Star Trek: 10 Greatest Captain Kirk Speeches

10. Risk Is Our Business

Return To Tomorrow is a second season episode of Star Trek and contains some of the loftiest ideals in the franchise. Kirk, speaking entirely as himself in this scene, encourages his crew to take these risks that go beyond personal safety. After all, why else are they exploring the final frontier?

They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings … but he did fly. He discovered he had to...Risk … risk is our business! That's what this starship is all about … that's why we're aboard her!

With so much Star Trek behind us now, it is perhaps easy to believe that space can be perfectly safe. Despite the interruptions from the Borg, the Klingons, and the Romulans, shows like The Next Generation seemed to border on the comfortable for much of their runtimes. The Original Series is a bit of a rougher beast - it, being the first, was truly charting the unknown.

Kirk's urgency here is difficult to miss. They are not out in the final frontier - and in this episode, three weeks from communication with Starfleet - to play it safe. They are there to learn, and grow. In this case, that meant sharing their physical forms with the Arrettans, even if that didn't exactly end well for some volunteers. 

Star Trek led the path for exploring the unknown, with Return To Tomorrow serving as a perfect example of this exploration.