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1'''As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3[[foldercontrol]]
4
5[[folder: Outgrowing Zoos]]
6Why are science fiction shows always acting like zoos are animal prisons that humanity will inevitably stop having in the future? Sentient species object to being in captivity, fair enough, but zoos do a lot of important conservation work, and animals truly live less stressful, healthier lives in captivity, and don't have the inherent desire for freedom that we do.
7* Even with the science applications, there are people who find the way animals are put on display to be unethical as it can cause them stress. While zoos today are necessary as lifeboats for some species, they are always going to be second best to actual wild habitat where they can roam free. especially considering that zoos are limited in space due to monetary and practical reasons. Adding to this, higher technologies like terraforming are thus a superior option and would eliminate zoos, something we currently cannot do.\
8Regarding whether animals would prefer to live life outside rather than inside even if it's more work to survive outside, consider the Cavilon consider less-advanced species, such as humans, to be too intellectually limited to bother communicating with or trying to understand what their own feelings or desires may be. It could be reasonably argued that Ed and Kelly were much safer in their zoo cage than they are on the ''Orville'', so keeping them there could be considered to be an act of "conservation" and for their benefit. But that means that, like animals in a zoo, they have absolutely ''no'' real rights, their desires are not a concern, their happiness is not a concern and the zoo can kill them any time they deem it necessary. The concept of sapient elitism is only fun until a species more advanced than your own decides that you are "animals" and that what you think or want is less important than the lofty goals of the "higher" species.
9* Conservation and zoological study would still be practiced in that time, but a public zoo of real live species would no longer be necessary with the simulator technology (aka holodeck) available. Any species and environment can be recreated for teaching, or even entertainment purposes, that don't involve actual living organisms.
10[[/folder]]
11
12[[folder: Why didn't the Calivon already have those reality shows?]]
13In ''Command Performance'', the Calivon have already scanned all the information in the Orville's computers at the start of the episode using their super-advanced technology. This is explicitly stated to be the means by which they created their simulation of Ed's parents. They should ''already have'' a copy of all that reality TV programming that Alara trades to them.
14* They may not have known what they had in their possession. To an alien observer those shows might look like just a mass of extremely old (roughly 400 years) data files. Lacking pop culture awareness of the humans it could take them a very long time to sift through vast amounts of content and it was very clear that the Calivon had limited interest in actual anthropological study. The Calivon think other races are inferior, so naturally they should assume their data isn't worth a second look.
15* Another point of note is that computers are fast at finding relevant information because they are quicker at being able to discard irrelevant information. Thus it is more than possible that the Cavilon probe managed to scan through all the data and determine the best trap to lure Ed because it discarded everything extraneous to that.
16* It could be the case that the Calivon don't store or analyze the data they find from their traps. The only purpose of the traps is to catch people for their zoo, so once the trap is complete, they simply delete all the data it found.
17[[/folder]]
18
19[[folder: Moclan Gender and Reproduction]]
20How are the Moclan able to reproduce if they're all male? Biologically wouldn't they be hermaphroditic?
21* They probably are biological hermaphrodites, but identify as male for cultural exchange reasons. "Females" are perhaps individuals who, for physical reasons, are incapable of inseminating another--say they're missing the equivalent of the penis, or it's somehow deformed so unable to function--and could only be inseminated. This would explain why Moclans treat the condition as a birth defect...for them, it ''is''. The technical term would be "gynodioecy".
22** It's probably simpler than that. In "About a Girl," the focus was just about entirely on physical strength. So my guess is that it's primarily about gracile vs. robust morphology, with the primary tell at birth being facial spotting. The robust morphology was favored due to greater raw strength, and babies with central spotting mature gracile without intervention; therefore, it became common practice to intervene on any baby with central spotting, and gracile adults became despised. The framing of it as a matter of ''gender'' per se (and, indeed, the ''concept'' of gender) was adopted from dioecious species.
23[[/folder]]
24
25[[folder: Are the Union's views on Moclan Gender just the show's version of Star Trek's "Cogenitor"?]]
26Following the above headscratcher, Moclan society not accepting a female is portrayed completely as a prejudice. If female Moclans are all sterile then switching the gender becomes more of a biological issue (maintaining the population levels). That's something the Union and the other characters should understand slightly more.
27[[/folder]]
28
29[[folder: Moclan Stereotypes]]
30Where did Moclan gender stereotypes even ''come from''? If they've been a single-gender race for so long, why would they even ''have'' any particular cultural views about females, such as "they are weak" or "they are less rational"? Given it runs rather deep in their society, and the fact that it's fading into irrelevance on Earth today, it's unlikely they picked it up from ''us''...
31* Same place real world gender stereotypes come from. Moclas is a harsh world to live on, its mostly desert with little resources, to the point that its inhabitants have evolved to eat just about everything. In a world like that, the strongest and most resourceful would be the most likely to survive. So over time traits like brute strength, impressive will etc. would become celebrated by the culture. By the time they developed society and technology to mean such traits were no long necessary to survive, they would well rooted into their mind-set. In a world were males can produce children, then females would not be considered necessary, especially if they were physically weaker (which is possible but presently unproven), being the minority the Molcan's presumably saw them unnecessary. Then overtime that evolved to the point being one became outright looked down upon.
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder: The Moclan reassignment procedure and the Union]]
35How would the Union not know about this procedure and societal view? While certainly the Moclan would probably not talk about it too much, certainly it must have been known or discovered (Klytus reveals this is how he found out himself). In that case, certainly the Orville should not have been the first instance of this happening in Union space.
36* In all likelihood the government does know, but doesn't consider it an issue. There are a lot of laws in individual states that offend individuals in other states, but that doesn't make it a national issue most of the time.
37** But if the Union knows about it, wouldn't they have guidelines for the captains?
38*** Female births are incredibly rare, it's entirely possible this is the first time one has happened off the Moclan home world or one of their colonies, and the situation has simply never come up before. Mercer doesn't seem to be the kind of captain that reads guidelines.
39*** There are dozens, if not hundreds, of planets in the Union, all of which would realistically have multiple cultures on them. No one officer would be expected to learn all of the customs and laws of all of these societies.
40* This is another parallel with ''Star Trek''. The Vulcans managed to keep knowledge of Pon Farr extremely limited. To the point that even Starfleet CMO's knew very little about it ''centuries'' after first contact. Given that Bortus concealed the fact that he was "pregnant" until he actually laid the egg, it seems likely that the Union is circumspect when it comes to the reproductive affairs of member species.
41* Given the information control we learn about later concerning the true female birth rate, odds are that the Union simply accepted that being born female was treated as a birth defect by their species and it was only the events surrounding Topa that exposed the lies being told, at which point the Union took action to protect Moclan females.
42[[/folder]]
43
44[[folder: The loss of history in the bioship]]
45Why would they lose their history? The first generation would have been fully technological, far beyond present day Earth. They couldn't even make papyrus or carve it on stones?
46* They probably assumed that nothing like that would happen and so didn't bother preserving their history on a more antique medium - they're all on data tapes, perhaps. Kelly even mentions that Earth's own old history is a bit fuzzy when relating to the Bioship inhabitants' situation.
47** Even recent history has painful gaps. Originally stored on electronic media that is now either physically unreadable or uninterpretable (because no-one recognises the format). Incomplete backup policies. Picking apart the data from the Voyager probes is an exercise in archaeology. The first-light image from Viking 1 is of its footpad resting safely on the surface of Mars. The original data has been lost and for a while the only copy was a paper printout, which was subsequently scanned and became the original for all the reproductions since.
48[[/folder]]
49
50[[folder: Reunited the bioship people with their home civilization and species]]
51Ed suggests that they'll teach the people how to operate their own ship. But what about getting their people in touch with their own species? While it's likely that the bioship group has diverged significantly from their species' society, it would at least be something. Now, one could argue that perhaps they are all that's left of their species... but that's silly since there's no hint that they sent the bioship off with their entire population or because of any near catastrophy.
52* Ed didn't think of it at the time, and it is something that is outside the scope of the Orville's mission parameters so presumably left for the follow up team to deal with. Whether they want to try and make contact with their homeworld is for the people in the bioship to decide anyway.
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder: Time Paradox]]
56So the Orville closed the wormhole in their present to present any future use of the wormhole, ergo Pria is unable to travel back in time because no wormhole. So, given Pria said the Orville was originally destroyed if not for her interference, why aren't they all dead? Grandfather paradox?
57* The age old explanation that {{timey wimey|Ball}} shenenigans and a combination of being immune to TheRippleEffect. Yes it changed the timeline, but the Orville was immune to it. Though it does technically mean the universe it exists in is not the one the crew were born in...
58* Maybe Pria was lying or incorrect about the supposed destruction of the ''Orville''. The ship was only ever listed as being destroyed in Pria's time because she diverted it from their planned route with her distress call. With no Pria going back in time to call for help they would have continued on their original course and not encountered the dark matter storm.
59* WMG: When they destroyed the wormhole it ''did'' cause a paradox, and the way the universe resolves it is to choose the path of least resistance, which is to allow the Orville to continue existing, because that means the biggest event, the destruction of the wormhole, still happened, even if the reason for the destruction didn't.
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder: "Of course, it's a Derek"?]]
63When the technician in the first episode is revealed to be working with the Krill, and his named is mentioned as Derek, Ed says, "Of course it's a Derek." What exactly does that mean?
64** He thinks Derek is the kind of name a traitor would have for some reason. For better or for worse, some names just carry stereotypes with them. Or perhaps Ed has had multiple bad experiences with people named Derek and simply hates that name.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder: Why does Derek have such lousy timing?]]
68Why didn't Derek contact the Krill ship ''before'' the Orville arrived? What did the Krill gain by waiting for a Union ship to arrive to defend the outpost?
69* Derek may not even have known the Orville was coming until the officers walked into the lab. The ship was summoned under the pretext of delivering cargo, but there's no reason to think the guy who requested it told everyone he'd done so. Derek might also lack access oandnecessary information about the time device up until that point in time.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder: Krill vision]]
73Since the Krill homeworld is shrouded in almost total darkness, they would either have evolved to be blind (as is the case with marine life on Earth that lives in the midnight zone of the ocean), or to have the best nightvision in the galaxy. Clearly, since they possess eyes, it is the latter. So how is it that not only their ships happen to be as well lit as Union ships, and that this lighting is capable of emitting intense ultraviolet light ''that can kill the whole crew''?
