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Synopsis: Counselor Troi, Commander Riker, and Dr. Crusher fall into comas after their memories are attacked. In this episode, we can see how memories can be sources of both pain and healing. And while in “Violations” the attacks were made by an alien who specifically targeted psychic attacks on the memory centers of Counselor Deanna… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 12: “Violations”

Synopsis: Lt. Commander Data rescues a young boy, the only survivor from a damaged vessel, and to help him through his pain the boy emulates him. This episode actually uses a term that Carl (C.G.) Jung uses in his theories on depth psychology, enantiodromia. Counselor Deanna Troi explains to Captain Jean-Luc Picard that this means… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 11: “Hero Worship”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise helps a scientist test a groundbreaking technology while Lt. Worf becomes reacquainted with his son, Alexander. This episode illustrates James Hillman’s archetypal psychology concept of the metaxy, the in-between place where soul is made. In “New Ground” we also can see that finding this in-between place is not always… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 10: “New Ground”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise is confronted by a vessel from the 26th century and a man who claims to be a historian. In this episode there is a very interesting scene in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who along with his crew are trying to save a planet below that is suffering through the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 9: “A Matter of Time”

Synopsis: Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Data find that Ambassador Spock is on Romulus to join an effort to peaceably reunite the Romulan and Vulcan cultures. In this episode, viewers are treated to witness a change that has occurred in the beloved character of Ambassador Spock. Spock has learned that his human half, that in… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 8: “Unification II”

Synopsis: Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Data are sent to Romulus to locate Ambassador Spock who has been sighted there. There is a moment early in this episode in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard goes to visit an old friend of his, Ambassador Sarek, the Vulcan father of Ambassador Spock. Sarek is very ill and the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 7: “Unification I”

Synopsis: An alien race plots to take over the Federation by using an addictive, pleasure inducing device to control Starfleet officers. This episode can be seen as a physical reenactment of what can happen to us when our rational conscious ego is lost in the power of the unconscious. In “The Game” a female alien… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 6: “The Game”

Synopsis: When the Enterprise is struck by a quantum filament, the vessel is damaged, and all the senior officers are cut off from the bridge, except for Counselor Troi, who takes command. This episode can be seen as an illustration of what happens when the preferred functions of the psyche are unavailable, and an individual… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 5: “Disaster”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise encounters the Crystalline Entity. One way to interpret “Silicon Aviator” from a depth psychological perspective is that it is an illustration of how the Great Mother archetype, as identified by James Hillman, might act in response to a threat. Basically, the Great Mother has the power and the will… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 4: “Silicon Aviator”