Star Trek might be primarily marketed as mere entertainment, but its value goes much deeper than that.
Gene Roddenberry based his initial pitch for the series as being Wagon Train but in space. He wanted that sense of a grand journey to infuse the series as a whole while each episode presented the characters with a challenge to be resolved through resourcefulness and teamwork.
But under this guise of a space-western, Roddenberry was able to instill various moral messages that have been carried on beyond The Original Series and into the many films and other series that followed. When you look at Star Trek closely, you can find many life lessons in there, so here are the top ten that we’ve collected
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
Perhaps one of the most famous quotes from the whole franchise is this one, spoken by Spock in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan when he gives up his life so others may live. While Spock’s personal sacrifice is an incredibly large one, this principle can be applied to every day as well. It essentially encourages the individual to think of the wider community.
This sense of putting the greater good before your own personal goals and safety is one that is seen time and again in all of the subsequent series. One website points out that in The Next Generation episode “Sins of the Father,” Worf accepts the accusation of being a traitor – even though it isn’t true and he’ll be exiled for it – because it will save the Klingons from a civil war. Time and again, Star Trek teaches us to think of others first.
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