If Star Trek actually had been Wagon Train to the Stars, I doubt it would have survived long. Why do people insist on thinking that Star Trek was all about a journey with the goal of space colonization! That wasn't what the series was about at all!
I've always wondered about that too, I know Roddenberry sold the series that way but I never got "Wagon Train" from Star Trek.
it was because it was a series using recurrent characters on a long journey.
That makes some sense, I think it's the *train* element that always struck me odd, plus the fact that they're not headed toward any single destination. Now, Battlestar Galactica, there's your Wagon Train to the Stars.