Spoilers The Orville: New Horizons Season 3 Discussion

[Mr. Adventure]

I haven’t been as crazy about The Orville as many here but that was quite epic and moving. Some impressive set pieces and costumes.

Can’t believe that cameo didn’t get spoiled for me which was a treat.

I thought the crush on Gordon was a bit superfluous at first but it was a good setup to that she is still a child and how she could be vulnerable to seeking attention from an adult looking to exploit.

 

[jackoverfull]

I think the guy who was torturing Topa was still alive

he was, however I wonder how much damage he will be able to do, given he got a good hit of that torture device which could lead to permanent brain damage.

I thought the crush on Gordon was a bit superfluous at first but it was a good setup to that she is still a child and how she could be vulnerable to seeking attention from an adult looking to exploit

Indeed. Food for thought: as grown up as she appear, Topa isn’t even 3 yet. If she keeps growing at this rate in a few years she’ll look older than Malloy!

 

[Jayson1]

Makes you wonder just how old Bortus is. Since they grow fast I assume they reach puberty faster as well meaning Bortus could be almost 100 years old maybe. Never occurred to me the Moclans might be like the Ocampa from Star trek but without the part of dying when they reach the age of 9 or 10.

 

[FPAlpha]

Just a brilliant episode - even the Dolly Parton stuff, which I imagine has more cultural impact (whether for laughs or otherwise) on the other side of the pond to the UK although it was still appreciated as I am at least familiar with her work. I just checked and they actually got her for the episode (according to Wiki) which shows how much cache the series has now also

I figure it wasn't that hard to get her to do the part. Dolly Parton is quite a social activist and has been for decades and the way she was written into the show is completely up her alley. I don't know if Seth had talked with her to appear in the show at some point and written the scenes for it or if he took a shot and it worked out. In any case it was the scene for me in the episode because it was just so well executed.

 

[Weyoun 251]

I figure it wasn't that hard to get her to do the part. Dolly Parton is quite a social activist and has been for decades and the way she was written into the show is completely up her alley. I don't know if Seth had talked with her to appear in the show at some point and written the scenes for it or if he took a shot and it worked out. In any case it was the scene for me in the episode because it was just so well executed.

It makes sense considering she is the icon for Herveena that she would be active in the real world.

The delivery of the lines with that half wink but still playing them straight was a delight

 

[Jayson1]

He must have known her since last season. I mean she must have had give him permission to use 9 to 5 though I guess it's possible they would involve lawyers or such for that.

 

[Weyoun 251]

He must have known her since last season. I mean she must have had give him permission to use 9 to 5 though I guess it's possible they would involve lawyers or such for that.

Licensing music is a lawyer's problem usually (sometimes not even that - depending on the terms you could literally just pay a fee) unless she agreed exceptionally controlled terms with the label over her back catalogue but I believe it to be very rare.

Could be wrong though

 

[Commander Troi]

I'm glad other people had questions about Moclan reproduction too, and the ratio of m/f, but I find myself wondering about the history. Sexual dimorphism exists because both are usually required to reproduce, so if Moclan males can have kids without females, can Moclan females do the same? Did the Moclan change their genome at some point in their past?

We don't need to know, but my curiosity was peaked.

Anyway, great episode. The actor playing Topa is quite amazing.

 

[The Wormhole]

Makes you wonder just how old Bortus is.

I'm of the personal opinion that Bortus is only in his early twenties, which amusingly in the first season could have made him chronologically younger than Alara, despite being more mature than her.

He must have known her since last season. I mean she must have had give him permission to use 9 to 5 though I guess it's possible they would involve lawyers or such for that.

Often times you don't need the permission of the singer to use their song, but rather the record label which produced the album the song was on.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Half way through the season and as much as I am really enjoying it the hour long episodes are a bit of a drag. Especially for someone like me who only watches TV before bed

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I'm glad other people had questions about Moclan reproduction too, and the ratio of m/f, but I find myself wondering about the history. Sexual dimorphism exists because both are usually required to reproduce, so if Moclan males can have kids without females, can Moclan females do the same? Did the Moclan change their genome at some point in their past?

We don't need to know, but my curiosity was peaked.

Anyway, great episode. The actor playing Topa is quite amazing.

