Carbon Creek was the second episode of the second season of Star Trek: Enterprise. First broadcast on September 25, 2002, "Carbon Creek" was actually the first episode produced for the second season. An atypical Enterprise episode, it does not focus on any of the central characters. ImageMetadata File history File links CarbonCreek. ... TMir, Second Foremother of TPol, from Star Trek: Enterprise A fictional character from the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... Rick Berman Richard Keith Rick Berman (born December 25, 1945 in New York, New York, USA) is an American television producer. ... Brannon Braga at a 2006 lecture Brannon Braga (born August 14, 1965 in Bozeman, Montana) is an American television producer and screenwriter who is mostly known for his significant contributions to the Star Trek series since 1990. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... James A. Contner is a television director. ... Ann Cusack (born on May 22, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an American actress. ... Hank Harris is an American actor who has been working in movies and television since the late 1990s. ... Barnsley FC beat a host of league 1 and championship sides to sign Scunthorpe United striker Paul Hayes in the summer of 2005 who penned a two year deal keeping him at barnsley until 2007. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... This list of Star Trek: Enterprise episodes is accompanied by each episodes original airdate on UPN in the United States, along with its Nielsen rating, and number of viewers. ... Shockwave is a two-part episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ... Minefield is the 28th episode (production #204) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ... The starship Enterprise (NX-01) Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. ... September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Plot

"Carbon Creek" begins with Captain Jonathan Archer, Commander Trip Tucker and Sub-Commander T'Pol having a small dinner party in honor of the first anniversary of T'Pol's assignment aboard Enterprise (and, by extension, the first anniversary of Enterprise's mission). Jonathan Archer is a fictional character and the main character of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ... Charles Trip Tucker III Commander Charles Tucker III, known as Trip (for triple, since he is the third generation of his family to be called Charles Tucker), is a fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, played by Connor Trinneer. ... Commander TPol is a fictional character played by Jolene Blalock in Star Trek: Enterprise. ...

During pre-dinner conversation, Archer, out of curiosity, asks why T'Pol travelled from San Francisco to Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania prior to joining Enterprise. T'Pol reveals that, contrary to human belief, the first contact between humans and Vulcans did not occur in the mid-2060s after Zephram Cochrane made his first warp speed flight (see Star Trek: First Contact), but in fact the contact occurred a century earlier, in Carbon Creek. Trip and Archer react incredulously to this claim, so T'Pol offers to tell the story of this contact since her great-grandmother T'Mir was part of those events. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... It has been suggested that Tplana-hath be merged into this article or section. ... Zefram Cochrane is a fictional character from the Star Trek universe who invented the warp drive in 2063, bringing faster-than-light travel technology to humanity. ... The Enterprise-D goes into warp. ... Star Trek: First Contact (Paramount Pictures, 1996; see also 1996 in film), is the eighth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... TMir, Second Foremother of TPol, from Star Trek: Enterprise A fictional character from the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. ...

Most of the episode is told in flashback. T'Mir (played by Jolene Blalock, who also plays T'Pol) is a member of a four-Vulcan crew studying Earth from orbit in 1957, where they witness the launch of Sputnik, the planet's first artificial satellite. A mishap with their impulse manifold soon forces the Vulcan craft to make a crash landing in Pennsylvania. The captain is killed and T'Mir, as second-in-command, takes charge. A distress signal is sent, but after more than two weeks no reply is received and the crew's rations run out. With his shipmates slowly starving to death, one of the Vulcans, Mestral, chooses to visit a nearby human settlement (town). T'Mir reluctantly accompanies him. In literature and film, a flashback (also called analepsis) takes the narrative back in time from the point the story has reached, to recount events that happened before and give the back-story. ... Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander TPol Jolene Blalock (born March 5, 1975 in San Diego, California) is an American actress best known for playing Sub-Commander TPol, a Vulcan in Star Trek: Enterprise. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ... An Earth observation satellite, ERS 2 For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ...

Over the next few months the three Vulcans integrate themselves with the townsfolk, successfully hiding their Vulcan nature. T'Mir, despite her desire to avoid contact with the humans, strikes up a friendship with a young scientist-in-the-making named Jack, while Mestral, who is enthralled by the humans, finds himself becoming involved with Jack's mother while enjoying the finer pleasures of human life such as baseball games and watching I Love Lucy on TV -- purely for research purposes. The third Vulcan, Stron, has to endure being compared endlessly to Moe Howard of the Three Stooges. A view of the playing field at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. ... I Love Lucy, a CBS television sitcom that aired in the 1950s, was the most popular American in its second season, for example, its average ratings were a never-surpassed record of nearly seventy percent, compared to about 30 percent for the top-rated show of today — and is still... Moe Howard (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975) was the leader of the Three Stooges. ... The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the mid 20th century best known for their numerous short films. ...

During their months on Earth, the three Vulcans obtain menial jobs - T'Mir helps at the local pub, Stron becomes a handyman, while Mestral works in the mine, at one point utilizing advanced Vulcan technology in the form of a particle weapon to save the lives of a dozen trapped miners.

