Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise finds a small vessel at the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone.
In this episode, the title “The Survivor” turns out to be a misnomer, because the survivor turns out not to be who he claims to be at all, but a race of shapeshifters that the Federation has deemed off limits due to “their ability to rearrange their molecular structure into anything with the same general size and mass and their practice of deceit as a way of life.” This almost puts the individual of this species, the Vendorian, in the same mold as Trelaine from Star Trek: The Original Series and a foreshadowing of the character of Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Q being called one of the best loved villains in Star Trek lore, and indeed the disruptive power of Q ushered Star Trek: The Next Generation into its mission, and also framed its final episode in a way to continue the series into the films.
The archetypal energy here is that of the Trickster, or Hermes to the ancient Greeks and Mercury to the Romans. It is a disruptive force and in many ways throughout Star Trek: The Original Series it was embodied by Captain James T. Kirk when he came in contact with a humanoid culture that he believed was not developing its society in a normal human manner.
It is interesting that the unnamed Vendorian decided to work with the Romulans until their priorities were not in line with his own because “among my people I am valueless” and the Romulans offered him a better life. In this way, the valuelessness could be the same feeling as those aspects of our personality suppressed by the conscious ego. When not seen as the enemy, they can be integrated into the ego in order to make our psyches more whole.
Original post created 10 April 2021
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