I Finished Watching Star Trek TNG

After over a year of watching, I have finally finished all 26 episodes of all 7 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

One of the reasons I followed the show for so long is because I felt like I learned something from every episode. The plot of each hour-long episode is typically formulated around a symbolic moral and is usually summarized at the end by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Some of the themes addressed include: racism, bigotry, global awareness, slavery, pursuit of leisure time, career vs. family, friendship, moral courage, and respect of contradictory beliefs.

However, sub-lessons are also taught throughout the episodes. These lessons are often expressed in simple, one-liners. For example, when Data, the Enterprise's Android Commander, discovers his first emotion [anger] he doesn't want to try to replicate it because he believes that it would make him a "bad person". The ship's counselor, Diana Troy, explains to Data that "feelings aren't positive or negative; they simply exist. It's what we do with those feelings that becomes good or bad. For example, feeling angry could lead to a positive action to correct it."

This has universal application but specifically for those who struggle with how to manage their feelings of anger.

I have also learned priciples that may not have been intentionally taught. For example, in many episodes, crew from the Enterprise beam onto planets, disguised as the less technologically advanced inhabitants of that world, in order to retrieve fellow crew members or collect data. The truly astute could pick up on the fact that these "visitors" were, in fact, aliens!

From this, I have learned, if you suspect someone is a more evolved alien (and they haven't already made an attempt on your life), it never hurts to confidently ask them to take you with them. By asking, their cover will be blown, and they are no longer bound by the "prime directive" and wouldn't want you to spread rumors about them.

I know it sounds hokey, but think about it. You've only got one life to live. How cool would it be in the after-life to say, "Oh really? You were a manufacturing engineer? Yeah, I was abducted!"

I also learned how to sing happy birthday in Klingon.