9 Ups & NO Downs From Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.7 — Fully Dilated

"The guest star list is sick [in season five]," T'Lyn actress Gabrielle Ruiz told our own Seán Ferrick in an exclusive interview for TrekCulture back in July. She was not wrong! By now, Paramount must have Brent Spiner stored away in one of those portable transporter buffers, ready to beam him out when needed. This time, it wasn't for one of the several Soongs, nor for the B-4 copy. It was simply, brilliantly, for Lieutenant Commander Data.

Well, it was, save for a parallel tinge. Forget, "[do] the carpets match the hull?" What was the hue of that positronic matrix? To paraphrase the disembodied android, if you can pick purple, pick purple. As ever, Spiner was on fine form in the role of the alternate version of a character which, by a certain measure, he (very technically) hadn't played for over 20 years.

On the time-dilated Dilmer III, alt. Data struck up an endearing friendship with Tendi to rival his with Geordi (who also got a couple of shout-outs). Data — no hands, feet, or torso — also became a mentor to the uncertain Orion, providing for some classic one-liners along the way. "I fail to see how adding bounce to curls could alter the course of civilisation," for example, was such a Data thing to say!