What is Star Trek: The Original Series's IQ Score?

Star Trek: The Original Series has an IQ Score of 136/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Stimulating tier. The score breaks down to 42/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 17/50 Educational Value, and 45/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Star Trek: The Original Series educational?

Star Trek: The Original Series is low on educational value, 17/50 on TVI's rubric. Watch for entertainment, not for learning.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Star Trek: The Original Series IQ Score 136/200

Name: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: sci-fi
Cast: Majel Barrett, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols

Star Trek: The Original Series has an IQ Score of 136/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Stimulating tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-10-05·Methodology

sci-fi

136/ 200

Stimulating

Consistently challenges the viewer and rewards attention

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,608 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Gene Roddenberry's 1966-69 NBC series whose three-season run accomplished what most longer-running shows don't: established a moral-philosophical universe that subsequent franchise entries spent six decades extending. The Kirk-Spock-McCoy triumvirate as embodied id/superego/ego is rare ensemble-architecture work.

The 'Mirror, Mirror' and 'The City on the Edge of Forever' episodes are canonical 1960s genre television.

People & Production Gene Roddenberry · Desilu · NBC 29 connections