Two Of Many Star Trek Episodes That Still Teach Important Life Lessons

July 26, 2023,

Is it more about the television series being great or about going down memory lane?

Well. It is both.

Over the last decade, we have re-watched a number of television series that we saw over a decade ago and found the experience to be educational, entertaining and emotional.

Sometimes very sad.

Why sad and emotional?

So many of the wonderful actors are now dead.

Some of the scenes remind us of where we were emotionally at the time.

Some of the storylines had powerful life lessons, pertinent to this day.

Perhaps you feel the same way.

Let’s walk back in time and re-love two of them again.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry.

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It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series.

Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.

Our favorite and most emotional episode was “Tapestry”.

Here is the storyline.

During a diplomatic mission, Captain Picard is shot by a terrorist and dies in sickbay. He awakens to find himself in an otherworldly realm where he is greeted by the god-like alien Q. Q explains that the weapon that shot Picard (a “compressed teryon beam”) destroyed his artificial heart and that a natural heart would have survived the shot.

Picard lost his original heart as a young officer when he was stabbed during a bar brawl that he instigated, an event he regrets. When Picard remarks that he would do things differently if he could relive that moment, Q sends Picard back in time to two days before the brawl, where he meets with fellow cadets and friends Corey Zweller and Marta Batanides.

This is an episode about second chances.

In life, when looking at some of our most painful failures, we would love a second chance to go back in time and do things differently. The problem with that theory is, to change the past, you change the present.

Is that what you really want to do?

You cannot piece meal it. Your entire present will change.

Are there people and things in the present that you love and would hate to lose, like your children?

Your spouse, maybe. But your children?

Then, there is this whole thought process, painful or not, the past happened for a reason.

If things did not work out in the present, as you had hoped, what is the reason why it happened?

Tapestry had many powerful messages embedded within and one of them was, life is about taking risks. For the things important to you in life, you must take risks. It will change who you are, mostly, in terms of growth, for the better.

One more.

It is titled, “Galaxy’s Child”.

“Galaxy’s Child” is the 90th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 16th episode of the fourth season.

It was originally released on March 11, 1991, in broadcast syndication.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge is thrilled when Dr. Leah Brahms comes aboard the Enterprise.

Unfortunately, Leah is nothing like the idealized holographic version La Forge fell for a year earlier, in the third season episode Booby Trap.

She’s cold and humorless, not to mention married.

Ouch.

To make matters worse, after she inadvertently discovers La Forge’s holodeck program, he’s the last person she wants to associate with. The situation becomes more complicated when the Enterprise becomes the reluctant nursemaid to a young space-faring entity draining the ship of its energy.

Quite a dilemma.

The heart of the message here is about the power of falling in love.

We could try and define what love is, but for us, it has been elusive and impossible.

When you are young, with limited life experiences, when you fall deeply in love for the first time, it can be overwhelming.

Painful. Numbing.

Here, Jordi falls in love with Leah in a way that we have never seen him do with other characters he has had a flirtation with in the past. We can feel his pain, Leah’s initial reaction is a powerful rejection but at some point her heart begins to melt.

Jordi begins to win her over but eventually finds out she is married.

It is an episode that made us dream about our own life, the few times we have fallen in love and how mostly, it did not work out. Then, there is the extreme pain that goes with the deep sense of loss and rejection, and how, unlike Tapestry, you don’t get a second chance.

The first time we watched those episodes, back in the 1990’s, the world was such a different place. For us, there was this abundance of optimism that the human race will keep evolving towards a higher sense of purpose and a higher standard of behavior.

It has absolutely not turned out that way.

There has been a revival of new Star Trek related series and, while in the 1990’s, it appeared, as a human race, we were headed in that direction, but now, absolutely not.

It seems the world is more divided than ever.

Democracy and freedom are on the wane.

The present is a far more violent one.

The definition of family has become far more complicated and riddled with adultery and divorce.

One of our associates noted that he doesn’t see children joyfully playing on the streets anymore as he did when he was growing up.

And yet, with all of these dystopian elements, we still can’t give up.