Isaac

ALIASES/AFFILIATION/AGE/SPECIES/GENDER

ALIASES - "The Emissary", Braniac. AFFILIATION - Kaylon (formerly) Planetary UnionOver AGE - 700 years SPECIES - Kaylon Gender - Male

OCCUPATION / POSITION

Emissary (until January 2421) Science and Engineering Officer Chief Science Officer (possibly)

Early life as Emissary

Like all Kaylon, Isaac was assembled in a central production facility on Kaylon 1 sometime after the Builders were killed.[6] Isaac took his name from Isaac Newton, a Human scientist and polymath.[7] The Kaylon built Isaac solely to gather intelligence on the Planetary Union and biological life to determine if biological life should be preserved.[8] However, Isaac maintained that his mission was "an effort to initiate relations between Kaylon and the Union," to study the cultures of biological life and to serve as a representative for his planet.[9] Though the Kaylon made Isaac after the extinction of the Builders, he had downloaded "the experiential data collected from those [Kaylon] who existed prior to that time."[10]

Early career as representative

representativeIsaac was posted to the USS Orville as its Science and Engineering Officer on or before September 2419.[n 4] He held a station on the Bridge as a Science Officer, but he was often seen working in the Science Laboratory and the Astrophysics Laboratory. During that time John LaMarr remarked that Isaac viewed the Astrophysics Lab like his quarters.[3] During introductions with Captain Ed Mercer, Isaac explained that Kaylons simply view biological life as inferior, and promised he would find Isaac to be "his most capable officer."[9] Isaac proved highly intelligent, powerful, and adaptive; according to First Officer Kelly Grayson, he was the most intelligent member of the crew,[11] and roughly on par with Chief of Security Alara Kitan's physical strength.[6] In October 2419, he modified the holographic generation technology of the Calivon to mask an entire ship[12] and, in early December, fashioned hand-held holographic generators.[13]

Other missions

SurvivalClaire was separated from the group and taken by Drogen, a survivalist. The moon's nations were recently at war, and one side poisoned the water supply with poloxus. Drogen had foreseen the attack and stockpiled food and weapons in his fortified compound. Isaac was unable to contact Claire. He set Marcus' dislocated knee back into place, then determined where Claire might have landed. He gave the boys a PM-44 and left alone to search for her. Isaac found the other half of the shuttle without Claire and returned to the boys. He arrived just in time to save them from an attacking native man. Isaac discovered the shuttle will need dysonium to sent a distress signal to the Orville. The next morning, the trio set off to a nearby mountain with dysonium deposits. They are attacked along the way by more indigenous people, but Isaac fended them off. Later, Ty fell into a river, unwittingly sickened by poloxus in the water. After retrieving dysonium, Isaac sent a weak distress signal, which the Orville picks up. Meanwhile, Claire managed to use her comscanner to contact them and fled Drogen. They rendezvoused at the shuttle. Suddenly, a mob of people attacked, bent on eating the four. Claire and Marcus held them at bay until the Orville arrived.

Other missions

Isaac wrote an Environmental Simulator program for Alara to test herself in stressful and terrifying situations. The program concluded with Alara fleeing a simulated, evil version of Isaac.[16] In April 2420, Isaac and John studied damage to the Orville caused when the ship grazed a pocket of two-dimensional space.[11] Around June, Isaac studied magnetar AXP 1E1048-59 for several days.[17][18] In late August, Isaac and Second Officer Bortus rescued survivors of Nyxia before its sun devoured it.[19]

