Synopsis: Captain Kirk suffers a loss of memory while marooned on a planet in the path of an oncoming asteroid.
“The Paradise Syndrome” begins when Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy beam down to an idyllic Earth-like planet. The Enterprise has been tasked with altering the course of an asteroid that is on a direct course to collide with the planet. When Kirk remarks that he wants an extra few minutes in this beautiful place, McCoy remarks that the Captain has “Tahiti Syndrome” and explains that it is a condition that affects overworked starship captains and is a desire to be in nature and not have too many responsibilities for a while. Kirk returns to an unusual obelisk, which seems completely incongruous with the technology of the inhabitants of the planet, to examine it. Kirk accidentally opens a concealed hatch, falls in and hits his head. When he regains consciousness, he has amnesia. Kirk exits the obelisk and comes across two women, one who will become his wife, Miramanee.
For Kirk, the bulk of the rest of the episode is him living out a perhaps unconscious desire to live a less complicated lifestyle. The people on the planet are a cross between the Native American Navaho, Mohican, and Delaware peoples, and their ways are close to and honor the land. Kirk lives through Eros and is blissfully happy. He loves Miramanee with all his heart. However, because Kirk emerged from the obelisk, which is sacred, he is considered a god and treated as such. To identify with a god is what Carl (C. G.) Jung calls inflation. And while it is part of the process of individuation, the cost of inflation is the resulting alienation in equal measure – when one no longer can identify with the god.
In this case the alienation came in the form of not being able to re-enter the obelisk to alter the course of the asteroid. It seems the natives on the planet, though living a simpler lifestyle, do understand the concept of space bodies and “space flight,” and Spock’s assuming that they did not was a bit of inflation on his part as well. Which is uncustomary. In any case, Kirk’s hubris causes the mortal injury of Miramanee, who remained loyal to Kirk. Spock is able to decipher the symbols on the obelisk and uses it to destroy the asteroid and save the planet. Kirk returns to himself, the more Logos-centric, and can only offer words of parting to the dying Miramanee that seem half-hearted, reflecting the fact that Eros has left his consciousness.
Original post created 10 March 2021
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