the orville: more treky than trek

When I first heard that Seth MacFarlane was working on a Star Trek parody (now called The Orville), I wasn’t really sure what to think. I had lost interest in the official Star Trek franchise and anything new it had to offer – the reboot movies were more annoying than entertaining (in fact, the last several movies pre-reboot had also kind of sucked). And it was about the same time that the next TV series in the official Star Trek universe (CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery) had been announced, and it was not looking promising.*

But a MacFarlane-created parody had promise. When he’s at his best, Seth MacFarlane produces some very funny material. I kind of had the Airplane movies and Police Squad in my head. I realize that the ZAZ team that produced those had a very different comedic style, but that kind of parody is still what I had in my head. On the other hand, Police Squad didn’t last very long -- which I assume is because it’s hard to maintain that type of humor at a high level of quality.

So, with a sense of ambivalence, I ignored the show’s existence.

That is, until I found that it was available on Hulu, to which I subscribe. I have now watched both seasons (a third is expected some time next year).

The show very quickly established its humor, though that very often involves juvenile gags – which wasn’t surprising, and is perfectly fine by me. What surprised me was the quality of the show as science fiction. Putting aside the crude humor, the show is more a tribute to Star Trek than a parody. Someone less charitably inclined may call it a ripoff, though starved as I am for good Star Trek material, I don’t want to put down anything that’s giving it to me. As it has progressed, the humor of the show has taken more and more of a back seat in favor of the science fiction; my interpretation is that MacFarlane realized he could do comedy or sci-fi – and chose the latter. There’s still some humor, but its become less crude (overall). Except for the penis jokes, the reliance on the word “bang” in reference to sex, the humor is about on par with what we saw on The Next Generation.

Which seems to be MacFarlane’s target. I was unaware (though I have since learned) that MacFarlane grew up on TNG, and that’s kind of ground zero of his Star Trek fandom. The Orville seems like a note-perfect homage to TNG. I know it’s not Star Trek cannon. But, dammit, it should be. It should be known as Star Trek: ORV. The look and feel of the show, as well as the incidental music is just like TNG. Castwise, there’s Mark Jackson as Isaac (an artificial lifeform) and Peter Macon as Bortus (a “Moclan,” which can be thought of as this series’ version of a Klingon). The two sound sound like they are literally channeling Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn. IN addition there’s Halston Sage as Alara Kitan, the chief of security. The comparison to Tasha Yar from TNG isn’t quite as obvious as the others – but once again we have a hot young female security chief who can kick some major ass. And placing Captain Mercer’s ex-wife as his first officer creates the same kind of friction that TNG could have had with Riker and Troi, but never had the guts to explore.  I just have to say thank God they didn’t have an equivalent to Wesley Crusher, who was probably the most annoying ingredient in TNG.

And one of the things that I like about this show is that the characters aren’t annoying in the way that TNG characters could be. The attempted humor kind of humanizes them in a way that never happens with Picard, Riker and the others. And the fact that they lose their sense of decorum helps.

One gutsy call that MacFarlane made is that there’s no transporter beam – a staple of the Star Trek universe. I initially found that jarring, since I’m so used to seeing Star Trek characters escape danger by just beaming up. In a way, that became a big cheat, and I’m glad that MacFarlane (or whoever) made the gutsy call not to have it. Interestingly, The Orville does have “simulators,” which are the show’s equivalent of Star Trek’s holodeck. I’m kind of ambivalent about whether I would prefer the show not have them. But part of that ambivalence is based in the fact that – unlike TNG, this show doesn’t overuse them. I got really annoyed whenever shows in the Star Trek universe became too reliant on Holodeck plots. Fortunately The Orville only had one such episode (through two seasons at least), and that one was nowhere near as annoying as some of the depths that the Star Trek shows sank to.

The one thing that doesn’t work, though it’s admittedly good for some laughs is the fact that the crew seems oddly enamored of late 20^th and early 21^st century pop culture. They play the music of Billy Joel and Creedence. They watch clips from Seinfeld on the main viewscreen in the bridge. And, when Bortus’ mate wants to watch something that will make him happy, the computer’s entertainment database plays a dance sequence from The Sound of Music. I suppose I should view the whole thing with a sense of fun, but it doesn’t really make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

None of the foregoing would matter if the show sucked. Fortunately, it doesn’t. As I was watching the early episodes, I was thinking that it seems like a second rate iteration of Star Trek – which actually isn’t bad. But it did, in fact, get better as it progressed and found its footing. By the end of the second season, it became quite good – and season 2 did end on a high. I, for one, am looking forward to season 3.

*For purposes of full disclosure, I have still not watched Discovery. I have watched some clips on Youtube, and seen some that were incorporated into various Youtube commentaries. Nothing that I’ve seen gives me any reason to think I’d like it.