During the first few minutes of Sanctuary the crew of DS9 are unable to understand the Skreea (sp?) because the Universal Translator can't figure out their language. After a couple scenes of idiotic babbling the UT figures it out and the episode continues without further mention of it. Sooo...why did they even bother with the language barrier??? It served no dramatic purpose and only made an already annoying episode even more annoying.
Why the UT problems in Sanctuary?
- Thread starter erastus25
- Start date
Maybe it also had to do with the Cardassian technology. At least I remember Damar having trouble understanding the Breen because he hadn't adjusted his UT. Perhaps early on the station doesn't work all that well yet with Starfleet UT software or they were only using the Cardassian system that wasn't as good as that of the Federation.
While I believe this might be the best technical reason, I too think it was because they wanted to show that they were engaging cultures that were so different from the A-quad species that their languages weren't recognized by the UT
Yes, that was probably it.
Well, I for one enjoyed that bit although the rest of the episode wasn't exactly thrilling. It's maybe because I have a fascination for other languages.
In fact at the beginning of "Babel" I was hoping for a general UT malfunction that would cause all the characters to speak their original languages. That could also have answered the question if all humans are speaking English in the 24th century or if some are still speaking other languages (like Keiko speaking Japanese) and the UT just makes it sound like English.
Oh well, didn't happen.
Well, I for one enjoyed that bit although the rest of the episode wasn't exactly thrilling. It's maybe because I have a fascination for other languages.
In fact at the beginning of "Babel" I was hoping for a general UT malfunction that would cause all the characters to speak their original languages. That could also have answered the question if all humans are speaking English in the 24th century or if some are still speaking other languages (like Keiko speaking Japanese) and the UT just makes it sound like English.
Oh well, didn't happen.
I'd argue that it was a deliberate dramatic choice to make the Skreeans as annoying as possible, and that the fact that they spoke a foreign language was another trick used for upping the annoyance factor.
The idea of the writers apparently was to make the audience really, really hate the Skreeans, then take a look at the mirror and see that they hated them for the reason people in the real world hate foreigners: different habits, different smells, different language. It wasn't too difficult to work the language angle into Star Trek, but it did involve toying with the concept of the UT - and that in turn was another little scifi detail long in waiting. But I don't believe the UT failure was introduced merely for its scifi value. It seemed to serve the overall symbolism of the episode first and foremost.
Timo Saloniemi
The idea of the writers apparently was to make the audience really, really hate the Skreeans, then take a look at the mirror and see that they hated them for the reason people in the real world hate foreigners: different habits, different smells, different language. It wasn't too difficult to work the language angle into Star Trek, but it did involve toying with the concept of the UT - and that in turn was another little scifi detail long in waiting. But I don't believe the UT failure was introduced merely for its scifi value. It seemed to serve the overall symbolism of the episode first and foremost.
Timo Saloniemi
Interesting. I hadn't thought about it like that. Although, I would argue the point wasn't to make them annoying, but instead to make them more resemble immigrants the viewers are actually familiar with. Maybe it was meant to be a commentary on the anti-immigration "if they're going to live here they should learn the language" argument that's prevalent in some areas.
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