Category: Orville, The

The Orville answers a distress call from a fellow Planetary Union ship, but fears of a Krill attack pale in Captain Ed Mercer’s mind to the revelation that his parents are aboard the victimized vessel. Ed and Kelly take a shuttle over to the ship, leaving Alara in command. (Bortus is on leave, hatching an egg.) But the attacked ship suddenly fades away, replaced by a buoy capable of generating a holographic image of that ship. Ed and Kelly’s molecules have been transmitted into Calivon space, a civilization not exactly on friendly terms with the Union, where they’re horrified to find they’ve been trapped in a replica of their old apartment, and are even more horrified to learn that this replica is part of a vast zoo of imprisoned living creatures with little hope of escape. In over her head, Alara receives orders from a Union Admiral: give up the search for the Orville’s Captain and First Officer, and return to Earth. She has to weigh the damage to her career against the damage to her standing among the crew as she decides whether to obey or disobey those orders.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Jeffrey Tambor (Ben Mercer), Holland Taylor (Jeannie Mercer), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Ron Canada (Admiral Tucker), Brett Rickaby (Lurenek), J.D. Cullum (Calivon Zoo Administrator), Jerry O’Donnell (Bleriot Captain), Andrew Bering (Technician Jennings), Mike Gray (Ensign Parker), Alaina Fleming (Technician Reed), Jeremy Guskin (Furry Alien), Maxwell Hurlburt (Greenish Alien), George Tsai (Shuttle Bay Officer #1), Ryan Dietz (Calivon Official #1), Shannon McClung (Calivon Official #2), Sarah Buehler (Calivon Mother), Armen Nahapetian (Calivon Child)

Notes: Marvin V. Rush, former director of photography on the 1990s Star Trek spinoffs, joins The Orville in the same capacity with this episode, as does ’90s Trek camera operator Joe Chess. Guest stars Ron Canada and J.D. Cullum have both appeared on some of those Trek spinoffs: Canada guest starred on TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager (as well as a Babylon 5 guest shot), while Cullum appeared as Toral, bastard son of Duras, in TNG’s Redemption Part I and Part II in 1991. And of course, director Robert Duncan McNeill is an old hand at space travel, having played Lt. Tom Paris in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager before moving on to a career of producing and directing.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Bortus and his partner, Klyden, are dismayed when their egg hatches, revealing a true rarity: a female Moclan baby. The traditions of their world demand that the baby’s gender be surgically altered to male, but Dr. Finn refuses to perform the operation on ethical grounds. Bortus tries to convince Captain Mercer to override Dr. Finn’s decision, but he too refuses. With his shipmates continually trying to change his mind about the operation (which Bortus reads as them trying to force their cultures’ values on him), Bortus feels he has no choice but to contact the Moclan homeworld and ask for assistance. Shortly before that assistance arrives in the form of a large (and armed) Moclan ship, Malloy and LaMarr finally get through to Bortus by introducing him to the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. With his own people now present and ready to take charge of the situation, Bortus now agrees that the operation is unethical…and finds that his whole world (including Klyden) is now against him.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Brannon Braga
music by Joel McNeely

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Deobia Oparei (Captain Vorak), David Barrera (Vasquez), Rena Owen (Heveena), Lamont Thompson (Kaybrak), Jonathan Adams (Moclan Arbitrator), Antonio D. Charity (Advocate Kagus), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), D. Elliot Woods (Moclan Council Foreman), Rico E. Anderson (Moclan Doctor), Julius Sharpe (Reptilian Alien)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A routine – actually, boring – star-mapping mission is interrupted by the discovery of a massive artificial structure in space, adrift but falling into the gravity well of a nearby star. Ed, Kelly, Dr. Finn, Alara and Isaac board the ship, and are left speechless by its sheer scale. Artificial walkways lead to a naturalistic setting with human inhabitants, and Ed quickly learns that they have no idea where they really are, or what fate awaits them. Word of the arrival of the strangely-dressed people from the Orville spreads, and Kelly and Alara are accosted by thuggish uniformed security guards; Kelly is taken into custody and interrogated, while Alara is shot and left for dead. Ed, Dr. Finn and Isaac are introduced to a group of quiet revolutionaries, who do believe that there’s more out there than the religious rule of law that keeps most of the humans from questioning anything about their existence. Ed is determined to reveal the truth to everyone, even if it means their primitive society will fall into disarray.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by James L. Conway
music by Joel McNeely

