Season two of Seth MacFarlanes Sci-fi drama (not a comedy) began last week with a special Sunday premiere followed by the second episode airing in it’s regular Thursday spot.

I think a lot of people were confused by season one.  They were expecting a pure comedy from the creator of Family Guy and Ted.  Most of the articles about the series, before it came out, were calling it Galaxy Quest the TV show.  Instead audiences were treated to an episodic Science Fiction series that has more in common with Start Trek: The Next Generation than Star Trek: Discovery does, and that makes The Orville AWESOME!!!

I am a huge Star Trek fan, but the last couple of TV series bearing the name have not been my favourites. Too much darkness, season long mysteries and conflict between the main characters is just not Star Trek to me.  I miss Next Generation and The Original Series.  Stand alone episodes that explore humanity and give us a vision of a brighter future. Explorers on voyages of discovery just to see what is out there.  Everything on TV these days just looks so gloomy.

Enter The Orville to fill the void.  It’s bright, it’s colourful, it does what great Science Fiction has always done, holds a mirror up to our world to spotlight social issues to bring attention to them and spark a dialog.  They’ve done episodes about social media, gender identity and porn addiction, while strategically inserting humour to keep everything from getting too heavy or preachy.

One thing that may turn people off is the dialog.  It’s modern vernacular and pop culture references are not things people are used to in most Sci-Fi.  More often the writers will make up “alien” words for profanity and insults.  It may not age well when trying to watch twenty years from now, but today I like it.  I also like that in Seths vision of the future there is more music available than just Classical or Jazz.

I’m already looking forward to this Thursday.  I like the characters and their relationships and I look forward to seeing how they develop.  I just wish the seasons were longer 😦