With the disaster that is Star Trek: Discovery (seriously, the acronoym is STD
) The Orville has become the honorary new star trek series for many trekkers/trekkies everywhere much like Galaxy Quest is considered part of star trek lore.
It's definitely set in a prime-style ST universe; the ships, lighting, uniforms, structure are very reminiscent of TNG, and it also presents a positive and hopeful outlook of the future. The stories are usually well laid out and thought-provoking, and sometimes scary, like the episode featuring a planet that operates on a Facebook style direct-democracy which judges your guilt/innocence. Also it includes some great comedic moments and more light-hearted characters.
All in all it's not perfect; sometimes the comedy timing is off, some of the stories are just rehashes of older ST episodes (at least for someone who has seen them all a few times like myself), but it is an enjoyable program has more of the elements fans of star trek wanted to see but didn't get with STD.
