Growing up in a cult means not seeing cult-like devotion and subsequent behavior as anything out of the ordinary. There were a lot of things I wasn’t allowed to do/say/think growing up, but one thing was always welcome in our evangelical household: Star Trek.

Of course, some members of the same cult operating in different locations (they’re worldwide) have differing viewpoints on the franchise:

Found on reddit

But my mom absolutely loved watching the original Star Trek reruns and The Next Generation (as well as tolerated DS9, and Voyager) with us as kids. She considered it a relatively safe reprieve from the mainstream violence and sexuality of the decade. She hated Homer Simpson, Ellen, and the cast of Baywatch, but it was ok to have a plastic phaser as long as we always set it to stun.

What my devout mother did not see was the progressive and hopeful message of the Star Trek franchise, and how that defied everything we were being taught by the cult. We were made to believe that a literal armageddon was so close to happening that there was no real reason to seek higher education, let alone advance science enough to travel to distant galaxies.

The cult preaches that almost everyone on earth will be physically destroyed and only a very small percentage of faithful will remain: so we shouldn’t get too attached to outsiders, even if they are our blood relatives. There is no point in political activism, social welfare programs, or environmental conservation, because only God has the answers to all of Earth’s problems. The only ‘charitable’ action that can be performed by a member of this cult is evangelical preaching: spreading the word about the coming doom so that those repentant can survive, while God murders everyone else.

In the Star Trek universe, humans work together to end war, hunger, and disease on Earth and create a unified government. This utopian outlook held a stark contrast to the constant fear and paranoia of indoctrination.

For me, the scariest thing encountered during the original Star Trek and Next Generation, which includes ten seasons of television and 257 episodes, was the Borg. The Borg are an alien species that are linked to a hive-mind called “the Collective”. They are nearly invincible, but have no individuality. They travel a spacecraft that looks like a large menacing grey box, and introduce themselves by saying “you will be assimilated: resistance is futile”. When they encounter other humanoids they don’t hold conversation, they simply observe for assimilation or destroy.

At the time, I buried how similar my own religious practices were to this frightening alien foe. They would take captives and turn autonomous people into robot versions of themselves. Hooked up to “the Collective” they would lose their individuality and devote themselves solely to assimilating new members of the Borg. Most were never recovered, but even after rescue traces of the mind control would still be present in the victim.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, with their “JW.org” logo, have gotten a similar reputation, especially amongst those of us who have managed to escape. (We often refer to Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide organization, lead by eight very stern old men, as “the bOrg”).

I understand that not everyone was brought up fundamentalist or in a cult, but I think a lot of people have benefitted from watching Star Trek. For my college English final last semester, I wrote the following essay, which is probably a bit more relatable for most readers:

(citations removed)

Star Wars Versus Star Trek: a Fictional Battle with Real Results

Generations long is the debate between Star Wars and Star Trek. Both exist like living entities, with feature length movies, tv episodes, animated series, and fanbases creating two powerful franchises. But which is truly the best? Is Star Wars better because it continues to make so much money? Is Star Trek superior because it was the first of its kind? Is it logical to believe that something is true because everyone else believes it? Would it make sense to declare something inferior because it is newer than something else?

Could the answer lie somewhere far beyond ticket sales and merchandising? And could the imagined war between “The Force” and “The Federation” be measured in by changes in the real world?

Success can be interpreted using a variety of metrics. For example, according to Fortune, the Star Wars franchise was worth $41.979 billion as of 2015. This figure includes the films, toys, and video games but does not account for the two massive Disney® Star Wars-themed-theme parks expected to open in late 2019.

In contrast, it is difficult to estimate the revenue generated by Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry, the mastermind of the Star Trek universe, had an estimated net worth of $500 million at his time of death. While the franchise lives on, it is financially eclipsed by its Goliath competitor. So, if success is measured in dollars, Star Wars is a clear winner.

Despite its comparatively meager financial success, Star Trek’s pilot episode aired over a decade before Star Wars hit the big screen. And Star Trek has been going strong ever since, with its newest series appearing on CBS in 2017.

Each franchise is responsible for a legacy that is being carried out in real time. To better understand these legacies, we first need to examine how they began.

Let’s start with Star Wars’ dark secret. As Frank Chung, a writer for an Australian news outlet puts it:

“George Lucas may have been the brains behind Star Wars, but it was his ex-wife Marcia Lucas who gave the film its heart. Today, she has largely been erased from the history books. Marcia, who won the 1977 Academy Award for Film Editing along with Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch for her work on Star Wars, was instrumental in shaping the film’s iconic moments that would propel it to the status of cultural phenomenon.”

But the average Star Wars fan could not tell you anything about Marcia Lucas. Most don’t even know her name. Despite her huge contributions to the original films, she was intentionally pushed aside so her male peers could take the glory. From the beginning of the Star Wars empire, women have been largely ornamental, both on-screen and off.

