Synopsis: The Enterprise encounters a large one-cell space organism.
Depth Psychology teaches us how to “see through” different viewpoints, other than our conscious ego. In “The Immunity Syndrome” we do get the perspective of two different life forms, on life and death.
The first, on death is in the beginning of the episode when Mr. Spock feels the “death scream of 400 Vulcans”; that being the crew of the Intrepid as it is neutralized by an as of yet unidentified source. Later, when questioned by Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy, who doesn’t believe such a thing is possible, Spock tells him: “you speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.” Spock goes on to say that if humans were able to feel the death of others then human history might have been less bloody. In anyone else, this would have been an emotional indictment.
The other alien is of course the 11,000-mile-wide single cell organism that is able to engulf planets and starships alike. An embodiment of the archetype of a devouring mother, one about to kill the Enterprise and to reproduce at the same time. This organism seems to act on instinct alone, and because it is a single cell, is not considered intelligent by the crew of the Enterprise. It does not attack by volition; its existence is just incompatible with life as we know it. Spock speculates that the organism is invading our galaxy like a virus, absorbing all energy – biological as well as mechanical, as it does so.
Toward the end of “The Immunity Factor,” a title full of irony when the episode is viewed in the middle of a pandemic, Captain James T. Kirk and McCoy muss that if things were different, the organism would not be considered a virus invading our galaxy, instead the Enterprise would be looked at as a virus invading the body of the organism. I would argue that things do not have to be different in order to have that insight. The only thing that needs to change is one’s perspective.
Original post created 25 February 2021
mydailysoultrek 