# The Orville Season 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966 "2018-12-31T06:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/301 "2019-01-26T01:52:41Z")
I’m not entirely sure how getting a piece of tooth confirmed their Rigorian(?) astronomical birthdays, although I guess that could be a huge coincidence. Especially for the Jiliac ones. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/302 "2019-01-26T01:53:16Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I’m not entirely sure how getting a piece of tooth confirmed their Rigorian(?) astronomical birthdays, although I guess that could be a huge coincidence. Especially for the Jiliac ones. It told them exactly how long ago they were born, that was clarified. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/303 "2019-01-26T01:55:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It told them exactly how long ago they were born, that was clarified. Ah, I missed that. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/304 "2019-01-26T02:17:58Z")
But even that doesn’t make any sense, unless the Union year is the same length as the alien year, which there’s no reason for it to be. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/305 "2019-01-26T02:20:04Z")
So now that the Rigorians have contact with the Union, a culture centuries more advanced, how does that effect their own technological development? The truth about the fake star is going to come out a lot sooner than later. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > I thought replacing Alara with a very similar Xelayan seemed like kind of a weird choice. We’ve already established that Alara is very unusual for her race - being interested in security… My WAG is that they replaced Alara with a Suspiciously Familiar Substitute is because they won’t want to have to tweak the character dynamics and have a bunch of story arcs planned and want to minimize how much rewriting they need to do. And an least it was established in the pilot that because so for Xelayans join the military they’re usually fast tracked into security positions at a young age. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/306 "2019-01-26T02:22:39Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > But even that doesn’t make any sense, unless the Union year is the same length as the alien year, which there’s no reason for it to be. I dont think they care. You were born 28 years, 6 months and 7 days ago, thereby you are a Capricorn or whatever. You know what would have been the coolest twist ever? That they were right. People on their world \*are \*controlled by the birth stars. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/307 "2019-01-26T02:38:14Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > So now that the Rigorians have contact with the Union, a culture centuries more advanced, how does that effect their own technological development? The truth about the fake star is going to come out a lot sooner than later. > > My WAG is that they replaced Alara with a Suspiciously Familiar Substitute is because they won’t want to have to tweak the character dynamics and have a bunch of story arcs planned and want to minimize how much rewriting they need to do. And an least it was established in the pilot that because so for Xelayans join the military they’re usually fast tracked into security positions at a young age. Although Alara was “slow” for a Xelayan …Talla is already established to possess greater intellect. Alara never would have thought of looking for the black hole. She was driven and brave and not slow in comparison to humans and many other races, but they need to show Talla being of more typical Xelayan intellectual capacity. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/308 "2019-01-26T02:39:44Z")
How would the aliens even have the technology to test off-world DNA? **DrDeth** , that would have been a great twist! ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/309 "2019-01-26T02:47:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I dont think they care. You were born 28 years, 6 months and 7 days ago, thereby you are a Capricorn or whatever. Imagine the new planet has a year length of 270 days. And the Union uses 365. Grayson and Bortus’ birthday are coming up on, say, Jan 25th and 30th. Jan 25th and 30th, whatever year they’re in, also coincidentally comes out to be during the month of the Jeliac. But it wouldn’t have last year, or the year before that, because the new planet’s year passes every 270 day, and the union every 365. The same date next year on the new planet calendar (forgot their name) would not be the same date on the union calendar. So when they get the tooth sample, it wouldn’t be “you were born 35 years ago next week” - it would be “you were born 47 years ago and 3 months ago”, thereby confirming that their birth was not in the period of the Jeliac. (this ignores the nonsense of their teeth dating technology somehow magically knowing how alien teeth will age) So for this plot to work, it would have to be a year where the month of Jeliac just happens to overlap a certain period on the Union calendar (their birthdays), which also happened to be the same overlap by coincidence when they were born, which is simply implausible if not specifically explained. The tooth dating, if it worked, very likely would confirm that they were not born under the jeliac. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/310 "2019-01-26T13:32:43Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > That mirror was placed awfully close to the planet. Ground-based telescopes would be able to easily tell that it wasn’t near as far away as it should be. I noticed that too. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > This is \*their \*world, the center of the universe. Of \*course \*the alignment of stars around their planet controls everything in the universe. On the other hand, perhaps this is the key - these guys don’t really care about what stars are or how far away they are. They just care about where they are in the sky, and that’s all their instruments are focused on checking. For all we know, they believe that stars are painted on a giant sphere, millions of light years away - which would also explain why they expected everyone else in the universe to have the same constellations. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Feels like they should’ve gone in another direction, but I guess they have a million “girl lifts a shuttle over her head” gags they feel the need to push forward through. I suspect they have a lot of scripts already written with Alara; now they can substitute the new one in with minimal effort. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Imagine the new planet has a year length of 270 days. And the Union uses 365. > > Grayson and Bortus’ birthday are coming up on, say, Jan 25th and 30th. Jan 25th and 30th, whatever year they’re in, also coincidentally comes out to be during the month of the Jeliac. But it wouldn’t have last year, or the year before that, because the new planet’s year passes every 270 day, and the union every 365. The same date next year on the new planet calendar (forgot their name) would not be the same date on the union calendar. > > So when they get the tooth sample, it wouldn’t be “you were born 35 years ago next week” - it would be “you were born 47 years ago and 3 months ago”, thereby confirming that their birth was not in the period of the Jeliac. > > (this ignores the nonsense of their teeth dating technology somehow magically knowing how alien teeth will age) > > So for this plot to work, it would have to be a year where the month of Jeliac just happens to overlap a certain period on the Union calendar (their birthdays), which also happened to be the same overlap by coincidence when they were born, which is simply implausible if not specifically explained. > > The tooth dating, if it worked, very likely would confirm that they were not born under the jeliac. Fanwank - they never checked Kelly and Bortus’ teeth. Why should they check? These Geliac scum boasted of their degenerate nature, openly, without shame. No one who was not a Geliac would do that. A tooth test is unnecessary. The quandary that the prisoner-parents faced was actually pretty moving. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/311 "2019-01-26T14:14:25Z")