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Robert Knepper (Hamelac), James Morrison (Kemka), Max Burkholder (Tomilin), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Liam Neeson (Jahavus Dorahl), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Julie Mitchell (Woman), Kane Lieu (Security Station Officer), Casey Sander (Druyan Captain), David Hutchison (Alien Man), Michael Duisenberg (Uniformed Man #1), Derek Graf (Uniformed Man #2), Eddie Davenport (Guard #1), Justice Hedenberg (Dissident)

Notes: This episode of The Orville, like most others, has just a few connections to classic sci-fi. Uncredited on screen but unmistakable once he begins speaking, Liam Neeson plays the generational ship’s captain. Though he’s now associated with present-day action thrillers, Neeson has played characters who, to cite just one example, tried to restore peace and justice to the galaxy. James L. Conway is a veteran director of the Star Trek franchise, with his work stretching from the first season of TNG to one of the final episodes of Enterprise, with frequent stops at Deep Space Nine and Voyager along the way. Robert Knepper also appeared on TNG as well as Voyager. James Morrison was a regular as Col. McQueen on Fox’s ’90s space opera Space: Above And Beyond. In homages more scientific than fictional, the colony ship Druyan is named after Ann Druyan, wife of the late Carl Sagan and co-writer of both the original and modern iterations of the TV series Cosmos. (Seth MacFarlane, incidentally, produced the 21st century revival; the original series premiered exactly 37 years to the day before this episode of The Orville.) And finally, the concept of a generational ship falling toward a star, its inhabitants blissfully unaware that they’re aboard a space vessel, complete with a religion that forbids knowledge of their true whereabouts, bears more than a passing resemblance to the plot of the pilot episode of Harlan Ellison’s brilliantly conceived (but crappily produced) early 1970s sci-fi series, The Starlost.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Orville receives a garbled distress call, apparently from a passing comet on a death dive into a nearby star. Ed leads a shuttle mission to rescue the sender of the distress call, the sole occupant of a ship crashed on the comet’s surface, but the close proximity of the star nearly makes it a one-way trip. He returns to the Orville with Pria Levesque, the captain of the crashed mining ship, though something about her story bothers Kelly. A check of the doomed ship’s manifest reveals no one aboard named Pria, but Ed is unconvinced that anything’s wrong. By the time enough evidence piles up to convince Ed otherwise, it’s too late – Pria is in control of the Orville.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Charlize Theron (Captain Pria Levesque), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice)

Notes: For the second time, a Star Trek veteran is behind the camera for an episode of The Orville (former Star Trek: The Next Generation star-turned-director Jonathan “Riker” Frakes), and the show boasts an A-list movie actor, though unlike Liam Neeson’s appearance earlier, Charlize Theron’s appearance was heavily promoted in the week before air.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

For the third time in a month, a far-flung Union colony is under Krill attack, and the Orville answers the distress call despite being badly outgunned by the Krill cruiser it finds itself facing. But thanks to a desperate last-ditch maneuver ordered by Captain Mercer, not only does the Orville emerge victorious, but it retrieves an intact Krill shuttle from the resulting wreckage, giving Union engineers a unique chance to analyze Krill technology. But a Union admiral has other plans for the shuttle: Mercer and helmsman Gordon Malloy will assume Krill disguise and infiltrate the nearest Krill cruiser, trying to obtain a copy of the Krill’s holy book, as their religion dictates their drive for war. The infiltration goes smoothly enough, but when Mercer and Malloy discover that this cruiser is on a mission to finish the job left undone by the ship destroyed by the Orville, things become much deadlier.

written by David A. Goodman
directed by Jon Cassar
music by Joel McNeely

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Kelly Hu (Admiral Ozawa), Michaela McManus (Teleya), Dylan Kenin (Captain Haros), James Horan (Sazeron), Michael Dempsey (Mining Chief Harry Leidecker), Makabe Ganey (Coja), Gabriella Graves (Krill Girl Student), Caleb Brown (Krill Boy Student), Tim Neff (Krill Soldier), Brandon Melendy (Krill Guard), Jordan Lane Shappell (Krill Helmsman), Fred Tatasciore (Krill Voice)

