New Dimensions

The Orville has always been a loving homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation. In their most recent episode, they actually did an episode that The Next Generation should have done, but didn't. In a re-tooling between seasons one and two, TNG moved the character of Geordi LaForge from his job at helm to the role of chief engineer. It was a creative decision that definitely helped the character and the show, but came with absolutely no explanation -- how does one even make that job transfer?

The Orville, in an episode centered on LaMarr, showed us exactly that. After Commander Grayson is looking through LaMarr's personnel file and learns he's been hiding extraordinary intelligence, she pushes for him to be promoted to the recently vacated position of chief engineer, which doesn't go over well with Yaphit.

I wonder if there was always a "plan" in place to make this character move with LaMarr, or if the creative team behind The Orville went through the same discovery process as the staff of The Next Generation -- learning that the chief engineer is actually someone you'll want to feature a bunch, so you might as well have that be one of your main characters. It's not the first time The Orville has explored putting a character in charge who feels ill-equipped for the job (they did that with Kitan already). Still, the different character traits made for different stories. Kitan is ambitious and doesn't want to let anyone down. LaMarr wants to fade into the background.

LaMarr's explanation of his background and behavior was quite interesting. The sort of person who doesn't want to speak up in a meeting, doesn't want to come across as pushy, doesn't want to rock the boat, is absolutely a person you see in the real world all the time. Rarely do you see that dramatized on a science-fiction show. And there's extra resonance in giving this story to a person of color, as too often the sort of person this describes is a minority or a woman, someone choosing not to make waves for very strategic (unfortunate) reasons, to safeguard themselves in a professional environment that doesn't recognize their talents. From that standpoint, LaMarr coming out of his shell and into his own fuller potential was a real wish fulfillment story line that felt good to see.

The B story had Mercer questioning his own potential after learning that Grayson pulled strings to get him the captain's chair on the ship. Mercer's whining self-doubt didn't play so great for me, though I did appreciate how this story line was really only possible on this show, with its more "normal" humans. (You'd never see something like it on a Star Trek, of any generation.)

As for the C story that went along with it all, The Next Generation also did a "two-dimensional creatures" episode. This installment of The Orville bore very little resemblance to it, though; besides, the episode made sure to have Mercer explain to us that another source (a 19th-century sci-fi story) was more of an inspiration here. The Tron-meets-Galaga visuals of two-dimensional space seemed perhaps a bit cheesy, but better I think to risk that and show something visually striking rather than have everyone ooing and aahing at something that wasn't that unusual.

Overall, I'd give the episode a B. It was a nice study of LaMarr's character, even if the other elements weren't quite as strong.