Yahoo News MacFarlane: Galaxy Quest DIDN'T inspire The Orville
If you thought Seth MacFarlane's The Orville was obviously a little bit inspired by sci-fi comedy movie Galaxy Quest, well, you'd be absolutely... wrong.
Yes, they're both sci-fi comedies, yes, they both owe more than a bit of a debt to Star Trek, but even though Seth admits to having seen the 1999 film, he says it wasn't an inspiration.
"Shockingly, no," Seth told Digital Spy when we asked him if The Orville took a lead from Galaxy Quest, which starred Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver.
I saw it once years ago, but shockingly, it wasn't. And it was because that... I mean, that was a full-on comedy."
He continued: "The intent of that movie, to me, was to be a full-on comedy.
"As a result, the stakes, in terms of science fiction and the parables of science fiction, weren't really something that needed to be taken all that seriously because it was pure comedy.
"So it really wasn't something that [inspired me]. It's funny. Shockingly, I don't know the movie that well. I saw it once years ago, but it's been years. But it wasn't really an influence."
So there you have it. Any resemblance to actual persons from Galaxy Quest, living or dead, or actual events in Galaxy Quest, is purely coincidental.
Star Trek, though, clearly inspired both projects, and Seth also told us that his series fills that void left by the original, progressive series.
"I kind of miss the forward-thinking, aspirational, optimistic place in science fiction that Star Trek used to occupy," he said.
"I think there's some space for the aspirational blueprint of what we could do if we get our shit together, and that's something that's been missing for me for a while."
The Orville has already been renewed for a second season (though it did lose its season one finale in the process) - despite an initial poor response from some critics.
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