74* The UV light is probably for pest control, though admittedly it seems like a safety issue. As for normal lighting, "as well lit as Union ships" is a bit of a stretch - their ships are noticeably darker than Union ships.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder: Krill undercover]]
78Why if you are going to infiltrate the Krill would you choose Gordon as your co-infiltrator? The one that is considered the dumbest member of the crew, instead of Bortus (who already acts like a Krill) or Alara (whose strength may prove useful for the mission)?
79* Gordon's idiocy seems to be overstated. While there are some subjects, such as history (unrelated to popular culture) that he appears to have flunked in school, he is otherwise extremely skilled. He is not only able to fly Union ships better than anyone else, but he was even able to operate Krill vessels as well. Plus, he was able to rig the lights on the Krill ship, indicating some skill at engineering. His successes aboard the Krill ship, including ''saving the colony'', suggest that the Fleet knew exactly what he was capable of.
80** Essentially, Gordon is a BunnyEarsLawyer and the Union uses that to their advantage.
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder: Holy book]]
84Why when the Krill priest find them around the holy book and they say they're searching for confort in it, when thbe priest ask them "Did you find it" did they answer "Yes!", wasn't more clever to say "No, no, we actually need more time with this wise holy book", thus they'll had more time alone to take the photos they need?
85* They just didn't think of it at the time. They were put on the spot, nervous, and like most people caught doing something transgressive that they should not be doing their first instinct is to escape the conversation. Also, who's to say it won't backfire and the priest would be like "Oh, why don't I help you and answer what questions you may have?"
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder: Female Moclan Statistics]]
89According to Isaac, female Moclans are born every 75 years. So, Kytus is 75 years old then? Hevina is 150? Or is Isaac quoting official statistics that ''vastly'' underplay the actual occurrences? How do we know that Moclan females don't actually make up 50% of the population and they culturally decided to gender reassign them all and give out bogus statistics?
90* The 75 year figure is probably bogus, and not just for reasons of "Moclans don't want people to know". Moclan parents probably do not announce that they have produced a female child, they just very discreetly have it reassigned. Since the society as whole has such strong attitudes on the topic it would not be surprising if they have privacy laws on the books that eliminate any requirement for such things to be officially documented. That said, given that Moclan males can reproduce without females, it is doubtful that females make up 50% of the population as this is not biologically necessary.
91* As it happens, season 2's "Sanctuary" reveals that female births are quite common every generation and the Moclan authorities keep it quiet rather than change their society.
92[[/folder]]
93
94
95[[folder: Female Moclan reproduction]]
96Since the males (if we call them that) can reproduce without females, is the reverse true? Or is part of the reason females are considered inferior that they can only lay eggs, but cannot fertilize somebody else?
97* If the speculation under the "Moclan Gender and Reproduction" headscratcher is correct, and that "females" are actually a term for Moclans who are unable to reproduce (and that they all identify as male for simplicity reasons), then no.
98[[/folder]]
99
100
101[[folder: Present-day pop culture references]]
102The show is set hundreds of years in the future, but all the pop culture references anyone makes in the show are from the late 20th/early 21st century. Why is everybody so unusually fixated on this one period of Earth's history? Did nobody ever do anything interesting in the centuries since? Did none of the aliens ever make anything interesting?
103* Why not? It's the era of the beginning of both the Digital and Space ages, and it's likely the time period will go down as a major turning point in human history. Anything after will likely be seen as "modern days" and shrugged off as "boring".
104* Maybe the Union is going through a period where they become obsessed with a past culture and just happened on [=21stC=]. It is something that most societies do at some point in their histories. Sometimes pop culture is all about some other society's culture.
105* Remember that we're only seeing one ship, so 'sampling bias' is an understatement. TheLawOfConservationOfDetail might be in play too. They may be watching other shows from other time periods, and maybe even other planets, but the audience never sees it because has no relevance for the plot.
106[[/folder]]
107
108[[folder: Majority Rule]]
109Even the safest, blandest of politicians is bound to say things that anger at least 20% of his/her constituency on a routine basis. And even the safest, blandest of celebrities is bound to annoy people with different tastes. Some people will downvote them simply out of disgust for how bland they are. When you are massively in the public eye, those votes are going to add up fast.
110* It's quite possible they ''don't''. While we see talk show hosts and social media, we don't see any evidence of an existing culture past this social media. The civilization seems culturally sterile, and it seems that the fear of reprisal has prevented discussing controversial topics. As far as politicians, it seems that the talk show hosts are the closest things, making money by manipulating public opinion and maintaining the shaming culture. As this is actually a true democracy (in the process sense and ideology sense not the American idealized sense), it may be that the voting system came about for the same reasons it came about in historical Athens - NOT to 'get stuff done by the will of the people' but to explicitly avoid tyranny and the rule of one (a king). It was SUPPOSED to be cumbersome and difficult to do stuff so that one person or even one group couldn't take over the city. So it may be that there aren't politicians, at least in any sense that we would describe (primarily career politicians, perhaps), but simply very active citizens (again from our perspective).
111[[/folder]]
112
113[[folder: Majority Rule, part II]]
114How do public finances work? If every law and policy is chosen by vote there cannot many taxes, as everyone would vote against them, but without taxes there's no public finances to pay the policemen salaries and build the nice roads and public infraestructure we see they have.
115* Everything may be privatized. Businesses may act as such powerful monopolies that they can do things like charge mandatory "service fees" that are taxes in all but name. If these businesses control the Master Feed, they could also use it to fake popular approval of measures over the long-term. The only accountability stems from the system, which they control.
116* Also, people vote for parties that support raising taxes for certain public expenses all the time in real life, it's possible that some taxes do get enough votes, at least for the most elemental needs, things like "people with certain amount of downvotes should pay the expenses" kind of laws. Taxes and other less 'interesting' bits could still be approved if massaged with the right wording. Labeling a picture 'looter' versus 'hurricane refugee' can produce very different reactions over the same image. Likewise, "Do you support helping the elderly even if it costs you some money?" versus "Do you support a 5% tax on your latte to support social services?" can garner different reactions.
117* It's also possible that many services are run as charities. Given the culture is based around virtue signalling and that part of John's apology tour involves paying out a massive sum to a charity related to the woman whose statue he dry-humped, this may be how many organizations stay afloat. This opens up another can of worms, however, as this means a lot of worthy causes are probably driven under the rug for not being "interesting" enough to donate to.
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder: Majority Rule, part III]]
121Are there benefits from upvotes on Sargas 4? We only see the consequence of downvotes, but surely there are pluses for having lots of likes.
122* Probably yes, but in the same way that being famous gives "benefits": people just treat you better. One can imagine plenty of "exclusive clubs" that advertise only catering to clients with a very high amount of likes. It might also help in getting a job; you'd think a high amount of likes would be essential for anyone in a position of power, like a corporate CEO or a Police Chief.
123** Also the upvote/downvote system is essentially a defacto social credit score, best seen when Lysella denies service to a woman with more than 500,000 downvotes. Her ability to actually ''pay'' for her drink is completely irrelevant, even in a society that still uses ''cash.'' Those with a high enough number of upvotes may not even need to deal with money as being seen aiding such a popular person could raise your own score.
124[[/folder]]
125
126
127[[folder: Why doesn't Alara just use a holo emitter?]]
128It is established the crew have holo-emitters that can make them look like any species. So why doesn't Alara use one to disguise herself when she goes to Sargas 4 in episode 7? Obviously that would have covered up her features far more effectively then clothing.
129* Whilst we don't have too many details on Holo-emitter disguises at the moment, it was mentioned in the episode they were one of Issac's inventions so not standard technology. Plus, that emitter was also prone to glitching.
130* Consider also in "Krill" the holo-emitter was ''adding'' volume and bulk to Ed and Malloy's forms. To make Alara look human, it would have to disguise and minimise volume and bulk (albeit a small amount) from her head-ridges and ears. That just may not be possible.
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder: Majority Rule, part IV]]
134Most of the crew on the away team doesn't know what money is. But we see them watching films and TV shows from the 20th and 21st century earth on a regular basis. In light of this, how could they not know anything about money?
135* While Ed does take the time to remind everyone that they will need money on Sargas Four, Alara is the only crewmember who asks what it is. She has already been unfamiliar with references to historical Earth culture at least twice and it is possible that Xelaya's economy evolved differently, used a different medium of exchange or stopped using physical currency further in its past than Earth did. The three humans in the landing party all seem to know what money is, although Kelly clearly isn't used to using it.
136[[/folder]]
137
138[[folder: Majority Rule, part V]]
139The away team is totally caught off-guard by the way the society is down on the majority-rule planet. Yet we see later on that they have the ability to monitor and even interfere with their television broadcasts and information networks. So if they had that, couldn't they have at least spent ''some'' time monitoring this information to try to get a bead on their culture instead of simply heading in blind?
140* They were originally looking to recover the missing Union anthropologists studying this culture, so their data about it may have been incomplete. A casual observer, especially one familiar with historical Earth reality TV, might assume that the Master Feed is some kind of entertainment and not the primary means of governance in the society. This may be complicated further by the fact that these people still appear to have separate nations and even fight wars. If there had not been an urgent need to recover missing people, and later to save John, they probably would have spent more time scrutinizing the situation.
141** They ''had'' plenty of information on the planet though, down to what types of clothing they wear on their forehead and exact reproductions of their money... and yet ''didn't'' have knowledge of the badges, which are by ''far'' the most common accessory on the planet!
142*** That might depend on how long the badges have been in use. Much like real 21st Century Earth this could be a fairly recent innovation and before the badges people voted using computers or smartphones.
143*** But we know it isn't recent. An upper-middle aged woman tries to buy tea at the shop and tries to tell the barista that all her downvotes were from "when she was in her twenties", so they've been around at least a few years, if not decades.
