[TV orNotTV] The Psychology of Star Trek

[PGage]

This is a request from the most television-literate group of people I know for suggestions on a project I am working on this summer for one of my fall courses. What follows is somewhat lengthy context, then some specific questions.

I got permission to teach a one-time only college course this Fall with the title in the subject header. I have decided to limit the scope to TOS and TNG (and respective feature films). The limitation is mostly because I have found that I can not assume that college aged kids know anything about the ST Universe - especially if that is limited to the prime reality, so in addition to teaching them the psychology I really do have to teach them about each show. Plus, the first two are my real loves.

I have recently finished Robert Sekuler and Randolph Blake's "Star Trek On the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds" - which is helpful in many respects, though I will not be using it as a text. It is both geared a little too much to a general audience, and focuses too much on neuroscience, for my purposes.

Of course I have seen all episodes of both series multiple times, but I am in the process of viewing all 79 episodes of TOS (remastered) in original broadcast sequence and reading productions notes about each in various sources. I probably will not have time to do the same with all 178 of TNG, but I will watch, in sequence, a big chunk of them. 

I am making notes as I go on psychological issues that are illustrated in various episodes, and then finding excerpts in "Great Books" of Psychology that relate to some of these, which I will assign as weekly reading, and in a variety of psychology journals, which I will use for weekly lecture/discussion.

For example I will probably have them read a chapter or two from B. F. Skinner's "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" in preparation for discussion of episodes that highlight Roddenberry's repeated theme that the struggle and conflict inherent in freedom is necessary for true humanity, and preferable to various forms of autocratic forms of utopia. Will also be looking at issues of race and gender, aging, artificial intelligence, Jungian & Freudian personality theory, memory, torture, and the logical and ethical complexities surrounding the "Prime Directive" (my definition of psychology for this course is rather expansive, and can include other areas of social science, ethics and philosophy).

It has been interesting for me to notice how much of ST reflection on artificial intelligence (in both TOS and TNG) is really a variant on its main concern with human freedom/struggle, which often seems to be more of a political/social issue. In TOS the limitations of computers are basically that they are rule-bound and inflexible, and are repeatedly undone by Kirk's preferred strategy of fighting them with paradoxes and illogic; in TNG our most loved computer is trying to discover ways to transcend his own rules, not to defeat humans, but to better understand, and perhaps become, human. But Roddenberry and Co.'s point is the same, whether dealing with Landru or Data, the colonists on Omicron Ceti III or Federation Witch-Hunters - whatever it means to be human, it is inextricably tied up with freedom.

Another notable observation is how relatively worthless most of ST's attempt to directly deal with what most people would most easily associate with psychology is for my purposes - for example, Deanna Troi is almost a complete wash (except her brief but crucial scene with Picard at the end of "Chain of Command, Part II). I may be able to work with some of the TNG stuff on dreams and sleep deprivation.

My tentative structure for the course (which will meet once a week for 3 hours in the evening), is to assign reading in a psychological source each week, assign students to watch 1 episode prior to coming to class, then watch 1 or 2 episodes (or 1 film) in class, and spend the rest of class time lecturing over the related psychology, and structured class discussion of the related issues. I am working on lectures that will involve clips from episodes related to the main themes of the featured episodes of the week that I will use to illustrate points from lecture and reading. I anticipate an enrollment of between 10 and 20 students. It is open to non-psychology majors, but a passing grade in Introduction to Psychology is a prerequisite.