Eventually, a Vulcan vessel signals that they are about to arrive to retrieve them. Before leaving, however, T'Mir learns a human lesson in compassion when she discovers that Jack's dreams of attending university have been dashed due to lack of money. Surreptitiously taking a small item from the downed Vulcan craft, she travels by train to an unidentified city where she visits a patent attorney and sells the incredulous man the rights to a product known today as velcro. The money she receives for this "invention that will change the world" is more than enough to ensure Jack's future education. Velcro: hooks (left) and loops (right). ...

A few days later, as the Vulcan ship is about to arrive, Mestral announces his intention to stay on Earth and observe the great advances he knows lie ahead. T'Mir reluctantly agrees to let him stay and tells the Vulcan rescuers that Mestral died in the crash.

The episode ends with Archer and Trip not sure whether to believe T'Pol's story, and Trip ultimately declaring that she was pulling their leg, a theory apparently supported when T'Pol states that she visited Carbon Creek to do a geological survey. However, the last image of the episode is of T'Pol taking a small parcel out of a private storage container in her quarters -- the 1950s-era handbag that was used by T'Mir.

Trivia

• Although the so-called invention of velcro depicted in this episode does not match real world events in which the product was invented in 1941, the name of the Vulcan scientist, Mestral, is a clear reference to the real-life inventor of velcro, Georges de Mestral.
• T'Mir is physically identical to T'Pol, except for the fact she has red hair and a somewhat different demeanor. There is precedent in Star Trek for the use of "lookalike ancestors". Worf's grandfather, Colonel Worf, seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was played by the same actor who played Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Brent Spiner played two different members of the Soong family in TNG and a later Enterprise story arc.
• Early in the episode, Trip remarks that T'Pol's story is like "an old episode of The Twilight Zone." The night this episode originally aired, a new version of Twilight Zone debuted on UPN.
• T'Pol, Trip and Archer are the only members of the regular cast to appear in this episode.
• This episode contains a number of visual homages to the Original Series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", including a Vulcan shown working on an electronics project in a kitchen, Mestral wearing a wool cap to cover his ears (as Mr. Spock did in the TOS episode), Mestral and T'Mir raiding a clothesline for proper period apparel, and the Vulcans getting menial jobs much as James T. Kirk and Spock got jobs as laborers during their adventure (Mestral and T'Mir are both seen sweeping floors as Spock did). If the chronology of the Star Trek franchise is taken into account, T'Pol is later incorrect in her assertion that first contact occurred in 1957, since "City on the Edge of Forever" places a Vulcan on Earth in 1930; however she is correct at the time because this time travel incident would not be known to the Vulcans in the mid-22nd century since it hadn't happened yet.
• The reference to I Love Lucy is a nod to Lucille Ball whose production company Desilu Studios produced the first seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series in the 1960s. Ball is also credited with championing the series in the early days.
• T'Mir is the first member of T'Pol's family to appear in an episode. The fourth season episode "Home" would introduce her mother (and T'Mir's granddaughter), T'Les.
• The statement that T'Pol visited Carbon Creek and several other locations during her assignment on Earth seems to contradict the premiere episode "Broken Bow" in which T'Pol claims she did not travel.
• This was the first of several episodes to feature a minor running joke involving T'Pol's age. Her age would finally be revealed at the end of the third season.
• This storyline shares some events with the (non-canonical) novel Strangers from the Sky, specifically, the crash-landing of a Vulcan crew and subsequent accidental first contact. That novel, however, had the contact take place in the early twenty-first century.
• There is no such town as "Carbon Creek" in Pennsylvania.
• According to the Memory Alpha web site <http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Doylestown>, the town in this episode is near Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... George de Mestral (June 19, 1907 - February 8, 1990) was an electrical engineer who invented Velcro. ... Worf (Klingon: worIv) is a Klingon Starfleet officer in the Star Trek fictional universe. ... Colonel Worf is an attorney/JAG to the Klingon Empire in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Paramount Pictures, 1991; see also 1991 in film) is the sixth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... Brent Jay Spiner (born February 2, 1949) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television and movie series Star Trek: The Next Generation. ... The Twilight Zone title. ... UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) was a television network in over 200 markets in the United States. ... The City on the Edge of Forever is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. ... Spock, commonly called Mr. ... Captain James Tiberius Kirk, 2233 - 2293 (2371), played by William Shatner, is the main character in the original Star Trek television series and the films based on it. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an iconic American actor, comedian and star of the landmark sitcom I Love Lucy, a four time Emmy Award winner (awarded 1953, 1956, 1967, 1968) and charter member of the Television Hall of Fame. ... Desilu Productions was a company jointly owned by American actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. ... The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... Home is the name of the 79th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. ... TLes, Mother of TPol from the series Star Trek: Enterprise TLes, mother of TPol, the science office aboard the Enterprise (NX-01), and former instructor at the Vulcan Science Academy. ... Broken Bow is the pilot episode (episode number 001 (Paramount Pictures, n. ... Strangers from the Sky a novel by Margaret Wander Bonanno This novel is an adventure involving the original Star Trek series cast and journeys through many eras of the trek timeline. ... Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Bucks Founded Incorporated 1745 1838 (Borough) Area  - Borough  2. ...

External links

• Carbon Creek article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.