Dating[]
While the premiere technically opens in the year 2418, the series proper begins as Ed Mercer takes command of the USS Orville in September 2419. With regards to Star Trek, this year would be.
- Ten years following the beginning of Star Trek: Online. Though officially non-canon, the setting of this game makes it the closest thing to a Star Trek: The Next Next Generation series, at least before Picard returns.
- Forty years following Star Trek: Nemesis.
- 149 years following Captain Kirk's five-year mission.
- 258 years following the founding of the United Federation of Planets.
- 356 years after Zefram Cochrane performed the first warp flight from Earth and made first contact with the Vulcans.
How long have we known our alien friends?[]
What is interesting in Old Wounds is that, as soon as the crew are introduced, it becomes apparent that what are destined to be the iconic alien species of this universe are still not that familiar to humans.
Evidently, the introduction scene is the first time that the humans Ed Mercer and Gordon Malloy have met a Xelayan, a Moclan, or Kaylon. This is indicated in that Ed and Gordon, while aware of the species in question by reputation, have to ask them to confirm their distinguishing characteristics.
- Indisputably, this is the first time Ed has ever met a Moclan, as he tells Bortus that he has "never met a single-gender species before."
- Most likely, Ed has also never met a Kaylon; he voices his surprise at seeing one serving in the Fleet, and asks Isaac about Kaylon's legendary racism.
- Also likely is that neither Ed or Gordon have met a Xelayan. Indeed, Ed asks Alara Kitan "You're Xelayan, right?", while Gordon asks "Don't you guys have, like, super strength?"
It should be noted that Ed and Gordon are both middle-aged men with established careers in the Union Fleet. Indeed, Ed is beginning his first command while Gordon, despite his immaturity, is regarded as the best pilot in the fleet. With that it in mind, should we go back to their days at Union Point, don't expect to see a Moclan or Xelayan sitting next to them.
Of course, that is not to say that the Moclans and Xelayans, or Big Two as I will call them, joined the Union yesterday. Bortus, as a Lieutenant Commander, would have spent a good few years at least in the fleet; indeed, he is soon established as having served on the USS Clemens prior to the Orville. To a lesser extent, 23 year old Lieutenant Alara Kitan joins as Chief of Security, though she admits to being fast-tracked. However, Xelayans, though a rare sight in the military, do have an established history within the Union as acknowledged a year later in Home; one Xelayan was recorded as taking four years to recover from muscle atrophy.
What's ironic is that minor races, such as the Gelatin or Dann's people (Dannites?), may well be more established as Union members prior to the Big Two.
What is certain, however, is that the Xelayans and Moclans are not nearly as familiar to the Orvilleverse humans of 2419 as say, the Vulcans and Klingons are to the Trekverse humans. Most certainly, you could not expect a 40-something human Lieutenant to ask a Vulcan "Hey, you're the guys who repress your emotions and do the mind melds, right?" in 2419... or 2319... or 2219, or even 2119.
Old Wounds also introduces to the audience the Krill, the xenophobic adversaries of the Union. In-universe, however, the Krill need no introduction to anyone. How long exactly the Krill have been clashing with the Union is unclear, but probably doesn't amount to a century, or even a decade. In Episode 1x06: Krill, Admiral Ozawa states "Despite all of our engagements with the Krill, we've only managed to gain a few scraps of intelligence regarding their culture." In addition, despite repeated attacks by the Krill, there has not been an established state of full-scale war, which the Union of course wishes to avoid.
How old is the Planetary Union?[]
How big is the Planetary Union[]
As of the end of 2420, the Planetary Union consists of over 300 planetary governments, according to Ed Mercer.[1] This would put the Union as roughly twice the size of the United Federation of Planets circa 2371; in Star Trek: First Contact, Jean-Luc Picard states that the Federation is made up of 150 planets spread across 8,000 light years.
How big is the Union fleet?[]
As of September 2419, the Union fleet has "3,000 ships to staff", according to Admiral Halsey in Old Wounds. As noted by Alara in Episode 1x07: Majority Rule, the Exploratory-class USS Orville (ECV-197) is only "mid-size". Indeed, the Orville has been shown alongside the smaller Science-class USS Olympia (SCV-183), and the larger Leviathan-class heavy cruiser USS Olympia (LCV-529).
The simple registry number scheme of (class)-(number) would suggest the following:
- 183 science-class vessels + 197 exploratory-class vessels + 529 Leviathan-class vessels = 909 vessels across three classes
Now how many people are on the Orville? As stated by Captain Mercer in Episode 2x02: Primal Urges, the Orville has crew 300. In comparison:
- Enterprise NX-01 = 83 crew members
- Kelvin = At least "800 lives"
- Discovery = Approxmiately 136 crew members
- Enterprise NCC-1701 = Standard complement of 430
- Enterprise NCC-1701-D = Just over 1000 crew members
- Voyager = Began with 153 crew members
Of course, the Orville, much like the Enterprise-D also has a civilian complement composed of the families of crew members, to the extent that there is a school for children aboard the Orville. However, I will put this aside and count the crew.
- 197 exploratory-class vessels, 300 crew members aboard each one, would make a minimum of 59,100 personnel.
As yet, one can only speculate as to the crew complement of the Science-class and the Leviathan-class, but can assume that they are relative to the classes' respective size.
The Galaxy and reach of the Union[]
As with Star Trek, and to a lesser extent Star Wars, the action of The Orville is focused squarely in one galaxy, specifically our Milky Way galaxy. As established in Episode 1x05: Pria, the USS Orville is equipped with a "dysonium-powered quantum drive system capable of speeds exceeding ten light-years per hour. In comparison to the ships of the Star Trek universe, the Orville is impressively fast.
- In Star Trek: Voyager, the eponymous vessel, launched in the year 2371, was projected to take 75 years to cross the 75,000 light year distance from the Delta Quadrant back to Earth. Without stopping, the Orville would hypothetically take no more than 7500 hours, or 312.5 days, a couple of months short of a year, to cross this distance. Should the Orville cross the Milky Way's entire diameter of roughly 100,000 light years, it would take no more than 10,000 hours, or 416.6667 days, about a year and a month.