TOS - Metamorphosis

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Alex
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TOS - Metamorphosis

Post by Alex »

Was this the first episode to explicitly feature the universal translator?
It was the first and only TOS episode to actually show the Universal Translator as a piece of hand-held hardware for onscreen communication between two entities who would otherwise be unable to even resort to "sign language" or such.
In no other TOS episode do we see any actual (or implied) instrumentality for effecting communications with alien species. Rather, the "Translation Convention" (see tvtropes) is invoked. So even the weirdest alien life forms speak in almost accent-free U.S. English - except when they have to ask, "What is this 'kiss' you talk of?!" or "What is 'money?!'" or "You are not Morg; you are not Imorg!" In other words: When it is lampshaded (again, see tvtropes).
The only other mentions in TOS of the difficulty of communicating with alien species were off-the-cuff remarks by Kirk to, e.g., Uhura to "Send this message in all known languages" - and, invariably, it turned out said aliens were in fact perfectly capable of speaking U.S. English - but they were just a**holes.
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Riedquat
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Re: TOS - Metamorphosis

Post by Riedquat »

Thebestoftherest wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:40 am I been watching some YouTube videos lately, the history channel claims that dark skin people can't make their own world wonders for being primitive, and that the Nazi are genius practically a new race.
WTF? The History Channel really claims that, or is it some YouTuber trying to put a disturbing spin on it? (note - I'm in the UK so I've not seen the channel; might be available on something I suppose, but I've not seen it).
Thebestoftherest
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Re: TOS - Metamorphosis

Post by Thebestoftherest »

That is basically the plot of ancient aliens and how many history channels show are about how awesome their weapons are and not what they use it for
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Beastro
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Re: TOS - Metamorphosis

Post by Beastro »

Thebestoftherest wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:40 am I been watching some YouTube videos lately, the history channel claims that dark skin people can't make their own world wonders for being primitive, and that the Nazi are genius practically a new race.
I wouldn't put it that way, but there's two things going on in your post.

First: Such people like to deny that people even made Stonehenge, and 5000 year old Britons are hardly old enough to be "dark skinned". The best that can be said of Ancient Alien types is that they look down on Mankind's ancient talents equally.

Second: The Nazi hype is a legacy of the importance of WWII and the importance of Nazi Germany as the ultimate enemy in many people's minds. Great enemies stick in our minds for a reason, but all enemies do: Ask a Vietnam era vet about the M-16 compared to the AK-47 and they'd tell you the M-16 was a piece of junk and the AK was a beast (which is the modern story told because of America's openness) .... but ask a North Vietnamese vet the same question and they'd say, no, it was the AK that was junk and the M-16 was the beast.

Why would they both say that?

Because both were on the receiving end on each weapons fire. Both knew know intimately the devastating effect the rifles had on their side. Conversely, both would be firing off their weapons not really knowing their full effect and giving the impression they were just empying their weapons into jungle for no big results. At the same time both were dealing with the downsides of their weapons their enemies never dealt with, like how often they might break down, the maintenance demands and all the other pain in the ass bits that made them think lowly of their rifle in comparison because they were their rifles and bitched at them just like we bitch about anything we own that acts up.

The result is a one-sided picture of marked enemy superiority. Now throw in the importance of WWII and Nazi Germany in people's eyes and you find yourself with many people wanting to accept Germany superiority to take pride in their people's accomplishments in defeating them. Telling people about Germany's flaws undermines that, and many don't want to acknowledge the balanced picture (or in Germany's case, the sheer dysfunctional nature of so much of their system) because they want to feel their nations defeated the undefeatable.

A good example of that is the legacy of much German tech. German derived rockets were a dead end. US rockets today are linearly descended from those developed by a Belgian in the late 40s. Same with jet engines where the attempts to create an aircraft with ones based off German designed resulted in this sort of thing happening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin_La-15
Introduction 1949
Retired 1953
It's nice to think Prometheus gave us fire, but it's far more human to celebrate the slaying of a dragon and the seizure of his treasure hoard.
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