Synopsis: On a routine medical mission on Planet M-113, the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters a creature that can take any form and needs salt and love to survive.
The first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Man Trap,” premiered on Thursday, September 8, 1966. It introduced viewing audiences to two aliens that night. One, the M-113 Creature, known popularly as the “Salt Vampire,” was killed at the end of the episode. The other, Mr. Spock, has continued to be part of the Star Trek franchise, in different television series, films, and even different timelines, since that first broadcast. Star Trek lore has it that “The Man Trap” was not the earliest episode shot, nor was it considered the first or even the second pilot; yet it was aired that night because NBC felt a bit more secure broadcasting a conventional “monster” episode, instead of something more cerebral, for the debut of the series.
In watching “The Man Trap” again, I most noted how the entire series begins with Captain James Tiberius Kirk’s voiceover into his log, as the Enterprise orbits a planet looking very much like Earth, except orange tinged. While his voice is being heard, there is a cut to an interior shot of Mr. Spock “temporarily in command,” sitting in the captain’s chair, and Lt. Uhura sitting at navigation, next to Lt. Leslie at the helm. When we finally hear the first words of dialogue, it is a conversation between Kirk and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy on the planet below. Kirk teasing McCoy about his impending reunion with Nancy Crater, the wife of Professor Robert Crater. Kirk asks McCoy: “Shall we pick some flowers, Doctor? When a man visits an old girlfriend, she usually expects something like that.” McCoy’s response is: “Is that how you get girls to like you, by bribing them?” What a whimsical beginning to such a defining television program. And yes, we can see the sexist tendencies of the series in this first episode as well, beginning with Nancy Crater, the disguised Salt Vampire, appearing to Crewman Darnell as a woman he left on Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet, throwing a wrap at him and sashaying away in a gesture of come and get me. This is followed by the first conversation between Uhura and Spock, where she states that he sees her as “an illogical woman.” When Spock first addresses her by name, it is as “Miss Uhura,” although later he does address her as Lieutenant. Later, we see Yeoman Janice Rand being ogled by crewmen in the corridor. But I digress.
Getting back to the depth psychological aspects of the episode, two of Jung’s key concepts are embodied by Spock and the Salt Vampire, and here are a few thoughts about the union of opposites and the shadow.
The character development of Spock can be said to be a physical manifestation of what Jung calls “the union of opposites,” or the transcendent function. In an upcoming scene between Spock and McCoy in the fifth episode of the series, “The Enemy Within,” Spock explains that he has two sides of his personality, constantly at war with each other. However, it is because of this ongoing internal battle that the Spock of The Original Series does not yet embody the life-long process of integrating the two opposing sides of our personality into a more stable whole. This does not occur until the episode “Unification II” from Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Spock tells Captain Jean Luc Picard that unlike his father, Sarek, he has learned that he gains strength by incorporating into his psyche the human ability to see beyond pure logic. In fact, considering the Star Trek films that follow The Original Series, it can be argued that the character arc of Spock had more change than any other of the original crew of the Enterprise. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture he fails to complete Kolinahr, the process by which Vulcans permanently eliminate emotions from their life, and rejoins Starfleet; in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan he dies; in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock he is resurrected; in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Spock relearns who he is and once again chooses to embrace the Vulcan culture of logic; in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier he not only meets a godhead but is forced to choose to remain loyal to his human brothers in arms over his Vulcan half-brother; in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country his role changes from Starfleet Officer to Ambassador.
Regarding the Salt Vampire, from the viewpoint of Kirk, who holds her responsible for the loss of his crew members, she is an embodiment of Jung’s concept of the unconscious shadow. But while Jung considers the shadow an undeveloped part of our psyche, or one considered undesirable in culture, Kirk sees the Salt Vampire as an evil that must be suppressed or in this case, destroyed. However, from the Salt Vampire’s point of view, everything she was doing was instinctive and for her survival, if not the survival of her species. From this perspective, she is being a personification of deep feminine wisdom and intuition. Because the Salt Vampire can take on human form, she can also speak for herself. When disguised as McCoy she states: “It’s simply trying to survive by using its natural ability to take other forms . . . And like us it’s an intelligent animal. . . . There’s no need to hunt it down.” Additionally, the Salt Vampire needs love as much as it needs salt. A Salt Vampire that needs salt and love to survive, and instinctively knows how to get both. Does that sound evil? Before the dualistic teachings of monotheistic religions, there was a dark side to nature, but it was not as villainized as it is in our current culture. Before these belief systems, there were other modes of understanding – of a positive and negative balance in nature. This wisdom, and the acceptance of this in my life, is the hardest lesson for me to embody. When I was growing up, the Salt Vampire was the monster that I looked for under my bed every night before I went to sleep. In studying depth psychology, I realize that I was probably so afraid of her because there was a Salt Vampire in me; and just as Spock was able to incorporate his human half to gain strength, I need my inner monster.
Original post created 4 January 2021
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