Author Jonathan Klotz
| | Published 13 seconds ago

The Orville and apparent respect for Star Trek: The Next Generation made of love and Family Family creator Seth MacFarlane, and right out of the gate, he had the help of a star from a different series of Star Trek. Robert Duncan McNeill, best known for playing hotshot himbo Tom Paris Voyagerjumped into the director’s chair for the show’s second episode, “Command Performance,” which helped the sci-fi franchise get off on the right foot. Part old-school showmanship, and part legend, McNeill did some amazing things to make the story fly.

Command Performance Has Changed The Menagerie

“Command Performance” begins normally enough The Orvilleand Captain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane) and First Officer Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) are helping a ship captured by a Krill alien, as it begins to worship. Star Trek: Original Series episode, “The Menagerie.” Mercer and Grayson find themselves enslaved in the zoo of the Calivons, who closely resemble the Talosians, the TOS classic villains, while Alara (Halston Sage), the Chief Security Officer, is left in charge of the ship. . Considering Spock’s decision to go against the Federation, Alara decides to follow their missing Captain to his homeworld of Calivon, risking the security of the court.

The Orville’s “Command Performance” may be an homage to “The Menagerie,” but the other half of the episode, which revolves around Bortus (Peter Macon) and his partner hatching an egg, leaves. Star Trek: Voyager’s “The person who watches over me.” The Season 5 Voyager episode has Seven of nine (Jeri Ryan) is studying human relationships, but more importantly, he was also directed by Robert Duncan McNeill, and he wanted to understand how Seven interacts with the crew and Bortus. Moclan, a male-dominated group, is scrutinized later in the series, but the seeds of the following drama and cultural growth were planted under McNeill’s watch.

The “Command Performance” score is concerning The Real Housewives and a pleasant shake from The Orville’s The writers of Star Trek are obsessed with current pop culture and the jokes that the show will get away with pushing the Trek nonsense to the extreme. As the show progressed, it ended up being more of a tribute than a myth, turning into a love letter to the classic Trek that it seemed to be. sci-fi Demonstrations were leaving the search where no one had gone before.

Not the Only Star Trek Veteran Director

After Robert Duncan McNeill’s story aired, another Star Trek legend entered The Orville’s the director of the chair when Jonathan Frakes he directed “Pria,” the fifth episode of Season 1, which also featured Charlize Theron as an exotic blonde woman. McNeill’s time in the “Command Performance” chair proved that the show could be a hit with old school Trek, but Frakes helped keep it going, and changed it as it began to stand on its own.

Command Performance” is not the best part of The Orvilleand it was the only one that was led by Robert Duncan McNeillbut it’s important to lay the groundwork for the future stories that helped take this show away from Star Trek. That, and it still has some fun moments, from watching Ed and Kelly’s relationship play out as Bortus explains that, yes, he laid an egg.