Last night's new Orville continued to both out-Star Trek current Star Trek and out-Star Wars current Star Wars. Written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, it had a very Star Trek premise but really leaned into an '80s Lucasfilm vibe. It was a delightful ride and I finished the hour feeling like I'd had a full course meal.
A lot of credit has to go Joel McNeely's score. Here's a man who's spent a career imitating John Williams, having composed the Shadows of the Empire score for the unique Star Wars franchise event in the '90s and then served as a composer on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Last night's new Orville, "The Mortality Paradox", at times almost sounded like Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Not the least because of a very unexpected but very exciting plane crash sequence. This is part of a string of hallucinations encountered by some of the Orville crew on an alien planet. Gordon really shines in this episode, piloting that crashing plane and also, earlier, getting beat up by bullies in a phantom high school.
Seth MacFarlane was in full Shatner mode, yelling at their unseen tormentors to cut out the bullshit, he and his crew wouldn't be their playthings anymore. I appreciated it.
The end of the episode turns into a very Star Trekian high concept about the potential for immortals to become bored with immortality, featuring a cameo from Elizabeth Gillies. Anyone familiar with Star Trek would know early on what's happening but there were some genuinely clever arrangements of characters and circumstances.
The Orville is available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in other countries.
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