Anyone complaining about the Uhura/books scene would, I suppose, also complain about the Macintosh scene in TVH. Scotty doesn't know what a mouse is (even though a minute later he's an incredibly fast touch-typist)? To me this isn't much different from Uhura relying on books (rather than using a computer translation resource that presumably she'd know how to use if she herself wasn't fluent) - both scenes are in the service of humor, which TUC surely needed. To state the bleedin' obvious: With better translation we'd have no "We is condemning food," "things and supplies," etc.; I loved that stuff and so did the theatrical audience.
The book scene was pretty dang funny, but I have to admit, I see Nichols' side of it, the Macintosh scene doesn't by default make Scotty look like an idiot. The translation scene in VI does makes everyone involved look rather foolish at best.



IMO, it just missed on a couple of things: It was done on the cheap, and it shows in spots. (sme of the FX shots over Khitemer, the prison planet set) Some of the acting was poor. (not Nichelle, Walter or Jimmy's best performances) They missed a great story opportunity with the Saavik character, but went with new character Valeris instead. And the ending on Khitemer was just CHEESY.