Notes: James Horan is the latest Star Trek veteran drafted back into the service of The Orville, having appeared in TNG (Suspicions, Descent Part II), DS9 (In Purgatory’s Shadow), Voyager (Fair Trade), and throughout the run of Enterprise as the “Humanoid Figure” issuing orders from the future to Silik from the pilot episode forward.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Orville is assigned to retrieve a team of undercover Union cultural anthropologists from the earthlike world Sargus IV; the team has been out of contact for some time. Kelly, Alara, Dr. Finn and navigator Lt. John LaMarr arrive on Sargus IV and obtain badges, mandated by law, allowing anyone to “upvote” or “downvote” them. LaMarr makes the mistake of doing a somewhat lewd dance near a statue of a historical figure held in high regard. Citizens nearby capture video of this with their phones and upload it to the “Master Feed”, a constant stream of information, and his badge begins registering hundreds of thousands of downvotes. At one million downvotes, LaMarr is arrested and forced to mount an “apology tour”, appearing on live broadcasts to apologize for his actions in the hopes that sympathetic viewers will upvote him out of trouble. At ten million downvotes, however, a citizen is “corrected” via lobotomy. Dr. Finn discovers that this was the fate of the only surviving anthropologist – and LaMarr’s lack of social graces don’t promise much of a future for him.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Tucker Gates
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Giorgia Whigham (Lysella), Steven Culp (Willks), Ron Canada (Admiral Tucker), Catherine Shu (Hoshel), John Viener (Man Spilling Coffee), Roy Abramsohn (Morning Host), Loren Lester (Lewis), Barry Livingston (Tom), Mike Estes (Guard #1), Michael Shen (Man in Suit), Heather Brooker (Mother), London Fuller (Little Girl #1), Gwen Van Dam (Grandmother), Alec Manley Wilson (Man #1), Matthew Spencer (Man #2), Curtis Kingsley (Man #3), Denell Johnson (Man #4), Danny Smith (Vendor), Merrick McCartha (Scientist), Matt Kaminsky (Interviewer), Penny Peyser (Customer), Jesse Egan (Pedestrian), Corey Mendell Parker (Policeman #1), Travis Goodman (Detention Guard), Anne Judson-Yeager (Carris), Kimberly Fox (Semmla), Daniel Robaire (Man in Cap)

Notes: There are some similarities between this episode of The Orville and a 1985 Doctor Who story, Vengeance On Varos, which also involved up or down votes, though only for the governor of a human colony each time he proposed changes to the law. The difference between 1985 and 2017 is, of course, the presence of omni-present (and always-judgemental) social media. Steven Culp is the latest Star Trek veteran to transfer to the Orville; he played the recurring role of MACO leader Major Hayes in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Dr. Finn and her two sons, Ty and Marcus, depart the Orville aboard a shuttle bound for a vacation planet. A last-minute pilot replacement leaves Dr. Finn with Isaac in the pilot’s chair rather than Gordon, and Isaac confesses complete bewilderment about the seemingly disrespectful behavior of the Finn children. But there are bigger problems than brothers picking on each other: the shuttle falls through a rift in space, suffering significant damage along the way. As the shuttle plummets through the sky of a habitable planet, Isaac tries to bring it in for a controlled landing while Dr. Finn tries to restore auxiliary power in the rear section of the shuttle, which is torn off by the shuttle’s rough landing with her inside. Dr. Finn, still unconscious, is dragged away by a being named Drogen, who seems to want to keep her prisoner, and won’t give in to her demands to find her children. Isaac finds himself trying to ride herd over the feuding Finn brothers, gather resources the power up the shuttle wreckage enough to send a distress call, and fending off a relentless horde of cannibals.

written by Brannon Braga & Andre Bormanis
directed by Brannon Braga
music by Joel McNeely

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Brian Thompson (Drogen), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Brett Easton (Feral Alien Man), Heidi Pascoe (Feral Alien Woman), Brandon Melendy (Feral Alien #5)

