If you've been alive long enough, you'd have to agree that it feels like television has become more action-packed than it used to be. Stressful moments can cultivate a more devoted audience. Let's face it: Viewers are more likely to tune into your television show if they're not sure their favorite character may not live to see the next episode.

However, these high-energy, action-packed moments throughout television tend to do one of two things: They can either wear viewers out or desensitize them to the violence they see on screen.

It would be wrong to lay the blame entirely at modern television's feet; violent television has existed for decades, particularly common in more dramatic programs like Westerns and detective programs.

Watch Star Trek on MeTV!

Saturdays at 10 PM

*available in most MeTV markets

But one television series that doesn't fit in this category has to be Star Trek.

While this sci-fi show certainly cultivates tension and shock, it lacks the violence we often see in similar shows. However, the lack of violence does not mean that the series lacks any viewers; Rather, the show has built up a devoted fanbase, adored by fans young and old.

According to an interview with series creator Gene Roddenberry, this was by design.

"It has become a crusade of mine to demonstrate that T.V. need not be violent to be exciting," Roddenberry said during an interview with the L.A Times. "I'd often felt that no one was catching on."

While the show focuses on interplanetary conflict, its main message is surprisingly human, with life lessons that viewers are able to apply in their own lives. 

"I finally feel I have become a philosopher, junior grade," Roddenberry said. "There's hardly a subject you could mention I haven't spent time thinking out while writing Star Trek scripts. You spend years dreaming up strange new worlds, and they build up into something quite real."