Released: 11 December 1998
Synopsis: Once alerted by Lt. Commander Data to a forced relocation operation occurring on a planet inhabited by the Ba’ku, Captain Picard and the crew of U.S.S. Enterprise try to stop it.
This film can be seen as various illustrations of what Archetypal Psychologist James Hillman would call the relationship between the Senex, or wise elder archetype, and that of the Puer, or eternal youth. Hillman believed that the way in which these two types of energy interacted with each other could be used to assess the relationship between all the other archetypes, or unconscious energy patterns, within the human psyche.
Star Trek: Insurrection begins with Lt. Commander Data being chased and fired upon by Starfleet personnel on an idyllic looking planet inhabited by the Ba’ku, a culture that once had warp capabilities but has now rejected space travel for a simpler way of life. When Captain Jean-Luc Picard is informed by Admiral Dougherty about the incident, he orders the Enterprise to find Data and investigate. Once on the planet, they discover that there is a plan to forcibly remove the Ba’ku, by another race, the Son’a and Starfleet. The planet and the rings around it together emit some sort of radiation that is akin to the fountain of youth. As the plot unfolds, we learn that the Son’a are the children of the Ba’ku. That when they were younger they wanted to set out to explore the stars themselves, but once away from the planet, they have aged and now want to regain their youth. Picard and the crew thwart the forcible removal of the Ba’ku and in the end, there may be a reconciliation between the Ba’ku and the Son’a.
In Star Trek: Insurrection there are several examples of how the Puer and the Senex interact with each other, and the subtitle “Insurrection” can be used to describe one major one. The Puer feeling the need to be released from the control and order of the Senex. We see this when Data tried to break away from the Starfleet officers taking part in the relocation, when Picard decided to ignore his orders from Starfleet and do what he believed was right, and certainly when the Son’a originally wanted to leave the Ba’ku and travel to the stars. That relationships change and are constantly in flux is also in evidence here. Picard, normally the embodiment of Starfleet principles, rebels and then rights the wrong. Data, once his damage is repaired, becomes a bit of a Senex figure to a young boy. And at the end of the film, when the Son’a officer is reunited with his Ba’ku mother. Hillman taught that we have many types of archetypes, or unconscious energy patterns, contained in our psyches, that continually interact with each other. This is the basis of archetypal psychology. To understand this helps us understand ourselves a bit better, and also to have more compassion for those around us.
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