Notes: Guest star Brian Thompson is the latest Star Trek veteran to appear in the Orville; his lengthy list of genre credits includes The Terminator, Otherworld, Knight Rider, Star Trek: The Next Generation (A Matter Of Honor), Alien Nation, Superboy, two episodes of Deep Space Nine, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Seven Days, the Babylon 5 spinoff Crusade, The X-Files, and episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Dr. Finn’s children were neither seen nor mentioned prior to this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Karaoke night aboard the Orville is somewhat mercifully interrupted by new orders from Admiral Halsey: the Navarian/Bruidian conflict over the planet Lopovia – and its ruins that may indicate ancient settlement by either race, depending on DNA analysis – is coming to a head. Mercer is ordered to proceed to Lopovia and consult with a Planetary Union archaeologist, who will announce the results to ambassadors from both species immediately…in the hopes that the Union’s presence will keep a full-scale war from instantly breaking out over Lopovia. But a smaller-scale war seems inevitable when the arachaeologist turned out to be Darulio, the alien who ended Mercer’s marriage to Commander Grayson. Despite the palpable tension of sitting in the middle of a potential war zone, however, members of the crew begin acting strangely: after initially being enraged at Darulio’s presence, Mercer finds himself inexplicably attracted to his ex-wife’s former lover. Dr. Finn finally gives in to Yaphit’s advances. All of the strange behavior coincides with Darulio’s arrival, and may be related to his pheremones. As one of very few members of the Orville’s crew unaffected by these strange urges, Alara decides Darulio may be the key to preventing a war.

written by Liz Helden
directed by Jamie Babbit
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Rob Lowe (Darulio), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), J. Paul Boehmer (Navarian Ambassador), Derek Mears (Bruidian Ambassador), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Mike Henry (Dann), Ralph Garman (Kanoot), Stevens Gaston (Ensign Brooks), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), Alexander Bedria (voice from Comm)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A bumpy ride through an ion storm turns into a deadly ride through an ion storm. When part of the roof of the engine room collapses, Alara is asked to help lift pieces of debris off of trapped crewmates. When a fire erupts in front of her, she hesistates, and one of the engineers dies. She begins questioning her own abilities, even to the point of trying to hand Captain Mercer her resignation. She contacts her parents to ask if she suffered any trauma at a very young age due to a fire, and begins exploring what other fears might stop her in her tracks. But her attempts to scare herself mean that Alara will have to take an even riskier course of action that could well mean watching all of her friends and crewmates die before her eyes.

written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
directed by Brannon Braga
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Molly Hagan (Drenala Kitan), Robert Picardo (Ildis Kitan), Tim Mikulecky (Lt. Harrison Payne), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Seth Austin (Clown)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Chief Newton is preparing to retire from the service, and even as the farewell party commences, Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson are already turning their attention to finding a replacement for the chief engineer. A casual glance through crew records reveals something surprising: Lt. LaMarr, the ship’s navigator, has extensive engineering experience that more than meets the qualifications for the job… and yet the crew knows him for his largely lowbrow antics. When this is brought to Mercer’s attention, he’s surprised as well, but favors giving Yaphit the job. Grayson insists on giving LaMarr a fair shot…and then accidentally drops a hint that she also insisted that Mercer himself get a promotion to Captain. As LaMarr tries to navigate his way through the unfamiliar space of a departmental command position, Mercer begins questioning if he’s the right person to be sitting in the captain’s chair. Amidst all this self-doubt, an anomaly lurks in nearby space whose strange nature could flatten the Orville and her crew.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Kelly Cronin
music by Andrew Cottee

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Norm MacDonald (Yaphit), Mike Henry (Dann), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Paul Vogt (Horbalak Captain), Michael J. Sielaff (Palovis), Dan J. Evans (Engineer #1), Erica Mathlin (Engineer #2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Bortus is the last member of the Orville’s crew that Captain Mercer would expect to have attendance problems, and yet the normally stoic Moclan is asking to leave nearly every shift early…and is arriving in his quarters very late every evening. When Bortus’ spouse, Klyden, attempts to kill him – the Moclan method of initiating a divorce – Dr. Finn is able to save Bortus’ life, over his protests. Mercer has Klyden thrown into the brig and finally begins to demand answers, but since the incident has disrupted routine duties aboard a Union ship, the captain refuses to acknowledge the lethal divorce proceedings, instead “sentencing” Bortus and Klyden to couples counseling. But Bortus still has a secret – he’s been using the holographic simulator aboard the Orville to satisfy some base desires…and his appetite for doing so may put the entire ship, and a high-stakes rescue mission, in extreme danger.

written by Wellesley Wild
directed by Kevin Hooks
music by John Debney

Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Kelly Hu (), Lesley Fera (), Mike Henry (Dann), Michael C. Mahon (Altox), Darren Dupree Washington (Simulated Moclan), Jude B. Lanston (Moclan Prison Guard), Veronica Matheu (Nyxian Girl), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), Joseph Johnson (Moclan Doctor), Michael James Lazar (Moclan #1), Torrance Jordan (Moclan #2), Aaron McPherson (Crew Member)

LogBook entry by Earl Green