All Comments for: Ego, Super-Ego, & Id | Christianity Today

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > Commentaries > 2009

Christianity Today Movies, 2009, commentaries |

Ego, Super-Ego, & Id

Why we've always found the Trek triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy so, ahem, fascinating.

By Gary D. Robinson | posted 5/05/2009 08:33AM

As a new Star Trek movie hits theaters this week, one can't help but ask a simple question: Why?

The last ST movie, 2002's Nemesis, bombed at the box office. On TV, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, ...

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Rate and Comment on this article

Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 comments.

Page: 1

Show All

dax	Posted: May 28, 2009 7:28 AM


I remember getting the impression that the original Bridge triumvirate represented three faiths in the US - Kirk as the Protestant, McCoy as Catholic, Spock as Jewish. And I recall being amazed that Shatner was in fact an orthodox Jew, along with Spock, while McCoy was the son of a Southern Baptist minister.

Jeanette Largent

Posted: May 19, 2009 8:28 PM

Carole, your right. Spock is far from Spirit. I don't think we should over spiritualize this. The writers had their own objectives. Spock reveals a side of man the writers saw. Logical, scientific, brainy and emotional, but it leads to pride. Despite Spocks best efforts to suppress emotion, he feels. If not, there would be no raised eyebrow. If he was a robot, the eyebrow would raise at all. It shows his indignant pride from his eyebrow move. The writer shows the struggles of being human. I agree with the Pastor though, that the writers are showing us three parts of being human.

Avid Reader & Moviegoer

Posted: May 13, 2009 1:42 PM

The comparison of the triumvirate with Freud's Id, Superego and Ego has been done before, but I liked the way Gary Robinson identifies the three characters in Biblical terms. McCoy exemplifies the flesh or Id not so much by what he says (whether sound advice or not) but in how he says it, and what motivates him to say it: he is a passionate, impulsive man. Spock is spirit or Superego because he is governed by rationality, conscience, and wisdom (even if you may not agree on how he or his creators identify those 3 things). The Harry Potter books and movies show a similar triumvirate of friends with the same symbolism: Ron Weasley is the flesh or Id (impulsive and usually gratifying the flesh, particularly with food or laziness), Hermione Granger is the spirit or Superego (rational, conscientious, and almost parental), and finally Harry as the "I" or Ego, who has to find some way to balance out the other two to make good choices. Interesting stuff.

hamsterbite

Posted: May 12, 2009 1:28 PM

Great article. I was a trekkie (yes, trekkie) as a kid in the '70's, and really enjoy your analysis. It's funny, though... before you named who was who, I pictured McCoy as the voice of wisdom. Many times, he had to speak tough truths to Kirk, who was off chasing women and adventure and trying to push himself and everybody else too hard. Sure, the doctor bickered with Spock, sometimes for fun, sometimes not, but I didn't think of that as his primary role. I guess they sort of switched roles at different times, which may have made the characters ring true even more.

Angels and Demons

Posted: May 11, 2009 6:48 PM


This is off topic but why in the world is Christianity today accepting sponsorship dollars from the anti Christian anti Catholic people that made Angels and Demons? What's next porn ads?

Terry_Jim

Posted: May 10, 2009 10:21 PM

Just saw the new movie tonight, a fun Summer movie. Great character interaction, great special effects. Some plot improbabilities, of course, but this movie sets out on a 202 minute mission to entertain . Mission accomplished. My 17 year old son asked, "How did ST get so popular and only last 3 seasons?" We had a nice conversation about the original series, the 1960's , etc, including some of the thoughts from your article. Thank You. Conversation with my son. Mission accomplished.

Mike Grimes

Posted: May 08, 2009 10:17 PM

One aspect I would add to the attraction of the characters is cartharsis. I suspect a broad range of personalities would find a bit of themselves in at least one of the three. Cartharsis is, in a way, seeing yourself as part of a community. I know that the geek part of me identifed with Mr. Spock. There is a whole generation of geeks out there who saw, through Spock, that they were not weird but they were "of worth". I suspect that some good preacher could turn that thought into a sermon.

Carole McDonnell

Posted: May 08, 2009 5:56 PM

I always thought Spock was far from the spirit. In medical terms, he might be described as one of the first characters with a severe case of autism who is neurologically unable to comprehend emotions. A kind of Temple Grandin of space. In moral terms, he is the character most imbued with pride (although emotions are a no-no in Vulcan society, whenever I see a Vulcan I find myself wondering if overweening pride in one's intellect isn't some kind of emotion. ) The total trust in the wisdom of the intellect reminds me of the Sixties ideal of the emotionless philosopher. Certainly not spirit. At least not in the Christian sense where spirit implies a connection to God -- not the highest social good. Spock's personality reminds me of all those old scifi alien movies (and modern ufology) where we were told the positive future of man lay in our intellectual growth to a place past all emotion...and possibly to a place where the ideal was to be all brain.

Les Nordman

Posted: May 06, 2009 7:56 PM


Sir, you wrote: "got the T-shirt at the Trekkie convention" That's "Trekker" convention. "TREKKER!" And, no, I am not. I AM NOT! I am not. Les Nordman :-)

John H.

Posted: May 05, 2009 9:33 PM

It's true the friendship (especially between Kirk and Spock) was central to the original TV and movies. Strangely, none of the spin-offs had an equivalent friendship between the central characters. Their crucial relationships were ultimately either hierarchical or complicated by sex. Can't agree with McCoy as id or flesh though. He often functioned as the voice of conscience. And Freud's id, ego, and superego are not friends.

Marc Patterson

Posted: May 05, 2009 3:41 PM


When we joined netflix my wife ordered all the original Star Trek TV shows which we watched with our 16 year old son and 9 year old daughter, they got to see what I liked to watch when I was a kid. Good article, I too enjoyed the dynamic that the three men together created. Hopefully the new film will not just be a bunch of flash and flesh.

Patrick Gann

Posted: May 05, 2009 3:26 PM


Good thoughts. but you used the (pause) "ahem" (pause) convention twice: once in the article's sub-headline, and again in the third paragraph. This seems a little sloppy...

Page: 1

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment