History NightmareFuel / TheOrville

* Kelly and Ed and Rescue Gordon from 2015 in “Twice in a Lifetime.” In doing so, the RetGone Gordon from 2025 and his family, including two kids. They’re clearly shaken by what they did Afterwards.

* Kelly and Ed and Rescue Gordon from 2015 in “Twice in a Lifetime.” In doing so, the RetGone Gordon from 2025 and his family, including two kids. All Onscreen! They’re clearly shaken by what they did Afterwards

* The TechnicallyLivingZombie population of the planet in "Into the Fold." Drink the water, fall into the water, bathe with the water...and end up a brainless monster. Worse, this was the result of a bioweapon gone wrong.

* "The Road Not Taken" is BadFuture to the extreme. Thanks to time travel antics, the Kaylon have exterminated over half of organic life in the ''entire galaxy''. The worst part is the crew doing a scan on Earth to find ''no'' trace of life, not even in the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench.

** Each of the scenarios the crew encounters seems tailor-made to trigger a different primal fear. The first is a classic; while exploring an American high school that appeared out of nowhere on the planet they're investigating, Gordon is badly roughed up by three bullies who tell him to pay off someone named Randall or face even more severe consequences. Being menaced by a loan shark is bad enough, and then it turns out that "Randall" is a [[DiabolusExNihilo thirty-foot-tall troll with an axe]]. The second scenario is a plane flying through heavy turbulence, ultimately crashing into a mountain range and nearly plummeting to its doom. The third involves a Moclan morgue, where Bortus encounters a dead copy of himself that reanimates and tries to choke him to death. The fourth scenario involves a Xelayan lake monster attacking Kelly and nearly drowning her. The final scenario is the worst of all; the landing party thinks they've made it back to the ''Orville'' with evidence of a new Kaylon psyops weapon, only to be ambushed by a squadron of Kaylon ships, one of which moves to ram them.

* Ed's gravity suit failing in "Home," leading to the lovely sight of his shins ''snapping'' as they're crushed under the gravity of Alara's home planet. He lets out a blood-crudling shriek and almost immediately passes out from the pain. Unlike with previous leg injuries on the show, it's ''not'' played for comedy.

** When Claire tries to negotiate with the creature that used to be the admiral, he tells her that he plans to turn the entire crew. Claire tells Ed to release the toxin, convincing the admiral to take the other mutated crewmembers and leave on an approaching ship. Before he goes, however, he says [[WeWillMeetAgain "Not. Forever."]].

* Most of the [[https://twitter.com/TheOrville/status/1489647134374834192 New Horizons trailer]], which has Marcus running through the ship while a massive battle against the Kaylons rages outside, meaning that the Orville universe may be going through its own version of [[Series/DeepSpaceNine the Dominion War]]. He barely makes it to his brother Ty, and Isaac shows up to rescue them... only for [[RedEyesTakeWarning his eyes to turn red]] and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily open a gaping mouth with many teeth]] before lunging at them. Even if it's likely a nightmare it doesn't help much, more so by the fact it seems to be the opener to the new season [[MoodWhiplash followed immediately by an upbeat, heroic opening with a remixed theme song]].

** The sheer lividness of supposed emotionless robots doesn't gel well with their power or how potentially meaningless fighting them could be Isaac has shown the ability to survive his bodies destruction at least twice and their 'massive' fleet was mostly assembled ''on screen'' while characters were watching.

** With her heart outside the field, she would become unconscious in seconds and died shortly after from lack of blood circulation to her head. Larry Niven's short story ARM (1975) discusses the hazards of accelerated time fields.

* Most of the [[https://twitter.com/TheOrville/status/1489647134374834192 New Horizons trailer]], which has Marcus running through the ship while a massive battle against the Kaylons rages outside, meaning that the Orville universe is likely going through its own version of [[Series/DeepSpaceNine the Dominion War]]. He barely makes it to his brother Ty, and Isaac shows up to rescue them... only for [[REdEyesTakeWarning his eyes to change to red]] and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily open a gaping mouth with many teeth]] before lunging at them. Even if it's likely a nightmare it doesn't help much, more so by the fact it seems to be the opener to the new season [[MoodWhiplash followed immediately by an upbeat, heroic opening with a remixed theme song]].

* Most of the [[https://twitter.com/TheOrville/status/1489647134374834192 New Horizons trailer]], which has Marcus running through the ship while a massive battle against the Kaylons rages outside, meaning that the Orville universe is likely going through its own version of [[Series/DeepSpaceNine the Dominion War]]. He barely makes it to his brother Ty, and Isaac shows up to rescue them... only for [[REdEyesTakeWarning his eyes to change to red]] and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily open a gaping mouth with many teeth]] before lunging at them. Even if it's likely a nightmare it doesn't help much, more so by the fact it seems to be the opener to the new season [[MoodWhiplash followed immediately by and upbeat, heroic opening with a remixed theme]].

* "The Road Not Taken" is BadFuture to the extreme. Thanks to time travel antics, the Kaylon have exterminated over half of organic life in the ''entire galaxy''. The worst part is the crew doing a scan on Earth to find ''no'' trace of life, not even in the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench.