The original plot of the Star Wars films revolved around a young man with special abilities (Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill) inherited from his father (Darth Vader, voiced by James Earl Jones). These inherited abilities are then trained so that he can defeat his father. Meanwhile, the young man’s twin sister (Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fisher) gets mixed into the plot. Instead of doubling the threat to their father with their powers combined, the twin sister is treated as if she is an object and actually becomes a slave for part of the plot. Her potential isn’t developed or even hinted at despite the fact that she was from a gifted bloodline. She is remembered for her iconic hairstyle and “slave costume”.

Lucas is quoted as having said: “Star Wars was always about … it was always a boys thing and a movie that dads take their sons to.” Lucas added: “And though that’s still very much the case, I was really hoping that this could be a movie that mothers can take their daughters to as well. So I’m looking forward to kids seeing this movie and to seeing themselves in it, and seeing that they’re capable of doing what they could never imagine was possible”.

While the more recent Star Wars films have obviously been marketed toward women, they fill most of the speaking roles with male voices. Alan Orange from Movieweb spent time analyzing 2016’s Rogue One and exposed the hollow pandering of an outdated patriarchy:

“Despite Rogue One being one of the most celebrated films when it comes to being a feminist empowerment showcase, it was actually one of the worst offenders. Only 9% of the characters in the movie are female, including all aliens and droids. And those women, who include Jyn, Mon Mothma and a 1 minute cameo from Princess Leia, spoke only 17% of the dialogue.”

That leaves 83% of the words for the men in a twenty-first-century film touted as progressive and feminist. It only took thirty-nine years for women to get out of the slave costumes and into 17% of the dialogue. What progress!

To better explain the conception of Star Trek is a little-known story about the man behind it, Gene Roddenberry. This story is beautifully illustrated by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal.

“On June 18th, 1947 on a Pan Am flight from Calcutta to New York, an engine stopped working, which caused another engine to overheat, which caused a fire, which caused a panic. While the pilot attempted to land the plane, the 25-year-old co-pilot unbuckled himself. He went to the main cabin to help with the passengers. He sat next to a young woman who was alone. He told her it was going to be okay. He told her this as he watched the engine continue to burn. He told her this as he watched it fall from the wing. He told her this as fuel lines became exposed, fire overtook the aircraft, and the plane pitched downward. He told her this knowing that every single person on that plane was about to die. The plane hit hard, crashing into the Syrian desert. Fourteen people died instantly. Two crew members survived: including the co-pilot. And with a pair of broken ribs he went back into the burning plane, pulling survivors from the wreckage. Eventually the wind turned and fire overtook the aircraft. And so they waited. Morning arrived, but rescue did not. The co-pilot took charge and formed two search parties. The first party went in one direction, the second party, along with the co-pilot, went in the other, wandering into the desert. They eventually found a village. A village which had a radio. A call was made and the 22 survivors were rescued. As for the co-pilot, the crash changed him. After that he didn’t want to be a pilot anymore; he wanted to do something different with his life. He resigned from Pan Am to pursue a career in writing, and, ultimately, television. His name was Gene Roddenberry, and he created Star Trek.”

Star Trek broke ground and rules. Famous for having a leading African-American woman on its bridge, Lt. Uhura played by Nichelle Nichols, in 1966, the original starship Enterprise was light years ahead of its time. Equality and respect were central in Roddenberry’s vision.

Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was moved by the powerful message of Star Trek:

“Nichols [Lt. Uhura] later said that she was reportedly thinking of leaving the show after the first season, but was convinced to stay on by none other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom she met at a NAACP fundraiser. The civil rights leader, who admitted to being a devoted fan of the show, told Nichols that she was breaking new ground in the role of Uhura, and showing African Americans what was possible for them.”

While it’s relatively easy to get a good estimate of dialogue shared between male and female characters on Star Wars, it would be nearly impossible to do the same of Star Trek. Many of the life forms appearing on Star Trek have no apparent gender, while others can transfer their consciousness to other bodies having other genders. Some of them have physical bodies, while others are forms of energy or employ computers to communicate. Some of them are computers, but all are treated with dignity and respect.

The lessons from Star Trek lead us toward a hopeful future, and inspire countless technological and scientific discoveries. Star Trek paved the way for generations of “outsiders,” “weirdos,” “geeks,” “nerds,” and “others” to find their place in the galaxy. In fact, Star Trek probably made Star Wars possible by bringing galactic exploration and conflict into the mainstream. Lucas himself is quoted saying “Star Trek softened up the entertainment arena so that Star Wars could come along and stand on its shoulders”.

Clearly, Star Trek is more influential and more culturally sensitive than its popular, wealthy little brother. But each has been successful in its own way. Star Wars has made a shipload of money, and Star Trek has given our species a future worth investing in.