I am interested in any suggestions or comments anyone here might have about this project, but in particular am looking for feedback to the following questions:

1. If you were going to introduce TOS and TNG to a group of novices, which full length episode would you use for each? I am thinking mostly in terms of character introduction and relationships, and illustrative themes. This would also be my chance to screen episodes that don't have explicit psychological tie-ins, since I would be using them mostly to give students a feel for the shows. TOS has two pilots and one premier episode, but none of these really serve as a crucial "Welcome to Star Trek, please meet our characters and understand what kind of show we are". TNG does have an episode kind of like this, but since the first season is so inferior, I am loath to make this the first introduction to the ST universe for students (I will likely use portions of "Encounter at Farpoint" in lectures). I could use typical episodes for this introductory purpose, but right now I am leaning towards two fairly atypical episodes, but each is among what I and most critics consider the best in each series: Season 1 TOS: "City on the Edge of Forever" and Season 5 (one of the strongest seasons): "The Inner Light". But I am open to other suggestions.

2. Any suggestions on episodes that you think raise or illustrate issues or questions related to psychology or social science in general?

3. Any other books or articles along the lines of Sekuler and Blake? I am familiar with the Star Trek and Philosophy and Star Trek and Religion books.

[Steve Timko]

George Lucas was directly influenced by Joseph Campbell, but I always thought Campbell's work applied to Star Trek as well. Here's a sample.

http://prometheanfields.wordpress.com/tag/joseph-campbell/

The Star Trek episode I'd show would be "Let that Be Your Last Battlefield" for how it deals with racism (a hot topic at the titme) and conflict.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708435/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_89

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[David Bruggeman]

1. TOS - The Naked TIme teases out some of the underlying characteristics of Spock, Kirk and their relationship.
TNG - While it's tough to find an episode (of either show) that hits all the main characters, The Enemy from Season 3 gets deep into Picard, Worf, Dr. Crusher and LaForge.

FWIW, Picard talks about the personal impact of "The Inner Light" in a sixth season episode, "Lessons"

2. TOS - "Dagger of the Mind" and "Whom Gods Destroy" might be too on the nose, as they take place in insane asylums.  Dagger is the better of the two in engaging with psychological issues, even if the Enterprise psychologist isn't much more than that week's love interest.  "A Private Little War" tackles proxy wars and their impact on the native populations.  "Obsession" deals with, well, obsession as well as freezing under pressure.  "The Enemy Within" addresses notions of 'positive' and 'negative' selves.
TNG - "Frame of Mind" is about one of the characters possibly losing his mind.  "The Wounded" touches on post-war resentment of former enemies.  "Chain of Command" handles torture, though the whole situation with Picard and the Borg might be better material, as it deals with the consequences of Picard's abuse.  "The Hunted" concerns a society with a population of soldiers who were altered for combat and have not been effectively reincorporated into society.  "The High Ground" tackles matters of terrorism (which were a major theme of Deep Space Nine, but that's another show).

In TNG Reginald Barclay works through his issues in a couple of episodes - "Hollow Pursuits" and "Realm of Fear"

3. FWIW, Wondercon has an annual panel on the psychology of Star Trek and Star Wars, usually including psychologists.  There is probably video out there somewhere.

David

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From: PGage <pga...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 4:00 PM
Subject: [TV orNotTV] The Psychology of Star Trek

1. If you were going to introduce TOS and TNG to a group of novices, which full length episode would you use for each? I am thinking mostly in terms of character introduction and relationships, and illustrative themes. This would also be my chance to screen episodes that don't have explicit psychological tie-ins, since I would be using them mostly to give students a feel for the shows. TOS has two pilots and one premier episode, but none of these really serve as a crucial "Welcome to Star Trek, please meet our characters and understand what kind of show we are". TNG does have an episode kind of like this, but since the first season is so inferior, I am loath to make this the first introduction to the ST universe for students (I will likely use portions of "Encounter at Farpoint" in lectures). I could use typical episodes for this introductory purpose, but right now I am leaning towards two fairly atypical episodes, but each is among what I and most critics consider the best in each series: Season 1 TOS: "City on the Edge of Forever" and Season 5 (one of the strongest seasons): "The Inner Light". But I am open to other suggestions.

2. Any suggestions on episodes that you think raise or illustrate issues or questions related to psychology or social science in general?

