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Synopsis: Participating in an officer exchange program First Officer Riker serves aboard a Klingon vessel while Benzite Ensign Mendon serves aboard the Enterprise. The officer exchange program that is central to the plot of “A Matter of Honor” illustrates a couple different ways to handle being confronted by a disruptive problem. In the episode, the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 8: “A Matter of Honor”

Synopsis: The USS Enterprise receives a distress call from the USS Lantree and discovers a mysterious aging disease. In “Unnatural Selection” we see what happens when the conscious ego becomes inflated by identifying with god-like powers and believes that it can improve on nature. In the act of responding to the distress call from the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 7: “Unnatural Selection”

Synopsis: The Enterprise receives a distress call from Gravesworld and responds to it to try to rescue one of the greatest intellects in the universe. In “The Schizoid Man” we see how the unconscious can take over even the most rational Logos-driven egos when it wants to survive. When the landing party responds to the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 6: “The Schizoid Man”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is tasked with delivering a mediator with a very unusual way of communicating to a warring planet in order to negotiate a truce between the factions. In “Loud as a Whisper” viewers experience a physical manifestation of how a complex works in our psyche. It also can be seen as an analogy… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 5: “Loud as a Whisper”

Synopsis: The Enterprise rescues the captain of a small cargo carrier and learns that he is an integral part of the relations between two planets. In “The Outrageous Okona” the character of Captain Okona is described by Counsel Deanna Troi as being a rogue, but without malicious intent. This could very well describe Hermes, the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 4: “The Outrageous Okona”

Synopsis: When the Enterprise arrives early for a rendezvous with another Starfleet vessel, Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Commander La Forge decide to use the time to solve a mystery in the holodeck. The holodeck in Star Trek: The Next Generation I can see as a physical manifestation of the place that James Hillman called… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 3: “Elementary, My Dear Data”

Synopsis: The Enterprise becomes ensnared in a hole in space and an entity within it that wants to experience all kinds of death. This episode reflects how the conscious ego, here manifested in the crew of the Enterprise, reacts when encountering the unconscious within one’s psyche. When the crew of the Enterprise first acknowledge the… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 2: “Where Silence has Lease”

Synopsis: The Enterprise comes in contact with a life force entity that impregnates Counselor Troi. In “The Child” a life force entity, which appears as a comet-like light, comes in close proximity to the Enterprise as it passes it on her way to ‘audit IX. The life force entity becomes curious about the humanoid species… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 1: “The Child”

Synopsis: The Enterprise encounters an ancient space capsule from Earth just before it is ordered on a dangerous mission in the Neutral Zone. This is the last episode in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as such, part of its unstated mission is to leave viewers with baited-breathe in anticipation of… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1, Episode 26: “The Neutral Zone”

Synopsis: After Captain Picard receives a mysterious top-secret message from a fellow Starfleet captain, he orders the Enterprise to Earth to investigate Starfleet Headquarters. The cause of the conspiracy at the center of this episode, can be seen as an illustration of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of a complex. This idea is so central… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1, Episode 25: “Conspiracy”