Betrayal and true mission revealed

By January 2421, the Kaylon decided they had sufficient data on the Planetary Union and remotely deactivated Isaac. The USS Orville returned Isaac to Kaylon 1, but the Kaylon informed the senior officers that Isaac completed his purpose for existing and would be recycled. At the pleading of the distraught crew, the Kaylon reactivated Isaac - but Isaac maintained that he would not rejoin the ship. The Orville threw a goodbye party, and Ty Finn gave Isaac a drawing; Isaac discarded the drawing and exited the ship.[8] Ty was devastated upon finding his drawing and searched for Isaac on the planet. He absconded into a network of caves to hide from other Kaylon, only to stumble across the remains of the Builders. When confronted, Isaac and the Kaylon revealed they never intended to join the Union. Isaac's purpose was to evaluate whether biological life in the galaxy was worth preserving, and the Kaylon determined it was not.[8] A team of Kaylon, including Isaac, stormed the Orville, killing many Security Officers and holding the rest captive in the Shuttle Bay. Having commandeered the ship, the Kaylon launched a full-scale attack upon the Union.[8]

Later life

Isaac returned to his post as Science and Engineering Officer on the Orville. He participated in upgrades to the ship in early 2422. During this time, many of the crew resented Isaac for his betrayal and questioned the decision to allow him to remain on board. Officers such as Ensign Charly Burke "frequently"[20] and openly harassed him, and Marcus Finn graffitied "MURDERER" in the Astrophysics Laboratory.[3] Alienated from the crew and believing his existence hindered the performance of the ship, Isaac took his own life using a narrow-band EMP which destroyed his systems beyond repair. John discovered Isaac had a backup consciousness which required Charly to repair. Charly refused at first but was persuaded by Marcus, who felt guilty for his role in Isaac's suicide. Isaac was re-activated. After Isaac's brief suicide, the rest of the crew gradually softened their attitudes towards Isaac.[3]

Topa's surgery

Later that year, Bortus and Klyden's child, Topa, learned that as a child he had undergone surgery to change his gender from female to male. When he announced his intention to undergo surgery to transition back to female, the Planetary Union forbade the procedure on the grounds that it would anger the Moclans and possibly cause them to withdraw from the Union at a time when they needed them in the war against the Kaylon. As the crew searched for a loophole that would allow them to go ahead with the surgery, Claire Finn stated that she would resign her commission and thus they would technically be within the law, since she would no longer be a Union officer. Isaac, however, offered an alternative: he was technically an "observer" and had never actually been commissioned by the Union. As an android, he could perform the surgery. This was agreed to and he went ahead with the procedure, Bortus performing a concert as a distraction. Nevertheless, Klyden appeared and expressed his anger, as he was against Topa undergoing the procedure. He attempted to physically restrain Isaac, but was no match for Isaac's strength. In the aftermath, the Moclans, though upset, chose to remain in the Union, their drive to vanquish the Kaylons only strengthened, as it was a Kaylon who had performed the procedure. Afterwards, Claire Finn told Isaac that he had done a good thing, asking if it meant anything to him. He told her that he had not, in fact, done the procedure for Topa. He explained that because he knew of the crew's affection for Topa, he felt he could increase his standing with them by helping her, and this would increase their efficiency. "And maybe they'd like you a little more," commented Claire, and he agreed this was possible. Hearing this, she called him the most honest man that she knew and invited him to dinner.[21]

Alternate timelines

timelinesPria timelineIn the original timeline, the USS Orville was destroyed by a dark matter storm in November 2419 and Isaac was, presumably, killed.[25]

The Road Not Taken timeline

In another alternate timeline where Kelly Grayson turned down Ed Mercer's request for a second date in 2413, Isaac did not betray the Kaylon because Doctor Claire Finn never joined the Orville.[26] He joined the Orville as emissary in September 2419, serving under Captain Griffith.[27] Isaac's career aboard the Orville was substantially the same in this timeline. He participated in the Battle of Epsilon 2 when the crew obtained the quantum accelerator, and he studied the device until his automatic deactivation in January 2421. At the time of his deactivation, Isaac was asking Chief Engineering Officer John LaMarr personal questions about his romantic and sexual interactions with former Chief Security Officer Alara Kitan.[27] The Orville returned Isaac to the Kaylon, but he was not reactivated; his body remained on Kaylon 1 while his mind was uploaded to the Kaylon's neural network. The Kaylon took over the Orville and then won the ensuing Battle of Earth.[26] Around October 2421, John LaMarr, working on on the recovered Orville, hacked into the Kaylon's network and downloaded Isaac's consciousness into the head of a Kaylon they had earlier killed to complete calculations on the quantum accelerator taken from the Epsilon Science Station on Epsilon 2. Though Isaac promised that the Kaylon would find and destroy John and his crewmates, the calculations allowed them to send Claire back in time to restore the timeline. After getting the calculations, John deactivated Isaac again.[26]

