With the near-simultaneous releases of Star Trek: Discovery and The Orville this fall – not to mention the recent 30th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation – it's a good time to be a Trekkie/Trekker. It is also, as some recent online fanboy sparring would indicate – a great time to argue about Star Trek. The release of Discovery – with its darker, more militant tone – has revealed a heretofore unexplored schism in the ranks of Trekkies.
Some fans (on Twitter and elsewhere) are pleased with the fresh, more aggressive, more visually complex rendition of Star Trek, and are happy to see the franchise stretch into new territory. Others, however, are arguing that Discovery's wartime setting, infighting between crew members (which violated a long-standing rule instigated by Gene Roddenberry himself), and lack of weekly diplomacy lessons is violating a cardinal precept of Trek. The latter group has been arguing, in fact, that Seth MacFarlane's sci-fi comedy series The Orville – which is clearly a tribute to/satire of Next Generation – is actually “more Trek” than the new Star Trek. So the question is, which of the two shows is more Trek? Let's break it down.
Star Trek: Discovery is set shortly before the events of the Kirk/Spock original series and covers the events of the Federation-Klingon War, an event that was previously only alluded to. This means that, with this show, we're living in a world where war is destined to rage on, and that diplomacy has – at the outset – already failed. For fans who tune into Star Trek to see intelligent professionals calmly and earnestly debating the merits of their respective philosophies in order to come to hopeful mutual understandings, this setting is immediately upsetting. War? Hasn't Star Trek largely been about the passionate avoidance of war? Wasn't Star Trek supposed to float the idea that, in the future, diplomacy will actually work?
Yes, Trek has dealt with war in the past – much of Deep Space Nine and the final two seasons of Enterprise were very war-centric – but in those instances, war was seen as a grand tragedy; a necessary evil that no one truly wanted. Dramatically speaking, those wars were about challenging the Federation's peace-loving status quo. They weren't about the glory of combat or hard-edged military determination.
The Orville, meanwhile, is set in a more benign universe where there are no grand schemes in place. Like Next Generation, it's set in a world without war, populated by innumerable bizarre species that the titular ship is eager to meet. These are peaceful people, and while MacFarlane's Capt. Mercer may be a boob, he's nonetheless determined to cleave to a peaceful mindset. His crew, some of whom are also boobs, are still respectful of the ship's power structure, and still respect strong, intelligent leaders. This atmosphere of peace and respect is far more like Star Trek than Discovery's world of failed diplomacy.
Star Trek: Discovery's Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs) is a wounded soldier whose science vessel has been turned into a warship. The ship uses a spore-based drive system that lets him essentially teleport around the universe willy-nilly. He doesn't, however, use this technology to improve life in the galaxy, but as a means to achieve a tactical advantage over the Klingons. This even included torturing a space creature in order to make said drive work (the tech is complicated), though eventually Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) freed the creature when she realized what it was doing to the thing.
While these people do seem intelligent and capable – as Starfleet's finest would be – they are also too eager to slip into a military mindset. No one has yet to even bring up other practical uses for a spore-based teleportation drive other than for a tactical advantage. That lack of cognitive exploration – even in dialogue – is something that robs Discovery of much of its Trek-ness.
The Orville's Captain Mercer is certainly not one of The Planetary Union's best and brightest. Indeed, he's kind of an average dude. This, of course, is the central joke of The Orville (which is, at the end the day, a comedy show): What if a “regular guy” was somehow in Captain Picard's place? Comedy, ostensibly, ensues.
One of the main thrills of Star Trek – at least for many – has always been watching intelligent people solve difficult problems. The Orville has already presented that, although the problems tend to be solved in spite of the captain's best efforts and not necessarily because of them. In the second episode, the captain is captured, and it's up to his fourth in command, Lt. Kitan (Halston Sage), to rise to the occasion. Lt. Kitan has a very Trek-like dilemma in that episode: How much of a leader is she willing/able to be? Captain Mercer, meanwhile, is stuck in a sitcom where he bickers with his ex-wife, Commander Grayson (Adrianne Palicki).
The central comedic conceit of The Orville reads, at least on its surface, as a pointed satire of Star Trek, i.e., ordinary people have no place in Trek's Olympian universe. But the satire is, upon a closer look, gentle. One can tell from the brightness of the world and the just-serious-enough approach to the drama that MacFarlane deeply respects the diplomatic optimism of Star Trek and was trying to recreate it rather than deconstruct it. Indeed, the show has proven that it can drift from its broader comedic origins at times, and if it continues on that path it might transform into a light, funny, legit mid-budget sci-fi series with a few jokes thrown in. Think Red Dwarf, but more staid.
Which of the two is more Star Trek? Which is the right Trek for you? That depends, surely, on what drew you into Star Trek to begin with, reigniting the 30-year-old unsolvable Trekkie/Trekker debate: Kirk vs. Picard.
If you liked watching Kirk and Co., regular fist-fighters, embroiled in an ongoing Cold War with the Klingons, and you felt that the Cold War elements were necessary to make Trek the show it was, then you might jibe more strongly with Star Trek: Discovery's bold ventures into Starfleet's dark military underbelly, and its exploration of – it is currently rumored – the formation of the secret Starfleet black ops division Section 31. It's a dark Star Trek that seeks to match the hopelessness and complexity of the times, using sci-fi to explore our own political and cultural issues. The way Trek always did.
If, however, you preferred Picard's careful consideration of every option and his crew's constant evaluation of their own values and skills, then you might feel that The Orville is, perhaps ironically and despite its breezy silliness, the more Trek of the two. The Orville is, however distantly, still the more optimistic one. In true classic TV fashion, it depicts a crew who, despite their differences, still respect and get along with each other. It's a show which is, mercifully, low on cynicism.
Of course, you can also watch both shows, because hey, there are basically two Star Treks on TV right now. And that’s kind of cool.
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