Synopsis: Aliens desperate for survival steal Neelix’s lungs.
This episode can be seen as a confrontation between the Logos-driven rational conscious ego, here embodied in Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew, and the Eros-driven irrational unconscious, represented here by the Vidiians.
In “Phage” while surveying a rogue planetoid, which might have deposits of raw dilithium that the U.S.S. Voyager needs for fuel to make it home, Neelix’s lungs are mysteriously taken from him. The crew of the Voyager locates the aliens who have taken the organs and beam them aboard the ship. They explain to Janeway that their race, the Vidiians, is suffering from a terrible plague that destroys the organs of their bodies and that the only way they can survive is to take replacement organs from other species. Because of Starfleet regulations Janeway cannot kill them to save Neelix and releases them. However, Motura, the individual who had Neelix’s lungs implanted into him, wants to see if they may be able to help Neelix. By using Vidiian medical knowledge he is able to enhance Neelix’s immune system so that he can now receive a life-saving lung transplant.
What this episode illustrates from a depth psychological perspective is what can happen when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego and the Eros-driven irrational unconscious bridge the gap which divides them. Here, when Janeway decided to release the Vidiians, it is as if the conscious ego let down its defenses from the unconscious. The unconscious, embodied by the Vidiians, had a solution to the problem that the ego alone could not solve. In working together, by Voyager’s crew admitting that the Vidiians had more advance medical skill and accepting their assistance, Neelix’s life was saved. Much as how when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself, it become stronger and the psyche more whole. This is the goal of analytical psychology.
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