Synopsis: Starfleet orders Voyager’s crew to locate and recover a long-lost Earth probe, Friendship 1.
This episode illustrates what can happen when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego tries to control the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
“Friendship One” begins with a flashback to the Earth probe, Friendship 1, entering the atmosphere of a planet in the vicinity of where Voyager is currently traveling. Captain Kathryn Janeway is then ordered by Starfleet to locate and recover the probe. It is located on what is thought to be an uninhabited planet, but as it turns out, the planet is inhabited by individuals who used the technology that Friendship 1 was sending out into the galaxy, which caused a nuclear winter. Friendship 1 was launched in 2067, before the creation of Starfleet or the enactment of the Prime Directive. Commander Chakotay, Lt. Tom Paris, and Lt. Joe Carey are sent in the Delta Flyer to the planet to recover the probe. But the planet is not uninhabited, and Paris and Carey are captured by its inhabitants, who have so much radiation in their bodies that the sensors did not pick them up as life forms. Chakotay returns to the Delta Flyer to find one of the aliens, Otrin, aboard her. The Delta Flyer is fired upon, but makes it back to Voyager. Once there, The Doctor treats Otrin’s radiation and Otrin explains to The Doctor and Janeway that Earth’s probe brought the idea of anti-matter to his planet and that this technology has almost destroyed it. Otrin has an idea of how to reverse the damage to the atmosphere, but Verin, the leader of the group that has captured Paris and Carey, accuses Janeway and the crew of genocide. He kills Carey and returns the body to Voyager. Meanwhile, Paris helps a pregnant woman give birth on the planet. Voyager begins using Otrin’s theory to clear up the planet’s atmosphere and Otrin returns to the planet to confront Verin. When Verin still insists on destroying Voyager even though she is trying to help, the new mother pulls a weapon on him. Voyager’s efforts are successful. The atmosphere is restored, and Friendship 1 is brought back aboard.
In this episode the way in which Voyager’s crew responds to the reaction of the people on the planet can be analogized to the way that the conscious ego may perceive the actions of the unconscious. Just as the people on the planet cannot be identified by Voyager’s sensors, what truly goes on in the unconscious cannot be known, as it is beyond our conscious awareness. The way of healing the planet comes from a native of it, Otrin; because trying to bring in alien technology only brought destruction to it. However, Otrin, trying to bridge the ways of the planet natives and the Starfleet world was not without struggle, but did win out in the end. This can be compared to how when the conscious ego acknowledges bits of material from the unconscious and integrates it into itself, the psyche becomes more whole.
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