Space goons
Buckle up as we blast off into space with the oddball crew of The Orville interstellar exploration ship.
The Orville
Season 1 Mondays (from 13 August) M-Net Dec 16:00/Sat (*101) 17:00
Seth MacFarlane didn’t have to beam into space to find inspiration for his new sci-fi comedy The Orville (2017- current). “I channelled my inner sci-fi nerd for the series,” explains Seth, the genius behind both adult animated comedy series Family Guy (1998- current) and American Dad (2005current). “I am an absolute fan of the Star Trek franchise (1966- current) and wanted to do something that pays homage to Star Trek.” Although funny at its best, The Orville is not a spoof on Star Trek. “It borrows heavily from the franchise, like the similarity of the bridge in The Orville, but it’s a dramedy filled with jokes, with personal issues that we turn upside down to give it some comedic element,” explains Seth, who also gets the chance to live out his Trekkie dream of being starfleet Captain Ed Mercer to The Orville. “I always wanted to sit in that chair!” he confesses.
BLAST OFF
Set 400 years in the future, the newly built spaceship The Orville and its crew of 300 humans and aliens, are heading off to deliver goods to a neighbouring planet when they go off track to assist with an emergency on an alien planet. From there on, the crew go on various space adventures to the far reaches of the galaxy to lend a helping hand in their own unique way. “Every episode has its story of the week with no overall arch,” says Seth. And not every episode is funny. “Yes, we try to bring in a fun element to episodes, but some episodes have quite disturbing endings.” Same-sex alien couple Commander Bortus (Peter Macon) and his partner Klyden’s (Chad Coleman) egg hatch and they become parents of a little girl in episode 2 (20 Aug). This is a big no-no in their culture, so the couple debate on whether or not to send their baby girl for a gender reassignment operation (episode 3, 27 Aug) to turn her into a boy. “Throughout the series we tackle real social issues facing people today, and transplant them light years away into the galaxy,” explains the series creator.
GOON CREW
Joining Ed is an interesting team. His first officer is Commander Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki), who is also his ex-wife. He caught her sleeping with the blue ink-squirting Retepsian archaeologist Darulio (Rob Lowe). “They have issues,” admits Adrianne, “but who knows, maybe they’ll work it out.” Doctor Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald) is the ship’s doctor and also the eye of affection for the shape-shifting blob Lieutenant Yaphit (voiced by Norm Macdonald). Lieutenant Alara Kitan (Halston Sage), chief of security, is from the Xelayan race and they have superhuman strength. Cheeky Lieutenant Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes) is the helmsman of The Orville and assisting him is street smart navigator Lieutenant John LaMarr (J Lee). Rounding off the team is science officer Isaac (Mark Jackson), a robot from the artificial, non-biological race of Kaylon-1 who is assigned to the ship to observe human behaviour.
CELEB CALL
Seth invited some of his closest friends to star on his show. Jeffrey Tambor and Holland Taylor pops in as Ben and Jeannie Mercer, Ed’s parents in episode 2 (20 Aug) and Liam Neeson as Jahavus Dorahl, captain of the derelict multigeneration ship in episode 4 (3 Sep). Charlize Theron shows up as antique collector Pria Lavesque in episode 5 (10 Sep). And Seth has another wish list, “It would be great if I can get some of the Star Trek actors to make an appearance.”