2.2 "Carbon Creek" Trivia Quiz

Answer: T'Pol's one-year anniversary on the ship

T'Pol tries to downplay the one year milestone, but Captain Archer underlies how significant it is by reminding her that the previous record for any Vulcan serving on an Earth ship was two weeks. In typical Vulcan fashion, she corrects him, saying that it was actually only ten days.

The senior staff of the Enterprise were portrayed by Scott Bakula (Archer), Connor Trinneer (Tucker), and Jolene Blalock (T'Pol).

Answer: Pennsylvania

At first, T'Pol tries to put off Archer's inquiry, citing her reasons as personal, but Tucker and Archer push the issue, wondering what could possibly be personal to her in such an out-of-the-way place like Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania?

She relents and tells them that she was visiting the site of First Contact between Vulcans and humans. This statement, of course, is met with disbelief, as (human) history puts First Contact in 2063 in Bozeman, Montana with Zefram Cochrane.

This is what prompts the story from T'Pol.

Answer: The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1

According to T'Pol, the survey ship had been sent to gather information following the launch of Earth's first artificial satellite. But three weeks into their observations, the impulse manifold began to malfunction, and they had no choice but to attempt an emergency landing.

Answer: The captain

We never learn his name in the episode, but his death results in T'Pol's second foremother T'Mir taking command of the survivors.

The Vulcan captain was played by David Selburg, while Jolene Blalock portrayed T'Mir.

Answer: They run out of food.

The three survivors go through their emergency rations within a week and last another five days with no food before considering 'desperate' alternatives. Mestral, the younger of the two male crew members, even suggests killing and eating deer to survive, as "It's logical to take extreme measures to survive". This option is quickly shot down by Stron as resorting to savagery.

J. Paul Boehmer had the part of Mestral, while the role of Stron was acted by Michael Krawic.

Answer: By playing pool

While they don't steal money, they do take some clothes off of a clothesline before walking into the town proper. Upon entering the local pub/restaurant, they quickly find out that they need 'currency' and won't get much more than a bowl of pretzels for free.

Mestral challenges a man to play pool when he sees others doing so for wagers, but he has no money to stake. Just as they are about to leave, the man (Billy) offers to play on the condition that if Mestral loses, he gets to have a drink with his 'associate' (T'Mir).

Of course, pool is just geometry, and they soon have enough money to get food and to rent a room.

Billy was played by Clay Wilcox.

Answer: Farm labourer

T'Mir finds work at the same pub that they first visited, while Mestral takes a job in the coalmine and Stron makes his way as a plumber, although he cheats at the work, using his technologically advanced tools to help with the work.

Answer: Maggie, the bartender

Since the Vulcans don't know whether their last-minute distress call was successfully broadcast before the crash, they have the dilemma of how to proceed. Should they plan to stay on Earth indefinitely? How can they do so if it means the likelihood of being discovered as aliens (eventually)?

Mestral sees the potential of humans and humanity, with their empathy and compassion, but T'Mir only sees their destructiveness (nuclear testing).

Mestral cuts the discussion short, ostensibly to retrieve a waveform discriminator from the ship, but T'Mir follows him and sees him get in a car with Maggie, the bartender/restaurant owner that they met upon arriving in Carbon Creek.

Maggie was portrayed by Ann Cusack.

Answer: Velcro

When an accident in the mine happens, Mestral convinces his colleagues to help, even though it is a risk of exposure. It is the first real progress T'Mir makes towards having compassion for humanity.

T'Mir makes her way into Pittsburgh and finds a business by the name of Big Creek Manufacturing and Sales Co. At first sceptical of her claim to have an invention that 'is going to change the world', his face takes on a look of incredulity as she demonstrates the patch of velcro.

In reality, velcro was invented by Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in 1941 (and patented in 1955). His name was borrowed for use as one of the characters in the episode, in tribute.

Jack (Maggie's son) was played by Hank Harris, and Paul Hayes was the businessman.

Answer: Yes

T'Pol concludes her story, explaining how the Vulcans' distress call was received by a Tellarite freighter, who then contacted the Vulcan home world. She also tells them that in the end, Mestral chose to stay on Earth, and his colleagues lied about it, claiming he had died in the crash.

While she leaves Archer and Tucker with ambiguous conclusions as to whether it was just a story, T'Pol does state that the history is a matter of record on Vulcan.

But when she returns to her quarters, T'Pol takes a few moments to hold a 1950s-style purse... the same one T'Mir had in her story.