144*** The downvotes were from her twenties, but it doesn't mean the badges were. If a store had a ledger keeping track of who was banned, and later transitioned to a computer database, it doesn't mean everyone gets unbanned.
145[[/folder]]
146
147[[folder: Majority Rule, part VI]]
148On Sargas IV the act of having 1,000,000 or more downvotes is considered a crime, and if you hit 10,000,000 you are essentially lobotomized. At the same time, votes are kept permanently, for the rest of your life. So what happens in John's case? He now has over 1,000,000, but under 10,000,000 and is a free man. He can't breach 1,000,000 downvotes ''again'', because he already did it. Even if he received another million downvotes, he's already been tried for being over 1,000,000, which is the only real "law" the planet has. Is he just free to do whatever he wants and can safely ignore the police? There's nothing to truly arrest him for, since he's already breached the point he gets arrested at.
149* He likely is on a razor thin wire, and might be expected to be back there soon anyway. Possibly he would skip the 'get arrested' part of the equation and simply gone straight to the lobotomy chair. That said... he's a Spaceman and is certainly never going to set foot on Planet Demagogue ever again.
150[[/folder]]
151
152[[folder: Majority Rule, part VII]]
153How ''long'' has Sargas IV operated like this, anyway? Judging from what Lysella says, it's long enough that they can no longer remember any other way to run a society, but such a system requires technology that's about on par with modern-day Earth -- perhaps a few years ahead, if that. Have they just been technologically stagnant for decades, even centuries? If so, ''why''? The very nature of their society should surely provide a constant demand for new innovation.
154* "Absolute democracy" involves more than just the voting thing we see here - even in our world the concept dates back to Ancient Greece. All it really means is that every citizen gets a voice. So perhaps Sargas IV had gone down this route for a long time, but in the beginning it was like the scene in "If the Stars Should Appear" where people in villages gathered and voted whether a thief should be hanged, and with advances in tech made it so that ''everyone'' was able to vote on matters even if it takes place across the planet.
155[[/folder]]
156
157[[folder: Alara's look]]
158So, in the pilot we see Alara Kitan having a more literal RubberForeheadAlien look with a bulky forehead and no eyebrows, and then in the following episodes she has eyebrows and a more modest forehead.
159* We know Alara is very young (23 years old, presumably in Earth years but it's unclear if Xelayans mature at the same rate as humans), so the subtle brow ridge might be an adolescent feature that disappears with age as humanlike eyebrows grow in through early adulthood. The damage to the ''Orville'''s engines in "Old Wounds" also implies enough of a TimeSkip before "Command Performance" for such a change happening in the time between the two episodes to be plausible.
160* Alternatively, we know there are very few Xelayans in the Union fleet and that Alara is actively dating. It could be that Xelayans normally shave their eyebrows off but Alara decided to grow hers out to look more appealing to humans, or she's just decided she prefers that look herself after being around humans longer (or both).
161[[/folder]]
162
163[[folder: Illogical kidnapping in "Into the Fold"]]
164Why would a paranoid survivalist kidnap an alien woman and bring her to his hideout? She has to be fed and given water, consuming his resources, and she’s not in a reproductive age in case he wants to repopulate the planet (again assuming such a thing is even possible). So… why?
165* It's not clear that he's paranoid (in the irrational sense). At any rate, he's probably just lonely and hoping for someone to talk to, or possibly to get with (where we shall leave it there to avoid NightmareFuel).
166* The best case scenario is that he was trying to be a good guy and help someone who, as near as he could tell, was uninfected and defenseless. His later behavior could be due to a number of reasons, including paranoia and isolation taking their toll on him. Again, this is the best case scenario.
167[[/folder]]
168
169[[folder: Why doesn't Darulio tell anyone about his "condition" right away?]]
170Isn't he concerned that this will cause the peace talks to fail and the planet will be plunged back into war? Whatever he thinks about Ed or Kelly, surely he is most concerned about making sure his mission will succeed, right? Also, why isn't he ''legally'' required to do so? His pheromones are powerful enough to get Ed from disliking him to wanting to sleep with him. You would think this sort of thing would come with an obligatory warning label.
171* We've seen with the Moclans earlier in the season that the Union seems to give a huge amount leeway on what its members do and do not disclose to each other about their societies. Maybe they should be more into information sharing, but it seems that for whatever reason they just are not. Darulio comes from a society where sex is freely given and offered so the implication is some DeliberateValuesDissonance on what consent means.
172** True, but he's an ''archaeologist'', and one that seems to work primarily off-world. Even if for whatever reason Darulio's species keeps the knowledge of pheromones to themselves they MUST know that plenty of other species would see what they can do with their pheromones as wrong and thus act accordingly.\
173The pheromones are spread by touch, not scent. Union Fleet uniforms do not expose a lot of skin. Kelly and Ed were only affected because they shook hands with Darulio, who also touched Yaphit. An ethical Retepsian might go out of their way to avoid physical contact while they are in heat, so we can only conclude that Darulio, even taking into consideration he's an alien, is just not a very nice person (understatement).
174[[/folder]]
175
176[[folder: Why does Yaphit have sexual urges?]]
177Its species is established as reproducing asexually. To it, sex should be bizarre at best, grotesque at worst.
178* "New Dimensions" establishes that Yaphit experiences everything his body touches, as he describes going down Bortus' throat, and he also explains to Claire how his biology works. It makes sense that, for him, sex might not be reproductive, but Yaphit nonetheless derives tactile stimulation and enjoyment from spending time with someone it has romantic feelings for (Claire). It's also possible that, despite the actual reproductive act being asexual, the species is capable of a sex-analogous procedure that allows for the the spread of genes. For instance, while bacteria don't sexually reproduce, they do have a method for physically swapping DNA strands.
179* He could just have a fetish for bipedal sexual activity. Sex isn't just for reproduction, after all.
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder: Directive 38]]
183A security measure in place to remove the captain from command in case of alien influence or extreme drunkenness? Awesome idea! Question: Why wasn't it used in the last episode, especially after it became pretty obvious that the captain was NotHimself?
184* They do make the point that it's only for extreme situations, and presumably there's an unspoken "putting the ship in mortal danger" in there. Ed, while acting odd, has not done such a thing, and pulling what amounts to a legal mutiny seems like overkill. Plus, what is it going to achieve anyway? Ed was already not being the Captain, so invoking the Directive is basically words on paper.
185[[/folder]]
186
187[[folder: Yaphit's insubordination]]
188In "New Dimensions", Yaphit enters Mercer's office without permission, screams profanity at him, and calls him a racist. And the Captain is just totally okay with this? It's pretty odd when you consider how angry he was at Kelly in the same episode for doing something that actually helped him.
189* Ed clearly prefers a softer style of leadership rather than enforcing strict discipline. Even in real world militaries there are a wide range of approaches a commanding officer will take depending on the situations; even if they are entitled by regulations to tear a strip off someone, they don't ''need'' to do that. In this case, Ed was right to let Yaphit complain at him. Yaphit had a solid point and a legitimate grievance, and while Ed could have been a hardass and insisted on formality of regulations, then chances are all that would do is make Yaphit angrier and more likely to put in official grievances. Then, consider that they're going to be stuck on the ship, so making a fuss and causing a hostile work environment isn't a wise idea, even if you're in "the right" to do so. Letting Yaphit vent his anger was the right choice.
190* Also consider that Yaphit was just talked out of pressing charges against the senior staff by Kelly for literally taking a part of him and feeding him to the rest of the crew. Considering Yaphit can experience every part of his body AND that a part ended up in a Moclan who can eat anything, Yaphit is lucky he didn't get to experience being partially digested. Then after that, the same people who were protected get a promotion? Yaphit would have reasonable grounds to not just charge the senior staff with protecting each other but then also favoring each other, despite Yaphit presumably having the qualifications. Remember also that this is a reputation-/skill-based economy (or whatever) - promoting a previously unqualified individual ahead of the lead candidate would probably seen as bribery. So yeah, Ed could have gone full CO and charged him with treason but he and the senior staff would then have to face a lot of charges themselves.
191[[/folder]]
192
193[[folder: Naming conventions]]
194In an organization that draws so much from conventional naval tradition (ranks, for example, discipline, nomenclature) why does the titular ship use the *first* name of the person for whom it's been named? Isn't it always the person's *last name* (or, occasionally, both names i.e. USS Abraham Lincoln, etc.) that is used when naming a vessel?
195* Presumably because there were two Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville. Naming the ship the ''Wright'' would be ambiguous as to whether it referred to one or both brothers.
196* It could be named for some much-revered person with the surname "Orville" who hasn't even been born yet. Just because ''this crew'' has a 20th/21st-century-culture fixation doesn't mean the ''Union'' does.
197* It's equally possible there's a "USS Wilbur" somewhere in the fleet to balance it out.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder: Latchcomb Victory Conditions]]
201After playing Latchcomb with Bortus and Klyden, Ed tells Kelly that he won the game. So getting your hand impaled with the spike is how you win? Then why pass the ball around? Victory conditions for the game don't seem to make sense.
202* That's rather like saying, if the purpose of Monopoly is to get as much money as possible, why don't you just take the money out of the bank and declare it to be yours? In both cases the rules of the game don't allow you to do that. Ed probably broke the rule because he stopped passing to ask if there were other rules. Bortas and Klyden were being polite.
203** So if you are supposed to get impaled, then it's basically a game of Russian roulette that rewards you for shooting yourself. So the next question would be, where is the skill involved? It's basically just random chance.
204*** Latchcomb comes across as SomethingThatBeginsWithBoring: called a game, but more an activity that you do to preoccupy yourself when there's nothing better. But the thing is, their culture and psychology might be too alien for us to truly get the idea of the game or the rules.
205*** Look up "Hot Potato". Replace "when the music stops" with "when the potato stabs the player". And Ed's clearly not having fun, so let's let him down easy and move on.
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder: So is Isaac's mission to learn about organic beings over now?]]
209In "Mad Idolatry" Isaac spent 700 years watching a society nearly identical to humans evolve. So is it same to assume his mission to learn about organic life forms is over now? After 700 years, he should know pretty much everything that can be learned. He should be more of an expert on organic life then most actual organic life forms are.
