The Orville Uses Old Hollywood Sci-Fi Trick To Hide Big Bad In Plain Sight
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Every sci-fi franchise eventually has to come to terms with how they can depict aliens, with most opting for the “rubber-forehead” trope where aliens are only an exaggerated nose, ears, or forehead away from looking like humans. This allows shows to have an actor appear under prosthetics or heavy makeup as one character, and then show up later as a normal human. It’s so common that when The Orville had Michaela McManus show up as Officer Janeal Tyler in Season 2, no one thought of the connection to the Krill, Teleya, until it was too late, and it turned out that the future Supreme Chancellor was undercover, with a mission to destroy Captain Ed Mercer.
Teleya’s Haunting First Appearance
The seeds for Janeal Tyler were planted during Teleya’s first appearance in “Krill,” arguably Season 1’s best episode, and a high point for The Orville. Mercer uses quick thinking to destroy an advanced Krill ship, recovering a shuttle in the process, which he’s able to use alongside Malloy to sneak onboard a Krill ship using holographic disguises. Horrified by the Krill religious session, the pair are then touched by their experience with the children on board, as well as their teacher, Teleya.
In retrospect, it makes sense that a Krill true believer like Teleya would work as a schoolteacher, and then launch a very long-range revenge plan. After Mercer succeeds in killing almost every Krill on board the ship, he tells her that the children were not his enemy, to which Teleya responds, “After what they saw what you do today, they will be. They will be.” Revenge is a dish best served cold, but in Season 2, it was soft and warm.
Going Deep Undercover
When Michaela McManus made her return as Officer Janeal Tyler, her arrival on board the Orville in the first episode of Season 2 turned heads, and there was no hint of her true nature as Teleya. Tyler set her sights on Captain Mercer and spurred the advances of other crewmembers, winning him over, making him fall in love with her, and eventually, was able to get him alone from the rest of the crew and into a Krill ambush. Even after her reveal that “Janeal Tyler” was an illusion, Mercer is still in love with her, working with her to survive on a desolate planet, and aware that there was far more of Tyler inside Teleya than she realizes.
It all pays off wonderfully when The Orville: New Horizons kicks off an interstellar war, with the Union on one side, and the Krill on the other. That’s when the show drops the hammer, revealing that as Janeal Tyler, Teleya became pregnant with Mercer’s child, a half-human/half-Kirll hybrid named Alayna (which translates to “Gently Falling Rain”). It’s a whammy for the audience, most of whom wanted the Krill Supremecist back because of her chemistry with Mercer, and the most obvious way to pay off the Tyler storyline, but few people thought that the writers would have the guts to do it.
The Orville’s Greatest Guest Star
Classic sci-fi shows would double-cast actors to save money, usually not to introduce their show’s biggest villain, but that’s exactly what The Orville did. As both Janeal Tyler and Teleya, Michaela McManus was able to make a huge impression on fans, solidifying her role as the most important guest star on a series filled with them, including Babylon 5’s Bruce Boxleitner and sitcom legend Ted Danson. It’s also another example of where Seth MacFarlane’s Star Trek tribute series was more effective than Star Trek: Discovery, which pulled a similar trick with Voq/Ash Tyler, but made the same mistake all modern Trek shows do, and it couldn’t stick the landing.
The Orville not only stuck the landing with Janeal Tyler/Teleya, but kept the spirit of classic Star Trek alive with a Shakespearan ending for the one-time lovers that is both tragic, cathartic, and potentially, hopeful. Fans may never get to see the two reunite, but at least what we did get to see was one of modern sci-fi’s best character arcs. And to think, Teleya was supposed to appear only once; if that had happened, we’d be denied the best sci-fi double act.
