THE ORVILLE: NEW HORIZONS
You are Orville… but I like you
UK Disney+ streaming now
US Hulu, streaming now
Showrunner Seth Macfarlane
Cast Seth Macfarlane, Adrianne
Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Mark Jackson
The Orville has always been Trek, Jim, but not as we know it. Is it a homage? A parody? A rip-off? A home for disaffected Trek fans, narked by current “real” Trek’s alleged abrogation of Gene Roddenberry’s original vision?
Season three confuses things further by slashing the humour quotient to a bare minimum. Honestly, Strange New Worlds has a higher quip rate, and it’s also doing a great job winning back those disaffected fans. So what is the point of The Orville any more?
Does there have to be one? You could argue that SNW is a modern take on TOS, while The Orville is TNG in spirit, but honestly, the main reason for The Orville continuing is that it’s really bloody entertaining in its own right.
Sure, the newly bloated running times for each episode lead to moments of cringey indulgence (do we really need Molloy’s wimpy songs in their entirety?) and most would benefit from some judicious trimming for pace. Its cheery optimism about human nature occasionally borders on a cheesiness that’s less likely now to be balanced by some well-aimed zingers. But mostly, The Orville is a well-told series of gripping sci-fi morality plays, with its heart in the right place, boasting some stunning visuals. Hell, “Domino” has sequences that are the nearest TV’S ever come to the rush of Star Wars-style space action (and that includes Disney’s own various Star Wars series).
Plus, it’s still very funny when it wants to be. It just doesn’t need to be any more. Dave Golder
If there’s a fourth season, Norm Macdonald will sadly not be returning to voice Yaphit, as he died at the end of 2021.