Don’t Listen To The Haters; ‘The Orville’ Is Freaking Great

Remember how engaging that first trailer for The Orville was?  This is one of those few times where the show lives up to the stylized view. If you liked the trailer, give the show a chance. Don’t let it fall into the FOX curse.

Two space series, both alike in their presentations, are fighting for your viewership this fall. On one side, the big Star Trek series for CBS, Star Trek: Discovery (with the unfortunate acronym of STD). The other side contains not-Star-Trek-but-mostly-Star-Trek FOX series The Orville from Seth MacFarlane and co.

The Orville on the surface is what we keep saying it is, Galaxy Quest-esque in its loving take on all things Trek, but something more serious too. I talked about my first impressions of the cast and crew at length in this piece from San Diego Comic-Con, and how impressed I was with what I heard.

Having now seen the first three episodes (although as often happens with shows of this level without fully complete VFX) of The Orville, it really is the show I hoped it was going to be.  I say that without hesitation; don’t let those naysaying reviews influence your interest in watching the show. It’s really surprising how many of the big sites aren’t even giving the series a chance before just writing it off as a “spoof”, and not worth the viewer’s time.

There is so much of TOS (Star Trek: The Original Series, to the uninitiated) in Orville, the early enthusiasm of a new universe unfolding right in front of the characters. Even though, yes, can anything about an Earth run space agency be truly original after 51 years of the Roddenberry Verse? I’m not claiming the show is ‘original’ in premise (although it does introduce some new ideas), nor am I claiming it does what Battlestar Galactica did in reinventing what a science-fiction show could be, but it is good.

If you are not a fan of MacFarlane’s Family Guy-style humor, don’t worry — there is so little of it you won’t notice. Of course there is humor, but not to the juvenile level the majority of critics seem to have expected. Optimistically straightforward in its presentation, the writing is on point, and the actors all brought their A-games.

In any case, The Orville pilot, directed by Jon Favreau, premieres on Sunday September 10th on FOX. Check it out.