Synopsis: A contagion from a former Illyrian colony infects the crew of the Enterprise, while Captain Pike and Mr. Spock are stranded at the colony by an ion storm.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what happens when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself.
In “Ghosts of Illyria” an away team is sent to survey an abandoned Illyrian colony on the planet Hetemit IX. Illyrians being a humanoid race that employs genetic modification, which is banned by the United Federation of Planets. When a violent ion storm approaches, the away team are beamed up to the Enterprise, except for Captain Christopher Pike and Science Officer Mr. Spock, who seek cover in the colony’s former library. On the ship, a contagion spread by light infects the crew. However, Number One, Una Chin-Riley, is able to neutralize the contagion. This is because she is an Illyrian, something that she has had to conceal in order to join Starfleet. She reveals this to Dr. Joseph M’Benga and Nurse Christine Chapel, hoping that a cure might be made from her blood. They cite Starfleet regulations that forbid that. Number One tells them: “Starfleet is right about a lot of things, but not all of them” (Cooper et al., 2022). Meanwhile, on the planet, reading the history of the colonist, Spock discovers that they so wanted to join the Federation that they were trying to reverse their genetic modifications. When the ion storm is about to engulf Pike and Spock, they are shielded by plasma creatures that Spock reasons were once the colonists. On the Enterprise, Number One is able to devise a cure for the crew and after the storm passes Pike and Spock return to the ship. Number One then tells Pike that she is Illyrian and tenders her resignation. Pike refuses it, telling her that the Illyrians are severely misunderstood by Starfleet.
In the episode, when Pike understands that the Illyrians saved his life and that of Spock’s on the planet, and that Number One, an Illyrian, also saved the lives of the rest of the crew, and tells her that Illyrians have been misunderstood by Starfleet, this can be compared to when the conscious ego acknowledges a bit of unconscious material. When Pike refuses Number One’s resignation and takes responsibility for knowingly having an Illyrian crewmember aboard his ship, against Starfleet regulations, this can be analogized to when the conscious ego integrates bits of unconscious material into itself. The acknowledgment and integration of bits of unconscious material is the ongoing process of the union of opposites as described by Carl (C. G.) Jung, and is a vital method to make the ego stronger and the psyche more whole.
Reference:
Cooper, A. (Writer), Wolkoff, B (Writer) & Hope, L. (Director). (2022, May 19). Ghosts of Illyria (Season 1, Episode 3) [TV series episode]. In A. Baiers, A. Goldsman, H. Kadin, A. Kurtzman, J. Lumet, H. A. Meyers, R. Roddenberry, T. Roth, F. Siracusa, & J. Weber (Executive Producers), Star trek: Strange New Worlds. CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout.
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