Month: November 2021

Synopsis: An alien probe enters Captain Picard’s body so that he is able to recall the memories of an ancient civilization. In this episode Captain Jean-Luc Picard is suddenly stricken down on the bridge of the Enterprise by a probe that has projected energy into his body. This is an analogy of what it can… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 25: “The Inner Light”

Synopsis: A transporter malfunction causes Lt. Commander La Forge and Ensign Ro to disappear, and are presumed dead, but they are instead alive just invisible to the crew. In this episode Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Laren are actually caught in what could be interpreted as the science fiction equivalent of the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 24: “The Next Phase”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise respond to a distress call and locate a lone Borg survivor. In this episode, much like “Imaginary Friend,” we see what happens when an alien being, which represents here an individual’s unconscious, comes into the awareness of the crew of the Enterprise, here representing an individual’s consciousness, and most… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 23: “I, Borg”

Synopsis: A young girl’s imaginary friend turns out to be an alien entity that threatens the Enterprise and her crew. In this episode we can see how our unconscious can be perceived as our invisible imaginary friend. When Clara Sutton first imagines her friend, Isabella, Isabella does just as Clara wishes. But when Isabella becomes… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 22: “Imaginary Friend”

Synopsis: A beautiful female alien is brought on board the Enterprise to serve as a gift to bring peace to two warring civilizations. Much has been written about this episode from not only a depth psychological perspective but also from a gender studies point of view. I myself have previously written a paper on how… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 21: “The Perfect Mate”

Synopsis: Lwaxana Troi, Counselor Troi’s mother, comes aboard the Enterprise to be married and befriends Lt. Worf’s son. In an early scene of this episode Lt. Worf and his son, Alexander Rozhenko, are meeting with Counselor Deanna Troi, trying to resolve some of their issues. Counselor Troi advises a rational way of proceeding in working… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 20: “Cost of Living”

Synopsis: When a fatal accident occurs in Cadet Crusher’s squadron at Starfleet Academy, he is torn between his duty to honor and to his friends. This episode highlights the idea of the tension between the opposites, which is ongoing in our psyches throughout our lives. In “The First Duty” Cadet Wesley Crusher’s squadron leader ordered… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 19: “The First Duty”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise is stuck in a repeating time loop of the vessel’s destruction until they figure out a way to escape it. This episode is an illumination of the idea of what it is like to be stuck in what Carl (C. G.) Jung would call a feeling-toned complex, a term… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 18: “Cause and Effect”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise comes to the aid of an androgenous alien race and Commander Riker becomes involved in a forbidden romance with one of them. This episode is relatively well known as being an analogy for the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals at the time in the United States, and much more progressive… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 17: “The Outcast”

Synopsis: Lt. Worf is severely injured and he and the crew wrestle with different cultural beliefs around death and medical treatment. In this episode the “Ethics” involved therein deal with some of the most fundamental beliefs in our culture concerning medical care, death, friendship, and disability. Lt. Worf, being a Klingon, immediately asks his friend… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 16: “Ethics”