Quick TV Series Review – ‘The Orville’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Well, I’ve finished checking out ‘The Orville’ on Disney+. After watching its first two seasons, I have to say that this is the best ‘Star Trek’ series I’ve seen in a while (even though it’s not really ‘Star Trek’). It has the elements that the original ‘Star Trek’ series and ‘Next Generation’ is good at having.

I’m currently looking forward to seeing Season 3 when it hopefully becomes available on Disney+. I was afraid this series might not end up being good as hoped, considering this is regarded as more of a parody of ‘Star Trek’. Thankfully, this TV series is not as overtly comedic as I was expecting it to be.

There are comedic moments here and there in certain episodes, but there are also serious topics raised about certain issues such as gender equality among an alien species. There are also tension-driven episodes such as a two-parter about an artificial race that wants to kill all biological lifeforms.

It’s amazing this series has been well-received by its fans, considering it had negative reviews from critics in Season 1 before getting better reviews in Season 2. ‘The Orville’ also feels more ‘Star Treky’ compared to recent ‘Star Trek’ TV shows like ‘Star Trek: Picard’ and the latest ‘Star Trek’ film trilogy.

I can’t say the same thing about ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ having not seen it yet, but I imagine it has the same atmosphere and more on the lines of ‘Picard’ and the reboot film trilogy. It’s clear that Seth MacFarlane, the creator and star of the show, is a ‘Star Trek’ fan, delivering a really impressive show.

There are moments and episodes that might be dodgy at times, but gradually, as I watched the show, I could see it forming its own identity and having a likeable charm about it. I wish ‘The Orville’ and its cast and crew well, hoping it will do great things in its ‘New Horizons’. See what I did there? 🙂

The series takes place in the 25th century (not the ‘Star Trek’ 25th century, I hasten to add) and features the Planetary Union. Seth MacFarlane plays Captain Ed Mercer who commands the starship Orville. He and his crew go out on exciting adventures to explore space and visit new worlds.

Joining him are Adrianne Palicki as Commander Kelly Grayson, his ex-wife; Penny Johnson Jerald (who played Kassidy Yates in ‘Deep Space Nine’) as Dr. Claire Finn; Scott Grimes as Lt. Gordon Malloy; Peter Macon as Lt. Commander Bortus; Halston Sage as Lt. Alara Kitan; J. Lee as Lt. (later Lt. Commander) John LaMarr; and Mark Jackson as Isaac. All the cast have been enjoyable in this series.

Alara leaves a few episodes into Season 2 to be replaced by Jessica Szohr as Lt. Talla Keyali. There are also recurring characters like Victor Garber as Fleet Admiral Halsey; Chad Coleman as Klyden, Bortus’ mate; Lt. Yaphit (voiced by Norm Macdonald); and Dr. Finn’s two sons BJ Tanner as Marcus and Kai Wener as Ty. There’s also Kelly Hu (who was in ‘X-Men 2’) as Admiral Ozawa in the TV series.

Ted Danson (well-known for playing Sam Malone in ‘Cheers’) plays Admiral Perry in the series. There are also guest stars like Jeffrey Tambor, Holland Taylor, Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron, Patrick Warburton and Bruce Willis (uncredited) in this. Even ‘Star Trek’ actors like Robert Picardo, John Billingsley, Tim Russ, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Tony Todd and J. Paul Boehmer are in this. 😀

There are also familiar names behind-the-scenes such as Jon Favreau (who directed the first episode) and ‘Star Trek’ people like Robert Duncan McNeill, Brannon Braga, Jonathan Frakes who directed some episodes of ‘The Orville’ as well as Seth McFarlane who directed and wrote most of the episodes of ‘The Orville’. There are plenty of ‘Star Trek’ influences in this non ‘Star Trek’ series. 😀

I’m glad I checked out ‘The Orville’ as a series on Disney+. It fulfilled the need I had in wanting to see a new classic ‘Star Trek’ show, even though it’s not really ‘Star Trek’. I hope to see something like this again, especially when Season 3 called ‘New Horizons’ becomes available on Disney+ being available on Hulu for a bit in June later this year.

I’ve seen the preview for Season 3 of ‘The Orville’ on YouTube already! 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