10 Actors Who Were In The Orville AND Star Trek
There's nothing more fun in the world of Sci-Fi than a good crossover.
A cry heard as often as 'Engage!' these days is this:
The Orville is Star Trek, whether it's got the name or not!
Seth MacFarlane's tribute to The Next Generation and beyond features many familiar tropes of Trek. However, the stand-out element about his take on the final frontier is that it never feels in spite of, merely in honour of.
The Orville is an homage, as well as its own thing. The stories may touch on the familiar but how many episodes of television can say the same thing? It is the approach, rather than the execution, that may decide an audience's reactions. Part of that approach is casting.
While the wide universe may seem enormous, it's all filmed in a Hollywood basement, so there will inevitably be a crossover of casting. For The Orville and Star Trek, there is a deliberate pool of talent that appeals to MacFarlane. In three short seasons, many Trek alumni have popped up to say hello on a Union Ship.
This article isn't going to cover the most obvious name on the list - Seth, himself. Though he appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise, it might seem a little bit of a cheat when he created one of the shows we're discussing. So Ed Mercer/Ensign Rivers may have to wait for a later list - but never fear, there are plenty more names to sift through.
10. John Billingsley
John Billingsley, of Enterprise Dr Phlox fame, appears in the second season of The Orville. He plays Cambis Borrin, a grieving Xelayan father who has turned to murder in his pain.
Home sees the Orville's Chief of Security, Alara Kitan, return home to her family (more on that later in this list). The episode was designed to highlight her physical struggles aboard a Union starship. Xelayans come from a planet whose gravity is many times higher than Earth's norms, so they appear much stronger than their human counterparts.
Kitan's strength begins to fade, so she returns to Xelaya to reset her body, so to speak. It is here that she encounters Cambis and Floratta. They have been driven mad with grief by the death of their son, a young scientist who had suffered a career setback thanks to Alara's father, Ildis.
Billingsley gets to stretch his dramatic, and more frightening, acting chops here. Much of the episode is spent threatening the Kitans, including a scene where he forces Ildis to dip his hand in boiling sauce.
And they said The Orville was a comedy...