There's no denying Star Trek timeline. While this isn't the case, it's obvious how the mistake could be made, and all due to MacFarlane's decision to replicate Star Trek's blueprint so closely.

Star Trek is one of the oldest and most successful sci-fi franchises of all time. Without Star Trek, many other sci-fi movies and TV shows wouldn't exist, and The Orville definitely fits into his category. While many of the projects inspired by Star Trek took great strides to put their own mark on the sci-fi genre, The Orville is very content with openly imitating Star Trek. MacFarlane's show makes no secret of the fact that it's not an original concept, but it does brilliantly make use of several key elements introduced or first championed by Star Trek.

10 The Orville's Planetary Union Holds All The Same Ideals As Star Trek's United Federation Of Planets

Both sci-fi organizations prioritize exploration & collaboration

Most Star Trek shows paint the future as a utopian, interstellar community that's built on exploration and collaboration between planets. While wars do inevitably break out between those who disagree with the Federation's ideals and actions, the franchise emphasizes the importance of seeing past differences and instead focusing on similarities. The Orville's Planetary Union is essentially a replication of the Federation and holds the same belief system.

Interestingly, The Orville does streamline the concept of Star Trek's Federation and how it interacts with Starfleet.

Interestingly, The Orville does streamline the concept of Star Trek's Federation and how it interacts with Starfleet. In Star Trek, Starfleet is an Earth-based organization that characters like Captain Picard and other officers belong to. However, the Federation of Planets, while also Earth-based, isn't the same as Starfleet, as the Federation is an umbrella term that encomes all of its member worlds. The Orville has essentially combined Starfleet and the Federation to create the Planetary Union.

9 The USS Orville Has A Non-Human Crew Member Who Slowly Becomes More Human

Star Trek casts almost always have a crewmember that fits this description

The Orville's Isaac is a member of a man-made, fully synthetic race called the Kaylon. As the show progresses, Isaac learns more and more about his fellow crewmates and eventually starts to display signs of their influence. For those unfamiliar with Star Trek, this may seem like an original arc for a non-human character, but it's one that Star Trek has used several times before.

As a Vulcan/human hybrid, Spock's story revolved partially around the concept of embracing his human side.

The first Star Trek character to fill this role was Leonard Nimoy when he played Spock in Star Trek: Voyager cast.

8 Quantum Drive Is Essentially Just Warp Drive Under A Different Name

Seth MacFarlane directly borrowed the USS Orville's FTL tech from Star Trek

Faster-than-light propulsion is an essential part of almost every space opera. The franchises like The Expanse avoid this trope, such an occurrence is rare. Star Trek's warp drive results in a much broader landscape in which to set its stories, with each warp factor being a reference to the speed of light. Some sci-fi franchises approach faster-than-light travel differently, but The Orville's Quantum Drive is an exact copy of Star Trek's warp drive.

Warp factor 1 in Star Trek is the speed of light, warp factor 2 is twice the speed of light, and so on.

Despite the identical nature of Quantum Drive and Warp Drive, the two franchises put a different emphasis on the importance of the technology in one specific instance. In Star Trek, First can only be made with an alien civilization if they too have developed Warp Drive. The Orville doesn't follow this rule when it comes to First , although the Union does make its own determinations on whether an underdeveloped world is ready to be ed.

7 The Union Ships Have A Very Similar Layout To Starfleet Ships

Areas like the bridge and the mess hall look very familiar in Star Trek & The Orville

Sci-fi starships take on a different feel and functionality depending on the franchise, but Starfleet ships are incredibly uniform in their design. Although there are some variances depending on the class of ship, areas like the bridge, engineering, and the mess hall, all share a stunning similarity. If the USS Orville were thrust into the Star Trek universe, a Starfleet officer would likely have no problem navigating the strangely familiar vessel.

Head-to-head, the USS Orville and a ship like the USS Enterprise could be very evenly matched due to their shared specifications.

Even on the outside, The Orville's ships don't look that far removed from their Star Trek counterparts. Of course, some differences mean they can be told apart, but the vessels in The Orville could easily just be a new model or class of ship in the Star Trek franchise. Head-to-head, the USS Orville and a ship like the USS Enterprise could be very evenly matched due to their shared specifications.

6 The Planetary Union's Ranking System Is The Same As Starfleet's

Star Trek & The Orville both adopt the same hierarchical structure as the US Navy

The hierarchy of the Union and Starfleet is dictated by a military-style ranking system. Both franchises base this structure on the system found in the US Navy. This isn't especially surprising given how many nautical also apply to space travel in science-fiction. So, while The Orville arguably can't be said to have adopted Star Trek's officer ranking system, it is interesting that they also imitated the US Navy. The most likely explanation is that The Orville took this course of action because Star Trek already had.

