By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Seth MacFarlane’s underrated sci-fi series The Orville may have been presented as a comic parody of Star Trek: The Next Generationbut it didn’t take long for Jonathan Frakes to give his blessing. The man who invented the Riker Maneuver not only directed “Pria,” the fifth episode of the series, but at a 2016 comic convention he explained, “The Star Trek that we have has really found his voice, and Discovery really found her voice. And The Orville filled a void. For many people The Orville is their new Star Trek because it tells stories like [The Next Generation]and there’s some wild humor in it.
Jonathan Frakes is an Orville fan
The Orville earned praise from Jonathan Frakes from the start, with the actor-turned-director noting that Seth MacFarlane made the choice to fill the writer’s room and production team with Star Trek veterans. Using Brannon Braga, the writer of some of Trek’s best television episodes and its best film, First contactto another actor turned director in Star Trek VoyagerTom Paris and Robert Duncan Macneil, who directed the second episode of the series, “Command Performance”. Even the same cinematographer, Marvin Rush, was brought in, which Frakes approved of, saying, “He filled the room with New generation people to make the show look like that. I think he did.
Go deeper on why The Orville Having found success, Jonathan Frakes also said: “I think Seth’s fans expected the show to be much more family guy that he never intended to. In this, part of what he did by hiring [Star Trek veteran] Brannon [Braga] and others, it’s telling Star Trek stories that have moments of absurdity and that humor that we know. But that was never emphasized or developed and if you blink sometimes you miss the humor and I think that approach worked in the first season. Now for season two, we have these character studies.
It was never just about capturing the morality at the heart of Star Trek’s best episodes, as MacFarlane captured the atmosphere of the classic series. The Orvilles Shot blocking, camera movements and framing are all things Jonathan Frakes says fans have become accustomed to seeing on The next generation. Frakes believes fans have the opportunity to embrace both MacFarlane’s loving tribute and Star Trek: Discoverywhich took the franchise in a bold new direction.
Fans Disagreed With Discovery, which, unlike The Orville, eschewed classic Star Trek and adopted the cinematic style of JJ Abrams Kelvinverse, even Jonathan Frakes points out the difference, explaining that the style is “a lot 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 it was more grounded in the trappings of classic Trek compared to its parent series, which is why one is a fan favorite and the other is… Discovery.
The Orville is the spiritual successor of the next generation
The Orville And Discovery both share the distinction of having episodes directed by Jonathan Frakes during their first seasons. Frakes would eventually return to both shows for The Orville Season 2 episode, “Sanctuary”, where he brought Marina Sirtis with him, then seven more episodes of Discovery and a Strange New World episode. So when he says it’s possible to be a fan of both and enjoy each series for different reasons, he knows what he’s talking about.
While The Orville never managed to put Jonathan Frakes in front of the camera, there is still hope for season 4. Tim Russ, Tuvok in Travelermade an appearance, as did his co-star, Robert Picardo, and Business is even represented thanks to John Billingsley’s Phlox, appearing in “Home”. This is without counting the main actors who appeared in the two franchises: Seth MacFarlane (Business), Penny Johnson Jerald (TNG and DS9) and Scott Grimes (TNG).
All fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a fan of The Orville like Jonathan Frakes, but they should be. Frakes is right; no other series has captured the look, feel and tone of the great science fiction series of all time like Macfarlane’s comedy. Now, how do you get Patrick Stewart to appear in season 4?
