Blog

Synopsis: A member of the crew of the Enterprise is killed on an away team mission, and officers and an alien feeling responsible for the death, try to ease the pain of the orphan son she left behind. In my last couple of blog posts I discussed the Senex archetype as described by James Hillman.… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 5: “The Bonding”

Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise comes to the aid of a team of anthropological scientists observing a less developed civilization, only to be discovered themselves in violation of the Prime Directive. In my last blog discussing the episode “The Survivors,” I write how an alien species can be seen as a physical manifestation of… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 4: “Who Watches the Watchers”

Synopsis: Answering a distress call, the crew of the Enterprise finds what appears to be only two survivors on a devastated planet. “The Survivors” gives viewers the opportunity to see a physical manifestation of a character holding the Senex archetype as described by James Hillman. When the Enterprise reaches the planet Rana IV, the ship’s… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 3: “The Survivors”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is contacted by an alien race to fulfill the Federation’s treaty obligations and remove a human colony on a planet conceded to them. “The Ensigns of Command” offers viewers different examples of prejudice and the way to overcome them, a way that James Hillman may have referred to as soul-making. In the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 2: “The Ensigns of Command”

Synopsis: Acting Ensign Crusher’s school science project puts the Enterprise at risk when it evolves into living beings trying to protect themselves. In “Evolution” the nanites that disrupt the operation of the Enterprise’s computer systems can be seen as analogous to how bits of unconscious material disrupt an individual’s conscious ego. In the episode, these… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 1: “Evolution”

Synopsis: On an away mission Commander Riker becomes infected by a deadly alien microbe. In “Shades of Gray” in order to fight off the infection caused by a deadly alien microbe that is attacking his nervous system, Commander William Riker is forced to relive many of his past experiences in order to halt the progression… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 22: “Shades of Gray”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is ordered to take part in a war game exercise. In “Peak Performance” there is an interesting subplot in that after being defeated by the visiting master strategist Sirna Kolrami in a game of Strategema, Lt. Commander Data begins to feel that there is something wrong with his programing. Data reasons that… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 21: “Peak Performance”

Synopsis: Starfleet Special Emissary K’ehleyr has a special connection to Lt. Worf. In “The Emissary” two individuals who are half human and half alien, Special Emissary K’ehleyr and Counselor Deanna Troi compare what it was like to grow up being half one thing and half another. They exhibit two opposite ways of perceiving this, K’ehleyr… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 20: “The Emissary”

Synopsis: Lwaxana Troi comes aboard the Enterprise looking for a mate. In “Manhunt” once again the holodeck affords an opportunity to observe how the use of projection of our inner opposite works to attract us in the act of falling in love. In this case, it is the inner animus of Counselor Deanna Troi’s mother,… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 19: “Manhunt”