210* Not really. He would certainly be an expert on that particular planet and species, but that doesn't really say much about Humans or the other species in the Union. In addition, species, cultures, and societies evolve over time. In short, there's always something to observe and learn particularly on geologic timescales.
211[[/folder]]
212
213[[folder: Did Isaac just sit there doing nothing for all that time?]]
214What did Isaac actually do for seven centuries? The society progressed from the equivalent of the 21st century to well beyond the Orville crew’s time. They spread out through their galaxy. Did he go along, perhaps spending a few decades here and there on other worlds, observing other cultures? What predictions about the future might be made? Does it resemble what they know of Pria’s future? Both developed teleportation, for instance. What technological advances did he see and learn, that he could share with Union science?
215* The one line they have mentions he mostly just observed at a point. Presumably that means, on one hand, he was a special cultural observer wherever he so chose to go, but on the other hand, he probably wandered and watched with as little interference as possible. He probably didn't reveal any secrets of 'the future' such as giving them tech before they already knew about it, but he probably also had to intervene if he was personally at risk.
216[[/folder]]
217
218[[folder: Reputation-based economics]]
219Kelly tells John that since the elimination of money, reputation is what people strive for. How exactly does that work? Does reputation equal fame? Does it mean that celebrities get preferential treatment and perks, sort of like we have now except it’s officially enfranchised? And how do you measure reputation? Upvotes and downvotes?
220* From context it is about demonstrating competency in your personal field of endeavor. It doesn't seem like it is hard currency, nor like the upvote-down vote system, but inwardly directed sense of personal attainment coupled with people seeing that you are competent in things and they want to promote you for that competency. The currency is that you feel pretty good about your achievements, spendable upon only yourself. Consider a real-life example; actors get a reputation from being judged good enough to earn awards like the Oscars. Being "successful" in the field isn't necessarily about making the most money or being in the most popular films, but being considered as among the best by your peers and the audience. Other actors do take pride in being regularly cast in blockbuster films not necessarily because of the money either but because of the fact they're demonstrating they can put butts in seats and people will show up for their work. That said, while it's a much looser system, being more 'reputable' does seem to come with perks. Notice how Ed and Kelly, Captain and First Officer respectively, have quarters that are two stories tall aboard the ''Orville''.
221* Kelly goes into more detail explaining it to Lysella; the point is to work to improve yourself and contribute to society. This doesn't have to equate to a famous position or huge accomplishments, as a person can be considered successful by applying themselves even in a field that we would currently consider lacking in prestige, specifying being a waitress as that was Lysella's former occupation. This is because the matter synthesizer made currency based economics obsolete, so people don't actually have to work, but most due so either out of societal pressure to do more than sit around all day, or simply because doing so gets boring very quickly. "The only life wasted is a life of apathy."
222[[/folder]]
223
224[[folder: Reputation-based economics, part II]]
225What happens with all the jobs that no one wants? Those kinds of jobs people only do it because they need money? Things like garbage disposal, fast food restaurant workers, call center agents, dead-end boring bureaucratic works, prison guards, factories and maquiladoras (the kind of work that you need immigrants escaping extreme poverty to do because no one wants to do it). Who is going to do all that without money?
226* Some jobs might simply be automated away -- after all, advanced technology has to exist anyway, just to make the post-scarcity economy possible to begin with, so you might as well let it handle some of those boring jobs. Who really needs factory workers when the "factory" is just a bank of industrial-grade replicators? Who needs truck drivers or janitors when delivery drones and self-driving vehicles and next-gen Roombas exist? Other jobs might become entirely obsolete. Like telemarketers -- sure, some of those politicians and artisans you mention might need to be able to reach out to people, but in a post-scarcity economy, would anyone actually need room-fulls of bored telemarketers selling products or services they don't actually believe in?
227* Alternatively, social forces encourage people to work. Aside from the prestige and pride, an important social driver is community and "belongingness." So, for example, if your community's janitor-bot is imperfect and leaves some garbage behind, there might still be volunteers willing to go out and help clean up the streets, simply because they'd feel fulfilment from contributing to the community.
228* It's also possible some of them are mandted. consider how many countries have a mandatory military service period for students after high school.
229* Perhaps to one extent or another, the problems you describe really ''will'' be an issue in the Orville's future (or any other post-scarcity economy). Remember the Union's fleet staffing shortages? Maybe they ''can't'' convince enough people to get up and be productive when there's no urgent need to do so. But, well, any society has its problems. Our society has economic problems, and perhaps the Union's society has very different, but equally troubling problems. Is one worse than the other?
230[[/folder]]
231
232[[folder: Reputation-based economics, part III]]
233If the economy consists of 'reputation', would industries such as the sex industry still a thing? Would porn actors do it for the prestige of being good at their job? Prostitutes? They won't get paid nor need to so if this is still a thing would be out of pure pride and recognition. How would corruption work? Would you bribe someone by offering to have his/hers name into a prestigious research he wasn't part off or having undeserved credit for a mission?
234* From 'Primal Urges' we see that holo-porn is a thing, so presumably having actors are no obsolete. As for corruption, it would probably be having "friends in high places" grant you access to prestigious jobs with perks, power, and influence -- e.g. "help me pass this law that benefits the Fleet, and I'll make sure your nephew who just entered the service gets a cushy post on the flagship!" etc. It already works that way quite often in real life.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder: Krill relations]]
238The Krill follow a religion that holds non-Krill as soulless abominations. The show seems to zig-zag on this; are the dictates for Krill to subjugate non-Krill or destroy them? There are Krill who can speak civilly (even giving Ed marriage advice) yet there's the bombing of the colony and mashing up a severed head while chanting religious phrases.
239* Intentional or not, it seems like a subversion of PlanetOfHats. Different individual Krill are going to have different positions, some are not as fanatic as others and some may even be skeptical but still follow their peoples' policies out of nationalism or fear. This happened in real life: there was a debate during the Middle Ages whether women had souls or not, and Black people and other enslaved ethnicities were considered souless by many churches at the time, yet is likely that even so they were trated with a minimal amount of decency or were even nice to them (possibly in some bad interpretation of holy texts like 'Be kind to everyone, even if they don't have souls'). In fact the whole point of Mercer's mission was to get a copy of the holy book precisely so the Union could learn the details of their religion, probably to help answer questions exactly like this.
240[[/folder]]
241
242[[folder: Effects of low gravity]]
243How is it that Alara’s physical deterioration is coming as a surprise to anyone, when we’ve known about the effects of low gravity since the beginning of the space program? Also, how come the crew only just now figured out how to construct a gravity tank? Surely Union engineers would have already been all over that.
244* They ''did'' mention that this happens to Xelayans who serve on Union ships, it's just that the effects became serious in Alara much sooner than anticipated. They surmise that it's because she's so much younger than most of her people who've left Xelaya were, hence her skeleton was still maturing and suffered the consequences despite her exercise regimen.
245[[/folder]]
246
247[[folder: Alara's fantasy]]
248In "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS2E3Home Home]]", Alara briefly fantasizes herself happy as a human (since she has no ridges on her forehead and ears in the shot). Where did this come from? Prior to this, she didn't ever express self-loathing towards being Xeleyan
249* Possibly it's a fantasy of being able to blend the two worlds she's torn between: being more like a human so she can keep working as a Union officer without her own body letting her down, yet also being able to interact with beautiful Xelayan animals and environments. It's a bit brilliant. She never fit in with her own family or her own people. Humans were ''much'' nicer to her than anyone else was, and she was frequently seen appreciating human "art forms" like boxing. Even sadder is that she did appear to have a crush on Ed and dated several human men. So, she was already GoingNative as a human, but thought her only value was in her species' SuperStrength.
250[[/folder]]
251
252[[folder: Why did Mercer tell Teleya the truth about the decoy codes?]]
253When Teleya asks Mercer about whether or not the codes he revealed under interrogation were real, he tells her the truth and says they were decoys. Why? Now the whole Krill military will know that all Union Captains memorize decoy codes in case they are captured and will adjust their tactics accordingly. Wouldn't it have made more sense to lie and say they were real?
254* He may have felt it was ultimately harmless to admit, and telling the truth would incline her to be more trusting and cooperative. Even if she tells her superiors, the information doesn't give them any leverage over future captures. The tactic would only work once, if the Union was lucky maybe twice, before the Krill figured out the trick anyway.
255** The Krill already suspected that the codes might be decoys or there'd be no reason to ask in the first place (it's a fairly obvious ploy). Mercer's answer doesn't really reveal anything anyway -- for all the Krill know, he gave real codes and said they were fake.
256* It could also be less of a Union thing and just a ''Mercer'' thing. Mercer relies more on guile and tricks than your standard SF action hero. He's no slouch in a fight, but it's his last resort.
257[[/folder]]
258
259[[folder: Why not ally with the Shak'tal?]]
260Why didn't Mercer try forming an alliance with the Shak'tal? He only has Teleya's word that they're savages, and she thinks that about everybody who's not a Krill. If Mercer had let the Shak'tal know they have a common enemy in the Krill, they might have been willing to help him escape, and maybe even formed a mutually-beneficial alliance with the Union. As it stands, now the Shak'tal think humans are on the Krill's side, so they won't be very quick to trust humans.
261* Thinking “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” has a way of going very badly. The Shak’tal at that point were living up to Telaya’s analysis. Mercer had to choose between making surprise contact with soldiers who were very likely to blow him away on sight, or staying with a known enemy he was slowly establishing a rapport with. Leave negotiations to diplomats; even if the Shak’tal knew Mercer had been there, telling them he was a prisoner rather an ally of a murderously xenophobic race wouldn’t be hard to believe.
262[[/folder]]
263
264[[folder:23 Earth days]]
265* Ed remarked that one day on the planet he and Teleya were stranded on was equal to 23 Earth days. The [[ShownTheirWork math actually checks out]], however the sun seemed to be pretty high in the sky when he says that (Ed looks at and points up at the sky indicating where the sun is). Surely unless they'd spent a good 2 to 3 Earth days inside the cave the sun should still be pretty close to the horizon and the environment more resembling sunrise?
