Imagine Star Trek if Gene Roddenberry also played Captain Kirk, had more control over the script and a dirty sense of humor. That's the Orville in a nutshell. Seth initially wanted to make this as a bright upbeat sci-fi story because he disliked how fictional media was brimming with dark and gritty sci-fi. However, I find that this goal has been undermined by Seth's traits. The humor is hit and miss; if you don't like Family Guy or Seth's humor, you're not going to like this. We don't need "Family Guy in Space", because Seth already did that with "Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy". This show's very derivative, but where Family Guy was merely (at times jokingly) accused of plagiarizing the Simpsons, this is deliberate lifting from Star Trek. The lack of humility staggers me; even Gene Roddenberry had people who could disagree with his story and let others play Kirk and Picard. To borrow and paraphrase a quote from Jurassic Park that I think sums up the Orville quite well; "I'll tell you the problem with the media power that Seth's using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. He read what others had done and took the next step. He didn't earn the knowledge for himself, so he doesn't take any responsibility for it. He stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as he could, and before he even knew what he had, he patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now he selling it, he wants to sell it." If anyone thinks I'm putting too much blame on Seth, keep in mind that he's both the showrunner AND the lead actor; even Seth himself has admitted he's a bit of a control freak. On a side note, it's my personal theory the reason everyone gives him free reign with this show is because he's preying on emotions and nostalgia where nearly every other sci-fi going for dark and gritty. The show's special effects are mostly on-point (mostly), but the same can be said for several other sci-fi works such as The Expanse. The themes of the show are hit and miss. While the episode "Majority Rule" makes some good points about the dangers of trusting everything to popular opinion, this is one of very few pearls in a sea of garbage. For all the fans who talk about Star Trek Discovery being taken over by political agenda - particularly leftist ones, The Orville is not without its share of this. The episode "About a Girl" has the theme of gender-fluidity, but this message stumbles as it's applying it to an alien with alien biology, so it doesn't translate to us - being humans. Not to mention, whether you agree with gender-fluidity or not, the message is diluted by Seth's signature humor and meaningful discussion being abandoned in favor of an appeal to emotion. Then there is one problem, a true leftist element, which I object to for both logical reasons and with a personal grievance (for myself and many others). That leftist problem is the subject the show is preachiest - pun intended - on. The point where Seth abandons what little merits the show has to vent his personal prejudices, its strawman anti-religion messages. This is a strawman message, as it disingenuously ignores positive aspects (such as charity) or examples of religion and the subject of God - The Orville is one of the worst offenders in this regard, even for science fiction. Every religious character in the show is portrayed as evil or deceived, the show's main bad guys are the Krill - an alien race who follow a religion where they can't co-exist with anyone else and they're all thinly-veiled strawman jabs at Christianity (with a little bit of Islam and several other religions sprinkled in). Criticizing a religion or all religion is so common in science fiction - especially Christianity and to a lesser degree Islam - that it's a cliche, and others have done a better or more reasonable example (such as Halo with the Covenant Empire). Third, it ignores that these problems and behaviors are also found among non-religious - even atheistic and anti-religious - people, creeds and institutions (Stalin's League of Militant Atheists come to mind). Again, Gene Roddenberry had similar anti-religious views to Seth, yet despite that Star Trek discussed religion more fairly.My recommendation is do not watch The Orville. If you want emotional sci-fi, or sci-fi without OTT political commentary, watch Battlestar Galactica or The Expanse. In my opinion, even Rick and Morty is closer to what Seth claimed he tried to do than the Orville.

Being a true blue Trekkie, I avoided this series like the plague. I had erroneously thought it was just another desecration of the once beautiful Star Trek series.The Star Trek reboot movies - pure garbage. "D********" - pure garbage.Our modern culture has destroyed the social-justice sensitive gem called Star Trek, and transformed it into "he who has the biggest phasors and the most torpedoes shall win"; and that is all that matters.I had wrongly assumed that anything Seth McFarlane had touched would just be more slapstick humor like "Family Guy"; which I love by the way...I couldn't have been more wrong."The Orville" is a true gem, and in many ways is a tribute to much of what made the Star Trek franchise truly great. The quality of many of the episodes was on part with "NG"; every bit as thoughtful and worthy... while yes.. lighter and quite entertaining from a humor perspective.The humor is a bit crude in the first few episodes, but then the show catches it's stride, and gets everything just right.My only complaint is that there are too many "anomalies" encountered and used as a plot device.. and that made me want to subtract a point or two..but In the end I couldn't do that.. I have faith that in season two there will be less of that, and more character development, just like happened with "NG".I consider "The Orville" as must watch TV, if you loved Star Trek, pre-destruction of the franchise, especially if you want something less dark and superbly humorous.

That's what I would be saying if this was a Star Wars type show. It's not another rehashing of Star Wars to try and milk the last few drops from Lucas' anemic, aged bovine's teats, this is from the mind of someone who knows and loved Star Trek in all it's forms, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and even the much maligned Enterprise...right up to just before Discovery sat in an inquisition and yelled at Lindsay Shepherd. The question that haunts is me is why, dear god, why did they not just let Seth Macfarlane just make a Star Trek show? The Orville shows that that's all he wanted to do and do it well he has. Flush Discovery down the same pipe they put the Triceratops dung from the first Jurassic Park, hopefully that can i still up to that much excreta and put The Orville to bed, gracefully, and let MacFarlane do what he's wanted to do all along. The Orville ITCHES to be ST:O and I think suffers from the fact that it isn't and can't be and also has to stick with the idea of being a comedy when it really forces it sometimes and those are my biggest criticisms. Give him Star Trek. It'll work, it already is, without the name, only.

I'm not a big fan of Seth Mcfarlane's animated work but I watched the first episode expecting a spoof of the tremendous Galaxy Quest. If I'm honest I was sort of meh after watching it. I thought I would give it another chance and by the end of episode 2 I was hooked.There are homages to StarTrek Next Gen and Galaxy Quest but it has its own personality. This feels fresh, the ST universe had been done to death and the ST Enterprise with Scot Bakula was dire. The Orville has taken this type of programme in a different more human, less idealistic direction.They have an interesting set of directors too; with John Favreau and ironically Jonathan Frames In someways it's like Airplane - you need to watch the episodes a couple of times to pick up the bits you miss