The Orville doesn't follow the US Navy's ranking structure quite as closely as Star Trek, as it omits an entire rank from the chain of command. Whereas Star Trek's progression goes: Ensign, Lieutenant (Junior Grade), Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, then iral, The Orville skips over Lieutenant (Junior Grade). Given that The Orville began a little more lighthearted than Star Trek, it makes sense The Orville's ranking structure would be slightly simplified.

5 Many Star Trek Species Have A Counterpart In The Orville Universe

Many of the aliens in The Orville share a similar aesthetic with those in Star Trek

Because The Orville isn't actually part of the Star Trek canon, MacFarlane's show isn't permitted to use any of the same species from the franchise that inspired it so heavily. That being said, some of the character designs and personality traits of many of the alien races in The Orville bring to mind counterparts in the Star Trek universe. For instance, the Moclans in The Orville seem very much like a take on Star Trek's iconic Klingons.

MacFarlane has made an effort to separate the them, but the initial influence is easy to spot.

Similarly, Xelayan characters like Alara and Talla appear to be based heavily on Star Trek's Vulcans. Not only do the two races share the famous tapered ears, but Xelayans and Vulcans are both notably stronger than humans. The lore surrounding each of all the relevant similar species isn't identical, so MacFarlane has made an effort to separate them, but the initial influence is easy to spot.

4 The Weapons In The Orville Could Comfortably Belong In The Star Trek Universe

The Orville crew can't set their "phasers" to stun, but they can come very close

Neither the Union nor the Federation are military organizations - they're explorers. While conflict is rarely an intention for either body, space is a dangerous place. As such, they need to be able to defend themselves. To do this, they need weaponry that at least matches that of their respective enemies. The Union and the Federation's shared requirement to stand their ground has resulted in the development of sci-fi armaments that are essentially interchangeable.

Where Starfleet traditionally uses Photon Torpedos, the union has Plasma Torpedos.

Where Starfleet traditionally uses Photon Torpedos, the union has Plasma Torpedos. The USS Enterprise will often defend itself with Phaser Cannons, and the USS Orville could match the damage with its Plasma Cannons. In short, there's no firepower boasted by a Starfleet ship that would leave a Union ship wanting. Such a direct lift from Star Trek allows The Orville viewers to largely understand the offensive capabilities of Captain Ed Mercer's ship almost immediately.

3 The Orville & Star Trek Both Star An Ensemble Cast With No Main Character

Captain Ed Mercer isn't the main protagonist in every episode of The Orville

Star Trek: Discovery cast as Michael Burnham, every other show within the franchise makes full use of its ensemble casts, with certain characters varying in their prominence on an episode-by-episode basis. The Orville takes this approach, avoiding too much focus on any singular character.

If Seth MacFarlane hadn't decided to spread the attention around among his co-stars, The Orville would have felt much less like Star Trek than it ended up doing.

The Orville's cast is filled with colorful and well-written characters who all contribute something different to the show, as is the case with many of the Star Trek casts. If Seth MacFarlane hadn't decided to spread the attention around among his co-stars, The Orville would have felt much less like Star Trek than it ended up doing. It's a big part of the formula for Star Trek, so it makes sense that MacFarlane would adopt this too.

2 The Union's Uniforms Are Color-Coded By Division Like In Starfleet

The Orville's colors don't match up with the Star Trek divisions

The Union and Starfleet are both divided into different divisions, and the color of an officer's uniform is a quick way of delineating to which one they belong. While what these colors mean in Star Trek has changed since the days of The Original Series and its near-eras, The Orville's color system has remained unchanged since the show began. Generally, from Star Trek: The Next Generation-onward, red represents Command, yellow means Operations, and those wearing green are Science and Medical personnel.

It would have been a little too direct for The Orville to perfectly mimic how Starfleet tells its divisions apart at a glance, but the changes are so superficial that it's still easy to tell what's going on.

The Orville doesn't just borrow Star Trek's uniform coloring system but expands it by adding a fourth category while also changing the colors around. In The Orville, blue uniforms represent Command, orange is Engineering, green is Medical, and Red is for those in Security. It would have been a little too direct for The Orville to perfectly mimic how Starfleet tells its divisions apart at a glance, but the changes are so superficial that it's still easy to tell what's going on.

1 The Orville Borrows Some Of The Star Trek Franchise's Biggest Stars

MacFarlane has also appeared in a Star Trek show before

Casting decisions are a huge consideration when trying to make a successful TV show, and Star Trek has already been responsible for recruiting actors who were perfect for their roles. As part of The Orville's overall homage to Star Trek, MacFarlane's sci-fi show has had several Star Trek actors show up as original characters that often had at least a loose connection to their famous personas.

It isn't just in front of the camera that Star Trek personnel involve themselves with the production of The Orville. Stars like Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill and The Next Generation's Jonathon Frakes have each directed more than one episode of MacFarlane's sci-fi show. Brannon Braga has also been in the director's chair, a pivotal figure from the Star Trek golden age. Of course, The Orville is perfectly easy to enjoy without ever having seen Star Trek, but the experience of the former is made much more rewarding with knowledge of the latter.