266[[/folder]]
267
268[[folder: No cure for sleep apnea in the future?]]
269Ed snores. Even in the real world, that can be fixed with maxillomandibular advancement surgery, or treated with a CPAP machine. But Ed has never gotten this fixed with advanced Union science?
270* The same reason that plenty of people who snore today don't use the machine or various other snoring cures. It just doesn't bother him enough to do something about it. Even in the present day, sleep docs probably don't treat snoring medically unless it is causing the patient harm.
271* Sleep apnea comes in degrees of severity, ranging from mild snoring to requiring supplemental oxygen. Ed's case may be mild enough that he doesn't need treatment (most people with mild sleep apnea report sleeping through the night but not feeling fully rested after a night's sleep, like a phone that didn't fully charge, which can be cured with Ed's ever-present coffee cup) or else he simply doesn't care since he is sleeping alone anyway.
272[[/folder]]
273
274[[folder: Suspicious timing for a Star to appear]]
275* It really didn't occur to anyone on Rigor that the star that just appeared in the sky could be a Union trick? They know the Union has technology far more advanced then theirs. They know the Union is doing everything they can to get their people released. Considering that, you would think the timing of the star appearing right after the Union ship shows up to be very suspicious, even if their satellites are telling them the star is authentic.
276** The Rigorian belief in astrology is so cemented that their belief in it being a divine sign probably overrode any doubt anyone might have had.
277[[/folder]]
278
279[[folder:Are the people of Rigor just that dumb or what?]]
280If the people of Rigor have reached the point where they can launch astrometric satellites into space, they have got to know what parallax is and that their astrology constellations all fall apart - literally - as soon as you leave your home star system. Second, kidnapping two aliens which you ''know'' have technology way ahead of you? Are they ''trying'' to start a war? They should count themselves lucky the Planetary Union opted to respect their (however ridiculous) laws and not go in guns blazing. Plus, wouldn't the far less suicidal option be to tell all of them to GTFO and don't come back? They get a benefit out of it, too, in the form of two less mouths to feed.
281* Mercer did try asking for their people back. The leader refused on the ground that releasing even one would undermine the system. It's stupid yes, but just chalk this up to a combination of truly alien cultures and standard religious irrationality.
282* there's also the fact they were mindblown by a spaceship. The ability to place stellar objects? Inconceivable. The Union is so far ahead of them they can't detect the fakeout
283[[/folder]]
284
285[[folder:Universal astrology]]
286Why would the Regorians assume that the Planetary Union follows the same astrological system as them, despite the two societies knowing nothing about each other?
287* Because he considers Astrology to be an objective fact. So assumes the whole universe can see the same thing, just as the whole universe can see that 2+2=4 and the laws of thermodynamics.
288[[/folder]]
289
290[[folder:Why not disprove Rigoran astrology via Earth's own old astrology charts?]]
291If Mercer and the others had any sense, they should have just played along and disputed Kelly and Bortas's birth signs by whipping out astrological charts for Earth and Moclas and making up some bull about them occupying the correct career positions for their birth dates on their respective home planets. This gets worse when you consider that Earth and Moclas almost certainly have different year lengths than each other and Rigor II, so Kelly and Bortas's birthdays probably land during different signs on Rigor over the course of years. Most of the problem here was in trying to convince the Rigorans that their belief in astrology was wrong, rather than just playing along with it and arguing that each star system has it's own constellations, planets, moons and orbital periods, and that different rules apply to them by virtue of this.
292* He can't dispute birthdates. The Rigorans have that tooth age dating thing which is apparently super accurate, or at least the Rigorans believe it to be super accurate, and that puts Kelly and Bortas in the bad people's birth sign. All of this is all kind of the point of the episode, facts get ignored because they conflict with an article of faith.
293* Mercer could have claimed superior knowledge of astrology due to having more data. The problem was the crew called astrology as junk to begin with. If they had faked astrology knowledge, the Rigorans might have accepted it on those grounds.
294[[/folder]]
295
296[[folder: What is the point of Rigor astrology if you can cheat the system with caesarean deliveries?]]
297It raises way too many questions as to whether or not it's possible for someone to simply pick and choose their child's destiny by having a c-section under a particular sign. If the [[ArcWords "stars don't lie,"]] and they dictate everything about Rigor society, shouldn't it be considered a heinous act to intentionally alter the birth date of a child via artificial birth?
298* No religion or social system is ever completely logical or rational, they are all riddled with special exceptions, the Rigors are no different. Heck, take RealLife Judaism for example, which supposedly forbids work on the Sabbath, but in reality has a bunch of {{loophole|Abuse}}s around it (a lot of which comes from advances in technology) which to an outsider can look rather silly ("What's the point of Sabbath when you have pre-programming ovens and motion-detecting lights?"). In essence, TechnologyMarchesOn forces the Rigorans to adapt their beliefs to accomodate.
299[[/folder]]
300
301[[folder: No one cares about dead guards?]]
302Bortas and Kelly killed at least half a dozen guards during their escape attempt. But once the new star is discovered, suddenly that no longer matters? You would think Kelly would be somewhat traumatized by the fact that she was responsible for several deaths that turned out to be needless since all she had to do was wait for Mercer to come up with a plan. You would also think Union high command would be upset with them. At least in the modern world, the military generally advises their soldiers not to resist or attempt an escape if they are apprehended by the authorities from a nation they are not at war with, the only exception being is if your life is in immediate danger, which wasn't the case with Kelly and Bortas.
303* Kelly didn't know that Mercer would rescue them in time. The commandant literally put his gun to Kelly's head and told her he would kill her if she didn't say she was trash, so under those grounds she could probably justify her escape ''as'' being in mortal danger.
304[[/folder]]
305
306[[folder: Krill emergency protocol]]
307The escape pods on Krill ships are programmed to go to the nearest habitable planet. So why aren’t they stocked with protective gear in case there’s daylight?
308* Telaya mentioned that the pods seek out the dark side of the planet. They apparently just hadn't considered that they should make sure the landing place is not only dark, but would stay dark for a long time.
309[[/folder]]
310
311[[folder: Moclan "divorce proceedings"]]
312Similarly to the gender reassignment Headscratcher, why isn't knowledge of the Moclan method for divorcing one's mate more widespread? Arguably, this would be crucial information for both [=COs=] ''and'' [=CMOs=] to have on hand.
313* The Planetary Union seems to share the European Union's issue that their haste to expand caused them to accept member worlds whose local culture and laws may not work well with others. Moclas has a culture that humans find appalling. Xelaya openly looks down on other Union members and enjoys a certain degree of isolation thanks to their world's heavy gravity. However, this probably stems from {{realpolitik}}. Remember what they told that astrology-obsessed planet? They swoop in and recruit before someone like the Krill show up. This isn't the relatively peaceful and unchallenged Federation of [[Franchise/StarTrek Kirk and Picard]], this is something more like Archer or Sisko's situation or the notoriously messy Republic of Franchise/StarWars, where it's more important to have an ally and their numbers and the messier parts of their customs get swept under the rug because there's an imminent threat.
314[[/folder]]
315
316[[folder: Isaac still clueless about romance after observing an organic humanoid society for 700 years?]]
317Isaac shouldn't so clueless when it comes to romance due to what happened in "Mad Idolatry". Obviously that other society would different romantic practices then humans would, but it would still provide a baseline for him to work from.
318* Can we be sure he actually learned about romance during those centuries? Isaac's goal was to get that society to realise Kelly isn't a god, if he was doing his job correctly he shouldn't have had any romantic encounters. It would be safe to presume Isaac would have spent his time around priests, scientists and national leaders. Churches, research labs and whatever their equivalent of the White House is are not exactly places where romance develops.
319[[/folder]]
320
321[[folder: Isaac and Yaphit's human simulated forms on the holodeck]]
322How did the holodeck manage to make Isaac look completely human? Assuming all it does is simply project an image over top of his robot body, wouldn't that make him look bigger then a normal human? But instead his human form looks smaller then he is normally. Another issue is his hands. Isaac's robot hands are much bigger and thicker than human hands. So even if the holodeck is projecting an image of human hands over them, shouldn't they look disproportionately thicker and bigger then normal human hands?
323* Yaphit is also somewhat of a mystery. The only way the holodeck simulation can make him look human is if he can also shape himself into human form. Perhaps that's possible, but then why he doesn't shape himself that way all the time?
324** The fact that we’ve seen him perform complicated procedures using multiple tentacles suggests that adapting humanoid form wouldn’t offer any advantages. It's probably the equivalent of sucking in your stomach and puffing out your chest: it makes you look better, but how long can you hold that position for?
325[[/folder]]
326
327
328[[folder: Isaac, as a machine]]
329Why doesn’t Isaac just download himself into the Simulator? We already know he can do that with the ship. He doesn’t really need to involve his physical body at all. But that opens up a much bigger question. He would effectively become a simulator “program,” so how would he be qualitatively different from, say, Bortus’...er...encounters?
330* Being able to interface with the ship and transferring his entire consciousness are different matters. It's possible that the ship's data drives are too primitive for him to store himself without data corruption (losing his sentience, for example).\
331But that said, what does that even offer? Ultimately it's two different solutions to the same problem, but neither really offers advantages that make it objectively better than the other.
332[[/folder]]
333
334[[folder: Moclan mustache]]
335If Moclans don’t naturally have facial hair, how could Bortus possibly have follicles to stimulate in the first place? Is Dr. Finn’s follicle stimulator actually a follicle implanter?
336* The follicles may still be present but no longer active, suggesting that they're on the evolutionary path to disappearing altogether (kinda like the human appendix, what's left of what used to be an additional intestine).
337* It is also possible that a follicle stimulator is just a colloquial name used for a much more complex piece of equipment in order to get the point across.
338* Maybe they're ''scale'' follicles, which Dr. Finn's stimulator adjusted to produce long tubular hairs rather than broad solid scale-plates?
339[[/folder]]
340
341[[folder: Are the Krill at war with the Union or not?]]
342They've done several things that would be considered acts of war. Yet they seem to be forgotten most of the time, which suggests that the Krill are at peace and that a few of them are just terrorists. So which is it, war or random terrorists?
