The Orville is boring at best and tone deaf at worst. I’m genuinely surprised at how well received it seems to be among Trekkies. I generally find that my Star Trek tastes are uncontroversial and in alignment with Trekkie groupthink but I am apparently way outside the norm on this one.
It’s the Galaxy Quest comparisons that really get me, though. A huge part of why Galaxy Quest is so great is how self-aware it is. The Orville has none of that. Just the opposite, in fact: it’s totally unaware of how bad a job it’s doing filling the shoes it’s attempting to fill.
I think a big part of the appeal is that it presents a bit less cynical than many new series.
It feels like you can say “I would like to see mankind make it to the Planetary Union” with the same optimism of “I’d like to see us reach the Federation”.
Absolutely agree. By far, the best part of The Orville is the worldbuilding. The Planetary Union is believable. The depiction and usage of future tech scratches the Trek itch. I like that it is unapologetically depicting a humanist utopia and is committing to that bit even harder than TNG did.
It’s just too bad it uses that world for one-dimensional characters to play out muddled remixes of Berman-era Trek episodes.
There are dozens of us. Dozens!
The Orville is boring at best and tone deaf at worst. I’m genuinely surprised at how well received it seems to be among Trekkies. I generally find that my Star Trek tastes are uncontroversial and in alignment with Trekkie groupthink but I am apparently way outside the norm on this one.
It’s the Galaxy Quest comparisons that really get me, though. A huge part of why Galaxy Quest is so great is how self-aware it is. The Orville has none of that. Just the opposite, in fact: it’s totally unaware of how bad a job it’s doing filling the shoes it’s attempting to fill.
I think a big part of the appeal is that it presents a bit less cynical than many new series.
It feels like you can say “I would like to see mankind make it to the Planetary Union” with the same optimism of “I’d like to see us reach the Federation”.
You can’t say that about a lot of universes.
Absolutely agree. By far, the best part of The Orville is the worldbuilding. The Planetary Union is believable. The depiction and usage of future tech scratches the Trek itch. I like that it is unapologetically depicting a humanist utopia and is committing to that bit even harder than TNG did.
It’s just too bad it uses that world for one-dimensional characters to play out muddled remixes of Berman-era Trek episodes.