Orvetheus

Last night's new Orville was written by Star Trek writers Brannon Braga and Andre Bormanis. So for a show that's normally modelled on Star Trek's '90s television tone, this one felt especially Star Trek. It also reminded me a lot of Prometheus, a great, underrated film that marked its tenth anniversary recently, as I was reminded by Caitlin R. Kiernan's blog. As an example of--what? Let's call it DNA horror--last night's Orville couldn't hope to compete with Prometheus but it was still pretty nice.

Like many episodes of TNG and DS9, it features a personal relationship plot that is tied to a previously separate Sci-Fi plot in the second act. In this case, we meet a new character, Claire's ex-husband. He wants to rekindle things but Claire's not up for it, a situation that's complicated when he's hit by some kind of alien spore that starts to rewrite his DNA.

The makeup is pretty nicely horrific while he's on the operating table but falls a bit into Power Rangers territory when he's up and running around. Still, I enjoyed the fight scene between two of the monsters and Talla. The choreography and effects weren't great but it was still fun watching her punch one of them and watching it snap back against the wall.

I remember when the first season of The Orville aired I found myself comparing it to Star Trek: Discovery. Now I'm comparing it to Obi-Wan Kenobi and one thing the makers of Orville understand that I wish Obi-Wan Kenobi's makers did is the importance of build-up. John Debney's lush, full orchestra score helps a lot as always. But also the Krill planting the idea of the strange space station being inhabited by demons and the slow approach by the shuttlecraft were all great. It would've been better if the alien station's set design looked a lot less like a set.

But okay. They can't be Prometheus on their budget. Still, it was a nice piece of television.

The Orville is available on Hulu and on Disney+ in various countries.