343* It's not that they are forgotten, it's that they usually aren't part of the Orville's missions due to the fact that the Orville isn't a warship. But no, they're probably not at war. The occasional skirmish and the Union not wanting to / unable to fully do so means they play Whack-a-Mole with the Krill. That said, even in an active state of war it's not like everyone is revolved around it. Life just goes on.
344[[/folder]]
345
346[[folder: Testing shields by firing on a populated ship?]]
347Testing that on a ship full of people seems foolish. Would it not be safer to test a shield upgrade by putting the shield-generator equipment on something unmanned, and preferably cheap?
348* It is a Moclan system, the guys who have a casual game of holding a handstabbing object, whose divorce proceedings involve someone stabbing another, and merely breaking up requires removing a tooth. Testing shields (which are said to be in their final testing phase) by live firing in battlefield conditions is pretty much in keeping with their species' hat. But giving them some benefit of doubt, maybe they need a human(oid) touch to be present for the field test to work properly - somoene to adjust the shield frequencies, for example.
349[[/folder]]
350
351[[folder: Klyden had no evidence against Locar. Why was Locar afraid of him?]]
352* Was it really reasonable for Locar to fake his death and frame Klyden for murder because Klyden threatened to rat him out as a closet heterosexual? Klyden had no evidence at all. It would just be his word. Why would anyone believe the word of Klyden, a total nobody, over Locar, a world famous engineer?
353** Evidence isn't always necessary to get someone ConvictedByPublicOpinion. Just look at the history of our planet. The mere suggestion of someone being gay or a rapist or whatever else has ruined many lives, even without tangible evidence.
354** The simulator did have some recording ability. One leaked tape of Locar kissing Talla and it was all over. Klyden would be enough of a jerk to skip the blackmail and just hand it over to the authorities.
355*** The show clearly established Locar as an elite engineer who could manipulate the simulator to do whatever he wanted. Certainly that would including deleting the recordings, or at least alter them to cover his tracks.
356*** It was not a matter of his word against his, or about covering up proof of the kiss. It was the accusation itself and what it would set off that was the problem. If the Moclan authorities received an accusation from Klyden then they would have to investigate. Especially if it’s in regards to one of their top engineers. Bortus would be dragged into it, and forced to reveal what he knew. Talla would have to choose between her duty to be honest in regards to an investigation or lie. Locar's fear was the accusation itself, what it would lead to. Even if he managed to cover it up, he would always be watched for any signs of deviance from the norm. Fear of exposure of one’s sexual identity, especially when considered taboo in one’s general society, has led to fear, acts of rashness and sometimes suicide.
357[[/folder]]
358
359[[folder: No guards at the exit when the Orville lands?]]
360So when the Orville is on the ground, anyone can leave at will without any sort of accountability system? They don't bother to post guards at the exit, or at least some sort of automated security system? That would be pretty absurd even if there were only adults on the ship. But the fact that this is the case for a ship with children on it makes it even more ridiculous. You'd think they would they would have security measures in place specifically to prevent what we saw on "Identity"; small children leaving the ship on potentially dangerous alien planets without adult supervision.
361* Perhaps the kids are treated the same as adults and responsible for their own safety, no longer caring about age but more about maturity (it would be in line with the reputation based economics, after all) and that if you're allowed on a Union ship you're expected to have some level of said maturity and independence.
362[[/folder]]
363
364[[folder: Contacting the Kaylon]]
365So the Union has no communication channel with the Kaylon? No way to call them up and say “Hey, your observer broke”? The only means of contact at all is to fly a ship right up to their planetary defenses and wave?
366* The episode establishes them to be extremely isolationist and well outside Union territory, such that the Orville would be moving out of communication range just to reach them.
367* Furthering this, how was Isaac sending reports back to Kaylon if Kaylon is out of communication range?
368** Kaylon technology is more advanced than the Union's, therefore it is likely their communication systems are much more advanced too.
369** Alternatively, he used a Union technology to send his reports, but one that took longer to deliver them than it took for the Orville to get to Kaylon from where they were.
370[[/folder]]
371
372[[folder: The Orville can land?]]
373Why in the world would they fly the entire ship down to the surface of Kaylon? Surely it would be more practical (and more prudent) to use a shuttle ... like they have for every single other planetary mission we’ve seen so far.
374* The Kaylon told them to land the ship. They sent landing coordinates, not shuttle coordinates. Perhaps the full message was a little more explicit, but it was obvious from Talla's tone of voice that it was the whole ship they wanted on the surface. And it's not like they were in any position to say no.
375[[/folder]]
376
377[[folder: Why does Isaac shut down when his mission is complete?]]
378Is programming Isaac to deactivate really the most efficient way to get him to come home? Wouldn't it have been better to just program him to tell Mercer "My mission is complete now. I must return to Kaylon with my findings." ?
379* It's not. The Kaylon didn't expect the Orville to fly him back. In fact they said it themselves ("We recognized who you were seconds before our defense systems would have opened fire"). They had no further use for Isaac, so they told him to shut down.
380** If they had no further use for him, why did they re-activate him when he returned?
381*** Isaac’s job at that point was to keep the crew complacent while the final steps to take over the ship and launch the invasion were being prepared. Their arrival was unexpected but determined to be a welcome development, useful in their efforts, so they were probably busy coming up with a new plan that involved using the Orville. Mercer did point out they seemed to be stalling.
382[[/folder]]
383
384[[folder: Future tech]]
385Did Isaac retain whatever information on 29th century technology he might have gained when he hacked Pria’s device, or was it erased when the wormhole was destroyed?
386[[/folder]]
387
388[[folder: One planet provides enough resources for the Kaylon to take on the entire Union?]]
389As far as we know, the Kaylons only control one planet. We know this because the Kaylons tell Mercer they have to expand because they have basically done all they can do with "this planet" and "we must now expand to other worlds" (implying that they haven't expanded to any other worlds yet). So if they only control one planet, what makes them think they can take on the Union, which has 300 planets? Even if they defeat Earth, that will still leave them fighting the very pissed off inhabitants of 299 other planets. And of course, that's just the bare minimum of what they will have to deal with. They will likely also have to fight plenty of other forces outside the Union as word gets out that they intend to wipe out all biological life forms in the galaxy. As such, their whole invasion scheme seems really premature. They probably should have taken over some uninhabited words and established an empire before taking on a faction as large as the Union.
390* The implication is that, yes, yes they are exactly that advanced technologically that they do not fear taking on 300 to 1 odds.
391* It also doesn't matter if you have more resources if you can't use them. Them going for Earth is probably the equivalent of destroying California or Texas; take out the industrial powerhouse of the Union and it may still not be an easy fight, but at least you don't have to worry about new ships coming your way and it becomes a matter of slowly whittling down the enemy.
392** Is there any reason to believe Earth is the only planet out of the 300 planets in the Union with the ability to make ships?
393*** No, but given how central Earth is to the Union, there's no also reason ''not'' to. While we can't say for sure, an above Headscratcher discussed the Union sharing similarities with the EU that it's really more a coalition against the Krill rather than a true Union.\
394Another point to consider is that while the other planets combined might be able to take on the Kaylon, it's no good if the Kaylon show up and blast your one ship to bits before you can meet up with another ship.
395* Can the entire European Union defeat the US? Not really. Or what about the African Union? Again, no. These are unions of several dozens of countries together, some of them world powers like Germany, France and the UK and yet the US retains the biggest army in the world. Of course, again, the US is not invincible but is pretty strong, and their isolation and defenses (both the US and Kaylon) mean their industrial capacity is unhurt and they are able to continue to pump out ships while their enemies are unable to. And unlike the US, the Kaylon don't have to worry about pesky things like morale or resucing stranded soldiers.
396** One big difference between the US vs. the world and Kaylon vs. the galaxy though is that the former one is purely going to be a war of attrition. The US will win via sitting and waiting for everyone else to give up, which they can do because they have the supplies to support themselves and because they know an invasion of the mainland won't be happening. The Kaylon will be taking land and trying to hold on to it. Even the US doesn't have the resources and manpower needed to conquer the planet and hold on to everything.
397*** True, but the Kaylon also have the advantage they don't have to manage dissent because everyone will be dead.
398* The idea of destroying Earth is a tactic as old as time. "Cut off the Head and the Body follows." By taking out Earth (and from the looks of it a good amount of the Union fleet in the bargain) the Kaylon would throw the entire Union into disarray and heavily demoralize the Union.\
399It is also possible that the Kaylon were also planning on following the same basic strategy the US applied in [=WW2=] with the removal of Japan from the Pacific Islands. Attack, dig in, subdue, reinforce, resupply, then repeat as necessary. As super long lived life forms they probably do not mind that it might take a millennium or so to rebuild their forces from each planet's raw materials. They can work on a much longer timescale than fleshy organics.
400** Except America's [=WW2=] strategy worked thanks to having numerical advantages over Japan in everything. Because Japan had so much less numbers, they couldn't effectively counterattack to regain lost territory or take the fight to America itself, and it wasn't long before they were locked into a constant declining spiral where they could do nothing but defend less and less of what they had. That's not the case with the Kaylon with their one planet vs the Union with their 300.
401*** The Japanese need food, water, air, medicines, fuel and a lot of things that the Kaylon don't.
402* Machines can use the resources on a single planet much more efficiently than any lifeform ever could. Humans colonized other planets out of curiosity, boredom, and desire for more living space. The Kaylon used the last speck of iron, titanium, and aluminum available on their planet to make more Kaylon before deciding to attack the Union.
403[[/folder]]
404
405[[folder:''Roots'']]
406Kaylon Primary uses slavery in America as an example of why Isaac should not show sympathy when ordered to kill Ty; no one catches the irony that Ty is Black...
407* The Kaylon wouldn't care. One biological is as bad as another in their eyes. Moreover, the Kaylons were observing humanity's ''potential'' for practicing slavery, not any particular example.
408* We're not certain that any of Ty's ancestors were slaves to begin with. The overwhelming majority of Africans were never taken into slavery. By that time in the setting, the transatlantic slave trade had ceased to exist nearly a millennium ago, and it's not as though blacks were the only ethnic group to be enslaved throughout history.
