Alvhin Adendorff
The Orville, which is developing a trendy fan base, is a send-up of the famous science fiction series Star Trek.
The TV show depicts life on board a spaceship where the crew is a bit drunk and prone to ridiculous antics.
All of the familiar trappings of deep space exploration are present: faster-than-light travel, alien civilisations, strange cosmic phenomena, and a weekly puzzle or moral dilemma to be solved.
This is not the first time that Star Trek has been made fun of. What makes The Orville unique is that it starts as a comedy, but after evolving and yielding some excellent dramatic moments, it feels like a legitimate alternate version of Star Trek.
This is no coincidence as writers from the older Star Trek contribute to the show.
Star Trek has been criticised by fans as having lost touch with what once made it distinctive, its optimistic view of humanity and the way it dealt with real life issues.
The Orville follows the older tradition and addresses serious topics such as racism, bigotry, sexual discrimination and religious zealotry. It also examines more modern social challenges such as the effects of fake news and social media.
Like all good science fiction, it delivers effective social commentary by exploring difficult topics through stories. Instead of examining a real-world group or belief, an alien civilisation might stand in as a representation of that group or belief.
This allows for the discussion of ideas relevant to our society while reducing the potential for preconceived bias by the viewer.
A recent episode of The Orville has been trending on various media platforms because of its exploration of gender identity. It deals with an alien race who view females as abnormal and force gender transformation at birth. A character of this race struggles with their male identity and the possibility of a gender-affirming procedure is discussed.
The episode explores issues of consent, depression, identity, and how anti-trans views are used to mobilise political action.
What is surprising is that commentators seem split on the interpretation of the episode as being pro- or anti-trans. Given the context of the episode and the liberal politics of the show, it seems the intention is to be supportive of trans people, and this seems to be the generally accepted takeaway.
However, it does raise an issue with using stories, in that the execution of a story may leave areas open to interpretation, and people sometimes see only what they choose to.
Regardless of the controversy, The Orville is excellent entertainment with a great blend of action, comedy, drama and social commentary. The show gets better with each episode, and at a time when many shows confuse representation with addressing social issues, it is refreshing to watch a series that approaches these topics as a part of the story.
