continuation of "Face of the Enemy"??

[Christopher]

Still begs the question of how that one cannibal flatwork did manage to get through the maze, doesn't it? (Unless it was an easy, badly-designed maze one could stumble-- uh, slither through by accident.)

I'm sure it wasn't a complicated maze. The intent wasn't to design a masterful challenge, but simply to test whether an invertebrate that didn't even have a brain could retain directional memory.

 

[DimesDan]

The UTs in Trek have always kinda bugged me. They referred to them throughout the series, but they never really explained what they were or how they worked. I think there might have been one were they made a reference to them in relation to the com-badges, but that really wouldn't work, because there were tons of times where we saw them speaking without combadges to aliens that could not possibly have been speaking English.

But doesn't the whole wide universe converse in the Queens English

But seriously, it is one of those strange things, maybe, everyone has UTs inserted in their ears like Quark, Rom and Nog did in Little Green Men?

 

[Christopher]

But doesn't the whole wide universe converse in the Queens English

Only in Doctor Who. Except that's been rationalized as TARDIS-supplied telepathic translation, I guess.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

However, it proved impossible to replicate the result of the flatworm experiment; it turned out to have been -- wait for it -- a fluke.

GUARDS!!!!!!

Kinda makes one nostalgic for Eav'oq jokes, huh?

 

[KRAD]

^ I wouldn't go that far.............

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I wouldn't go that far.............

Oh, you will. Just give it time.

T'iq...t'oq...T'iq...t'oq...

 

[Timo]

I think there might have been one were they made a reference to them in relation to the com-badges, but that really wouldn't work, because there were tons of times where we saw them speaking without combadges to aliens that could not possibly have been speaking English.

But they couldn't learn new languages without their badges.

I think "Basics" was very good and consistent in this respect, and established a lot of useful stuff. Once the heroes lose their badges, they can still understand Kazon perfectly well, while they sure as hell aren't fluent in Kazon after just two years of intermittent interaction with the species. Okay, so that could be because the Kazon retain their UTs - perhaps a single device can serve two sides of a conversation? But then our heroes are banished to that planet, and Janeway, Neelix and Tuvok can still converse fluently with each other. Perhaps Tuvok might have mastered both English and Talaxianeseianyish, but neither Janeway nor Neelix are likely to have learned the other's native language. And then our heroes encounter the locals, and nobody can understand what they say.

The consistent explanation would be that everybody in the Federation (and usually elsewhere as well) has an implanted UT that can handle most of the known languages, and that Starfleet uses an extension device in the commbadges (or accessed through the comm channels provided by the badges) that allows the analysis of newly encountered languages and insertion of the vocabularies to the memory of the implanted UT. When the badge is removed, Neelix' internal UT retains knowledge of English, and Janeway's retains knowledge of Talaxi, and there's also enough Kazon there to carry a conversation. Perhaps Tuvok also relies on his UT to speak and understand English? But deciphering the caveman language is right out now.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[KRAD]

See, this is why I loved the translator microbes in Farscape.

 

[Therin of Andor]

if you taught a flatworm to run a maze

I'm reminded of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"...

"But you don't have any legs."

"Yes I have."