the show does go past the first three episodes it becomes much more sure handed in its approach to the material and even gives callbacks and background development threads that are planted and paid off in satisfying ways.
The Orville may be Seth MacFarlane's elaborate love letter to Star Trek, but it's such a passionate love letter that's been carefully assembled with clear care and understanding of what makes this type of show work that it's obvious why the show has earned the fanbase that it has. With engaging characters, creative scenarios, and humor that lands more often than it misses, The Orville works because it has the intelligence and drive to pull itself off.
It's no secret that Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane is one of the major success of modern TV, which came from the unlikeliest of places. With Family Guy being cancelled by Fox twice only for Fox to end up eating crow following the show's massive second life in Adult Swim and DVD sales, what once seemed destined to go the way of other short lived animated shows like The Critic became one of the modern foundations for not just Seth MacFarlane's success, but much of the '00s decade's style and tone of humor (for better or worse). Written on spec by MacFarlane, The Orville was given a 13 episode production commitment in 2016 with its announcement as being a "sci-fi dramedy" certainly raising more than a few eyebrows. When the show began airing in 2017, it was savaged by critics who used words like "big budget fan fiction" and "rip-off" as well as making unfavorable comparisons to Galaxy Quest. But as the show went on, it found stable audience viewership and also much more positive fan reception in comparison to the same year's Star Trek Discovery and managed to amass a dedicated following. Now with its upcoming third season (give the comics a read if you're a fan since they fall well in line with the TV show being written by the show's writers), The Orville is certainly a strange experiment in TV, but you have to admit it works.
While shows that tried to attempt the Star Trek formula are nothing new as the 90s is littered with examples such as Sliders or SeaQuest that started with promise only to be brought down by executive meddling or Shows cobbled together from unfinished ideas salvaged from Gene Roddenberry's garage like Earth: Final Conflict or Andromeda with none of these series ever managing to match the critical or audience success of their inspirations. With The Orville, not only is it a bit more direct in what it homages, it even has Star Trek franchise veterans involved with the likes Brannon Braga, Robert Duncan McNeil, Johnathan Frakes, and others so it feels like a remix of Star Trek elements with a small seasoning of Seth MacFarlane's humor. Unlike the 90s Star Trek series however, The Orville isn't constrained by the TV-PG rating or Roddenberry's assertions that the utopian society in Star Trek would have evolved past the usage of profanity and vulgarity (among other things) so the crew of the Orville while still having that familial bonding dynamic also have friction in their interactions making sort of a mixture of Star Trek with a workplace comedy.
The series features familiar scenarios seen in other Trek series with interstellar conflicts, culture clashes with both primitive and advanced alien races, and other adventures and often times the show will play the exploration of these issues relatively straight. The third episode for instance goes into discussion with an alien race that sees being born female as something to be "corrected" with one parent who becomes against the procedure and one who is for it, and as the alien race in question is a prominent member of the Planetary Union the issue needs to be handled with certain options off the stable. Not every story ends happily or optimistically with episode 3 ending on a note of failure with the possibility of being able overcome it, and the show does manage more than once to strike chords of emotional resonance that make these characters endearing and memorable.
The show does have the occasional stumbling point, especially in season 1 where they hadn't quite struck the balance between humor and drama and scenes in episodes such as Majority Rule or Krill have a tendency to undermine themselves by going maybe a bit too broad with their comedy or satire at the expense of the situation. I think the show does stumble out of the gate with the first two episodes feeling rather clumsy in terms of their execution. While the first two episodes aren't terrible, they do lean a bit more towards feeling like parody rather than the balance the series strikes later. The series really doesn't find its footing until episode 3 and as only episodes 1-3 were given to critics at the beginning of the show's run, it really didn't give a complete picture as to what the series entailed. But with that said, once the show does go past the first three episodes it becomes much more sure handed in its approach to the material and even gives callbacks and background development threads that are planted and paid off in satisfying ways.
The Orville may be Seth MacFarlane's elaborate love letter to Star Trek, but it's such a passionate love letter that's been carefully assembled with clear care and understanding of what makes this type of show work that it's obvious why the show has earned the fanbase that it has. With engaging characters, creative scenarios, and humor that lands more often than it misses, The Orville works because it has the intelligence and drive to pull itself off.