Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 7 - "Fully Dilated"Star Trek: Lower Decks just topped Star Trek: Enterprise's classic episode, "Carbon Creek." The spectacular Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 7, "Fully Dilated" is a fish-out-of-water story where Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), D'Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), and T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) are stranded in a pre-warp civilization for a year. "Fully Dilated" cleverly borrows from several great Star Trek episodes like Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Inner Light" and Star Trek: Voyager's "Blink of an Eye," and it's a riff that exceeds Enterprise's "Carbon Creek."
Star Trek: Enterprise season 2, episode 2, "Carbon Creek," is a story told by Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) of how her ancestor, T'Mir (also Blalock), and two other Vulcans crash-landed and were stranded in Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania in 1957. The Vulcans arrived over a century before First Contact and hid among the townspeople, who were unaware they were aliens. The Vulcans were forced to adjust to "primitive" Earth until they were rescued months later, but Mestral (J. Paul Boemer), elected to stay on Earth. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 7, Mariner even calls their predicament "a Carbon Creek situation."
Star Trek: Lower Decks Did Their Own Enterprise "Carbon Creek" Episode - But Better
Lower Deckers On Dilmar III Topped Vulcans In Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 7, "Fully Dilated" did an even better version of Enterprise's "Carbon Creek." Mariner, Tendi, and T'Lyn were stranded on Dilmer III, a medieval pre-warp civilization, and they blended in thanks to Starfleet surgical procedures to make them resemble the Dilmerians. Each Lower Decker had a distinct story: Mariner decided she had to live the way Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) did in TNG's "The Inner Light", while T'Lyn applied her Vulcan brain power to improve their lives, with no idea Tendi was competing with her over who is the better Science Officer.
With its pink skies, sweeping vistas, eclectic townspeople, and villainous lurker, Snell (Eric Bauza), Dilmer III in Star Trek: Lower Decks was more interesting than 1957 Pennsylvania in Star Trek: Enterprise. Lower Decks' comedy was sharp, and the character interplay between Mariner, T'Lyn, and Tendi on their extended "girl's trip" was some of the best writing ever on Star Trek: Lower Decks. Not to mention, "Fully Dilated" also brought back Brent Spiner to play the severed head of a purple, alt-universe Lt. Commander Data, who doles out sage advice to Tendi, Mariner, and T'Lyn. Plus, Star Trek: Lower Decks accomplished all of this in just 25 minutes.
Why "Carbon Creek" Is A Classic Star Trek: Enterprise Episode
Vulcans In 1957 Is A Standout Enterprise Premise
The brilliance of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 7 does not dilute the enduring quality of Star Trek: Enterprise's "Carbon Creek," which stands as one of the seminal episodes of the series. "Carbon Creek" exemplified the best of Star Trek; it told a compelling fish-out-of-water story where America in the 1950s was seen through the eyes of Vulcans forced to live in this era. Enterprise banked on Jolene Blalock to anchor "Carbon Creek" as T'Mir, along with two Vulcans who were not Enterprise series regular cast members. Yet the drama was fascinating as the Vulcans fit into the town of Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania.
Enterprise delivered a standout, milestone episode with "Carbon Creek" that remains a fan-favorite.
Just as T'Lyn's improvements to Dilmer III's agriculture resulted in a hair tonic that improved the Dilmerians' lives (and made T'Lyn rich), Star Trek: Enterprise's "Carbon Creek" contains an eyebrow-raising retcon to Earth history: T'Mir sold Velcro to a company so that the technology is Vulcan in origin instead of a human invention. Without starship battles, aliens (other than the Vulcans), and the futuristic trappings of Star Trek, Enterprise delivered a standout, milestone episode with "Carbon Creek" that remains a fan-favorite. It's safe to predict "Fully Dilated" will also rank high among the very best Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes.
