" Roddenberry dubbed it “wagon train to the stars,” a sort of caravan aboard a space ship journeying from planet to planet, exploring the universe and having wild adventures. Just like cowboys, Captain Kirk and his crew carried futuristic six shooters at their hips–phasers–and much like a covered wagon heading West, encountered mysterious and savage tribes of aliens, substituting for the 60s caricatures of Native Americans. Kirk’s two most loyal aids on his trip, Dr. McCoy and Spock, fill in for the western stock characters of the Indian guide and the grizzled traveler, and throughout the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, the crew always brings enlightened thoughts to alien civilizations still relying on violence and savagery to survive."
