The Orville: Gendel 3, five years later

The Orville S3 EP 10

[raf]

Reminds me of a comic I saw once where a guy is talking to an alien on a secret survey mission of Earth. The guy asks why the aliens haven't come forward publicly, and the alien tells him that humans first have to prove themselves mature enough to handle being a nuclear-capable society. The guy asks what the aliens will do to Earth if they _don't_ prove themselves mature enough, and the alien replies _"Oh, WE don't have to do anything at all. That problem takes care of itself."_

[misedout]

I love that this puts a real-ish face to ignoring the "Prime Directive."

[garethspotfur]

kelly did this just right. she didn't yell, or berate. she just calmly showed why giving her people advanced tech was a noble but bad idea.

[martinb.]

"As a sign of collaboration and good will between our two species, we offered them a device capable of creating vast amounts of unlimited energy. We naively thought it would help them solve problems such as disease and poverty, but they used it to build weapons of mass destruction and make war. Bombs fell from the skies and scorched the earth, and in just one rotation of their world it had become a lifeless husk."

[Anynom]

Great work here and reminds me of a classic "Peanuts" line of Lucy: "There has never been more harm done than by those who thought they were doing the right thing. Five cents please."

[Alernategem]

The Orville is not just a Star Trek parody, it is the spiritual successor to it.

[joshuasmith]

I love that this is the best explanation of Star Trek's Prime Directive I've ever seen.

[mikemaoudj]

If they aren’t renewing The Orville for season 4 and this was the last episode ever, it was an amazing last episode!! Let’s hope they decide to make more Orville tho

[ffplayer]

"The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules; it is a philosophy… and a very correct one. History has proved again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous." - Picard

[briguy]

"Beverly, the Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proved again and again, that whenever mankind interferes with a less-developed civilization - no matter how well-intentioned that interference may be - the results are invariably disastrous." Picard to Dr. Crusher in the turbolift in TNG episode "Symbiosis".

But this scene from the Orville was far more powerful.

[GopherBaroque]

In less than 4 minutes, The Orville explained Star Trek's Prime Directive (General Order One) better than any Star Trek episode ever did. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds came close in episode one, but that only explained what happened to Earth with nuclear power, not interfering with another less developed culture. And, yes, before you ask, I have watch every single (canon) Star Trek episode and movie there is.

[MM]

Nice little exposition on the Prime Directive and the perils of First Contact.

[Latinkuro]

Genius moments like these is what makes Orville so damn good.

[tcroshon]

Or like the old saying:"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

[scottwilkins]

This was such a great show. So happy they took the Roddenberry ideals and kept them to heart.

[toddsmitts]

In retrospect, I'm surprised Kelly didn't bring up the fact that one planet created an entire religion around her, leading to centuries of war and division, all because she helped a little girl.

[rahn]

The Orville gave us what Star Trek didn't: An actual good reason for the "Prime Directive". Star Trek never really did present their Prime Directive very well, often it was an obstacle preventing the crew from taking the most obvious of choices in a situation; with most times the consequences of their actions would obviously be positive for all involved. That their takeaway lesson most times was "Rules were meant to be broken", but the Orville's version was a reminder to the Union "We destroyed an entire race of people with our good intentions."

[waveman]

this was the best season yet, The Orville has hit its stride and found its legs maturing into a fantastic show, this is how Star Trek should have been.

[vizpop]

And truth is, Humanity would do exactly the same if we were ever in the same situation, as the people of Gendel 3.

[riogrande]

I didn't watch Orville until earlier this year, . I really liked it and hope it gets renewed for more seasons!