3. Any other books or articles along the lines of Sekuler and Blake? I am familiar with the Star Trek and Philosophy and Star Trek and Religion books.

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[JW]

I'll agree with David that "The Naked Time" from TOS is a good introduction to the characters, since they all get to be so extreme, and add "The Naked Now" from TNG, which served the same purpose on that series.

[PGage]

I wonder if anyone here has a judgement on the reliability and credibility of the "memory-alpha.org". I have referred to it informally for many years for ST esoterica, but am now trying to determine if I can use it as a basis for statements I make in this class. I don't need it to be a recognized authority, just a good faith judgement that it usually provides reliable information.

Thanks for the feedback to my initial post.

"The Naked Time" is almost a perfect introduction to TOS, and for a while I planned on opening with that - and I might still if I find a suitable TNG episode to pair it with. The problem is that I just despise "The Naked Now" episode, and can not bear to introduce TNG to virgins with that. To be fair, I have not seen it in a long time (if it ever popped up as a rerun when I was watching those I would turn it off); I will give it another spin when I start reviewing the TNG in sequence next week and and see if it wears better. I will, in any case, use clips from TNN about Data and Yar in my unit on Star Trek Sex.

I do have to keep reminding myself that this is, in the end, a psychology course and not a course in Star Trek; so most of the time I have to select episodes that have some direct relationship to and illustration of the psychological themes and readings assigned for the week. The only excuse I have to show episodes that do not directly relate to assigned reading is the first week, since I will not yet have been able to assign anything. That is why I am leaning towards City and Inner Light - two of my favorite episodes from both series, each of which have a general psychological sensibility, but no direct relation to the reading I will be assigning.

I will be addressing racism one week, so will of course be assigning "Battlefield", and will show the clip from Plato's Stepchildren, along with an extended lecture and clips of a number of episodes from both TOS and TNG about the Prime Directive, and its relationship to a kind of neo-colonialism.

I will likely use clips from several of the episodes David mentioned - I do wish "Dagger" was better. "Chain of Command II" is an absolute must - I will pair that with clips from some other episodes on torture and "brainwashing".

I love Best of Both Worlds and Family so much that I will probably spend one whole class period just screening them back to back to back. Will do something similar with Space Seed and Wrath of Kahn.

I have a week devoted to Memory, which will probably highlight "Conundrum", with clips from some others.

I also have a week on Artificial Intelligence, which will probably focus on "The Measure of a Man" - but there are obviously a whole bunch of other good episodes to draw from - I have a soft spot for the one where Data decides not to tell his "mother" that she is an android, and I will probably show a clip montage of Kirk talking computers to death with paradoxes and illogic from the 4 or 5 episodes in which he uses that strategy (including one of my all time favorite Star Trek lines, from Spock: "Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD". I may just go ahead and show all of "I, Mudd", which I still liked when watching it again the other day).

[David Bruggeman]

I consider Memory Alpha - named after the Federation Archive attacked in "The Lights of Zetar" - the Star Trek equivalent of Wookiepedia or other major franchise Wikis.  If you want a more officially authoritative source, I'd recommend the Star Trek Encyclopedia (Michael and Denise Okuda), The Star Trek Concordance (Bjo Trimble) and The Star Trek:TNG Compendium (Larry Nemecek).  The first and last were official Pocket Books licensed releases, and the second comes from one of the early major fans.

I also consider The Naked Now far inferior.  On TNG they played drunk - mostly.  On TOS it came across as more emotionally naked without the inebriation.

If you aren't already familiar with the early drafts of City, which differ in how the timeline is altered and who restores it, it might be worth looking into.  Ellison is still bitter about it.  IDW is issuing the early draft in comic form this summer, by Ellison released a book with the early draft in the mid-90s.

Another AI episode to check out is "Emergence" from the late seventh season.  The ship is gestating a new intelligence, and the holodeck is where most of the

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From: PGage <pga...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Re: The Psychology of Star Trek