Synopsis: Captain Janeway and Lt. Torres beam a sample from a protostar aboard Voyager, not realizing it is a living being.
This episode, much like the previous episodes, can be seen initially as an illustration of what Carl (C. G.) Jung would call an occurrence of one-sidedness of the Logos-driven rational conscious ego. It can also be seen as an illustration of one way the conscious ego responds to bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
In “Heroes and Demons” Captain Kathryn Janeway has Lt. B’Elanna Torres beam aboard a sample of phonic material from a protostar that they are passing by. There is a momentary transporter mishap and some of the material escapes and enters into the ship’s systems. Most notably, it enters into an active holodeck program and appears as Grendel from the Beowulf legend. Commander Chakotay and Lt. Tuvok go into the program in an attempt to rescue Ensign Harry Kim, but all three are taken by Grendel, which is really a sentient being that was living in the photonic sample. Eventually, the crew discovers their error, lets the entities captured by accident free, and all is returned to normal.
In this episode it is not just Janeway but the entire crew who initially share the belief that anything out in space is there for the taking and that life is found only in known ways. This would be an example of the physical manifestation of the Logos-driven rational conscious ego when it is behaving as if there is only one way to view the world, its way, and it refuses to acknowledge any messages from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious. However, there is a shift of attitude in “Heroes and Monsters” as well. When Janeway and the crew realize the mistake of their ways, they recognize the sentience of the life that they initially saw only in terms of being a material for their use, and work to correct their error. This is much like what happens when the conscious ego acknowledges bits of material from the irrational unconscious and integrates it into itself in order to become stronger and make the psyche more whole. This as I have stated before, is the teaching from depth psychology.
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