10 Ways The Orville Is More Star Trek Than Discovery
9. The Opening Credits
Watching the opening credits for The Orville feels like watching a homage to the best parts of the Star Trek openings fans have come to know and love. Not you, Enterprise. You go hang your head in shame. What were you thinking?
The Orville's opening presents sweeping shots of the ship as it flies through space. This is deeply reminiscent of the styles employed by both Deep Space 9 and Voyager in their opening credits and scenes like The Orville passing through a smoky cloud anomaly, or a slow pan around a comet and its tail, seem to be very purposeful decisions meant to replicate the feeling of those two series in particular. Set side by side, The Orville’s credits fit perfectly with those of the Star Treks that came before.
Star Trek: Discovery, on the other hand, differs from the presentation of its predecessors. Instead of lingering shots of the ship and anomalies in space, or quick ship flybys, Discovery blends together the look of stylized technical specifications, and a modernized version of a cut-out animation style that was popular in the 1960s. Very fitting for a show set in our future, but in Star Trek’s past.