Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 7 - "Fully Dilated"Star Trek: Lower Decks has remade one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, with absolutely hilarious consequences. Star Trek: Lower Decks latest "girl's trip" episode brings together Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), D'Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), and T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) for an away mission to Dilmer III. The USS Cerritos lieutenants are tasked with clearing the artifacts left behind by an alternate universe's purple USS Enterprise-D to maintain the Prime Directive of non-interference with pre-warp civilizations. There's just one caveat: one second on the Cerritos is a week for the away team.
In Star Trek: Voyager season 6, episode 12, "Blink of an Eye", the USS Voyager encounters a planet where time moves much more quickly than it does on Voyager. While Voyager is locked in the planet's gravitational field, entire civilizations rise and fall. When the Doctor (Robert Picardo) is sent on an away mission to investigate the extent of Voyager's cultural contamination, a momentary glitch turns three seconds into three years. The similarities between these stories is no accident – with the Lower Decks remake resulting in a hilarious parody of a classic Star Trek episode.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Hilariously Remakes Voyager’s “Blink Of An Eye”
A Mishap Leaves The Cerritos Away Team Stranded On Dilmer III
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 7, "Fully Dilated" is a hilarious take on Star Trek: Voyager season 6, episode 12, "Blink of an Eye", with Lieutenant Tendi even saying she's familiar with the planet the USS Voyager encountered. Lieutenant Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) spills his drink on the transporter console, like a shrimp-covered variation on Voyager's temporary glitch, leaving the Cerritos away team stranded for nearly a year. While Voyager sticks with B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) fixing the mishap, Lower Decks shifts the perspective to Mariner, Tendi, and T'Lyn making the best of their extended trip.
"Fully Dilated" actually shows what it's like for Mariner, Tendi, and T'Lyn to live out that year together.
By flipping the script from the starship to the planet, Star Trek: Lower Decks expands and humanizes the story that Star Trek: Voyager contained to a single beat. In "Blink of an Eye", the Doctor comes back with stories about the rich life he built when he thought the Voyager crew forgot him. "Fully Dilated" actually shows what it's like for Mariner, Tendi, and T'Lyn to live out that year together. While T'Lyn grows giant melons and Mariner searches for a "probe life", Tendi accidentally drives an Orion dagger into her friendship with T'Lyn and has to fix it.
Why Stories About Star Trek Characters On Primitive Planets Work So Well
Star Trek Characters In Fish Out Of Water Stories Are (Usually) Fun
Stories about Star Trek characters on primitive planets are usually guaranteed hits, so nearly every Star Trek series has at least one. More often than not, it's just funny to watch Star Trek characters in situations that are familiar to us, but tricky for them. There's a lot of humor in fish out of water stories that highlight the quick thinking and competence of Star Trek characters figuring out how to work with old technology or blend in. When the primitive planet is actually Earth or a close approximation, Star Trek can comment on our current cultural climate more easily.
Besides Star Trek: Voyager's "Blink of an Eye", Star Trek: Lower Decks' "Fully Dilated" shares similarities with:
- Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 28 - "The City on the Edge of Forever"
- Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 26 & season 6, episode 1 - "Time's Arrow"
- Star Trek: Enterprise season 2, episode 2 - "Carbon Creek"
- Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6 - "Whistlespeak"
- Star Trek: Picard Season 2
- Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 13 - "All the World's A Stage"
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 1 - "Strange New Worlds"
Interacting with primitive societies reveals the true nature of Star Trek characters in fascinating ways. These stories put characters in a position of power with advanced technology that might be misinterpreted as magic by locals. Anything that's accidentally left behind could contaminate the natural development of pre-warp societies from either a techological or theological perspective. Whether characters choose to break or uphold Starfleet's Prime Directive, or find a workaround that lets them quietly help others while accomplishing their goals like T'Lyn did in Star Trek: Lower Decks, we get to see who they truly are.
