Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we wish Mike and Darrell a happy 400 episodes and do a fun segment looking at Trek actor crossovers to the current Fox show The Orville.
First and foremost, a hearty congratulations to Mike and Darrell on 400 episodes, and also to all those who have contributed along the way like Ken, Chris on Twitter, and Cara to name a few. This has been on the air longer than any single Trek show at this point, and we've gotten to experience together the rise of new Trek after a long break.
Speaking of new Trek, we come to our segment for today, and that's The Orville, which is a science fiction show created and produced by Trek super-fan Seth MacFarlane. The Orville has had two seasons so far, spanning 26 total episodes. While the show was initially pitched as a mix of comedy and science fiction as a true spoof of Trek, and the first season is full of MacFarlane-type humor, the second season became much more of a regular science fiction show. It truly feels like The Next Generation or something of that ilk is back on the air when you watch some of the second season episodes.
It should come as no surprise with all this homage to 80s and 90s Trek that MacFarlane has brought in a lot of Trek connections to play guest roles and to direct some episodes. The director chair has seen Trek producer Brannon Braga, James Conway, Jonathan Frakes, and Robert Duncan McNeill so far in the first 26 episodes. It's telling that Frakes is directing both new Star Trek episodes for CBS and The Orville episodes, and perhaps we should adopt this series like many have adopted Galaxy Quest as a Star Trek type movie.
Moving to the guest roles, the most notable came in the season two episode Home, in which former Voyager holographic EMH Robert Picardo and former Enterprise doctor John Billingsley play key roles aside one another. However, a total of 18 actors from Trek have already made Orville appearances. Most notably beyond the doctor duo include Jason Alexander, Tim Russ, and Marina Sirtis.
Trek has not just made an impact on the personnel of The Orville. MacFarlane made the decision to use a traditional physical studio model of the ship The Orville rather than modern CGI to again give the same visual impression as those old shows. CGI is used a lot, but the physical model shots are still interspersed where possible, especially in the show's intro, which evokes 80s and 90s Trek as much as anything.
As we enjoy this holiday weekend and the 400th show for This Week in Trek, don't overlook the chance to see a lot of former Trek actors, producers, and fans make what is really the closest thing to classic Star Trek we will have on TV. Discovery and the upcoming Picard show are great modern versions of Trek, but if you yearn for TNG era Trek, do yourself a favor and watch at least season 2 of The Orville.
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