Uhura:

If Uhura had been effectively wiped clean, and they were able through the superior methods of the 23rd century to re-educate her in a very short period of time ...

... why would Starfleet Academy be a four year educational process? Wouldn't Starfleet Academy be maybe a month at most?

 

Three words: Transporter pattern buffer.

 

I'd assume the patterns weren't being stored quite that carefully a century before "Unnatural Selection", so they would have needed a hair follicle... Because even back in the 1960s, it was already well known that hair follicles contain professional skills, Swahili and the ability to recall one's grandmother.

Timo Saloniemi

 

True.

However, we can also attribute it to the character being a whiz or a wunderkind. Of course, we get more of a sense - in the 2009 film - that Uhura is a master of languages; extremely intelligent (and hot).

Too, Spock was considered dead and gone. Uhura, based on what I remember of the episode and the context - I haven't seen it for sometime - was able to be 're-educated.' Technological advances probably would have allowed expedited brain activity.

Even Chekov had possible brain damage in "Star Trek IV" after his fall on the navy ship, and he probably would have got worse with the 20th century care. However, McCoy's little doo-hickey allowed quick brain or skull regeneration.

 

Neither have I, unless the kid was playing at being Tarzan or Tonto!

That reminds me of the way some adults lisp like Elmer Fudd when they're supposedly imitating children's speech. I've never heard a kid lisp like that unless he had a genuine speech impairment.

 

Exactly, scotpens, exactly! Where do these ideas come from? I don't know why it bothers me so much, except that perhaps it makes me imagine that these comic writers, for example, who presumably have kids of their own, must have had very distant relationships with them (that's "woman's work", y'know?). Much the same way some people are like with dogs, practically inclined to call them 'it'.

Maybe it's just because I've known a few older guys like that. I could see that kind of dialogue once in awhile, but it was so frequent, it came across to me as editorial policy. But maybe it was just the 'kids are to be seen and not heard' mentality of an older generation.

Peruse some old DC covers, and you'll see what I mean.

As far as Uhura goes (the real topic here ), The Changeling was a good opportunity for Nichelle Nichols to do her thing...which for me was her ability for great expressions. I'm not an actor, so can't identify the particulars, but after struck by Nomad, she takes on that great blank look, which I have no idea how that's achieved. And even when reading the ball is blue stuff, her face actually takes on a sort of child-like look. Again, I can't explain how, but I can at least appreciate it!

 

Man, I was a 70s DC kid and I do not remember that "me" stuff. Earlier? I believe you. I like how in the earlier comics they always said "Er." As in an embarrassed Clark: "Oh, hello, er, Lois. . . ." I suppose that was the real placeholder in 1956 and not "um."

 

More of a 60s and 50s thing. Back when they used characters like Wonder Tot and Superbaby.

 

Yeah, that is to what I refer, the period more or less in line with the original Star Trek.

The 'er' is a good one! You'd think these dual identity heroes would be better at keeping their secret! They would have to know that questions would be coming, yet when the inevitable "Where were you?" comes up, they start with that stammering!

Writing shorthand, I guess...

 

It would sure be nice if we could keep a regularly updated backup of our brains, "for just such an emergency."

If you were diagnosed with dementia, you would stop updating the backup with your declining condition, and keep the last good one as your restore point.

 

Here you go, plynch. I could only find one example at this late hour, but this is the gist of what I mean...

 

Like Foghorn Leghorn numbering his feathers?

If everyone is looking for a viable "in-universe" explanation, then perhaps Uhura's memory was not actually "erased." Think of it this way—

Under strenuous exercise, the muscles of the body produce lactic acid, which must then be metabolized. The same sort of muscle fatigue and lingering pain may be induced externally by devices like tasers.

Whatever Nomad did to Uhura may have been the equivalent of a "brain taser," stimulating all the patterns in her brain to make them easier to read. The result was that Uhura was "brain fatigued." Her retraining was carefully guided recall—essentially a prolonged psych test to make sure she recovered properly.

So perhaps she did not "re-learn" Swahili, but recalled it more quickly. And the child-like demeanor was simply the passing of the daze.

As for mathematics... she's a top communication expert, dressed in red (engineering and support services). So she is likely an electronics (or 23rd century equivalent) expert. We have seen her repairing equipment.

 

For whatever it's worth, the James Blish novelization put it this way:

"Can you repair her, Nomad?" Kirk demanded.
"Not possible," said the machine.
"But you were able to restore Scott, who had much more extensive damage."
"That was simply physiological repair. This one's superficial knowledge banks have been wiped clean."
"Superficial? Be more specific."
"She still remembers her life experiences, but her memory of how to express them, either logically or in the illogic called music, or to act on them, has been purged."
"Captain, if that is correct," Spock said, "if her brain has not been damaged and the aphasia is that superficial, she could be taught again."
"Bones?"
"Yes. I'll get on it right away." McCoy swung on Nomad. "And despite the way you repaired Scotty, you ticking metal--"
"Does the Creator wish Nomad to wait elsewhere?" Spock broke in quickly.

 

Pronoun confusion (I/me, he/him etc.) is pretty common in children's language development, but only for a few months around age two.

 

That's intriguing to know. I wonder, then, how this brief period came to define the usage? Is that what might be considered a "stereotype" of a child? I don't mean that in a bad way, just a weird way. Sort of like picturing a "generic" child, wearing a beanie with a propeller on top, and a ice cream cone.

 

Seems like a solid enough explanation to me.