Star Trek: Voyager Star helped revive Orville

The author Jonathan Klotz
| Published 13 seconds ago

Orville there is an obvious respect for Star Trek: The Next Generation crafted with love Family guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and was backed right out of the gate by a star from another Star Trek series. Robert Duncan McNeil, famous for playing Tom Paris The travelerjumped into the director's chair for the show's second episode, “Command Performance,” which helped the sci-fi homage get off on the right foot. Part old-school adventure episode and part parody, McNeil struck a surprising balance in his delivery of the episode.

Command Performance updated menagerie

“Command Performance” begins normally enough OrvilleCaptain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane) and First Officer Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) assist a ship attacked by the alien Krill as it moves to Star Trek: the original series “Menagerie” series. Mercer and Grayson are held captive in an intergalactic zoo by the Calivons, who bear a striking resemblance to the Talosians, the villains of the original TOS classic, while Alara (Halston Sage), the chief security officer, is left in charge of the ship. . Reflecting Spock's decision to defy the Federation, Alara chooses to pursue their missing captain to the Calivon homeworld, risking a court-martial.

Orville “Command Performance” may almost be a homage to “The Menagerie,” but the other side of the episode revolves around Bortus (Peter Macon) and his mate hatching an egg. Star Trek: Voyager's “Someone to watch over me.” Voyager season 5 episode Seven out of nine (Jeri Ryan) learning about human courtesy, but more importantly, it was also directed by Robert Duncan McNeill, who wanted to capture the feeling of Seven's interactions with the crew with Bortus. The male-dominated Moklan society is explored in depth later in the series, but the seeds of subsequent drama and character growth were planted under McNeil's watch.

A culmination of “Execution of Commands” which includes The Real Housewives is a fun nod from Orville writers to Star Trek's obsession with modern pop culture and a joke the show would ultimately avoid by pushing Trek's absurdity to the extreme. As the show went on, it became more homage than parody, turning into a love letter to classic Trek when it seemed science fiction shows avoided exploring where no man had ever gone before.

Not the only Star Trek veteran to direct

After Robert Duncan McNeil's episode aired, another Star Trek legend made it Orville director's chair when Jonathan Frakes directed “Pria,” the fifth episode of Season 1, which also starred Charlize Theron as the strange blonde woman. McNeill's time in the Command Performance chair proved that the show could reach old-school Trek beats, but Freak helped push it further, providing a turning point where it could start to stand on its own.

Command Performance” is not the best episode Orvilleand it was the only one that was driven Robert Duncan McNeillbut it's important to set the stage for future storylines that helped the show avoid parodying Star Trek. That and there are still some fun moments, from Ed and Kelly's relationship being aired to Bortus explaining that yes, he did lay an egg.