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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”

Synopsis: The Enterprise encounters two colonies from twenty-second century Earth. In “Up the Long Ladder” the Enterprise first comes across the Bringloidi people, descendants from an Earth space exploration from the twenty-second century. The Bringloidi have assumed simple ways and have settled into caves on their planet, but they need to be rescued from there… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 18: “Up the Long Ladder”

Synopsis: Chief Engineer La Forge is taken hostage after the Enterprise responds to a distress signal from an alien vessel while Captain Picard and Ensign Crusher are on a shuttlecraft mission to Starbase 515. Early on in the episode “Samaritan Snare” Dr. Katherine Pulaski accuses Captain Jean-Luc Picard of having an ego, which of course… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 17: “Samaritan Snare”

Synopsis: Q returns to the Enterprise and sends the ship to a distant part of the galaxy where she encounters the Borg for the first time. In “Q Who” Captain Jean-Luc Picard tells Q “you’re next of kin to chaos” (Hurley & Bowman, 1989), which is something that the rational Logos-driven conscious ego abhors. It… Continue reading Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 16: “Q Who”