It may very well be, that all Moclans have hermaphroditic characteristics, but gendered phenotypes.
At some point in their history both gender phenotypes were equally distributed in the population, but the male expressing ones eventually started to dominate by getting rid of female expressing ones.
We know they are not like earth mammalians but lay eggs, so they don't need a complicated gestation system inside their body taking up valuable real estate. They should have plenty of room for both reproductive organs.
For all we know in a pinch they could self fertilize and only partner up for genetic diversity (which would be ironic for the Moclans...)

edit:
While reading up on this a little bit before posting, I found out that humans are expected to lose the Y chromosome to genetic drift over the next 10 million years or so. Quite interesting, something I may need to investigate further.

 

[Commander Troi]

It may very well be, that all Moclans have hermaphroditic characteristics, but gendered phenotypes.
At some point in their history both gender phenotypes were equally distributed in the population, but the male expressing ones eventually started to dominate by getting rid of female expressing ones.
We know they are not like earth mammalians but lay eggs, so they don't need a complicated gestation system inside their body taking up valuable real estate. They should have plenty of room for both reproductive organs.
For all we know in a pinch they could self fertilize and only partner up for genetic diversity (which would be ironic for the Moclans...)

edit:
While reading up on this a little bit before posting, I found out that humans are expected to lose the Y chromosome to genetic drift over the next 10 million years or so. Quite interesting, something I may need to investigate further.

Interesting thoughts, thanks!

 

[Turtletrekker]

More major developments this week. Feeling more and more like they are trying to wrap up as many narrative threads as they can this season.

Losing Charly hurt, but not as much as losing Hemmer did. I did not see Admiral Perry's betrayal coming, but I did see his fate coming a mile away.

 

[Vince A]

Best episode of a series I've seen in years. If there was a poll this would be a 10 out of 10.

The only negative I have is that I wish it would have been released in theaters. Some of those shots were just begging to be seen blown up on a big screen.

 

[Vince A]

Losing Charly hurt, but not as much as losing Hemmer did. I did not see Admiral Perry's betrayal coming, but I did see his fate coming a mile away.

Agreed.

Losing Ted Danson kind of sucks, but hopefully this means more screen time for Kelly Hu if we get future seasons.

 

[tomalak301]

I started getting emotional during Issac's eulogy of Charley. I liked her character arc this season and I was more shocked she was killed then Admiral Parry was killed. I wonder what they are going to do next week because this felt like a finale, maybe even a series finale.

That action sequence was sensational. It reminded me a lot of Star Wars, but it had it's own thing and it was exciting.

 

[firehawk12]

Wow I'm not sure how to react to the episode. It was like they took the best parts of TNG and DS9 arcs and mashed them together. lol

 

[thribs]

That was a very sad episode. I can’t believe they killed Becker.
I hope for the final episode we get something new, and not another continuation.

 

[1987SpaceGuy]

I'm very happy they are wrapping up arcs, going for big swings, character and story wise.

I liked this episode, it was refreshing to have actual stakes (loosing characters) and when Isaac spoke about Charly it was very moving.

the gorgeous battle and especially squadron sequences were too long for my taste however.

I'd like them to end this season (series?) with no cliff hangers or big open threads whether that is "happy ending/flash forwarding" or just open ended kind of "and the adventures continue".

 

[Romulan_spy]

More major developments this week. Feeling more and more like they are trying to wrap up as many narrative threads as they can this season.

I think Seth said in an interview that he wanted to wrap up the Kaylon and Krill arcs this season because he does not know if The Orville will get renewed or not. He does not want to leave fans with unresolved arcs if the show gets cancelled.

Overall, this ep was amazing. It had great action. WOW. That space battle was epic. It sort of reminded me of the battle in DS9's Sacrifice of Angels where you have this big battle but our characters need to get through to some objective to save the day.

The battle with the fighters was very Star Wars but in a good way. Obviously, it had shades of the death star canyon run.

This episode also had big stakes with a weapon that can take out the Kaylon, the Krill and the Moclan in an alliance, a Union admiral committing treason, and finally the Kaylon becoming allies of the Union.

And a very emotional ending. Charley had a great character arc from hating Isaac to coming around and finally sacrificing herself to save the Kaylon. And Isaac's eulogy made me cry.