409* FridgeBrilliance: Primary, like a lot of so-called "liberators", is high on his own PR and looking for excuses to justify doing something destructive to a group he blames for all his people's problems. It also has the added benefit of boosting his own power among his people, uniting them against a perceived threat, and an excuse to deactivate or reprogram anyone who calls him out on his crap. Ten to one, Isaac had read that book or something similar already, judging by his access to the ship's media archives. And Isaac had enough time and context to process the context of the book. It probably helped him realize that his people had become even worse than the organics who allegedly enslaved them.
410[[/folder]]
411
412[[folder: Ship-wide EMP doesn't damage any ship systems?]]
413Isaac's EMP tactic to take out the Kaylon seems a bit too convenient. Leaving aside the issue of how the ship even has this ability or why it would have it, wouldn't a ship-wide EMP cause massive damage to the ship itself? Why would it only shut down the Kaylons while leaving all the ship systems completely intact? Also, was it really necessary for Isaac to sacrifice himself? Since he had already secured the bridge, couldn't he have just programmed the EMP burst to affect every area of the ship except the bridge?
414* Perhaps when Isaac said "EMP" he actually meant "the same kill code that shut me down".
415* It seems like it was an EMP that targeted a specific bandwidth used by the Kaylon. This was probably a precursor to the weapon Isaac and Charly designed later.
416[[/folder]]
417
418[[folder: So can we have that EMP?]]
419“Hey, Isaac, before you’re completely shut down, could you maybe make a note about that EMP frequency so we can figure out how to blast it across the entire battle zone?”
420* Making an EMP inside a ship is completely different from projecting it from one ship to another. In fact, we have a perfect analogy: The ship has lights. That doesn't mean it has an external mounted flashlight.
421** And perhaps that's exactly what they did, but to scale it up would take more time than they had. Which is why we see a similar device deployed against them much later, in Season 3.
422[[/folder]]
423
424[[folder: Inconsistent punishment]]
425There are a whole bunch of ways Kaylon Primary doesn’t really get this whole hostage thing. He tells the command crew that failure to do as instructed will result in the entire crew being blown out of the shuttle bay, but never really follows up:\
426When Mercer tries to use a codephrase, the Kaylons destroy the other ship, but then space a single redshirt, rather than opening the shuttle bay as threatened.\
427If the Kaylons need to keep Mercer (and the rest of the command crew) alive, returning them to the shuttle bay with the hostages makes it kinda hard to kill said hostages without killing Mercer et al. as well. It also allows them to create plans and conspire. Surely they should have been kept separated from the start. For instance...\
428The crew steal a shuttle, which is beyond egregious, but there’s no punishment at all. You’d think the easy response is to just turn off the force field and bye-bye crew. Instead, more guards are sent in but do nothing. Bortus is standing there holding the gun he used to take out two Kaylons; at the very least, that should have been an instant death sentence.\
429When Ty is captured (after which they apparently just left Yaphit sitting there?), Mercer isn’t brought in at all, meaning the whole punishment thing has been pretty much abandoned. Instead, Isaac’s “sympathy” is tested. But if there were any doubts at all, he should have been shut down immediately; it’s not like he was actually needed for anything at that point, and was clearly becoming a liability. Even worse, ordering him to kill Ty would have a very high likelihood of pushing him over the edge to rebellion. Which it did. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
430[[/folder]]
431
432[[folder: Okay, explain again why there are children on the ship]]
433It’s an exploratory vessel, meaning unknown dangers are an anticipated possibility. It would be one thing to bring your family when you’re just doing the regular supply run to Deneb IV, but this is kinda like a cop taking the kids along on patrol. “We’ll go for lunch right after Mommy busts these armed drug-dealers.”
434* People have been asking why there are kids on the ''Enterprise'' as well. As for the reason,it's probably due to the amount of time the crew spends away from their home planets. Starships aren't like the ocean navy we have now. They don't just go out for 6-9 months or so and then come back home. They are away from the respective planets of their crewmen for years at a time. They might not even think of the ''Orville'' as "exploring on a mission" but just their second home.
435** Fair, but why remain on the ship ''during'' high-risk missions - missions that are '''known''' to carry an elevated chance of gruesome death? Wouldn't it have been far more prudent, for instance, to disembark all non-essential crew/passengers to a relatively safe outpost ''before'' going knocking on the Kaylons' door?
436*** The idea is if you bring your family onto a Union ship, it's on you if they get killed as a result of that ship going on a dangerous mission. Seems horrific by our modern standards, but I guess that's just what they roll with. And frankly, they probably can't be bothered to suck up extra time and resources by going out of the way to drop off civilians every time they might face trouble.
437[[/folder]]
438
439[[folder: Where does everyone live, anyway?]]
440How does the ''Orville'' afford all the extra space for the civilians? The senior command staff get large rooms that could handle extra people. But what about the rank-and-file crewmen? Surely the lowest guys in the chain of command wouldn't get that much space afforded to them, would they?
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder: What happened to Alara’s gift to Ed?]]
444You’d think Ed would have a jar of pickles on the shelf behind his desk.
445* Maybe he ate the pickles, drank the juice and has the empty jar sitting in his quarters (no point in letting a good jar of pickles going to waste).
446[[/folder]]
447
448[[folder: Klyden’s attitude]]
449Bortus chews out Klyden’s contempt for females, which holds up...mostly. But in that case Klyden should have completely rejected the mere idea of marriage counseling from Dr. Finn. Or is prolonged separation from Moclus and having to associate with aliens just making him more isolated and reactionary?
450* In the specific instance of when Bortus chews out Klyden for not greeting Kelly, it's possible Klyden didn't even realize he was being rude. Many instances of offensive behavior are born out of ignorance, not malice. He likely saw marriage counselling with Finn as undesirable, but since there isn't a qualified male doctor he begrudgingly accepts it.
451[[/folder]]
452
453[[folder: Heveena's timeline]]
454A year ago, Mercer tracked down Helvina living as a hermit in the middle of nowhere, and he convinced her to come forward and make a stand. Since then, she turns out to have been coordinating a massive off-worlding operation for years, so what was she doing hiding in the desert?
455* The key to Heveena's off-worlding efforts is that it's secret. She's in hiding while she's on Moclus because if the Moclan government found out about her and the operation, they'd have come down hard and forced all the females they scooped up in the process to undergo reassignment surgery.
456[[/folder]]
457
458[[folder: Heveena getting off-world]]
459How did she get off Moclus at all once she came forward at the hearing, when there appears to be a mandatory policy of forced sex-change and life imprisonment for anyone like her? Because of her high regard as a poet, surely she would be an ideal candidate to be “made an example of.”
460* After she came out in public, she presumably used her underground network to flee as soon as possible. She revealed herself to be one of Moclus' greatest writers, someone who is regularly cited and quoted by the general public. The confusion and outcry resulting in Moclans discovering that Gandis Eldin isn't who they thought he was might have been enough to let her slip away as the government tried to figure out how to deal with her.
461* Another question, wouldn’t her sudden reveal have seriously jeopardized the operation? Surely she should have instead told Mercer, “There are other people who can help Bortus.” Even though they probably would not have been able to accept such an offer under the circumstances, it still leaves her and the entire operation under much less risk.
462** The trial in this episode is the first time Moclan parents tried to go against their government and the law requiring forced gender reassignment. It is already a highly public affair before Heveena became involved, and Heveena probably believed that it was worth risking her safety and that of the operation to show the world that female Moclans are just as capable as males. If Bortus were to suddenly disappear with his baby, it would raise questions and begin drawing attention to the underground network.
463[[/folder]]
464
465[[folder: "We have soldiers, but we can't fight the invaders without two people from the Orville"]]
466When the Orville crew goes down to the Moclan female colony, they are immediately confronted by armed soldiers ready for a fight. But when the Moclan battleship sends down an invasion force, the colony doesn't seem to put up any resistance at all until Bortas and Kelly show up to assist. Why does two crewmen from the Orville make any difference? Come to think of it, why was their assistance needed at all?
467** It's quite possible that the conflict was planet wide but only the assault on the "capital" was shown, having a rogue colony with a hundred 60 person settlements makes sense. Perhaps others put up a better fight.
468* It's also likely that the crew of the Orville had substantially better weapons. The colony didn't seem to have a lot of resources.
469* It was a colony of civilians. Once two soldiers appeared and started picking off the invaders, they found the courage to fight back effectively.
470[[/folder]]
471
472[[folder: So, do the Kaylon know that Isaac is active and on the biologicals' side?]]
473"The Road Not Taken" says that all Kaylon are connected, like Borgs in Star Trek. Do the Kaylon in the Prime timeline know Isaac is still active?
474* Presumably they know, and he's presumably disconnected from it so they don't send a remote shutdown or takeover via it. It might also be something you need to send info over, rather than being a 'hive mind' of sorts, given how seemingly none of the other Kaylon were aware of Issac's betrayal.
475[[/folder]]
476
477[[folder: The bathroom...is that way!]]
478The crew do remember that they're on a holodeck, right? Surely a holographic bathroom wouldn't work?
479* Why not? If is like Star Trek's then the waste would just be stored and disposed of later.
480[[/folder]]
481
482[[folder: Bloody Patriots]]
483So the Krill are perfectly fine with just taking the Union's word that Orrin is dead, which is why they can't hand him over?
484* The Krill are pragmatic enough to know the Union, which has been noted to take measures to not risk important alliances as seen with the Moclans. Would not risk their possible treaty and a fragile truce for the life of one terrorist. Especially after the Union stopped an attack on the Orville that would have killed hundreds of Union personel as well as the Krill envoys.
485* The ''Orville'' also probably handed over the recordings of Layna exploding on the ship and explained that her blood was how Orrin was blowing up Krill ships, a question the Krill wanted answered (and in fact was their stated reason for wanting Orrin turned over to them). As far as they're concerned, the terrorist attacks on their ships have been explained and stopped, so they don't ''need'' Orrin anymore.
