Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x06 "Lost In Translation"

LoglineUhura seems to be the only one who can hear a strange sound. When the noise triggers terrifying hallucinations, she enlists an unlikely assistant to help her track down the source.

Written by Onitra Johnson & David Reed

Directed by Dan Liu

c4lm ,

Alright, one of the weaker episodes.

Not a fan of this Kirk, he reminds me more of Carrey than Shatner. Neither he, nor the Farragut needed to be in this episode.

frankPodmore ,
@frankPodmore@slrpnk.net avatar

I like that they did the Kirk/Spock meet as an almost throwaway thing, rather than trying to make it a big deal. We already know it’s a big deal, so any attempt to increase the drama would’ve made it cheesy, IMO. Plus, we’ve had lots of media about their friendship, already: we know it inside out. Instead, we got to focus on Kirk’s relationship with a different legacy character, one that hasn’t already been explored to anywhere near the same extent.

Although, on that note… was anyone else hoping the ‘doctor on the Farragut’ Kirk referred to was going to lead to a cameo from Bones? I don’t remember if they served together pre-Enterprise, so it might not have been strictly canon!

TeaHands ,
@TeaHands@lemmy.world avatar

Enjoyable episode, down a bit from the last few but at least we’re staying well ahead of ep1 in terms of quality. I am getting a bit of Kirk fatigue though, they have him technically meeting people for the first time in this episode but it feels like there’s no impact because we’ve seen them together in alternate timelines already.

Also, did I miss something or did they gather no proof whatsoever of the nebula aliens? I’m fine with Pike taking Uhura’s word for it in the climax but it just felt like there was a bit missing in between “taking the hallucinating person’s word for it” and “we now all accept that this was definitely happening and are writing scientific papers on it”.

Anyway now for my truly controversial opinion: I don’t like Pelia. The character is a great idea, but the execution is terrible.

I was excited at first, Carol Kane is great, but she just doesn’t work here imo. She’s hard to understand, every line seems to be delivered exactly the same, I don’t know she just seems like a joke character but without many jokes. It’s a little uncomfortable to watch.

Fully accept I am the only one who thinks this, though!

Meowrilena ,
@Meowrilena@mstdn.fr avatar

@TeaHands @ValueSubtracted you're not the only one, the way Pelia delivers her lines irks me quite a bit.
Plus, I was shocked at Pike giving Uhura so much liberty with something that he said was so important for the federation, especially since she didn't have any proof. 🤷‍♀️

TeaHands ,
@TeaHands@lemmy.world avatar

I was 100% braced for a deluge of downvotes so thank you for standing with me on this one 😅

Awa ,
@Awa@lemmy.world avatar

I agree with you on multiple accounts. Seems like the writing was lacking. In addition to not securing the hallucinating guy, they also made no formal announcement to security or to warn others about his dangerous presence. You would think with such a huge crew complement that there would be more people walking the halls in the scenes when they were trying to apprehend him. Or at least folks trying to figure out why it is dark, etc.

Also agree with the lack of direction on Carol Kane’s character. In fact, the way they included Hemmer as a hallucination, in the pre-recorded video, as well as in commentary by Una and Pelia, it almost seemed as if they were apologizing to the audience for getting rid of the Hemmer character. I am unsure of the reasoning behind it, but I thought he was a great character and wish they hadn’t killed him off.

So far this is the first episode that kind of disappointed me in the new series. It almost felt like it was filler to create the establishment of relationships between Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew.

Corgana ,
@Corgana@startrek.website avatar

This /r/Daystrom thread from last year is kinda funny, the OP correctly predicts how Pike and Kirk meet, but then he and most of the commenters dismiss it as “unlikely”.

This leads us to three possibilities

  1. Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain and Kirk took over Command from him as a result, which is where they met. Traditionally, especially in many of the novels, thats when the met before.
  2. Kirk met him on two distinct occasions, firstly when Pike became Fleet Captain and secondly, when he took over Command (its possible that the order was reversed).
  3. Kirk met him on at least two notable occasions, which he mentions.

With James T being confirmed for Season 2 and Sam being on the ship and friendly with Pike, enough to call him “Chris”, no 3 seems to be the most likely answer

It’s a fun thread to scroll through now that we know this episode.

lonlazarus ,

I don’t know if it was intentional as to be a call back to TOS, but I loved the absolutely senseless way nobody secures potentially dangerous actors that are in sick bay.

deweydecibel ,

I’m with the others that say it’s a really good episode, until you start picking apart some of the decisions. Pike taking the word of a person who has been suffering hallucinations, with no evidence, then preceding to destroy a massive infrastructure project with no real hesitation…it didn’t feel earned. I know he trust her, and Kirk, but damn that was an extreme leap of faith.

Benfell ,
@Benfell@hcommons.social avatar

@deweydecibel @ValueSubtracted

That's frankly what caught my attention, even as I was watching the episode. The decision turns out to have been right, but on thin-to-nonexistent justification.

Schal330 ,

I think what justifies it is the second case that they encounter. The other guy provides them with scientific evidence that Uhura was experiencing something that wasn’t unique to just her.

It was definitely a leap of faith for Pike, but his decision was bolstered by someone (Kirk) that he knows can make the right decisions too.

Benfell ,
@Benfell@hcommons.social avatar

@Schal330

This might be a case where they compressed too much for coherence.

Yeah, there was the other guy. But in my mind, not enough had apparently been done to confirm a superficial and partial similarity of symptoms.

To give an idea of the dissonance, I'm remembering somebody (I think it wasn't Miles O'Brien who got the line) encountering the Cardassian systems on Deep Space 9 and complaining that they weren't triple-redundant.

In academia, we call it parsimony in a way that doesn't quite seem to match a dictionary definition that I just dredged up on line: It's when an explanation seems straightforward and satisfactory. For me, that was missing.

I think a challenge for script writing here is keeping the story moving without dragging this too far into soap opera territory. How much do we really want get into the weeds here?

Maybe the writers thought this was too deep in the weeds. Maybe they just ran out of episode time. Maybe we agree they didn't get the balance right here.

AnnaLogg ,

i was just thrown by the fact that nobody considered the possibility that it was a plot by Romulans or Gorn to get the Federation to self-sabotage. they stated they were at the edge of known space, so i thought a much more cautious attitude was required

Hypersapien ,

They could have fixed that by analyzing the signals in her brain in such a way that they could actually show to Pike.

Borgzilla ,
@Borgzilla@lemmy.ca avatar

It was a good episode, but there are a few things I didn’t like:

  • Blowing up a space refinery on a whim.
  • Too much romance/interpersonal stuff, still.
  • Pike needs to grow a spine and be more assertive.

I give it a 6/10; not bad, not great. I’m looking forward to the new episode.

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