How the orville became the greatest sci-fi series ever made
Growing up, many of us turned to escapism on tv, most notably in the form of star trek & its various spinoffs that spawned over the years. But as great as those shows may have been, little did we know the best was still yet to come. In early 2016, Seth Macfarlane pitched the idea of the orville to the execs at fox. His idea, he claimed, was basically family guy, only in space. Like many kids, he had grown up with the classic series such as star trek & the twilight zone & was seizing on the opportunity to take the genre & make it his own. He was also inspired by the success of guardians of the galaxy but no one could have foreseen just how incredible the end result would be.
Long story short, he wrote a spec script & the network gave him the green light for a thirteen episode freshman season. He quickly went to work on it, excited to tell his own story of boldly going where no man has gone before. The cast were pretty solid overall with seth stepping into the lead role of ed mercer, captain of the orville & adrianne palicki as kelly grayson, mercer’s second in command. Then you’ve got the dynamic duo of j lee as liutenant (& later lieutenant commander) chief engineer lamar & his best friend, (the criminally underrated) scott grimes as malloy, the ship’s navigator. Peter macon was later cast as liutenant commander bortus, third in command, & penny johnson as claire finn, chief medical officer of the orville. Finally, rounding out the cast was halston sage as alara kitan, chief security officer & mark jackson as isaac, an emissary from kaylon, a planet chock full of artificial life forms (basically robots).
Needless to say, they all play their parts to perfection. In particular, seth didn’t have much live-action acting experience prior to this so the fact that he’s able to play his role so well is laudable & mark jackson is pitch perfect being able to convey so much emotion despite having no face on the show & not even being a character who’s supposed to possess any type of emotions. Even later on when he does finally get to show his face, he still manages to knock it out of the park with his stoic expressions & mannerisms, the exact demeanor you would expect from such a robotic being.
Season one starts off like any other sci-fi series (albeit with a bit more comedic weight to it). The cat scene is still one of my favorite moments in the entire series. The show has a lot of fun with culture shock & making jokes out of the differences between the numerous alien species on board the orville (presumably named after one of the pioneers of aviation). Of course they have a lot of fun with the simulator which can make them look like they’re in any time period imaginable & it plays a much bigger role in the series in later seasons. You also learn quite a bit about the other alien cultures & some of that is played for laughs as well. Malloy also gets a few chances to sing throughout the series which is always a treat considering how angelic his voice is.
But by the time the second season rolled around, the star & executive producer of the series had been given enough time to pull the old bait & switch on his superiors. About halfway through the season, the series began to shift from being more comedically-oriented to dramatic. What’s probably most incredible about it is the fact that the transition is just so seamless, you may not even notice if you’re not playing close-enough attention. The identity two-part episode just might be the greatest episode of any sci-fi series ever as the union is forced to deal with a full-scale kaylon invasion that threatens to annihilate more than half the galaxy. Meanwhile, Isaac is faced with the choice of siding with his race or protecting the people he’s come to know as dear friends. The end result is nothing short of a televised masterpiece.
By the time season three rolls around (now on hulu), the union is still at war with the kaylon but the tide soon begins to shift after the development of a weapon that could wipe them off the face of the galaxy. But it soon becomes clear there’s more tension bubbling under the surface. As moclus becomes more bigoted against females, they find themselves being driven to the brink of extremism, ultimately resulting in them being expelled from the union & teaming up with the krill. Meanwhile, after a lengthy battle against the newly-formed moclan-krill alliance, the kaylon begin recognizing the error of their ways & are granted a provisional seat on the union council, replacing moclus.
By the time the credits rolled on that season finale, there was no a doubt in anyone’s mind just what a brilliant storyteller he is. What’s incredible is just the fact that the series is not afraid to go to some dark places & explore some important issues. From porn addiction & gender identity to bigotry & even mortality, this series has it all. Of course, it’s not just the writing team; the cast is also terrific in their respective roles with a great rapport & just watching some of the bts footage, you can tell just how much fun they have working together. & it’s not just the main cast; everyone gets a chance to shine. Even klyden, a character no one liked all that much in the earlier season, goes on to have a phenomenal character arc that sees him exhibiting tremendous growth. The fact that they can make you sympathize with a character like that just shows how talented the writing staff & cast truly are.
There’s also quite a bit of foreshadowing in the earlier episodes that comes back into play in seasons two and three. So the fact that the writers are able to meticulously craft these long overarching stories that pay off much later down the line is a testament to their skills. Looking to the future, a fourth season is still unfortunately up in the air at the moment but the season did manage to wrap up pretty much every important storyline it set up. So if they do get the axe down the line, it’s not the worst thing in the world but I think I speak for all the fans out there when I say we would love to have some more adventures on board the greatest ship in the galaxy, the uss orville.