* Darulio of "Cupid's Dagger." He never raises his voice or [[DissonantSerenity seems to show strong emotion]], even when [[spoiler: the ship he's on is caught between two hostile fleets that could obliterate the ''Orville'']]. And he comes from a culture that is so [[Literature/BraveNewWorld open about sex that it's considered rude to refuse an offer of a roll in the hay]] (that is, if he is telling the truth), ''and'' has such powerful pheromones that it can ''induce'' obsessive lust in another person, even if that person ''just'' told him that they hate his guts. Worse, he doesn't see anything ''wrong'' with the whole idea - as far as he's concerned, the worst that happens is "great sex." [[spoiler: It's left open as to whether or not he used his pheromones on Kelly the first time they slept together...y'know, the time that Ed walked in on, the one that sent him and Kelly to divorce court, sent his career in a tailspin, and so forth.]] But the fact he uses a [[FantasticDrug fantastic date rape drug]] on ''both'' Ed and Kelly, accidentally doses Claire, and shrugs the whole thing off as no big deal is a ''terrifying'' look at a sexual predator and how the victims will likely end up blaming themselves for it.
* "Firestorm" takes this to new levels when [[spoiler: Alara unknowingly gets trapped in a nightmare simulation that combines the worst fears of all the main characters. Among the ordeals she faced was a MonsterClown with superhuman strength, a giant spider immune to energy weapons, being StrappedToAnOperatingTable by an insane Dr. Finn, and getting stalked relentlessly by a murderous Isaac on an otherwise abandoned ship on a collision course with certain doom.]]

** And the icing on the cake is that [[spoiler:she literally brought it on herself by insisting that she go through a simulated house of horrors and had her own memory of the decision wiped so she would be convinced that it was all real]].

* Pretty much the entire second half of "Identity" runs on this trope, as Kaylon's dark secrets and Isaac's real mission are revealed. Reveals like [[spoiler:Mass graves with ''billions'' of bodies buried under the planet, and the Kaylon conquering the ship like a Sunday errand. And plotting course straight for Earth.]]
** In part two [[spoiler: as a punishment for Ed trying to warn a Union ship (which the Kaylon destroyed), Primary has a random crew member flushed out an airlock. He makes it clear he's ready to do it again if the crew try to fight back.]]
** The sheer lividness of supposed emotionless robots doesn't gel well with their power or [[spoiler:how potentially meaningless fighting them could be Isaac has shown the ability to survive his bodies destruction at least twice and their 'massive' fleet was mostly assembled ''on screen'' while characters were watching]].

* "The Road Not Taken" is BadFuture to the extreme. Thanks to time travel antics, [[spoiler: the Kaylon have exterminated over half of organic life in the ''entire galaxy''. The worst part is the crew doing a scan on Earth to find ''no'' trace of life, not even in the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench.]]

Just because it's a pasitche of ''Series/StarTrek'' doesn't mean it can't bring the nightmares.

Just because it's a comedy doesn't mean it can't bring the nightmares.

** The shear lividness of supposed emotionless robots doesn't gel well with their power or [[spoiler:how potentially meaningless fighting them could be Isaac has shown the ability to survive his bodies destruction at least twice and their 'massive' fleet was mostly assembled ''on screen'' while characters were watching]].

* "The Road Not Taken" is BadFuture to the extreme. Thanks to time travel antics, [[spoiler: the Kaylon have exterminated over half of organic life in the ''entire galaxy''. The worst part is the crew doing a scan on Earth to find ''no'' trace of life, not even in the deepest parts of the Marinas Trench.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Having ''Film/ASpaceOdyssey'' flashbacks yet?]]

* "The Road Not Taken" is BadFuture to the extreme. Thanks to time travel antics, [[spoiler: the Kylon have exterminated over half of organic life in the ''entire galaxy''. The worst part is the crew doing a scan on Earth to find ''no'' trace of life, not even in the deepest parts of the Marinas Trench.]]

* In "Blood of Patriots" Gordon is forced to walk out into open space, doomed to float helplessly in the emptiness unless the rest of the crew can find him. Scott Grimes' performance fully plays up the existential horror of the situation, which thankfully doesn't last long.

** In part two [[spoiler: as a punishment for Ed trying to warn a Union ship (which the Kaylon destroyed), Primary has a random crew member flushed out an airlock. He makes it clear he's ready to do it again if the crew try to fight back.]]

* Pretty much the entire second half of "Identity" runs on this trope, as Kaylon's dark secrets and Isaac's real mission are revealed. Reveals like [[spoiler:Mass graves with ''billions'' of bodies buried under the planet, and the Kaylon conquering the ship like a Sunday errand. And plotting course straight for Earth.]]

** Ed, Talla and Finn are subjected to a rough treatment of having their mouths probed to "prove" they're not born under this month.

* Pretty much the entire second half of "Identity" runs on this trope, as Kaylon's dark secrets and Isaac's real mission are revealed.

** How deeply bound is this belief in the race? The actual prisoners in the camp don't even bother trying to escape as they're convinced they're "monsters" and thus this is where they belong.

** The concentration camp for those born under the sign is as nasty as you can expect when Kelly and Bortus show up.

** Just the idea that if you're born in a certain month, you're somehow a murderous monster on this planet. That means countless pregnant mother undergo C-sections to ensure their otherwise perfectly healthy children aren't born in this time period to "save" them.