Universal Translators and their plot convenience
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:54 am
So I’m watching the Way Of The Warrior parts 1 and 2 again, still an enjoyable extended episode.... hmm.. episodes?
It brings Micheal Dorn (Worf) into the DS9 show, it has the introduction of the Negh’Var - a flag ship that ACTUALLY suits the title of “Flag Ship”... impressively Big Battle ship worthy of the Klingon empire! (Unlike the federations battleship.. the Defiant... sigh). This two-parter is jam packed with action and conflicts, both on personal and quadrant levels. The reservations Worf has about betraying his people to the federation, Capt. Sisko’s decision to rescue the Cardasians and challenge the Klingons to all our war. All resolved rather quickly really but the intensity of those moments ripple though any fan as strongly as a tall glass of root beer from quark’s (hehe). So then why the post about it besides the fan boy-ism’s? Well, here’s something that literally just jumped out at me and makes little to no sense.
BTW. Some others may have picked up on this point in other parts of the forums and while I posted this in the DS9 portion of the forum, it really applies to all the shows where an occurrence of the universal translator should be working but strangely isn’t?
Here goes! Whenever a Klingon is speaking to anyone via view screen (or in person), when a Klingon term is spoken, someone in the group has to translate it for the others who do not speak Klingon. Come again? I know from reading the encyclopedia’s and forums and magazines over the years that present day e.g. ST:TNG and afterwards - the Universal Translator is built into the combadge. So even if the words are spoken face-to-face, such as Dax saying the little “it loses something in translation” bit after making worf nearly blush in quarks bar, we, the audience shouldn’t have to have it translated or wonder what she said? (O’Brian was in uniform + combadge). When gowron says “it is a good day to die” just before attacking the station, why does Sisko look to worf for a translation? This is over the federation’s communication system = automatically translates for all known languages? Thinking about it made me go “huh?”, because this would be a failure in script writing in every episode of every show that this sort of thing happens.
(Sarcastic) Conclusion:
The Universal Translator is actually programmed by Section 31 and was given a A.I. Sense of dramatic pause and timing. Thus making outside viewers wait with baited breath while we hear what was said in a language we do not understand.
I realize that IF everything was always translated, it wouldn’t make for very entertaining speaking plots, but it goes against some things in the Star Trek mythos like using transporters to get around the issue of shooting scenes with ships getting into space. Smart move! (Since then taken away by voyagers Blue-themed “landing mode”). An intelligent decision by writers back when to simplify on-screen issues and budget concerns but in the end, made for an appropriate story/technology tool!
In closing, maybe the UT needs something the transporters have built into them, a Heisenberg-compensator... for all those unpredictable situations which cannot be accounted for.
Edit: So a quick review to make sure my references were correct, rather than trusting the old grey matter showed that while the original Star Trek encyclopedia reference guide for the future doesn’t discuss the implementation of the UT in the sections for “Communicator” pages 54-55, or the “Universal Translator” page 361 being part of the combadges. I reviewed the updated Encyclopedia and found this regarding the UT: The combadges used by Federation personnel in the later half of said 24th century included mini UT’s. . Just an follow on (and edited/abbreviated to remove possibility of CR people getting annoyed)
It brings Micheal Dorn (Worf) into the DS9 show, it has the introduction of the Negh’Var - a flag ship that ACTUALLY suits the title of “Flag Ship”... impressively Big Battle ship worthy of the Klingon empire! (Unlike the federations battleship.. the Defiant... sigh). This two-parter is jam packed with action and conflicts, both on personal and quadrant levels. The reservations Worf has about betraying his people to the federation, Capt. Sisko’s decision to rescue the Cardasians and challenge the Klingons to all our war. All resolved rather quickly really but the intensity of those moments ripple though any fan as strongly as a tall glass of root beer from quark’s (hehe). So then why the post about it besides the fan boy-ism’s? Well, here’s something that literally just jumped out at me and makes little to no sense.
BTW. Some others may have picked up on this point in other parts of the forums and while I posted this in the DS9 portion of the forum, it really applies to all the shows where an occurrence of the universal translator should be working but strangely isn’t?
Here goes! Whenever a Klingon is speaking to anyone via view screen (or in person), when a Klingon term is spoken, someone in the group has to translate it for the others who do not speak Klingon. Come again? I know from reading the encyclopedia’s and forums and magazines over the years that present day e.g. ST:TNG and afterwards - the Universal Translator is built into the combadge. So even if the words are spoken face-to-face, such as Dax saying the little “it loses something in translation” bit after making worf nearly blush in quarks bar, we, the audience shouldn’t have to have it translated or wonder what she said? (O’Brian was in uniform + combadge). When gowron says “it is a good day to die” just before attacking the station, why does Sisko look to worf for a translation? This is over the federation’s communication system = automatically translates for all known languages? Thinking about it made me go “huh?”, because this would be a failure in script writing in every episode of every show that this sort of thing happens.
(Sarcastic) Conclusion:
The Universal Translator is actually programmed by Section 31 and was given a A.I. Sense of dramatic pause and timing. Thus making outside viewers wait with baited breath while we hear what was said in a language we do not understand.
I realize that IF everything was always translated, it wouldn’t make for very entertaining speaking plots, but it goes against some things in the Star Trek mythos like using transporters to get around the issue of shooting scenes with ships getting into space. Smart move! (Since then taken away by voyagers Blue-themed “landing mode”). An intelligent decision by writers back when to simplify on-screen issues and budget concerns but in the end, made for an appropriate story/technology tool!
In closing, maybe the UT needs something the transporters have built into them, a Heisenberg-compensator... for all those unpredictable situations which cannot be accounted for.
Edit: So a quick review to make sure my references were correct, rather than trusting the old grey matter showed that while the original Star Trek encyclopedia reference guide for the future doesn’t discuss the implementation of the UT in the sections for “Communicator” pages 54-55, or the “Universal Translator” page 361 being part of the combadges. I reviewed the updated Encyclopedia and found this regarding the UT: The combadges used by Federation personnel in the later half of said 24th century included mini UT’s. . Just an follow on (and edited/abbreviated to remove possibility of CR people getting annoyed)