Synopsis: The Enterprise is contacted by an alien race to fulfill the Federation’s treaty obligations and remove a human colony on a planet conceded to them.
“The Ensigns of Command” offers viewers different examples of prejudice and the way to overcome them, a way that James Hillman may have referred to as soul-making.
In the episode the Enterprise is contacted by the Sheliaks, an alien race that has not communicated with the Federation for over a century. They are demanding that their treaty rights to a planet, Tau Cygna V, be fulfilled by removing a human colony that has settled there. In their dealings with the Sheliaks, the crew of the Enterprise is reminded that to them, humans are “a lesser life form” (Snodgrass & Bole, 1989).
Because of the dangerous radiation on the planet surface, Captain Jean-Luc Picard sends Lt. Commander Data, the android science officer, to Tau Cygna V, and he is confronted by over 15,000 humans. Their leader considers Data, a machine and refuses to listen to what he feels is an inferior.
In both situations, Picard and Data need to “be creative” in order to change the perspective of those that find them lesser.
Because the Sheliaks find humans “a lesser life form” they do not care if they have to be exterminated in order to meet their needs. They do not respond to Picard’s pleas for flexibility to allow enough time to evacuate the planet, yet when Picard finds a clause in the treaty that gives him rights in the face of a dispute, the Sheliaks agree to allow enough time for the colony to be disbanded.
Data on the other hand is told that the leader of the Tau Cygna V colony will not listen to him because he is an android, a mere machine. Data figures out a way to make a crude weapon to get the colonist’s attention and explain to them just how dire their situation is if they do not leave the planet.
At the end of the episode Data comes to Picard to discuss how they were both able to avoid the extermination of the colonists on Tau Cygna V. Data tells Picard “I suppose I have learned to be creative, sir, when necessary” (Snodgrass & Bole, 1989). That creativity, the ability to take something that is a disadvantage and then perceive it from a different point of view to create a new, third thing, is what Hillman would call soul-making.
Reference:
Snodgrass, M. M. (Writer), & Bole, C. (Director). (1989, September 30). The ensigns of command (Season 3, Episode 2) [TV series episode]. In R. Berman & G. Roddenberry (Executive Producers), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.
Original post created 22 July 2021
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