Blog 985 – Season 4, Episode 5: “Level-Five Transporter Accident”
Synopsis: After a transporter malfunction turns the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, except Lt. Spock, into puppets, they must fight off Orion pirates.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of one of Carl (C.G.) Jung’s typology theories, that of the importance of understanding and accepting one’s inferior type, or the opposite of one’s preferred and natural talent, can make the individual’s psych more whole.
In “Level-Five Transporter Accident,” Lt. Montgomery (Scotty) Scott was trying to beat a long range transporter record, by sending a puppet, Little Ricky, into the quarters of the current record holder and nemesis from Starfleet Academy, Declan Milder, aboard the U.S.S. Witmere. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Number One) reported to Captain Christopher Pike that Orion pirates had been detected in the area. However, Pike was more interested in his new fully biometric command chair that Commander Pelia had created for him. While Spock was in a shuttle setting marking buoys for measuring the distance of Scotty’s transporter experiment. Scotty transported Little Ricky, but something happened. The U.S.S Enterprise disappeared and when the ship reappeared the whole crew turned into puppets. The Enterprise was hailed by Captain Ch’Rol of the Vo’Nee, an Orion pirate ship. The viewscreen was accidentally turned on, and Ch’Rol saw that the crew had been turned into puppets. Ch’Rol boarded the Enterprise with two other Orions and shot Spock with a phaser, knocking him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, Ch’Rol ordered Spock to give her Enterprise’s command codes. When Spock refused Ch’Rol threw Puppet Pike out of an airlock into space. But that did not kill Puppet Pike. The puppet crew welcomed him back, and after Puppet Pelia was chopped in half and then sewed back together, the puppet crew realized that they could not be killed like their humanoid counterparts. They then figured out a way to use teamwork and their newfound indestructability to take the ship back from the Orion pirates.
In this episode, Puppet Pike realized that his puppet crew, although smaller and less strong than they were in their humanoid forms, could also not be killed like they could normally be, and decided they could use this against the Orion pirates. This can be compared to when individuals realize that the character traits and strengths they normally use to reach a goal will not work, and choose instead to use a trait they are less comfortable using. This is part of Jung’s theory of personality types, that an individual’s less developed traits, when made stronger, can be just what an individual needs to become a more rounded and healthier psyche.
