Tweet
I originally was making the argument that it was parody but last week's episode actually tackled a social issue. The episode ended with no punch line or joke it just ended with a resolved situation.
This to me takes it out of the realm of Parody and forced me to look at it and decide is it a Star Trek rip-off.
Then I came to the conclusion that the answer is yes and no.
Arguments for it being a rip off.
They wear Uniforms.
They have ranks like First Officer.
They have FTL travel.
They have a holodeck.
So ye...oh wait no it's not.
Our current military services the world over wear Uniforms. If we put a space faring fleet out into the world charged with both exploration and security they too will be wearing uniforms. It's simply a cultural norm that Star Trek didn't invent.
The rank of First Officer and other military ranks are in use in our modern world this is also not something that Star Trek invented.
FTL travel has long been a dream of sci fi writers and scientists everywhere. It again is something that pre-dates Star Trek it wasn't invented by them. It would be like arguing Star Wars is a Star Trek rip off because they have Hyper Drive another form of FTL travel.
The last one is the one that's truly synonymous with Star Trek the Holodeck who could ever forget our first meeting of Data and Wesley Crusher in this original idea on the Next Generation.
Except The Veldt by Ray Bradbury was written in 1950 over a decade before even the original Star Trek was on the air. The "holodeck" in that story was a primitive thing to be sure but it has clear influences on the Holodeck. IN fact on many Holo Room stories to come out later.
So I argue that The Orville isn't a rip-off of Star Trek rather it's the inevitable result of approaching the same concept. Much like procedural cop shows are fairly interchangable in how they operate a space faring show about exploration is going to have a lot in common with other shows of the same type. What's going to set it apart is that The Orville doesnt' take itself too seriously and doesn't ignore anything from 1980 and later.
This to me takes it out of the realm of Parody and forced me to look at it and decide is it a Star Trek rip-off.
Then I came to the conclusion that the answer is yes and no.
Arguments for it being a rip off.
They wear Uniforms.
They have ranks like First Officer.
They have FTL travel.
They have a holodeck.
So ye...oh wait no it's not.
Our current military services the world over wear Uniforms. If we put a space faring fleet out into the world charged with both exploration and security they too will be wearing uniforms. It's simply a cultural norm that Star Trek didn't invent.
The rank of First Officer and other military ranks are in use in our modern world this is also not something that Star Trek invented.
FTL travel has long been a dream of sci fi writers and scientists everywhere. It again is something that pre-dates Star Trek it wasn't invented by them. It would be like arguing Star Wars is a Star Trek rip off because they have Hyper Drive another form of FTL travel.
The last one is the one that's truly synonymous with Star Trek the Holodeck who could ever forget our first meeting of Data and Wesley Crusher in this original idea on the Next Generation.
Except The Veldt by Ray Bradbury was written in 1950 over a decade before even the original Star Trek was on the air. The "holodeck" in that story was a primitive thing to be sure but it has clear influences on the Holodeck. IN fact on many Holo Room stories to come out later.
So I argue that The Orville isn't a rip-off of Star Trek rather it's the inevitable result of approaching the same concept. Much like procedural cop shows are fairly interchangable in how they operate a space faring show about exploration is going to have a lot in common with other shows of the same type. What's going to set it apart is that The Orville doesnt' take itself too seriously and doesn't ignore anything from 1980 and later.
Comment