Star Trek Adoptions

[allstar77]

Was there anything from another sci-fi series or another genre you wish Trek had adopted?

The universal translator is a great too, and it was fun watching it develop in ENT, but I always wished TPTB had adopted Interlac from DC Comics (and I guess you could say Babylon 5 as well), or created its own.

"As the official U.P. language, Interlac is taught in schools throughout the system and is the common form of communication between most sentient United Planet races." (After "Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #1" - DC Comics 1988)

 

[Melakon]

That just sounds like Federation Common (aka English) under another name.

 

[T'Girl]

In a truly diverse Federation that would include many different species of non-Humanoids, would all of their various mouth parts and other sound making organs be able to enunciate this "interlac" language?

Or any one language?

 

[Melakon]

The Universal Translator, established as early as TOS, makes a lot more sense than teaching hundreds of worlds the same language.

 

[Ethros]

If the producers of nuBSG could keep track of 40 odd thousand people to work out the survivor count for each episode, it would have been nice if the producers of Voyager could have done even remotely managed to do the same for only 150 people.

Instead everytime it was mentioned it was a totally different number (or the same), ignoring who'd died and who had joined the crew.

 

[Melakon]

TNG had a keeper of the stardates on staff. VOY didn't have a keeper of the bodycounts.

 

[The Wormhole]

If the producers of nuBSG could keep track of 40 odd thousand people to work out the survivor count for each episode, it would have been nice if the producers of Voyager could have done even remotely managed to do the same for only 150 people.

Instead everytime it was mentioned it was a totally different number (or the same), ignoring who'd died and who had joined the crew.

To be fair, BSG screwed that weekly survivor count quite often. Oh sure, it got annoying, after seven years and many confirmed crew losses, Voyager still continued having a crew of "around 150" but whatever.

 

[T'Girl]

Voyager continually took on new crewmembers like Neelix and Kes, but (like the gays) you just never saw them.

They were down in steerage.

 

[Melakon]

It would make sense that they might occasionally pick up some new guides for a few lightyears once they were out of Neelix's familiar territory. But Talaxians seemed to be quite a distance from their home system, with the small colony discovered in "Homestead". This was long after Kes supposedly pushed them about 10,000 ly from Borg space and, presumably, Talax.

 

[allstar77]

The Universal Translator, established as early as TOS, makes a lot more sense than teaching hundreds of worlds the same language.

Maybe, but there were clearly times no communicator or translator was present. They, just go up and start conversations. Seems more logical to say there's a common language, Just a thought,

 

[Jedi_Master]

I think that towels should have been standard issue for all Starfleet security officers.

 

[Melakon]

Kirk had his.

 

[Ethros]

It would make sense that they might occasionally pick up some new guides for a few lightyears once they were out of Neelix's familiar territory. But Talaxians seemed to be quite a distance from their home system, with the small colony discovered in "Homestead". This was long after Kes supposedly pushed them about 10,000 ly from Borg space and, presumably, Talax.

Yeah but they couldn't even keep track of or simply decide how many Vulcans there were on the crew. Meld seems to indicate its only Tuvok & Vorik, Counterpoint shows only Tuvok, Vorik and a Betazoid hiding from the Devore. Yet in s7 there's a Vulcan woman in Repression, and in Endgame Janeway is asking Tuvok "what about the other Vulcan's aboard?" (plural)


I never expect any show to have 100% perfect continuity, but stuff like that just comes off as a lazy we-don't-really-care attitude.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Kirk had his.

See. He was prepared. I bet nuKirk didn't have a towel.

 

[scotpens]

In a truly diverse Federation that would include many different species of non-Humanoids, would all of their various mouth parts and other sound making organs be able to enunciate this "interlac" language?

Or any one language?

For that matter, would all Federation species even communicate by means of sound (i.e., acoustic vibrations in air or another medium)? I recall a sci-fi story in which an extraterrestrial race used low-powered electromagnetic waves generated by their own bodies as a form of communication -- like natural radio.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In a truly diverse Federation that would include many different species of non-Humanoids, would all of their various mouth parts and other sound making organs be able to enunciate this "interlac" language?

Or any one language?

For that matter, would all Federation species even communicate by means of sound (i.e., acoustic vibrations in air or another medium)? I recall a sci-fi story in which an extraterrestrial race used low-powered electromagnetic waves generated by their own bodies as a form of communication -- like natural radio.

In Ender's Game the buggers communicate via 'Ansible' which is instant and faster than light.

It's probably safe to assume all species with human shaped mouths, teeth and tongues can communicate via speaking and can produce similar sounds though there might be big variations in distinctions between specific sounds. It's the seldom seen non-humanoid aliens who may have different means of communication. Flashing lights, pure telepathy, etc. It would have been nice to see more aliens like that.

 

[scotpens]

It's probably safe to assume all species with human shaped mouths, teeth and tongues can communicate via speaking and can produce similar sounds though there might be big variations in distinctions between specific sounds.

Most, perhaps, but not all.