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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The Orville is an obvious tribute to Star Trek: The Next Generation crafted with love by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and right out of the gate, he had star support from a different Star Trek series. Robert Duncan McNeill, famous for playing hotshot himbo Tom Paris on Voyagerjumped into the director’s seat for the show’s second episode, “Command Performance,” and helped the sci-fi homage get off on the right foot. Part old-school adventure episode, and part parody, McNeill pulled off an incredible balancing act in getting the episode to air.
Updated Command Performance The Menagerie
“Command Performance” starts normally enough for The Orvillewith Captain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane) and First Officer Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) helping a ship attacked by the alien Krill, when it turns out to be a tribute to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “The Menagerie.” Mercer and Grayson find themselves captives in an intergalactic zoo for the Calivons, who are very similar to the Talosians, the villains of the original TOS classic, while Alara (Halston Sage), the Chief Security Officer, is leave in charge of the ship. . Reflecting Spock’s determination to defy the Federation, Alara makes the choice to follow their missing Captain to the Calivon homeworld, risking a court martial in the process.
The Orville’s “Command Performance” may be almost an homage to “The Menagerie,” but the other half of the episode, which revolves around Bortus (Peter Macon) and his friend hatching an egg, draws from Star Trek: Voyager’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.” The Voyager Season 5 episode includes Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) learning about human love, but more importantly, it was also directed by Robert Duncan McNeill, and he wanted to capture the feeling of Seven’s interactions with the crew with Bortus. The male-dominated society of Moclan is explored in more detail later in the series, but the seeds for the following drama and character growth were planted under McNeill’s watch.
A highlight of “Command Performance” which includes The Real Housewives nod fun of The Orville’s writers to Star Trek’s obsession with contemporary pop culture and a joke that the show would ultimately escape by pushing the absurdity of Trek to the limit. As the show progressed, it eventually became more of an homage than a parody, turning into a love letter to the classic Trek when it appeared. sci-fi shows were getting away with exploring where no man had gone before.
Not The Only Star Trek Veteran To Direct
After Robert Duncan McNeill’s episode aired, another Star Trek legend entered The Orville’s chairman director when Jonathan Frakes directed “Pria,” the fifth episode of Season 1, which also featured Charlize Theron as the blonde wonder woman. McNeill’s time in the chair for “Command Performance” proved that the show could hit old-school Trek beats, but Frakes helped take it further, providing a turning point where it could start to stand on its own.
Command Performance” is not the best episode of The Orvilleand this was the only one directed by Robert Duncan McNeillbut it’s important to lay the groundwork for future storylines that helped take the show away from the Star Trek parody. That, and it still has some fun moments, seeing Ed and Kelly’s relationship play out for Portus to explain that, yes, he laid an egg.
