Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 5: “Remember Me”

Synopsis: As the result of Ensign Wesley Crusher’s experiment, Dr. Beverly Crusher is inadvertently stuck in a warp field bubble.

In my last post for the episode “Suddenly Human” I wrote how the determination to be true to one’s inner drive can be analogized to what James Hillman calls the acorn theory. The acorn theory is that just as an acorn contains everything it will need in order to become an oak tree, each individual human is born, or maybe even before birth, has an inner daimon that contains all that an individual needs in order to become who they are meant to be. However, it is up to us to listen to our inner daimon and honor it.

In “Remember Me” the alien called the Traveler comes back to reiterate this idea to Ensign Wesley Crusher after his experiment with a warp field lead to his mother being stuck in a warp field bubble. Wesley Crusher is the only one who can create a way for his mother to return to the Enterprise, but to do that he needs to know he has it within himself to do it. The Traveler tells him: “the ability is there inside you; you do not need to look for it” (Sheldon & Bole, 1990). This is what Hillman’s acorn theory is all about.

Meanwhile inside the warp bubble, Dr. Beverly Crusher is using all the analytical expertise that she has to understand the situation that she finds herself in. After discovering that she is the one affected, not everybody else, she knows that the crew of the Enterprise will be trying to get her back. Beverly Crusher learns that: “my thoughts created this universe” (Sheldon & Bole, 1990), and once she knows this, she knows what she has to do to prepare herself to return to the Enterprise. She also summons her inner daimon to be able to understand how to get back to where she belongs.

Reference:

Sheldon, L. (Writer) & Bole, C. (Director). (1990, October 22). Remember me (Season 4, Episode 5) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry, R. Berman, & M. Piller (Executive Producers), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.

Original post created 27 August 2021