kelly--grayson

[kelly--grayson]

I used to say things like ‘find my soulmate.’ Well, guess what? You don’t find soulmates. You become soulmates by growing together.

THE ORVILLE: Ed + Kelly + moments

[kelly--grayson]

You know what I want to see more of in sci fi? Aliens who deviate from their species’ “norm.”

Like, queer aliens, but queer in alien terms; like, aliens whose typical family unit is a trio comprised of three different gendersexes, but sometimes aliens will form trios that only have two different gendersexes, and they still produce viable offspring, but only of the two parent gendersexes, and that carries a social stigma because each gendersex is supposed to play a separate role in the family unit. 

Aliens for whom it is the norm to change gendersex upon reaching a certain age, but sometimes (possibly due to a genetic anomaly) it doesn’t happen, so those aliens either a) continue to present as a juvenile gender despite being a stage 2 adult, b) present as a stage 2 adult despite their physical characteristics, or c) undergo medical procedures to change their body artificially, though the technology in that area is still imperfect.

Or disabled aliens who have prosthetic tails/fins/wings/tentacles/etc. Aquatic aliens who can’t hold their breath for an accepted amount of time and so have to carry around atmosphere tanks. Aliens with degenerative conditions that are slowly losing their infrared vision. Aliens who lack their species trademark color-changing camouflage skin. Aliens who are allergic to common foods on their own planets and are frustrated that interplanetary restaurants don’t take that into account when listing which menu items are “safe” for which species.

Neurodivergent aliens who are not connected to the hivemind, who do their best to blend in and guess what they are supposed to be doing, but who are cast out when they are discovered, only to have their numbers build up enough that they are able to build a society on their own using communication aids such as verbal or manual language. 

Aliens who are just different in small ways, like generally all three eyes are different colors, except that rare genetic quirks sometimes cause two or even all three to be the same color. Aliens born with five fingers instead of four. Aliens who are more coordinated with their prehensile toes than with their hands, which is inconvenient when most products are designed to be used with hands, but they manage. Aliens born with vestigial wings instead of just residual bone nubs. Aliens born without horns or tusks or spines.

and okay, so I’m basically arguing for more diverse representation of aliens, but like, if our default mode of thinking is to assume that all members of a species are a certain way, then what does that say about how we view our own species? that only ones who follow certain norms qualify as “human”?

or whatever maybe i just think that thinking about this sort of stuff is cool.

[kelly--grayson]

Kelly: Look at the Sunset every night

Ed: Wake up looking at you every morning

Me:

[kelly--grayson]

Me: I hate it when romantic plots in fiction have these big, dramatic, life-changing, ~cOsMiC iMpOrTaNcE~ elements to them. It’s so cheesy and sentimental.

The Orville: Civilization as it is known would collapse and half the galaxy would be decimated if Ed and Kelly never went on their second date.

Me:

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

i took my sweet time getting into the orville bc i was Suspicious of it, but i’m glad i finally decided to try it. fortunately for me, i loved it and all of the characters. unfortunately for me, the fandom appears nearly nonexistent at the moment (and the amount of fan art is even more scarce for some reason??) so i’m at a loss as to what to do with all of this energy

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

An Isaac study! Still waiting on Season 3 from The Orville.

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

Isaac: I do not have emotions.

*something emotionally fraught happens*

Isaac: What is this code malfunction.

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

[kelly--grayson]

The Umbrella Academy - Learned v.  Innate Leaders

I was thinking about The Orville and something came to me. There are two types of leaders: learned and innate.

Innate leaders are people who are just born leaders. People who lead without even trying. They are outgoing, charismatic, confident, and courageous all without trying. Others are learned leaders. People who have to work hard to become and stay good leaders. People who have to constantly worry about being good leaders. In most movies and TV shows innate leaders are men. Women are shown to be learned leaders.

This is where The Orville comes in. It flips this concept on its head. Ed (the man) is the learned leader and Kelly (the woman) is the innate leader. In a lot of ways Kelly fills out the more stereotypical male hero role, that’s a whole other post though. The extra layer is that Ed is captain and Kelly is his first officer. While she is a leader in her own right Ed is the leader of everyone aboard The Orville including Kelly.

Ed spends a good amount of his story arc worrying about his leadership skills. Is he a good captain? Does he deserve to be in the captain’s chair? Is he a good leader? How do you live with your choices as a captain? He’s also not always good at it. The whole Kelly-helped-me-get-here episode is a good indicator of Ed’s struggles with self-doubt. As a leader in a military outfit a debilitating level of self-doubt can be fatal.

That’s why he goes to Kelly, because he needs the help of someone who is innately talented. Kelly just knows what to do in situations like this. She leads with her gut, another stereotypically male writing trope. Ed has internalized a lot of self-doubt and maybe a bit of self-hatred, probably from early childhood abuse (see the bullying law named after him).

I don’t know if any of this is intentional or just the way the script was conceived, but it is interesting.

This post is a campaign for there to be a Scrubs style shrink episode. BUT, I’ll settle for Ed having a panic attack a la The Newsroom.

[kelly--grayson]

Mercson being absolutely adorable