The invisible aliens were dying by the second, so…
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x06 - "Lost in Translation"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
I devoured ERB's books as a teen back in the seventies. Read pretty much all of his SF-flavored books, including the Caprona trilogy, The Moon Maid, The Monster Men, etc. And read my fair share of the Tarzan novels as well, starting with a couple of battered old hardcovers I found in my grandfather's attic.
But, in all honestly, I discovered those books after watching the old Johnny Weissmuller movies on TV, and the new color movies at the drive-in. Can't remember a time when I wasn't used to the idea of multiple different actors playing Tarzan. Throw in the original novels and the Gold Key comics and the Big Little Book, and, yeah, Tarzan always came in different flavors.
Just like James T. Kirk these days.
That's why they turned off the system.
1) That's why you turn off the Deuterium Processing Array.
2) It will shut off if you go through the proper shut-down procedures. Large processing facilities like those have a proper shut-down sequence so you don't wreck the machinery. Go through the effort to do it.
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"This machine is crushing children and it can't be turned off, we have to act!"
"Well, I'd hate to lose a good child crushing machine. Is there any way we can tow it out while crushing as few children as possible?"
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"This child crusher can be saved, so let's initiate shut down. I mean, yeah, who knows how many more children will be crushed while going through the very slow and for some reason still not working properly shut down procedure, but this is a really expensive machine, in our post-scarcity society. Gotta save the child crusher for later use."
They literally open the Deuterium hatches and let them all out with the push of a button.
I'm sure going through the shut-down procedure wouldn't take that much longer.
Guess how you have a post-scarcity society?
Having MANY giant machines like that Deuterium Processing Plant collect Deuterium to power your Fusion / M/A-M reactors.
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"It's only a few more crushed children."
The array not shutting off was rather clearly just a way to end the episode more dramatically, it doesn't actually make a lot of sense in universe. Mostly because evacuating the whole collector would take way longer than phasering some vital piece of equipment inside. Would have given Una something to do. The sabotage accidentally making it not turn off was a weak excuse. Other than that, top marks for the episode.
Sorry, we only discovered your kind live in the Deuterium.
Let us follow proper procedure to shut it down and move it out of your home.
Sorry about hurting you Deuterium Aliens, our bad.
We'll put up warning buoys so nobody messes with you.
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"Sorry we crushed your kids and kept crushing them so we didn't lose this equipment."
Literally said in the episode that they couldn't turn it off. The Sabotage broke the shutdown sequence or something.
Oh well, Pike is going to take the blame from the upper brass on this.
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Post scarcity society. A deuterium collector can be rebuilt. Really, this isn't a tough choice at all for someone like Pike, and he'd take it on the chin even if the admiralty ended up being like 20th century CEOs for some reason, because it was the right thing to do given the situation.
Pike already has the knowledge of what is going to happen to him in the future.
He knows he'll make it to Admiral Rank, so no matter what he does, it's most likely that he'll make it to Admiralty.
It's how he deals with the horrific tragedy that might turn him into a cripple stuck in a chair.
Hopefully he can slightly change the future to not be crippled but be injured only, that's what I'm hoping for Pike.
Maybe be like FMA (Full Metal Alchemist), only lose a hand & leg and require cybernetic prosthetic hand & feet for the rest of his life and remain a Admiral, but not confined to a chair as a cripple.
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What does that have to do with stopping a collector that's killing a species?
I liked this episode a lot.
It was another "plot of the week", but again - this is where Trek is the strongest in my opinion.
I didn't really think nuUhura worked in season 1. Always liked the actress and her portrayal, but didn't really think of her as "Uhura". But in starting to warm up to her as actually the same character. Good stuff.
I'm always a fan of some minor spooky horror in my sci-fi: check.
I really did like the premise & execution of the main plot.
My only complaints are minor nitpicks:
Killing Hemmer was an absolute mistake. He was the surprise-standout character from S1. And we technically never saw a body. So I'm really wondering/hoping we see him return, after his nightmare with the Gorn. We will see.
Overall, a very good "almost bottle episode". Not pitch perfect. But good plot premise, and good character work. What more do I want?
It was another "plot of the week", but again - this is where Trek is the strongest in my opinion.
I didn't really think nuUhura worked in season 1. Always liked the actress and her portrayal, but didn't really think of her as "Uhura". But in starting to warm up to her as actually the same character. Good stuff.
I'm always a fan of some minor spooky horror in my sci-fi: check.
I really did like the premise & execution of the main plot.
My only complaints are minor nitpicks:
- Paul Wesley's Kirk still sucks. There was no reason to have him there, we didn't even see the Farragut. Someone from the main cast should have been the focus, instead of Kirk again
- Blowing up the plant seemed a bit overkill. But yeah, television...
Killing Hemmer was an absolute mistake. He was the surprise-standout character from S1. And we technically never saw a body. So I'm really wondering/hoping we see him return, after his nightmare with the Gorn. We will see.
Overall, a very good "almost bottle episode". Not pitch perfect. But good plot premise, and good character work. What more do I want?
I read the first book in my teens when my grandmother sent a box of old books her children had read. I was left hanging because the library didn’t have any Burroughs and this was before Amazon and e-books (mid-90’s).
About 14 years later I came across them all in digitized form and finally found out what happened after that cliffhanger of a first book.
And then I read everything else he wrote, and put them in the boys’ e-readers.
I read a bunch of Star Trek books in my teens, too; they had plenty of those in the library. I should check them out again.
He's fine making a snap judgement like that.
He knows that whatever decision he makes, even if he thinks it's the right one, but might have long term consequences; he'll come out ok when it comes to how the higher up deals with his judgement calls.
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Not necessarily. That's how alternate timelines are created, but that doesn't change that he would gladly take it on the chin anyway, because putting a quick end to a machine that is literally killing a species takes precedence to saving the machine, as it should.
