Why The Orville Is More Than a Star Trek Homage

The Orville is a lot of things. It’s a wholesome and hopeful show with episodes that focus on different ethical problems. It has well-written and three-dimensional characters. But mostly… it’s almost a direct ripoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The keyword being: almost. The show is intentionally an homage to The Next Generation (or TNG), made in an attempt to fill in the hole the classic show left on television. For the majority of the last 20 years, Star Trek has taken off in a different direction from the older eras of the franchise. Starting with the 2009 Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams, the franchise has shifted into being heavier on the action and scope. It basically has been trying to be Star Wars, the franchise’s younger and more popular brother. That’s why in 2017, Seth MacFarlane released The Orville as the ultimate love letter to what Trek once was.

But as any Trekkie knows, the franchise has changed a lot since The Orville has started airing. Yes, there are shows and films more in line with the JJ Abrams aesthetic, but there’s also just a lot more of Star Trek than there’s ever been. There’s the aforementioned JJ’d shows like Discovery, there’s the very odd character piece of Picard, and there’s even an animated comedy show with Lower Decks. And that’s not even all the Trek shows currently running. In 2022, we were also blessed with the show Strange New Worlds, which certainly aims to go back to the original recipe that made the series so unique. Which, in theory, should make The Orville irrelevant. Why would any show need a spiritual love letter running at the same time as the “real” thing? But The Orville has grown far past just being a love letter between the pilot and now. And a lot of that uniqueness comes from how the writers and actors portray their characters.

The key difference that makes The Orville truly stand out is that the characters aren’t as prim and proper as they are in Trek. For context, Star Fleet has always been portrayed as if it’s the navy. The rank and hierarchy on the ships is nearly the same. Terms used on the Enterprise and other ships in the series are also almost one-to-one with nautical terminology. This is also true in The Orville, but the characters all speak more naturally. It’s natural in the same way that dialogue in Judd Apatow movies feel natural. Nearly every person in the cast has some sort of background in comedy, and it really shows. The crew on the USS Orville have the electric chemistry of a comedy troupe, and it just gives the show a different vibe that is much more chill.

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Because the crew all have this type of chemistry, they all genuinely feel like friends. This is such an important part of television shows, because if the characters in the show don’t like each other it makes it harder to tune in from week-to-week. But these crewman hang out together, they drink together, confide in each other, and actively want to be around each other in their spare time. This is shown so well with two of the best character duos in the show. The first of these being the bromance between Captain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane) and Lieutenant Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes).

Mallow and Mercer were friends going back to their space college days. The know each other better than anyone and genuinely love each other. Malloy is a bit of a goof, but he always shows that he is completely serious when the time comes. Grimes really sells the energy in his performance as being the ultimate best friend. But between his live reenactments of video games and nerdy interests, he is always there for Mercer in the same way Mercer is always there for him. He even mentions that he was the person there for Mercer as he was going through a divorce. Anybody who sticks by your side in the most depressing lulls of life is always someone you want to keep around. But that’s almost expected of new friends, but the show also does a great job of showing blossoming friendships. This is where the other best duo comes in, that of Dr. Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald) and Commander Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki).

Unlock Malloy and Mercer, these two had never met before they worked together. But over time, they became close friends. Particularly once Dr. Finn started dating the artificially intelligent robot man, Isaac (Mark Jackson). When your boyfriend is a robot who literally does not perceive emotions, you’re going to need some help guiding that relationship. This is when Dr. Finn and Grayson really started connecting with each other. Both of these women were experiencing challenging new dynamics in life around the same time, and they always found the time to wind down with some wine and talk things out. The one thing that’s true about life, is that you can’t go through it alone. These two show that meaningful relationships can always happen, and it won’t always happen how you expect.

So, what’s the point of this then? Trek certainly has all these qualities too; it’s not like the series is devoid of brilliant, well-written characters. It’s not like these qualities are unique to The Orville. But it is a slight distinction.

There are many great character duos and friendships across TNG, but no one on that show really speaks in the same way that people you would meet on any average day in life do. It creates a degree of separation. Because we can sit down and watch TNG, but it’s rare to fully identify with anyone. You can recognize qualities that are similar between viewers and brilliant characters like Riker (Jonathan Frakes), but not in the same way that viewers can directly identify with Malloy. The natural speech patterns and genuine friendships on The Orville are always there to remind the audience that, yes, these characters are all great in their field, but they’re also just human schmucks like us instead of people you need to aspire to be like. It’s obtainable. This isn’t to say that either of these roads these shows go down are better or worse than the other, but it definitely does help make sure that they aren’t stepping on each other’s toes.

And perhaps the most wholesome of these Orville characters is that they all still respect each other. When they are working, they respect each other and refer to each other by rank. They don’t let their existing relationships interfere with protecting each other when out on the field. They love each other, and they love each other enough to give and receive well-earned respect. Not only is that admirable, it’s so sweet that the show might give you a cavity.