Giant plot hole in I, ET

[goodkarma667]

OK, maybe this has been discussed before, if so I'm sorry, but the whole episode makes no sense.

How can these aliens understand what John is saying? I understand that he should be able to understand them because of nano-machines in his brain, but he should be speaking giberish to them.

Thank you if anyone can clear this up.

[trubador]

It's called the "oops" factor... given that it was only the second episode of the series. :D

[scrape_medic]

Hadn't they met the hynerians in thier past.....maybe the translator microbes got passed on that way.

[malachilenomade]

There was a reasoning we used in military camera school: It's In The Script

That covers a lot of little boo-boos you'll see in most things :D

[sny]

I believe one theory that's been floated here and elsewhere was that there are possibly naturally occurring translator microbes that handle some of the less complex or even common languages. Considering the human-like appearance of the Deneans, you just might theorize that they and Earthlings share a common origin or crossed paths wayyyyy back, or even be related. Their speech might share some common roots, too. Coming from the same "mother tongue", they or their translator microbes might be able to understand Crichton's english.

In the spirit of "It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature." think of it as "It's not a plot hole, we simply didn't get around to giving the perfectly reasonable explanation in the episode."

[Jack's_Son]

I believe one theory that's been floated here and elsewhere was that there are possibly naturally occurring translator microbes that handle some of the less complex or even common languages. Considering the human-like appearance of the Deneans, you just might theorize that they and Earthlings share a common origin or crossed paths wayyyyy back, or even be related. Their speech might share some common roots, too. Coming from the same "mother tongue", they or their translator microbes might be able to understand Crichton's english.

In the spirit of "It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature." think of it as "It's not a plot hole, we simply didn't get around to giving the perfectly reasonable explanation in the episode."

I thought about it at the time, and I believe you are correct, the species were so similar that the language was probably understandable. You'll notice that Fausto had a bit of difficulty even pronouncing D'Argo's name and messed up the Ka part and the two didn't really speak or if so, minimally.

[Natira]

The Hynerians were on Aquara, not on the Planet in "I, Et" ;)

I think they didn't want to make it complicated and thought everyone would find an explanation for himself. And it would have been much more complicated with showing language problems.

[sny]

To quote the Diet Pepsi Box Office Promotion radio commercial, since it's rather appropriate:

SciFi: We're in luck, boys! These aliens speak American!

[TheBladeRoden]

Offshoot species from Sebacians? Stranded on the planet hundreds of thousands of years ago but after the advent of translator microbes.

[kymom5613]

Whenever faced with such dilemmas, I fall back on what my Grandmother says: "Think of the story" and go on my merry way...

[scrape_medic]

Here's an old thread that might shed some more light! (http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?p=469381)

[TalynLives]

A wizard did it.

[Nutty_Angel]

I agree with Talynlives!!!

[Demonique]

OK, maybe this has been discussed before, if so I'm sorry, but the whole episode makes no sense.

How can these aliens understand what John is saying? I understand that he should be able to understand them because of nano-machines in his brain, but he should be speaking giberish to them.

Thank you if anyone can clear this up.

Maybe its the planet where the translator microbes (i.e. germs, bacteria) originated from, meaning that they would be naturally occuring in the population?

[Selena]

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I blame the Eidelons .... they messed with humans and genetically altered them so it's not a big stretch to think that they may have seeded translator microbes on many planets as they searched for the right people to make INTO Peacekeepers.

[Nicola]

Oh. I like your explanation Selena.

Plus - translator microbes are not just useful for intraspecies communcation. Just think how handy they would be on THIS planet.

[Afarscapefan]

That's what I call thinking. Pardon a snide comment, but who wants to communicate with lesser species anyway?
;)


Following on from Selena's good reasoning:
There could have been translator microbes on earth.
These alien microbes could have been wiped out by our bugs - I am thinking along the lines of War of the Worlds stuff where the humble earth microbes eat the Martians.
And now Erp is connected to the the rest to the galaxy, should we share the influenzas that we have seen?
:eek:

[triggerpod]

re raelee hill on dk the expression is mad as a cut snake. and i seem to recall, but could be misremembering, zhaan saying that the translator microbes were naturally occurring, so they could be floating about all over the universe.

[Kinetic]

Like in Thank You For Smoking. "Thank god we created the understandjohn machine that makes this all possible"