Stardate: 2394.8
Original Air Date: July 20, 2023
Writers: Onitra Johnson & David Reed
Director: Dan Liu
“Amazing to think that a million years from now, those brand-new stars will shine down on explorers just like us, but this place will look entirely different by then.”
In a communications officer’s log, Uhura describes how the Enterprise has been sent to Bannon’s Nebula on the edge of explored space. “I’ve seen a lot of nebulas, but this one is special. It’s a stellar nursery, the birthplace of new stars.” Starfleet has been building an outpost here to collect, refine, and mine a substance known as deuterium, or starship fuel.
Uhura is struggling to stay awake (she hasn’t been getting much sleep) and Pike has been quietly promoted to fleet captain, he has been placed in command of the refinery and the Farragut just until they get the station online. This station is located right at the edge of the frontier –“It’ll be the jumping off point for the next great age of exploration.” Spock notes that this is also right at the edge of Gorn space whose presence has been growing in the region.
The Enterprise decides to refuel with deuterium (using bussard collectors) when Uhura receives a strange transmission which is then lost. After it disappears, she uses a video recording of Hemmer (who was killed in the first season) to help run a diagnostic check on the system. But then she begins hearing strange noises and has a disturbing vision of Hemmer as a mutilated zombie of sorts. Dr. M’Benga suggests she has experienced a mild case of deuterium poisoning, exacerbated by exhaustion/lack of sleep. He orders her to get some rest. But almost immediately, she receives a dark vision of a strange smoke cloud in a forest. And this comes as Una/Number One and Pelia discover “evidence of sabotage” aboard the Enterprise.
Meanwhile, Jim Kirk beams over to the Enterprise to converse with his brother and he meets Uhura for the first time. Suddenly, Uhura has another dark vision and she accidentally punches Kirk. She then has another vision, this time of an enemy attack which sends the crew sucked out into space. And another Starfleet officer named Lt. Saul Ramon is having a strange vision and he has apparently sabotaged the ship. He then goes on a rampage through the Enterprise en route to Engineering before Uhura finds him and he ejects himself out of an airlock into open space while Kirk narrowly rescues Uhura.
Eventually, Uhura figures out the mystery: invisible aliens located within the deuterium in the nebula have been attempting to communicate with the language portion of Uhura’s brain to explain that they are dying. The visions have been merely an attempt to prevent the crew from starting up the refinery. However, since the refinery cannot be stopped, Uhura persuades Pike to order an emergency evacuation and fire torpedoes at the outpost. Once destroyed, this unknown form of life once again uses the visage of Hemmer to show Uhura that they have survived.
The episode ends as Uhura and Kirk share a drink and she introduces Kirk to Spock.
My Thoughts on “Lost in Translation”
Always a fascinating science fiction trope, the complexity of language and communication offers a nice twist in “Lost in Translation.” Aliens who are invisible and undetected by Enterprise scans are still somehow able to speak directly to the brains of Uhura and Ramon. How are they able to do so? Who are these invisible aliens? Will the Enterprise attempt to establish a connection with them? Is further research warranted? Starfleet seems to simply abandon this strange new species without attempting to dig deeper by the end of this episode. In some ways, these creatures are reminiscnet of other non-humanoid species like the Horta in “The Devil in the Dark.”
There are lots of heartfelt moments in this episode –La’an and Kirk, Spock and Chapel, Pelia and Una– but the relationship between Jim and Sam Kirk is odd, annoying, and off-putting in my view. They are stand-offish and act in a bizarre manner toward one another.
My biggest qualm with this episode is the conclusion in which Uhura, a character who has been experiencing strange visions and fantasies throughout the episode, is allowed to simply take control of the bridge. Pike seems to fully believe her story, he orders an emergency evacuation of the refinery, and then allows her to order the crew to fire torpedoes at the refinery in order to destroy it. Is this not a violation of Starfleet rank and order? Why would he waste highly expensive, strategic, valuable Starfleet resources based on the word of an apparently delusional junior officer? This simply does not make sense. It’s almost as if the writers abandoned the script two-thirds of the way through drafting it. “Lost in Translation” is another mixed bag of an episode in Season 2 of SNW in my view –perhaps the current writer’s strike in Hollywood is affecting the quality of some of these episodes.
Star Trek Trivia:
- The Bannon Nebula is named for actress Melissa Navia’s (Ortegas) late husband, Brian Bannon who died of cancer in 2021.
- Ortegas mentions use of the “Bussard collectors” to harvest deuterium in this episode.
- This episode reaffirms aspects of the Kelvin timeline as Sam Kirk mentions how George Kirk, Sr. was the youngest first officer in Starfleet aboard the USS Kelvin prior to Jim Kirk.
- Nurse Chapel mentions Schrödinger’s cat in this episode as a metaphor for her relationship with Spock as they play 3-D chess.
- Uhura orders a glass of Saurian Brandy shortly before she meets James Kirk for the first time aboard the Enterprise.
- Uhura possesses a “dermal regenerator” in this episode which helps Kirk heal himself after she mistakenly punches him.
- Uhura mentions she used to have a cat named Kamili.
- This episode also features Kirk being introduced to Spock at the conclusion.
- Chief Kyle is mentioned again in this episode, but he has yet to appear in Season 2.
It’s indeed concerning how much the writer’s and actor’s strike will affect our favorite shows. But I found this one quite likeable for showing how Uhura’s communication skills can be one of the most important assets to the Enterprise crew. The women of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have been shining very brightly in the last few episodes. Thank you for your review and trivia.