Personality

Like all Kaylon, Isaac firmly believed that biological lifeforms were mentally and physically inferior to himself. Certainly, Isaac was the most intelligent member of the USS Orville: according to First Officer Kelly Grayson, the smartest biological member of the crew, John LaMarr, lagged well behind Isaac.[11] Isaac was also the strongest officer - possibly excepting Chief of Security Alara Kitan.[6] Even the highly advanced Calivon saw Isaac as an equal.[12] Extraordinary strength and wit endowed Isaac with a sense of superiority, which he saw not as arrogance but "merely a statement of fact."[23]Isaac was curious about the cultures and behaviors of biological lifeforms, especially abstractions like romance and cursing. He proposed intercourse to Alara to study biological sexuality;[13] struggled to understand the offensiveness behind calling someone a "dick;"[6] and eagerly leapt at the chance to date Doctor Claire Finn, but only as an opportunity to experience dating.[1] When Helmsman Gordon Malloy said Humans bond with cats by petting them, Isaac stroked Gordon's arm so they could bond.[11] Gordon tried to demonstrate 'humor' to Isaac after he failed to understand the appeal of slapstick comedy in the television series Seinfeld. Gordon stuck Mr. Potato Head ears, nose, hat, and eyes to Isaac's head, and Isaac took his station on the Bridge, completely unaware. Gordon explained that was a practical joke and added it was Isaac's turn to prank him. Isaac amputated Gordon's left leg in his sleep and hid it in the roof of Pria Lavesque's quarters. Gordon was incensed and called Isaac "sick."[25]

Part Of Trivia

The name "Isaac" was chosen while serving in the Planetary Union as an homage to Isaac Newton, whose scientific brilliance was respected even by the Kaylon. Isaac is a Hebrew name meaning "he will laugh, he will rejoice." Isaac draws many parallels to Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, as well as some aspects of Jean-Luc Picard's Locutus arc on Next Generation. To many fans, Isaac's voice is highly reminiscent of the voice of Data. Isaac's designation of "The Emissary" is the same as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Coincidentally, both Sisko and Isaac end up dating and later marrying characters played by Penny Johnson Jerald in their respective shows, with Jerald playing Kasidy Yates on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Claire Finn on The Orville.

Part of Trivia

TriviaHe is the only known crew member of The Orville to have no official rank due to not belonging to the Planetary Union and instead being an observer on behalf of the Kaylon. According to Mark Jackson, Isaac's voice is an amalgamation between multiple different accents that are spoken within the English language in order to better be understood by all people who watch the series. Jackson says that when he sneezes inside Isaac's mask, the particulate bounces off the mask and back into his eyes and mouth.[49] Jackson feels somewhat embarrassed by his performance as Isaac in Season 1: "I'm a bit - I want to say wooden, but it's not the right word - a bit metallic."[37] In Season 2, he intentionally behaved a bit more animated, and even more so in Season 3.[37] Isaac's eyes were originally red, which were softened to blue to look less menacing.[34] As deactivation is considered "death" to the Kaylon, Isaac has died four times overall in the series: By an electrical burst from a device planted by Pria Lavesque in Pria. Remote deactivation in Identity, Pt. 1 by the Kaylon after completing his mission as emissary. By voluntarily emitting an EMP pulse in Identity, Pt. 2. By committing suicide in Electric Sheep.