The Orville receives the blessing of Star Trek: The Next Generation Legend
From Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Seth MacFarlane’s underrated sci-fi series The Orville could have been pitched as a comedic parody of Star Trek: The Next Generationbut it wasn’t long before Jonathan Frakes gave his blessing. The man who invented the Riker Maneuver not only directed “Pria,” the fifth installment of the series, but also stated during a 2016 comic convention, “The Star Trek we have really has his voice found, and discovery has really found his voice. And The Orville has filled a gap. For many people The Orville is your new Star Trek because it tells stories like (The next generation), and there’s wild humor in it.”
Jonathan Frakes is a fan of The Orville
The Orville Jonathan Frakes earned early praise, with the actor and director noting that Seth MacFarlane made the decision to fill the writer’s room and production team with Star Trek veterans. From bringing in Brannon Braga, the writer of some of Trek’s best TV episodes and film, to First contactto another actor turned director Star Trek VoyagerTom Paris and Robert Duncan Macneil, who directed the series’ second episode, “Command Performance.” Even the same cinematographer, Marvin Rush, was brought on board, all of which Frakes approved of, explaining: “He filled the room Next generation Guys, to make the show look and feel like this. I think he did it.”
Let’s delve deeper into why The Orville Jonathan Frakes also stated, “I think Seth’s fans expected the show to be much more.” Family man than he ever intended. Part of what he’s done by hiring (Star Trek veteran) Brannon (Braga) and others is to tell Star Trek stories that just happen to have moments of absurdity and the humor that we’ve come to know. But it was never underlined and never expanded upon, and if you blink sometimes you missed the humor, and I think that approach worked in the first season. Now for the second season we have these character studies.”
For MacFarlane, it was never just about capturing the moral at the heart of Star Trek’s best episodes, he nailed the feel of the classic series. The Orvilles Shot blocking, camera movement and framing are all things Jonathan Frakes says fans have gotten used to seeing The next generation. Frakes believes there is room for fans to both embrace MacFarlane’s loving tribute Star Trek: Discoverywhich gave the franchise a bold new direction.
The fans weren’t on board Discovery, what in contrast to The Orville, dispensed with the classic Star Trek and adopted the cinematic style of JJ Abrams KelvinverseEven Jonathan Frakes points out the difference, explaining that the style is “much more cinematic, a lot of crane work and a lot of movement, a lot of Dutch angles.” Strange New Worlds also adopted the more cinematic style, but compared to the previous series it was more focused on the peculiarities of classic Trek, which is why one is popular with fans and the other… is discovery.
The Orville is the spiritual successor of the next generation
The Orville And discovery Both are notable for the fact that Jonathan Frakes directed episodes in the first few seasons. Frakes would end up returning to both shows The Orville Season 2 episode, “Sanctuary,” where he took Marina Sirtis along with him and then seven more episodes of discovery and one Strange new world Consequence. So when he says that it’s possible to be a fan of both series and enjoy each series for different reasons, he knows what he’s talking about.
While The Orville I was never able to get Jonathan Frakes in front of the camera, there’s still hope for season 4. Tim Russ, Tuvok in it VoyagerHe performed, as did his co-star. Robert PicardoAnd Pursue is even represented thanks to John Billingsley’s Phlox, who appears in “Home.” That’s not even counting the main actors who appeared in both franchises: Seth MacFarlane (Pursue), Penny Johnson Jerald (TNG and DS9) and Scott Grimes (TNG).
Not every fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a fan of The Orville As Jonathan Frakes is, but that’s what they should be. Frakes is right; No other show has captured the look, feel and tone of the all-time great Science fiction Series like Macfarlane’s comedy. Well, how can we get there? Patrick Stewart appear in season 4?
