On Tue, 24 Oct 2000 19:52:47 -0500, Bob Price wrote:
>After reading a couple of posts about metric on TV shows I just can't help
>but wonder if anyone likes any of the Star Trek series. On The Next
>Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager you hear metric units in virtually
>every episode. They never use King George III Units.
>Also, I noticed metric used extensively in the new series Andromeda. It
>seems that Gene Roddenberry was either ahead of his time, or simply in touch
>with the rest of the world.
Well, a 23rd century in which people other than historians know (or know
of) archaic units wouldn't be particularly believable. _Babylon 5_ has
KG3 ones hither and thither; we assume that this is just like us hearing
English coming out of three Centauri talking alone -- the characters are
actually talking in Centauri, but the script uses English unless the
language actually used is ambiguous. If Delenn[1] is speaking with the
command staff (in English) and then turns around and says something to
Lennier, she will do so in Adranato[2], which is subtitled for the
benefit of the aextraterralinguaphones[3] audience. Likewise, characters
occasionally use WOMBAT because (the suits believe that) the audience
won't understand metric.
OTOH, you could use the same argument to explain Andromeda. It's
unlikely that the Systems Commonwealth's units have anything in common
with SI, seeing as how they're a few thousand years older than human
civilisation. We know from visuals of the ship's displays that the crew
isn't speaking in English (the writing system isn't Terran), and by the
time of the series Earth has been completely integrated into the SC, so
the script is probably written with SI because units of fdsn!k4, mfka and
f#o (the SC unit system hasn't been discussed, so I've made up three
samples) would clearly be meaningless to the audience.
On the gripping hand, I just had to find some way to insert the phrase
"on the gripping hand" into this message, as I've used it several times
this week.
[1] A Minbari, for those of you who have been hiding under a rock.
[2] (sp?) The language of the Minbari religious caste.
[3] Okay, what's a better way to say that?
--
Brad Ackerman N1MNB "Now some of you may bring up the Tekken OVA.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] In response, I'd tend to simply bring up my lunch."
PGP: 0x62D6B223 -- His Lordship Chaos
http://skaro.pair.com/ from http://www.animeondvd.com/
