Category: Star Trek: The Original Series

Synopsis: When Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock deliver a drug to a Federation asylum for the criminally insane, they are taken prisoner by the inmates. Although “Whom Gods Destroy” is widely considered as a reductive “reimaging” of the prior episode “Dagger of the Mind,” from a depth and archetypal psychology perspective, as the title indicates,… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 14: “Whom Gods Destroy”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is sent on a top-secret diplomatic mission to provide transportation to the Dohlman of Elas to her arranged marriage on Troyius. “Elaan of Troyius” is another episode in which we see the divide between cultures that are Logos-driven, in this episode represented by Starfleet and Troyius, and those Eros-driven, embodied here by… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 13: “Elaan of Troyius”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is sent to the Minarian Star System to evacuate a scientific team before the star they were observing goes nova, but instead finds the Starfleet personnel dead and a female humanoid with empathic abilities being tested by another race to see if her kind is worthy of being saved. In “The Empath”… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 12: “The Empath”

Synopsis: The Enterprise responds to a distress call and is taken over by accelerated humanoid beings. In “Wink of an Eye” the accelerated beings found on Scalos can be compared to classical Greco-Roman gods and goddesses in a couple of ways. First, living at an accelerated rate makes the Scalosians a bit godlike in their… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 11: “Wink of an Eye”

Synopsis: When the Enterprise responds to a distress signal her crew comes in contact with the inhabitants of the planet Platonius, a society modeled on ancient Greece from the time of Plato. Although “Plato’s Stepchildren” is most noted for being historic as containing the first interracial kiss aired on network television, that being the one… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 10: “Plato’s Stepchildren”

Synopsis: While investigating what happened to the Starship Defiant, Captain Kirk is caught in interspace. In this episode Captain James T. Kirk is physically caught in a space between two universes, which can be interpreted as a physical manifestation of what James Hillman calls the metaxy. The metaxy for James Hillman is where soul-making happens.… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 9: “The Tholian Web”

Synopsis: The Enterprise comes upon an ancient spaceship disguised as an asteroid, populated by inhabitants who do not know that their world is not a planet. In this post, I want to discuss a concept from depth/archetypal psychology that I have not written about before. It comes from James Hillman’s New York Times Bestseller The… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 8: “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”

Synopsis: The Enterprise and a Klingon ship are provoked by an alien entity to fight one another. “Day of the Dove” is one of those episodes that is difficult for me to watch. And I think it is because it speaks to the idea that an unknown entity can release emotions that our society considers… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 7: “Day of the Dove”

Synopsis: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Chief Engineer Scott, and Ensign Chekov are transported to a planet and come across what seems to be a re-enactment of the gunfight at the OK Corral. In this episode, we find out what happens when warning signs perceived by the conscious ego are ignored and our psyches… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 6: “Spectre of the Gun”

Synopsis: The Enterprise is tasked with providing transportation to Ambassador Kollos, a Medusan, who’s appearance will cause insanity to any human who sees him. In this episode, even more so than in my previous post for “And the Children Shall Lead,” what is at issue is the reaction of the conscious ego to the collective… Continue reading Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 5: “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”