What would a dark and gritty "Orville" looked like?

What if Seth had chosen to go this route. Maybe in a alternate universe he was more inspired by "Aliens", "Terminator" "RoboCop" etc than Trek when coming up with the show? Let's say he still used all the same actors though:

1 Captain Mercer A man recovering from a year long drug and alcohol bender after doing the whole Nick Cage thing in "Leaving Las Vegas" after finding out his wife has cheated on him with his best friend Mallory but inside of dying he is called back into duty and given command because war has broken out.

2 CMDR Grayson: She tried to keep him from command by blackmailing the Admiral because she wanted to be captain but he was able to not be brought down. Instead of sending her to prison he makes her first officer because she is still one of the best military experts in the fleet.

3 Mallory: Assigned to the chip even if his former friend didn't want it. He deals with a intense sexual perversion of drawling penises all over things and very anti social behavior. He gets a robotic leg in the pilot after robot Issac cuts it off as a joke. Mallory uses his robotic leg in action scenes often kicking people to bloody deaths.

4Dr Finn: Abandoned her kids a few years ago to follow her dream of making big bucks as a Doctor. Takes job as CMO even if it's beneath her talents simply because she was paid a huge amount of money.

5 Bortus: Killed his husband when his husband didn't want their baby to have gender alteration surgery. Nobody knows, except the viewers that he is a murderer. Bortus is friendly around people but when he is alone you can see that he has some Dexter Morgan tendencies that he hides from the crew.

6 Alara: Takes a alien version of steroids to maintain super strength like others on her planet though she was born without it, which happens from time to time with people of her species. Because of the drugs she has intense mood swings.

7 LaMarr: Child prodigy who flamed out at a young age and has chosen the life of being a ordinary pilot. Very shy around people and doesn't know how to connect with them. I am thinking William H Macy in "Magnolia."

8 Issac: A robot from a robotic race that is the shows main villians and who they are at war with. Issac was abducted and reprogramed to serve the ship. He has no free will and is treated like a tool.

9 Yaphit: The the movie blob he devours lifeforms to eat. You will see him constantly absorbing cats,dogs,monkeys etc or whatever he can to eat. He is afraid to be around the Doctor because he is married but has feelings for as well.

Jason

 

I don't think that dark and gritty really fits what they are trying to do with the show.

 

There is only thing I assume for sure: I would not watch it.

Of course they could continue with more serious issues, when the show goes on - without becoming "gritty and dark" and I would not mind.

 

It would look like a show other than The Orville.

Come on, at least start something like "What's The Orville Mirror Universe like?" That would be just as silly, but it's at least a premise for conversation that folks could have a little fun with.

 

The Orville: Discovery

 

Actually when I made my thread I actually wondered if we might see something like that when they do eventually do a mirror universe story. My money though is on Grayson having a beard. Seems like something that would fit in with McFarlande style humor.
I could see them also inverting the idea though and going for a super nice "Stephord Wives", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" type of mirror universe that is horrible for a whole different reason. If they really want to rankle some feathers you could go with Super Christian universe, which is something I could see him doing on "Family Guy" as well someday.

Jason

 

It would've sucked.

 

We all thought that The Orville would be and out-and-out Star Trek spoof but clearly it's more than that - yes the Family Guy humour is there but dare I say it feels like a Star Trek show. I prefer it to Discovery.

The morality tales are there. The stories are good - dare I say it but to me it is almost Star Trek with the serial numbers filed away.

I'm fascinated to see how it'll evolve.

 

Remember these words! "Orville" will someday poke fun at "Discovery" in some kind of joke. Maybe Bortus will sing a disco song or they will have some lense flairs in a episode or someone will get high on spores. Someday it will happen.

Jason

 

Needs to be dark, real dark. The only illumination comes from torches on the walls.

And tripping, lots of tripping. People can't see the damn steps. Too dark.

 

Oh and also the artificial gravity is screwed so everyone leans at a 15 degree angle.

This leads to tripping, lots of tripping. and lots of bloody noses.

 

And swords.

 

Or a ship where the entire crew is in a perpetual state of dancing disco, and that the crew of the Orville have to investigate and rescue them. It's later discovered they came into contact with some spores that gave everyone some groovy moves.

 

I just wanted to see who'd be the first to say it.

 

Yaphit would be a serial rapist the crew have to identify. It'll take a season or two. He's "killed" and through mitosis becomes a new person, so they have to struggle with the legal idea of freeing him or stopping his execution.

Ed doesn't just get the ship. He fucking steals it! And the Union is hunting him the entire show.

 

I'm enjoying the shiny, colorful TNG-esque universe that Seth has created. If we want grim, we have Discovery.

 

I admit I'm curious as to what a mirror-Orville episode would be like.

I don't mean any of this "dark & gritty" horseshit, I mean an episode done in the usual Orville style but with an Empire instead of the Planetary Union, an ISS Orville, etc.

 

Ironically I think the mirror universe might end up being their first pure comedy even though you do think of things like, dark and gritty and evil twins and characters tying to kill each other. I think the whole concept lends itself to over the top comedy for a show like "Orville."

Jason

 

Or it could be the other way around: the ISS Orville might dispense with ALL comedic elements and play everything completely straight. As I said, NOT dark & gritty, just totally serious.

 

The whole dark and gritty idea completely goes against everything that The Orville is supposed to be. The whole idea behind the shows was that it is an old fashioned, light and optimistic sci-fi shows.