Star Trek: Voyager Star helped revive the Orville

Pa Jonathan Klotz
| Published 13 seconds ago

Orville an obvious tribute Star Trek: The Next Generation created with love Family guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and was immediately backed by a star from another Star Trek series. Robert Duncan McNeill, famous for playing the cocky gimbo Tom Parris Voyagerjumped into the director’s chair for the show’s second episode, “Command Performance,” helping the sci-fi homage get off on the right foot. Part old-school adventure episode and part parody, McNeil struck a strange balance to get the episode on the air.

Command performance has been updated by The Menagerie

“Team Performance” starts out normal enough for Orvillewith Captain Ed Mercer (McFarlane) and First Officer Kelly Grayson (Adrian Palicki) assisting a ship that has been attacked by the alien Creel as it moves in tribute to Star Trek: The original series “Menagerie” episode. Mercer and Grayson find themselves held captive in an intergalactic zoo for the Kalivons, who bear an uncanny resemblance to the Thalassians, the villains of the original TOS classic, while Alara (Halston Sage), chief security officer, remains in charge of the ship. . Mirroring Spock’s decision to defy the Federation, Alara makes the choice to pursue their missing captain to Calivon’s home world, risking prosecution in the process.

Orville “Command Performance” may be an almost endless homage to “The Managerie,” but the second half of the episode, which revolves around Bortus (Peter Macon) and his egg-hatching companion, pulls from Star Trek: Voyager “Someone who will watch over me.” Voyager season 5 episode highlights. Seven out of nine (Jerry Ryan) learned about human courtship, but more importantly, it was also directed by Robert Duncan McNeil, and he wanted to capture the feel of Seven’s interaction with the team with Bortus. Moclan’s male-dominated society is explored in more depth later in the series, but the seeds for the subsequent drama and character growth were planted under McNeil’s watch.

Climax “Command Execution” featuring Real Housewives it’s a fun nod from Orville writers to Star Trek’s obsession with modern pop culture, and a joke the series eventually got rid of, taking Trek’s absurdity to the extreme. As the show went on, it became more of an homage than a parody, turning into a love letter to the classic Trek when it seemed that science fiction The show goes from exploring where no one has ever gone before.

Not the only Star Trek veteran turned director

After the release of Robert Duncan McNeill’s series, another Star Trek legend appeared on the air. Orville director’s chair when Jonathan Frakes directed “Pria,” the fifth episode of Season 1, which also stars Charlize Theron as the stunning blonde. McNeil’s time in the chair for “Command Performance” proved that the show could follow the old-school Trek beats, but Frakes helped push it further, providing the turning point where it could start to stand on its own.

Command Performance” is not the best episode Orvilleand it was the only director Robert Duncan McNeillbut it’s important to lay the groundwork for future storylines that helped steer the show away from parodying Star Trek. That, and there are still some interesting moments, from seeing Ed and Kelly’s relationship to Bortus explaining that yes, he did lay an egg.