I liked the premise but not the execution. I agree with most of the objections already posted. > [@ivylass](#): > > I guess I’m still stuck on Prime Directive. No reason to make contact after just a transmission. Wait until they’ve established faster than light travel. > > … This was one of the few things about the episode that didn’t bother me. Ideally it might be better to wait until they’ve developed FTL, but given the current circumstances, contact after radio broadcasts may be the lesser evil. Once a planet has made their presence known, they’re going to become a target for the Krill, so they’ll need protection or at least a warning. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/312 "2019-01-26T14:51:23Z")
Wasn’t one of the others who had their tooth tested a Wasanda, which is the sign of the leader? They didn’t match up who was who but it would have been funny if Ed was Wasanda. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/313 "2019-01-26T18:53:03Z")
This 5th episode saved season 2, it was far and away the best of this season. It had good themes of sci-fi like dealing with a culture whose values are totally different from your own and dealing with backwards views in less advanced societies (something we deal with here). Also I appreciate the fact that the planetary union promotes first contact rather than prohibits it. That makes much more sense to me. The ending involving the solar sail was kind of stupid though. Also what was the union policy on first contact last season when Grayson was being worshipped as a god? I don’t remember the details. I’ll have to rewatch it. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/314 "2019-01-26T20:13:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, they didnt. Member of crew imprisoned because of utterly odd laws (that somehow mirror current beliefs/behavior on present-day Earth), Captain can’t simply rescue him by force, so he uses some techno-babble solution to trick the justice system of the planet in question into releasing said crew member. Pretty damn close. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/315 "2019-01-26T22:49:22Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Member of crew imprisoned because of utterly odd laws (that somehow mirror current beliefs/behavior on present-day Earth), Captain can’t simply rescue him by force, so he uses some techno-babble solution to trick the justice system of the planet in question into releasing said crew member. Pretty damn close. Like Kirk for Scotty on Argelius, and Picard for Wesley on Rubicon III. Hell, that isn’t reusing a plot, that’s “It is now a tradition and law that we will use this plot.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/316 "2019-01-27T01:08:11Z")
Easily the worst episode of the show, in this season or last. Aside from the fact there was almost nothing funny and there was no character development (nothing stands out about the new security officer) they just totally blew a great premise. 1. The way they got Kelly and Bortus out was the worst kind of Star Trek-style deus-ex-technotrick. 2. The scene where Ed returns to ask for his people back was awful. He’s dealing with a new civilization, in a tense situation, and literally his only idea is “Your beliefs are wrong”? He had NO OTHER THINGS TO SAY? It never occurred to him to say “if you give me back my people they won’t be your problem?” Never occurred to him to point out Kelly and Bortus were born on planets with different astrologies and calendars? Never occurred to him, lthough forbidden from using force, to bluff using force, or bombard an unoccupied part of the planet as a threat? Ed Mercer is supposed to be awkward but he isn’t supposed to be stupid. 3. The prison camp breakout scene, where a number of guards were killed, just sat badly with me. The show’s supposed to be optimistic and stuff, and those men died for nothing; Kelly and Bortus had nowhere to escape to so they were basically killing those people out of spite. They weren’t Nazis, they were prison guards. That was gross and unnecessary and not in keeping with the spirit of the show. The way the Moclan sex change episode was handled was a thousand times better. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/317 "2019-01-27T01:33:36Z")
(going back to something much earlier in the thread) > [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I don’t understand the plot lines where the super intelligent robot is put in some subservient role despite showing better problem solving capabilities. > > How many times did Data outsmart the entire crew on the enterprise? Yet he was 4th in command I think. Watching ep05, I reflected on the fact that Isaac and Data probably punch _under_ their weight when it comes to thinking of solutions to the day’s problem. Because the solution often involves some cunning or “thinking outside the box”, which would be out of character for them if they did it too often. In-universe basically every advanced species should re-think whether they really are so advanced and whether they have anything to learn from the “dumb” humans who often solve problems that they could not. Of course IRL the gaps between aliens will likely be humungous, and a primitive species would basically have nothing to contribute to an advanced species. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/318 "2019-01-27T04:01:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You know what would have been the coolest twist ever? > > That they were right. People on their world \*are \*controlled by the birth stars. I was frankly hoping for that, where the prisoners in the camp were genuinely dangerous, instead of so passive that we got prison-movie clichés. If none of them have ever tried to break out, because they honestly believe they should be there, then there were truly a ridiculous number of armed guards (and why would there be “contraband” if the prisoners don’t have contact with the outside world nor are seeking it?) Also, Kelly and Bortus sure shot a lot of guys and there didn’t seem to be any repercussions from that. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/319 "2019-01-27T04:04:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Like Kirk for Scotty on Argelius, and Picard for Wesley on Rubicon III. > > Hell, that isn’t reusing a plot, that’s “It is now a tradition and law that we will use this plot.” Sure, but going to that well twice only 10 episodes apart is just lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966/320 "2019-01-27T08:27:58Z")
keep in mind this is a comedy with expensive CGI. SCI FI is secondary. I personally wouldn’t mind if it was SCI FY with comedy as a secondary plot structure but it is what it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-season-2/826966.md?page=17)