Synopsis: While responding to a distress call from another Starfleet vessel the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise encounter the Gorn.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of James Hillman’s acorn theory, the concept that just as acorns have everything inside them to become an oak tree, we all have inner daimons that have all the information we need to become who we are meant to be.
In “All Those Who Wander” the U.S.S. Enterprise receives a distress call from the U.S.S. Peregrine that has made an unscheduled landing on Valeo Beta V. However, when the landing party arrives on Valeo Beta V they find the crew dead and a log entry made by the Peregrine’s captain stating that the crew came to the aid of three stranded passengers, only to discover that one had been infected with Gorn eggs. It seems that when the Gorn hatched they killed the Peregrine crew. However, two of the Peregrine’s passengers, Oriana, a girl, and Buckley, an alien who is protecting her, are found on the Peregrine. Dr. Joseph M’Benga tells Lt. La’an Noonien Singh that he thinks she can help Oriana, since she also lost someone she loved to the Gorn. Buckley was also infected with Gorn eggs, they hatch, and the crew watches as the Gorn hatchlings kill each other in a fight for dominance. Then the crew kills the last Gorn. However, Lt. Hemmer has been infected with eggs and in order to save the crew goes out onto the planet and kills himself before the Gorn eggs can hatch. But before he does, he tells Cadet Nyota Uhura to open herself up to others. Later at the memorial service to those that the Gorn killed, Uhura says that Hemmer pushed her to see things from a new perspective. His purpose was to fix what was broken. Singh asks for leave to take Oriana to home.
This episode contains at least two clear illustrations of Hillman’s acorn theory. Hemmer, an Aenar and a pacifist, knows he will not personally kill the Gorn, but he will do what is necessary to protect the crew. This includes sacrificing his life when he learns that he has become infected with Gorn eggs. As chief engineer on Enterprise, he also fulfilled the purpose of fixing what was broken. Singh also listens to her inner daimon to understand that she needs to help the young girl, Oriana, who like herself lost family members to the Gorn. This is what prompts her to take leave so that she can return Oriana to her home world. Hillman wrote that we all have inner daimons that know what our purpose is in this lifetime, we just need to listen to and honor them.
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