Star Trek: 10 Episode Spoilers Hidden In The French Translation
9. Vaisseau Fantôme (Oasis)
This season one episode of Star Trek: Enterprise begins with a ghost story. D’Marr, a trader, tells Archer, T’Pol and Tucker – eager for supplies – of his run-in with the impossibly present crew of a nearby crashed ship with no apparent life signs. Cue Shock Horror (A)!
The original English title, Oasis, pulls double duty in this episode. First, it serves literally as a description of the area within the ill-fated ship that is designed to maintain and hide its crew (at least on first impressions) – a haven. Second, it is intended metaphorically when this haven is later revealed to be a mirage in the desert, a false idyll for Liana of the long-dead, and in truth merely holographic (no offence, Doc!), crew.
The French title, however, translates as ‘ghost ship’. Whilst this doesn’t spoiler (the verb as well the noun in French) the whole plot, it does betray the intrigue and suspense of the opener, as well as the creepy atmosphere of most of Act One when the Enterprise crew first arrives. Naming the episode ‘ghost ship’ spoils the reveal of the true nature of the ship’s crew (we don’t learn they are holograms until Act Three).
The word ‘[une] oasis’ exists in French and has, for all intents and purposes, an identical set of definitions to the English. In the least, therefore, a spoiler in translation could have been avoided and some of the original wordplay maintained.