Synopsis: The Enterprise visits a terraforming operation on a lifeless planet and encounters a biological lifeform that is harmed by it.
The whole concept of terraforming, which was also a plotline in the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, fairly screams of inflation, the concept from analytical psychology in which the conscious ego identifies with the unconscious power of a god. And while this is a necessary step in the transcendent function, the union of opposites, it can be problematic if an individual stays inflated with the belief of god-like powers too long.
That this is a problem is voiced on Velara III when one of the scientists, Luisa Kim, remarks that “terraforming makes you feel a little god-like” and that terraforming “is the best job in the universe” (Sabaroff & Allen, 1988). The idea is of course, as we learned in Star Trek II about the Genesis Project, is to create life out of non-life.
There are two major problems here: first, what gives us the right to declare what is and what is not a lifeform, and even greater, what would give us a right to make a place hospitable to our lifeforms as opposed to any others? Of course, in “Home Soil” the issue arises that although the Federation deemed the planet lifeless and without the potential to ever develop life, the Federation was only considering lifeforms known to it. On the planet a lifeform exists that to the crew of the Enterprise initially seems inorganic, but then demonstrates not only that it is alive but intelligent.
The scientists doing the terraforming, as well as the crew of the Enterprise are humbled, or deflated in the end by the native lifeform, which orders the terraformers to leave because they are too arrogant and too primitive, but then suggests that they may be welcome in three centuries, when humans have progressed.
Reference:
Sabaroff, R. (Writer), & Allen, C. (Director). (1988, February 20). Home soil (Season 1, Episode 18) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry (Executive Producer), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.
Original post created 26 May 2021
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