Late last night, law enforcement had to intervene when two Oklahoma dipshits came to physical blows over which was the superior sci fi franchise: Star Wars or Star Trek. It’s an age old nerd debate that never made much sense to me. Firstly, each has enough ignominious duds that one should feel silly even thinking about engaging in confrontation on either’s behalf, physical or otherwise. What’s more, despite massive followings,sharing space as a backdrop, and a “Star” in the title, the two franchises have very little to do with each other.
The Star Trek vs. Star Wars debate has always felt as ludicrous as someone demanding I choose between Tim Burton’s Batman and the 90’s sitcom Dharma and Greg . I’ve loved both for as long as I could remember and find that each pander to very distinct sections of my fandom (though in that particular instance, Dharma and Greg totally comes at the winner).
Fundamentally the two franchises don’t even really share a genre. Star Trek is exploration sci-fi proper. It gets its kicks from ethical conundrums and unravelling strange cosmic phenomenon. It depicts a cosmos that’s thrilling because of its clerical treatment of it, and at its best, presents a uniquely optimistic view of the future particularly as it pertains to interspecies interlacing. Big, heady ideas that are digestible and moralistic. That’s Star Trek .
Star Wars , on the other hand, is sword and sorcery fantasy that opts for starships and deep space as opposed to dungeons and courtyards. It’s got knights and princesses, swelling fanfares, and fairly stark lines of good and evil. It’s throwback escapism. For the most part, it isn’t trying to teach anything you don’t already know – it’s more concerned with appeasing the inner child in you.
Calm yourself dweebs, that isn’t me saying Star Trek is for cultured intellectuals and Star Wars is for mouth-breathing manchildren – the aforementioned logic applies to Star Trek V-The Final Frontier and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, except the latter happens to be an infinitely more intelligent movie. It’s all about intention folks. That’s why it's so weird to me that these two particular series’ are always going head to head. Lucas and Roddenberry had entirely different objectives when it came to crafting their nerd religions.
Roddenberry was inspired by his passion for sanguine belief in humanity and Lucas wanted to emulate the fun adventure serials that inspired him as a youngster. Both franchises reflect that.
Nothing validates the fact that these two sagas should stay as far away from each other as possible quite like the time JJ Abrams tried to Star Wars- ify Star Trek . Do you remember that? Remember how fucking laughable that was? Spock was sticking Uhura, Captain Kirk was a Han Solo style maverick, tribbles had..magic blood? Look, the point is don’t hit people over the things you like, just enjoy them and say mean things on the internet like a civilized person.
