History Recap / TheOrvilleS1E04IfTheStarsShouldAppear

** The 1980 ''Literature/{{Star Trek|Novelverse}}'' novel ''The Galactic Whirlpool'' covers a similar plot as the episode.
** The episode is very similar to the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode “[[Recap/StarTrekS3E8ForTheWorldIsHollowAndIHaveTouchedTheSky For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky]].”
** It is also very similar to the initial concept of ''Series/TheStarlost'', including the idea of a massive bioship heading for a disaster as its inhabitants go about their lives, many unaware they are actually on a ship and in danger.

* YourMom: While Hamelac interrogates Kelly, she fires back with this insult.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted, at least at first, then played straight. Hamelac's goons beat the shit out of Kelly and torture her, and when the rescue team rescue her she's bruised, bloody and exhausted-looking, but she seems to recover fairly quickly from the ordeal, and suffers no permanent physical or psychological damage.

* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: When Isaac estimates the bio-ship at 790 km across, Kelly says that's about the size of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.

* MileLongShip: The bio-ship is roughly 790 kilometers long.

* WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut: Dr. Finn says this when Alara has been shot several times and is bleeding out. Unlike in the present day, this seems to make sense with 25th-century medicine; she uses a portable TractorBeam to pull the bullets back out with no trouble and then immediately repairs the damage.

* MadeOfIron: Alara takes three bullets to the lung and holds on for however long it takes Mercer's group to reach her. Finn credits her species' resilience for her survival, as a human would have bled out.

* MoodWhiplash: In between light-hearted and occasionally humorous sequences there is actual jeopardy for the crew as Alara is shot and Kelly is abducted, and Kelly witnesses a man being rather graphically beaten to death by a mob.

* SuperStrength: Isaac is stated to have this, with Alara admitting it's a toss up which of them is actually the strongest.

** The 1980 ''Franchise/{{Star Trek|Novelverse}}'' novel ''The Galactic Whirlpool'' covers a similar plot as the episode.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Played with, since they all do look up with some amount of surprise and wonder, but the passengers of a ship run by a theocratic government based on what they see being all that exists don't seem particularly disturbed when their world suddenly opens up to starry blackness for the first time in hundreds of years. From what they've been taught, the end times are upon them a la ''{{Literature/Nightfall}}''.

** The violent moment in which Alara is shot and Kelly pistol-whipped into unconsciousness and abducted occurs immediately after a Alara and Kelly make a comedic attempt at bluffing their way out of showing I.D.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: A DownplayedTrope example. Isaac claims that omnipotent creator figures are ridiculous and gives a explanation for the universe (which is a paraphrasing of Creator/StephenHawking's recently challenged idea of how the universe was created). However, none of the other characters comment on Isaac's disbelief or judge the local's beliefs other than their government's dictatorship. Doctor Finn also quotes a religious poem by Emerson.

** The rest of the landing party busting in to rescue Grayson from being tortured.

** Kelly gets knocked out and then beaten up quite severely, as well as injected with a torture drug, but more or less shrugs it off.

* OutOfOrder: This is the original second episode but was pushed back due to negative test audience reaction. This is clear from Yaphit's scene, where he first starts his flirtation with Dr. Finn despite it previously having gone on for a while. The opening scene with Bortus and Klyden was also clearly added later to make it fit in its new position, given the complete lack of follow-up. However, Alara references breaking up with a character introduced two episodes earlier.

* OutOfOrder: This is the original second episode but was pushed back due to negative test audience reaction. This is clear from Yaphit's scene, where he first starts his flirtation with Dr. Finn despite it previously having gone on for a while. The opening scene with Bortus and Klyden was also clearly added later to make it fit in its new position, given the complete lack of payoff.

The ''Orville'' encounters a massive generation ship which is adrift and on course for a star.

!!Tropes:

** The ''Orville'' itself plays this for a colony ship under attack from the Krill

* TheCameo: Creator/LiamNeeson appears briefly in a recording as the long dead Captain Doral of the generation ship, explaining its original mission and how it came to be adrift.

* GenerationShips: The bio-ship was intended to carry three generations of its people to the nearest habitable world. An ion storm disabled the engines and they were forced to live out their lives on it for 2,000 years.

* NeckLift: Alara does this to Hamelac, instantly convincing him to give them the antidote to the chemical causing Grayson's excrutiating pain.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: A DownplayedTrope example as while Isaac claims that omnipotent creator figures are ridiculous and gives a explanation for the universe (which is a paraphrasing of Creator/StephenHawking's recently challenged idea of how the universe was created). However, none of the other characters comment on Isaac's disbelief or judge the local's beliefs other than their government's dictatorship. Doctor Finn also quotes a religious poem by Emerson.

* RunningGag: Mercer comes across another door he can't open and asks Alara "to open this jar of pickles for me" again.

** The 1980 ''Star Trek'' novel ''The Galactic Whirlpool'' covers a similar plot as the episode.
** The episode is very similar to the TOS episode “For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky”.
** During interrogation, Grayson claims her [[Series/{{Friends}} friends]] are on a couch in a coffee shop in Soho named Central Perk. The original show said it was in Greenwich Village, according to the ''Friends'' wiki, but there was a real life 20th anniversary pop-up version back in 2014 on Lafeyette Street in Soho, exactly where Kelly says it is.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Played with, since they all do look up with some amount of surprise and wonder, but the passengers of a ship run by a theocratic government based on what they see being all that exists don't seem particularly disturbed when their world suddenly opens up to starry blackness for the first time in hundreds of years. From what they've been taught, the end times are upon them a la Literature/Nightfall.

* WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut: Dr. Finn says this when Alara has been shot several times and is bleeding out. She uses a portable TractorBeam to pull the bullets back out with no trouble and then immediately repairs the damage.

** During interrogation, Grayson claims her [[Series/{{Friends}} friends]] are on a couch in a coffee shop in Soho named Central Perk.

* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: The heart of the colony ship is an enormous open area made to look like a fertile valley. The sky has a series of lights that illuminate it constantly, though there was supposed to be a night cycle as well. [[spoiler: Mercer eventually finds the way to open the main viewing port, causing the first night in thousands of years and showing the inhabitants exactly where they are]].

* SuperStrength: Issac is stated to have this, with Alara admitting it's a toss up which of them is actually the strongest.

** Captain Mercer gives one to [[https://www.jw.org/en/ Jehovah's Witnesses]] when a door is slammed in his face.

** Captain Mercer gives one to [[jw.org Jehovah's Witnesses]] when a door is slammed in his face.