Despite
being a fan of the franchise, I have not seen any of the new Star Trek series
such as Discovery and Picard because they are
purported to lack a couple of qualities that the property is known for:
adventure and optimism. Trek is no stranger to heavy and
topical themes-- indeed, social commentary is often the point-- but ultimately
each episode and series instills a comforting belief that humanity has the
capability to be better and that there is always an exciting new horizon to
chase. Seth MacFarlane, Trekkie and creator of such shows as Family
Guy, saw this deficit and decided to take matters into his own hands, and
although the resulting sci-fi saga, The Orville, which he both
created and stars in, starts out a bit rough as it struggles to find its
identity, it eventually becomes a fantastic and engaging Trek derivitive
that fully captures the same feeling of hopeful and thought-provoking
excitement that I was looking for.
When it first premiered on FOX back
in 2017, MacFarlane’s latest TV creation was a bit underwhelming. As one might
expect given the creative forces behind it, The Orville was
more farcical than anything else, and when there were serious moments they felt
unearned and out of place. Further hampering things was the feeling that this
was a vanity project for Seth, who was using his clout to simply fulfill his
dream of captaining a Starfleet spaceship. It wasn’t bad, but it was also far
from good. When all was said and done, The Orville simply didn’t
know what it wanted to be.
About halfway through the first
season something magical happened when the answer to this question was found
and The Orville really started to click. The comedy took a
back seat to the plots, which became more thoughtful and interesting. Funny
moments became nice surprises that were subdued enough that they did not detract
from the dramatic bits. The show became more of an ensemble effort as well,
with each member of the crew getting the spotlight from time to time instead of
it being focused solely on MacFarlane’s character. It was still an
unabashed Star Trek clone, but it became an earnest one that
brought the same spirit as the original Star Trek or The
Next Generation and filled a void that for too long went unfilled in
network television.
After two seasons on FOX, The
Orville was cancelled before finding new life on Hulu as The
Orville: New Horizons this last year. Despite what I can only assume
was a slightly higher budget (but not too high, mind you; The
Orville never really looks great from a visual standpoint, but that’s
to be expected for a TV show), the feeling of the episodes remains much the
same. No word on whether or not it will be brought back for a fourth go around,
but if it doesn’t it will still be in good company; the original Star
Trek only went for three seasons as well, and look how that turned
out.
The Orville seasons
1 and 2 and The Orville: New Horizons are now available on
Hulu.
This review was first published in
The Keizertimes on March 31st, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
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