I need help, my fellow Trekkers. I confess, though I love DS9, I don't most of the seasons on DVD. I've been looking for an episode when there's a system-wide failure in the computer. The universal translator ceases to work. For a scene or two, everyone on the station is speaking their own, native language. Kira's speaking Bajoran, Dax is speaking Trill, etc. I remember thinking, the creators did a great job making up different, distinctive languages. Instead of everyone just speaking gibberish. However, I don't know what season this is in or the name of the episode. (I know it's not Next Generation, and I strongly doubt it's Voyager.) Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks folks!
I don't think anything like that has ever happened. The closest I remember (to a UT failure) is in that one episode where the Skreeans come aboard, but the UT didn't fail, it just took awhile to adjust to their language. Which is apparently possible. But there's never been an episode in which the UT went completely dead or anything like that.
There is ones scene where Weyoun speaks Dominionese. Jack has switched the computer to a kind of native tongue mode.
There was the episode where the Skrreea arrived on the station, the UT couldn't translate their language to begin with.
It sounds like a fusion of Babel (where everyone starts speaking in gibberish), Sanctuary (the Skreeans come and the universal translator doesn't work at first), and Civil Defense (when Dukat's counterinsurgency program shut's the station down). Whatever you're remembering sounds interesting though!
Along with the other suggestions I wonder whether Binary is thinking of Little Green Men and the scene where the Ferengi translators break down?
A little while in Little Green Men, but they had them fixed promptly after telling the mimicry jokes.
Civil Defence: Computer goes crazy Babel: People speak in gibberish Darmok (TNG): UT can't quite work Sanctuary: It doesn't work to start with the Skreeaa Little Green Men: Doesn't work until reset thanks to nuclear weapons poisoning the planet
Damn! I remember Little Green Men, when Rom and family go back to Roswell, NM. I could have sworn it was DS9. I can't be thinking of Farscape, I watched a few episodes and got bored, pretty fast. Unless, I was possibly thinking of Babylon 5. Either way, I'm grateful to everyone who replied. Thanks for setting me straight folks!
^ FarScape is amazing. Well-worth sticking with as, like pretty much every show out there, it takes a little time to find its feet, but once it does it just goes for it!