Synopsis: Voyager is sucked into a space anomaly containing no stars or planets, only spacecraft fighting each other for survival.
This episode is an illustration one way the Logos-driven rational conscious ego responds to bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
In “The Void” Voyager is sucked though a funnel into a space anomaly and is immediately fired upon by other space vessel, that want to steal her supplies. Another vessel commanded by General Valen approaches and he welcomes Voyager’s crew to the void. He wants to trade for Voyager’s photon torpedoes. Captain Kathryn Janeway tells him that she does not trade weaponry. Valen explains to Janeway that the only resources in the void are what vessels carry when they initially are brough through the funnel and that there is no way out of the void. The crew finds the ship that stole their supplies, but all that was left was a warp casing, which is beamed aboard along with an alien who was hiding inside it. The Doctor treats the alien and names him Fantome. Janeway mandates that the crew will adhere to Starfleet principles. Instead of hoarding supplies, she orders that they be shared with other vessels in an attempt to create a Starfleet-like alliance. This goes well until a new member of the alliance steals a piece of equipment that Voyager needs from another member of the alliance and Janeway refused to accept it. Then a separate alliance is formed by the two leaders who do not want to play by Janeway’s rules. However, Fantome and other members of his species, who are native to the void, assist Voyager in her successful attempt to escape the void.
In this episode, when Voyager enters the void and Janeway wants to create a Starfleet-like alliance there, can be seen as similar to how the conscious ego may want to suppress bits of unconscious material that are uncomfortable or inconvenient. And this suppression may work for a while, just as the alliance did, until the bits of unconscious material, here analogous to using violent means to survive, resurface. Then Janeway is forced to look to something beyond her ken for assistance, the alien The Doctor named Fantome and his friends who are native to the void. Taking advantage of their natural abilities, they disarm the ships who are firing upon Voyager, so that she may escape the anomaly. Afterward, Janeway remarks to Chakotay that creating a mini-alliance almost made her feel like she was back in the Alpha Quadrant again. This can be compared to how the conscious ego feels when it believes that it has dealt with bits of unconscious material and will not have to do so again. But this is not the case, because for the ego to become stronger requires an ongoing process of acknowledging and integrating bits of material from the unconscious into itself.
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