Fans of The Orville may have noticed something peculiar about Bortus’ daughter Topa in the show’s second season. A tie-in comic to the sci-fi series sheds light on the curious growth spurt of the commander’s firstborn.
The Orville is a comedic and loving send-up of the Star Trek franchise, and like Trek, plenty of alien species round out the cast. Serving as the titular spacecraft’s Lt. Commander and Second Officer is Bortus, who belongs to an alien race known as the Moclans. Moclans are almost entirely male and couples reproduce via eggs, so Bortus and his partner Klyden shocked the crew of the Orville with the birth of their daughter, Topa. While Bortus accepted his daughter for who she was, the Moclan government forced Topa to undergo a procedure to convert her into a male. Though she spent the first several seasons as a male, Topa returned to her female self in season 3’s “Tale of Two Topas”.
But one curious aspect of Topa’s history remained largely unexplored on the show, namely the rapid aging she experienced between The Orville’s first and second season. Throughout season 1 of the show, Topa is an infant. But in the season 2 premiere of The Orville, Topa is shown to have developed to the equivilant of a seven-year-old human in the span of only a few months. While no explanation is given on the show, the tie-in comic The Orville: New Beginnings Part 1 by David A. Goodman and David Cabeza clears things up. Bortus shocks Commander Grayson and Doctor Finn by revealing that Topa has aged significantly in the span of several weeks. Bortus and Klyden inform the two that the Moclans evolved to survive their planet’s brutal conditions by developing faster than normal.
This is a pretty important reveal that strangely wasn’t covered on The Orville television series. In the show, Topa’s storyline largely revolves her forced procedure, as well as the challenges her fathers face confronting their own issues regarding her self-identity. While Topa’s arc has made for a very satisfying watch, the reason behind her advanced aging seemed too important to not cover in the show. If it wasn’t for this tie-in comic, fans might have missed out on an important piece of Orville lore.
If there’s one thing The Orville has excelled at, it’s making its world feel fleshed out and real. The struggles of Bortus and Topa have made for some of The Orville’s finest hours. It’s understandable that the showrunners would want to age Topa up a few years so they could explore her as a character. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of confusing viewers who wondered why she was suddenly seven years older. Thankfully, the tie-in comic can clear this up and add to Moclans’ increasingly resilient physiology. While binge-watching fans may be confused why Bortus’ daughter Topa is suddenly older, a simple glance through The Orville’s canon comics can easily clear up that plot hole.
