Month: November 2021

Synopsis: An alien race plots to take over the Federation by using an addictive, pleasure inducing device to control Starfleet officers. This episode can be seen as a physical reenactment of what can happen to us when our rational conscious ego is lost in the power of the unconscious. In “The Game” a female alien… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 6: “The Game”

Synopsis: When the Enterprise is struck by a quantum filament, the vessel is damaged, and all the senior officers are cut off from the bridge, except for Counselor Troi, who takes command. This episode can be seen as an illustration of what happens when the preferred functions of the psyche are unavailable, and an individual… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 5: “Disaster”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise encounters the Crystalline Entity. One way to interpret “Silicon Aviator” from a depth psychological perspective is that it is an illustration of how the Great Mother archetype, as identified by James Hillman, might act in response to a threat. Basically, the Great Mother has the power and the will… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 4: “Silicon Aviator”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is ordered on a mission to stop the terrorist threat from a group of Bajoran rebels and enlists the aid of an unusual officer. The episode “Ensign Ro” can be interpreted a number of ways from the perspective of depth or archetypal psychology, one of them being that she represents a Trickster… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 3: “Ensign Ro”

Synopsis: Captain Picard is transported down to the planet El-Adrel by the Children of Tama, in an effort to learn to communicate with their captain, Dathon. In my last blog, I wrote how the episode “Redemption II” could be seen as an illustration of James Hillmans’ acorn theory from The Soul’s Code. This episode can… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 2: “Darmok”

Synopsis: Lt. Worf and Captain Picard in their own ways try to protect the Klingon High Council from outside interference. One way to interpret this episode is as an illustration of the acorn theory from James Hillman’s bestseller, The Soul’s Code. The acorn theory in brief is that just as an acorn has all the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 1: “Redemption II”

Synopsis: As Captain Picard fulfills his obligations as Arbitrator of Succession on the Klingon Homeworld, Lt. Worf is torn between duties to his family, the Klingon Empire, and Starfleet. This episode can be seen as an illustration of what if means to be in the in-between place. And while consciously this may seem like a… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 26: “Redemption”

Synopsis: A crewmember expresses affection for Lt. Commander Data, and he decides to pursue a relationship with her. This episode illustrates once again the idea of how individuals project their inner ideal mates onto another when they fall in love. And how when they realize that the individual that they have projected onto is not… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 25: “In Theory”

Synopsis: Lt. Commander La Forge is captured by Romulans and brainwashed into aiding with a plot to divide the Federation and the Klingon Empire. While this may not be a strictly depth psychological take on this episode, “The Mind’s Eye” does illustrate something that I have felt to be true for a long while. That… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 24: “The Mind’s Eye”

Synopsis: Dr. Crusher falls in love with an alien who is a joined species. This episode is an illustration of how we fall in love through projecting our internal ideal of a mate onto an individual. It also shows us what can happen when the person that we project that ideal upon turns out to… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 23: “The Host”