Synopsis: Mr. Neelix and Lt. Tuvok go on a rescue mission together.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what happens when a bit of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious forces the Logos-driven rational conscious ego to acknowledge and work with it.
In “Rise” Lt. Tuvok and Mr. Neelix are assigned to the same team in a rescue mission of a planet being bombarded with artificial asteroids. Their shuttle crash lands on the planet, and they are found by individuals who may not be as they appear to be. Communications with Voyager are impossible. Twice in the episode Neelix has an intuitive idea about how to proceed. First, he sees the base of a space tether and understands that this is the way to get within range of Voyager’s communication systems. And the second, occurs after one of the individuals native to the planet, Dr. Vatm, is poisoned. He tells Tuvok that before he died Vatm said something was on the roof, and that this needed to be investigated. Both times he was correct. Both times Tuvok initially tried to disprove the idea. But both times Tuvok gave in, and Neelix and Tuvok were saved, and the plot to invade and capture the planet from an outside enemy was revealed.
In Star Trek: Voyager Neelix is often the embodiment of the somatic wisdom, wisdom of the body, associated with the unconscious. Conversely, Tuvok, the Vulcan science officer is the embodiment of the rational conscious ego. That Tuvok tends to devalue Neelix and his intuitive knowledge can be analogized to how the conscious ego sometimes reacts to information from the unconscious. Preferring to suppress it in favor of what can be proven by hard facts. Yet, in this episode, Neelix calls Tuvok out for dismissing him, and Tuvok is forced to admit that Neelix’s intuition saved the day, when Tuvok acted upon it. This can be compared to how when the ego acknowledges and integrates bits of material from the unconscious, it is made stronger and the psyche more whole.
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