Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - S2 E6 - "Lost in Translation"

I thought this was a pretty good episode, but why oh why couldn't Uhura pronounce deuterium correctly? That was driving me crazy, lol. I think she got it right once, but the rest of the time it sounded like she was saying deu tur ium. You'd think they would have lined that out at the table read before they even started shooting.

Did anyone notice Pike's Fleet Captain insignia for this episode? It's the black circle around the Starfleet delta, with two "laurel leaf" deltas at the bottom. I thought that was a nice bit of detail.

Una called Pelia a "space hippie," haha — fun callback to TOS. Later we learned that Pelia taught Una at the Academy, and gave her a C in Starship Maintenance 307.

Ramon got vented into space and died when he blew that hole in the nacelle. I guess someone forgot that just a few episodes ago they were able to save M'Benga and Chapel from the vacuum of space after a similar venting. But aside from that, why the heck didn't Kirk bother to include him in the emergency beam out just before the explosion?

La'an seemed to be having trouble forgetting about the Kirk from the other timeline, slipping on protocol and calling Kirk "James."

Kirk mentioned a "matter synthesizer" when talking about food. What's that supposed to be? I didn't think they had food replicators in this time.

Was blowing up the deuterium refinery station really the best thing to do? Seems like a HUGE waste. 

And it was pretty low-key, but did everyone catch the first ever meeting between Kirk and Spock?

it sounded like she was saying deu tur ium.

It sounded to me more like she was pronouncing it with a short "e".  "Deu tair ium."  Maybe it's an accent thing?  Or maybe my ears deceive me.

Whatever it was, I found it distracting and annoying. At first I kept backing it up to see if I misheard or something. I mean, deuterium is cake compared to some of the technobabble she might encounter along the way, lol.

I thought George Kirk senior died when Jim Kirk was a newborn.    Seems to me the Star Trek shows are not being careful.

This story was okay, but it is more drama than I prefer.   I like to see starship technology action.   This extremely indirect alien lifeform interaction is less appealing.  Plus, how is Pike going to explain blowing up the refinery without any evidence (other than Uhura's interpretations of her visions)?  

This episode was a bit difficult for me to suspend disbelief.

I thought George Kirk senior died when Jim Kirk was a newborn.

I think that might have just been in the JJ-verse alternate timeline. I looked him up on Memory Alpha and he supposedly lived into his late 50s at least, when a ship he was on, the Bonaventure, disappeared. There doesn't seem to be a very concise history for him, but it looks like he was around long enough in the prime timeline for James and George to grow up knowing him.

I like to see starship technology action.

I do too. Hopefully we'll get more of that. We did get to see the Bussard collectors being used in this one. Not really action, but starship technology at least.

Plus, how is Pike going to explain blowing up the refinery without any evidence (other than Uhura's interpretations of her visions)?  

I know. Especially after everyone thought Uhura had just been hallucinating because of "deuterium poisoning." That was really a stretch.

This one isn't going to make my list of favorites.  It seems like Uhura is our new (or original?) Deanna Troi, the only crew member getting unclear messages from aliens we can't otherwise communicate with, having to interpret those messages to save the ship.  Also, Starfleet seems to have a habit of harming or destroying aliens while replenishing their supplies.  It's too similar to Night Terrors and whatever Voyager episode had "there's coffee in that nebula".  It's been done too many times.

Also, I don't think it was done well.  Uhura goes from nervous newbie to ordering around a superior officer she's just met after punching him.  Not very believable.  And Ramon's death - the special effects looked badly done.

I did appreciate the humor.  Una's wry "I was afraid I'd missed the speech" gave me a chuckle.  So did Uhura shooting down what she thought was Kirk hitting on her with a punch to the nose, spurred on by her hallucinations.  

Also, Starfleet seems to have a habit of harming or destroying aliens while replenishing their supplies.  It's too similar to Night Terrors and whatever Voyager episode had "there's coffee in that nebula".  It's been done too many times.

You're right, it has. Going all the way back to TOS with "Devil in the Dark," the one with the silicon creatures in the mines.

But I suppose it's also realistic. The writers probably like those kinds of stories because they relate to real world problems with resource allocation and the ecological degradation that often comes along with it. One of those 'moral of the story' things. Who knows, though. Maybe they just find it easier to rehash old plots.

Or maybe the writers aren't as familiar with Star Trek as they should be, and don't realize they're doing it. I've sometimes wondered that about the new "franchise developer" himself, Alex Kurtzman, who seems stuck in the TOS movie era, even though most of Star Trek has come after.

resource allocation

Oops. Extraction, not allocation.

Going all the way back to TOS with "Devil in the Dark," the one with the silicon creatures in the mines.

I hadn't noticed the similarity until you mentioned it, but yes.  One of my favorite TOS episodes.