S02.E06: Lost in Translation

[Chicago Redshirt]

27 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

The Crossing was about phantom beings taking over crew bodies so yeah pretty sure the idea of aliens in your head is something Uhuru would have been aware of in Comm101. 

But the wisps in that episode were still manifest in our universe and detectable visually. That's a big difference from this episode, where Uhura had no reason to believe that there were any entities attempting to communicate with her.

 

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

How frequently do you think there have there been extradimensional aliens undetectable by Starfleet instruments of the time who attempted to communicate via telepathic images that reference the person's past?

What can I say, I expect a lot from these shows!!  If my first thought was that someone/something was trying to communicate, then I'd expect someone of her caliber in the communications department to at least have that thought.  

I can accept that maybe I'm not being rational in this regard, but I have high standards for these super-duper smart Star Fleet graduates. 

[Frozendiva]

I liked the ep but that was a very expensive refinery to blow up without evidence of life forms in the deuterium or whatever it was.  Not sure how I feel about this James Kirk - he doesn’t have the ‘swagger’ that I am used to. Nice to see Hemmer again.

[marinw]

5 hours ago, Frozendiva said:

I liked the ep but that was a very expensive refinery to blow up without evidence of life forms in the deuterium or whatever it was.  Not sure how I feel about this James Kirk - he doesn’t have the ‘swagger’ that I am used to. Nice to see Hemmer again.

I could not help but imagine how the owner of a current refinery would react.

[tv-talk]

11 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I can accept that maybe I'm not being rational in this regard, but I have high standards for these super-duper smart Star Fleet graduates. 

So many weird and bizarre things happen with total regularity, you'd think they are ALWAYS considering an alien presence as the answer to something mysterious going on.  

13 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

But the wisps in that episode were still manifest in our universe and detectable visually. That's a big difference from this episode, where Uhura had no reason to believe that there were any entities attempting to communicate with her.

Other than the fact that just weeks or months before the crew was in a nebula where an alien consciousness made them all play medieval make-believe?

[Frozendiva]

8 hours ago, marinw said:

I could not help but imagine how the owner of a current refinery would react.

Billions if not trillions of dollars and probably 5-10 years or longer to build that refinery. Unless those life forms migrate, no one did any studies on the nebula area before construction? The aliens never showed up? We’re they just ignored as space junk? Why now? There needed to be 2-3 minutes more explanation/story.

[tv-talk]

1 minute ago, Frozendiva said:

Billions if not trillions of dollars and probably 5-10 years or longer to build that refinery.

No one in the Federation needs or wants money though right? What struck me is they may have just lost their supposedly impending war with the Gorn and doomed the human race because Pike decided to listen to a low ranking communications officer and make that huge decision without consulting anyone. Couldnt they have simply turned the refinery off while they looked for some other solution? In the end though it's one of those times the Federation's stated principles were upheld, so there is that.

[Affogato]

16 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

No one in the Federation needs or wants money though right? What struck me is they may have just lost their supposedly impending war with the Gorn and doomed the human race because Pike decided to listen to a low ranking communications officer and make that huge decision without consulting anyone. Couldnt they have simply turned the refinery off while they looked for some other solution? In the end though it's one of those times the Federation's stated principles were upheld, so there is that.

I think that as of ds9 we figured that money is general currency  but not in Starfleet. That is all I can figure out. 

[baldryanr]

1 hour ago, tv-talk said:

No one in the Federation needs or wants money though right? What struck me is they may have just lost their supposedly impending war with the Gorn and doomed the human race because Pike decided to listen to a low ranking communications officer and make that huge decision without consulting anyone. Couldnt they have simply turned the refinery off while they looked for some other solution? In the end though it's one of those times the Federation's stated principles were upheld, so there is that.

They explicitly stated they couldn't shut down the refinery (at least not right away) and that it was actively killing those aliens as long as it was on.  It's not clear why they actually had to blow up the whole thing rather than targeting just one part, but that's TV for you.

Plus let's be honest, if losing one fuel refinery is the reason the Federation thinks it's going to lose an upcoming war then they're weak or the Gorn are ludicrously strong.

[tv-talk]

3 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

Plus let's be honest, if losing one fuel refinery is the reason the Federation thinks it's going to lose an upcoming war then they're weak or the Gorn are ludicrously strong.

Didnt they say that that refinery was key to having fuel in that section of space, right along the Gorn front? That also didnt make sense to me either as it would imply that as soon as the war started it would probably overrun or destroyed.

[paigow]

21 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

Didnt they say that that refinery was key to having fuel in that section of space, right along the Gorn front? That also didnt make sense to me either as it would imply that as soon as the war started it would probably overrun or destroyed.

Where is a fucking Metron when you need one????

[Prevailing Wind]

I don't suppose the Q Continuum cares to meddle in stuff like this.

[Quickbeam]

I felt this plot was too close to the NG “ugly bag of mostly water” episode. That said, I love Paul Wesley as Kirk and think he brings a nice swagger to the role. I loved the end scene. 

[Ottis]

The very first time Uhura heard the noise, I assumed it was a garbled alien message. If even I can think that, come on, Uhura. Poor Ramon never had a chance.

I was disappointed to see this James Kirk again, Go away, Ace Ventura. I cannot take him seriously.

Surely there was a better way to stop the refinery than to blow it up.

So does this series have the opening stardate read by the character who the ep is about? 

[shrewd.buddha]

On 7/25/2023 at 2:21 PM, Frozendiva said:

Billions if not trillions of dollars and probably 5-10 years or longer to build that refinery. Unless those life forms migrate, no one did any studies on the nebula area before construction? The aliens never showed up?

 

On 7/25/2023 at 3:37 PM, baldryanr said:

It's not clear why they actually had to blow up the whole thing rather than targeting just one part, but that's TV for you.

This episode needed a lot more follow up.
That refinery looked massive and would have been a major loss of time and materials... yet they were so nonchalant about just blowing shit up.
And no further attempts to communicate with the aliens?
How are these aliens supposed to be protected from other non-federation groups who might decide to harvest fuel in that area?
Would Starfleet leave a warning beacon? Would the Romulans care? 

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 8/25/2023 at 6:39 PM, shrewd.buddha said:

 

This episode needed a lot more follow up.
That refinery looked massive and would have been a major loss of time and materials... yet they were so nonchalant about just blowing shit up.
And no further attempts to communicate with the aliens?
How are these aliens supposed to be protected from other non-federation groups who might decide to harvest fuel in that area?
Would Starfleet leave a warning beacon? Would the Romulans care? 

The nice thing about life in the post-scarcity Federation is that materials don't have the same meaning as they would for us, and it is much easier to live by the notion that it's better that the Federation loses out on a shiny new "gas station"  and the fuel it could be processing than a single sentient being gets hurt by it. It's easy to be a saint when you're already close to paradise.

One would hope that there would be more Federation folks to try to make further contact/communication with this never-seen-before extra-dimensional life and put out a buoy warning people that there are beings "living" in the deterium. Sam mentions that he is going to possibly write a paper about these beings, so it seems like he should either do some more to contact them or inspire others to.

Whether other species, or heck, even Starfleet will mind a little genocide for their gas down the road is an open question.

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

Whether other species, or heck, even Starfleet will mind a little genocide for their gas down the road is an open question.

A burning question?