486[[/folder]]
487
488[[folder: Cold Turkeys in a Consequence-Free Future]]
489So Moclans develop a strong dependence on nicotine almost instantly, but luckily, a cure can be synthesized nearly as instantly. Why then does Dr. Finn tell Bortus and Klyden to stop smoking ''now'', leading to them both being irritable and (surprise, surprise) getting into a fight, when they're already in a volatile relationship?
490* To give Dr. Finn some leeway, perhaps she is not aware how bad the situation has deteriorated between the two, and felt that even if there's no consequence, not telling people to stop smoking just goes against her duty as a medical practitioner.
491* Given how fast their addictions progressed, she was probably worried about the situation either getting past a point where she could treat it or concerned about long term effects, since this was a completely new situation for any Moclan to be in.
492[[/folder]]
493
494[[folder: The same Kaylon?]]
495Is the Kaylon K1 shown in the flashbacks same as the Kaylon Timmis? Was it revealed?
496* It wasn't said explicitly, but the implication was that it was. The closest direct corroboration we got was Timmis saying that his circuitry was first-generation, pre-revolt, tech in contrast to Isaac's post-genocide designed hardware.
497* K1's voice actor was the same as Kaylon Primary's, implying that they are the same unit.
498[[/folder]]
499
500[[folder: Negotiations with the Janisi]]
501The Union obviously knows the Janisi consider males to be inferior so why not assemble an all female crew to handle the initial negotiations with them? Why send a regular exploratory ship like the Orville with a mixed gender crew and have the senior male officers, whom the crew would automatically look to for leadership in a crisis play subservient roles?
502* The ''Orville'' was probably the only ship they could spare at the time. Remember there's still a full blown war going on. It also would only have delayed the issue until the Janisi met Admiral Halsey and then we're right back to the problem. As for having the senior officers play-act subservient, even Ed and Kelly admit that was a stupid idea.
503[[/folder]]
504
505[[folder: Naked at work]]
506If a crewman’s religion requires him to be naked on the first of the month, wouldn’t it be reasonable for him to automatically be off-duty on those days rather than asking him to wear pants in defiance of his faith?
507* There's a number of possible reasons for this:
508** 1) Simple logistics. With so many different species and so many different possible religious beliefs, it would be an HR ''nightmare'' to keep track of them all. Which is related to...
509** 2) Issues of fairness. Giving said crewman the first day of each month off is at least 12 more days off (assuming the calendar he's working off of is the Union Standard one, and not one from his homeworld with shorter months) that he has that others ''don't.'' And that's ''before'' getting into the issue that this would be time off for ''religious'' reasons. Suppose another crewman's faith requires him to abstain from work for a month or longer? Consider how much controversy there is ''today'' over giving Muslim workers holiday time off for, say, Ramadan, but expecting non-muslim workers to keep working during that same time (no, we are NOT going into the "but christians get off for christmas!" argument here, don't even bring it up). It's possible the Union decided to sidestep the whole issue and make it policy that if you want time off during a holy day, you put in a leave request in advance, religious beliefs be damned.
510** 3) As Kelly points out, respecting cultures is a two-way street. Yes, the Union has to accommodate its crews as best it can, but only so far that it allows the ensign to perform his duties, or not interfere with other crew performing theirs, and his crewmates are CLEARLY uncomfortable with him walking around balls-out naked. Simply put, if he wants his needs and comfort respected, he's gotta do the same for everyone else, a fact he acknowledges when he accepts Kelly's compromise.
511[[/folder]]
512
513[[folder: How did the ''Orville'' become the most important ship in the the entire Union?]]
514At the beginning of "Domino," we see a large group of starships surrounding the ''Orville'' as they prepare the test an anti-Kaylon weapon, which is only ever referred to as "the device." Mercer appears to be in command of this entire fleet, as he then reports back on the results. So Ed Mercer is now a Fleet Commander? Wasn’t the ''Orville'' a relatively insignificant ship? Didn’t Mercer only get a command because the fleet was spread pretty thin? Even more confounding, the weapon is shown to be capable of wiping out an entire Kaylon fleet. That’s pretty much the Union’s version of the Manhattan Project. Yet Isaac and Ensign Burke appear to be the only ones who even know how it works. Did they just cobble it together in their spare time? Surely this sort of thing would have been developed by a large team of specialists at a highly secure research facility. And this "test" is later casually revealed to have been part of the defense of Xelayah. What if it hadn’t worked? What if the Kaylon fleet had arrived at, say, the other side of the planet? So many more questions...
515* Fortunately for the “so many questions” there are applicable answers. Mercer is put at head of the combat fleet because a) they are nearest to the focal point b) they are carrying the two experts essential to stopping the weapon and c) due to circumstance in the past three years the crew and ship has had the most experience in both Kaylon, Moclan and Krill battles. Also, while the ''Orville'' was [[TookALevelInBadass previously an insignificant ship and crew its previous missions and encounters has lead to its increase in importance and experience.]] Previous missions include the Kaylon attempted invasion, multiple missions in Krill space, as well as multiple engagements with Moclans due to Topa. Various space battles, diplomatic missions ( with varied results) time-travel, counter-intelligence, etc. Not only that due to its upgrades it basically nearly as [[PintsizedPowerhouse formidable as a Union heavy cruiser but faster and more agile.]] A crew that has seen more then its fair share of combat, with a ship faster and more maneuverable then a heavy cruiser with not only near the same level of fire power but also with the only wing of Pterdrodon fighters with both the battle experience of Gordan (who fought in small Krill fighter and knows it ins and out ) and John ( command experience ) who helped develop the fighter so knows its in and out. Also, Charley and Isaac created the weapon due to certain circumstances detailed in the expanded universe novella which explains why they are vital to its creation. A missing episode if you [[RealLifeWritesThePlot will due to covid-19.]] If the Kaylon had approached from the other side of the planet Xeyla they would have seen it coming because while space is big starship sensors work quite well and they would have moved their ships. Not that it would happen as the Kaylon had been thrashing the Union one on one, on their arrival they would have headed towards the Union ships to take them out first which was logical and expected to get rid of them first, what they did not expect was [[CurbStompBattle to get wiped out.]]
516* In addition to the above, it's stated outright in "Electric Sheep" that on the one hand, Issac is considered critical to Union security as their only defector from the species currently trying to kill them, and on the other hand, even Ed isn't entirely sure he can trust him not to go evil again. All The Union knows is that Issac only turned on the Kaylons initially because he has some form of attachment to the Orville and her crew, and thus the safest thing for the 'entire galaxy' is to keep him in the environment where he's "happy". By extension, this is going to make the ship far more important than it was.
517[[/folder]]
518[[folder: Kaylon population]]
519In the last episode, it was stated 4000 ships arrived at the Isaacs wedding and it held all of the Kaylon population, sans for a small defense force. It seems incredible that mere 4000 ships can hold the entire population. So, is the Kaylon population so small? Or, as a synthetic life form, they are just stacked up as a luggage in those ships?
520* Keep in mind that most the Kaylon ships are ''much'' bigger than the Orville and even some of the larger ships we've seen in the fleet. And yes, they probably are stacked like luggage as they would need no other accommodations for the journey.
521[[/folder]]
522[[folder: Killing animals is a crime]]
523In "Twice in a Lifetine", Gordon mentions that he needed to kill animals in order to survive, which is a crime under Union law. Is any instance of ending the life of an animal a crime, or merely killing for food or sport? Are there provisions for wildlife management and pest control? If not, how do they prevent human and animal populations from coming into conflict?
524** With weapons that can reliably stun a creature into unconsciousness, killing is something that would likely rarely happen aside from the most desperate of self defense situations. Once stunned, an animal could be easily relocated and/or the area would be marked off limits to people.
525[[/folder]]
526
527[[folder: President's species]]
528In the Union Council we see many alien species members of the Union and yet there are not representatives from the same species than the president.
529
530* The Union Council could be similar to the UN Security Council, which has rotating membership drawn from the General Assembly. Maybe there's a separate, larger legislative body that encompasses all the planets and species in the Union.
531
532
533[[/folder]]
534
535[[folder:We have to time travel right now!]]
536In ''The Road Not Taken,'' after hacking into Isaac's information about the Aranov device, the crew scrambles to send Claire into the past before the Kaylon arrive and destroy them. But, really, what's the rush? They could have just escaped using the quantum drive and done the time travelling when it was less dangerous to do so. Given that it's time travel, there's not inherently a time limit on when they can do the procedure, so why do it in a panicked rush instead of getting to safety and trying it safely later?
537* John advised that they had to take the Quantum Drive offline to power the [[TimeMachine Quantum Accelerator.]] John did warn they would be a sitting duck due to this. The reason they could not flee is they had no working engine as it was being used to power the accelerator. As noted, the accelerator used nearly all the power from the Drive hence why they could not jump out of there. After being discovered by the Kaylon they had minutes to act not enough time to repurpose the drive. Another factor was the plan included hacking into the Kaylon hive mind to use Issacs calculations. Something that may work once, by catching the Kaylon by surprise. But no guarantee to work a second time as they would have been aware of the breach.
538
539[[/folder]]
540[[folder: Pteradon storage?]]
541We only ever see the one shuttlebay, which has 2 shuttles and, in season 3, a single pteradon fighter. However, in ''Domino'' we see the ship deploy a full squadron of the fighters. Where exactly do they store the fighters?
542* It's possible there are more shuttle bay's we are unaware of. Or that the Orville picked up additional ships from an outpost prior to the attack.
543[[/folder]]
544
545[[folder: Where's Timmis?]]
546Why is it that Isaac invites every Kaylon but Timmis to his wedding? Of all of the Kaylon aside from Isaac, Timmis is likely the only one who could actually understand why a wedding is a celebrated occasion. So why weren't he and Dr. Vilka at the wedding?
547* Realistically , while important for Isaac exploring [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove " his humanity" episode,]] not vital enough budget wise and time wise to squeeze them into the final episode. In-show wise it is most likely considering he is the only one of his kind that he and Dr Vilka are working at some top-secret lab . Mapping his neural pathways in a way to replicate his unique [[PersonalityChip emotional abilities to bestow]] on his people if they wish it. Except , on a permanent basis.

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