Even though The Orville does have its own unique audience, those who flock to the show because of its similarities to the Star Trek franchise's classic era may not know they're drawn to Seth MacFarlane's space opera due to pivotal contributions to a key behind-the-scenes figure. Despite being more well-known for his animated comedy projects, like Family Guy and American Dad!, MacFarlane has managed to create a shockingly accurate homage to the older Star Trek TV shows, but he hasn't done it alone.
Despite not canonically fitting into the official Star Trek timeline, The Orville certainly feels like it could have thrived as a part of the franchise in the 1990s and early 2000s'. The Orville has borrowed heavily from Star Trek since the show's inception in 2017, but MacFarlane hasn't stopped at familiar imagery and warmly nostalgic sci-fi storylines. Instead, he has chosen to work with someone who is a huge reason why Star Trek continued to be loved around the world after the end of The Original Series.
The Orville Producer Brannon Braga Also Worked Heavily On 3 Classic Star Trek Shows
The Next Generation, Voyager, & Enterprise all benefited from Braga's input
Star Trek: The Next Generation brought with it a long-awaited return to TV screens for the franchise in 1987. Its success resulted in multiple spinoffs within a relatively short space of time. Starting his behind-the-scenes tenure with Star Trek on The Next Generation, producer Brannon Braga also went on to be a key figure when Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise were being made. His seniority within the larger organization grew the longer he stayed, but the Star Trek: Enterprise finale was the end of an era for both the franchise and Braga himself.
Star Trek: Deep Space was the only show in this era of the franchise that Braga did not work on.
Braga's role as a producer within the franchise was so great by the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation that he was kept on for Star Trek: Voyager. He quickly became even more important to Voyager when he was promoted to showrunner not long into his work on the show. After season 6, he went on to co-create Star Trek: Enterprise and was incredibly senior in all four seasons. This was his final Star Trek project, but serving as The Orville's producer has brought an incredible level of authenticity to MacFarlane's tribute show.
Seth MacFarlane's Love For The Iconic Franchise Also Contributes To The Orville's Faithful Homage To Classic Star Trek
Family Guy & other MacFarlane shows are filled with Star Trek references
Watching Seth MacFarlane's TV shows, it's very obvious that he's a sci-fi fan. There are often storylines in Family Guy and his other projects that involve time travel, outer space, clones, and other tropes of the genre. More specifically, he folds in countless jokes that lovingly poke fun at and reference Star Trek's classic era. The most salient example of this Family Guy season 7, episode 11, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven," which reunites the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast for a caper with Stewie Griffin.
One of Seth MacFarlane's best cameos was in Star Trek: Enterprise.
So, Braga hasn't done all the heavy lifting when it comes to recapturing the vibes of Star Trek's classic era for The Orville. MacFarlane's obvious affinity for The Next Generation and other classic Star Trek shows is another big factor in The Orville's accurate replication of the formula Brannon helped to create. The Family Guy creator writes almost all the scripts for his sci-fi show, and the episodic framework feels incredibly true to Star Trek's 90s/00s shows. Therefore, it would be unfair to ignore his hard work too.
MacFarlane & Braga's Collaboration Is So Effective, Many Star Trek Fans Prefer It To The Franchise's Modern Era
Discovery kickstarted the new age of Star Trek in 2017 (the same year The Orville premiered)
Ignoring JJ Abrams' Kelvin Timeline movies, as they take place in another reality, modern Star Trek begins in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery. The franchise's TV comeback was incredibly different from the show Trekkies had come to expect, so many established fans struggled to connect with Discovery's massive changes. Although successive shows, like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, have reverted to something closer to the space opera's classic framework, some still think it's not quite the same as The Next Generation and its contemporaries.
There's a good reason for that: Modern Star Trek is intentionally different from the older shows. It has been brought up to date to bring in newer fans while retaining as many of the older ones as is reasonably possible. Inversely, The Orville's main goal has seemingly been to make a show as close to the older Star Trek show as is legally permitted without sharing the same continuity. I actually really enjoy the wide variety of Star Trek shows on offer in the modern day, but I also understand why other Trekkies gravitate far more to The Orville.
