The Big Divisive Question: Star Wars Or Star Trek?

[manaman]

Star Wars here.

I say Elizabeth, I fall in love with you more and more each time you post something new.

And looky there, you live in the same state I do.

<<

That post certainly makes an impression, I just don't think it's quite as favorable of an impression as you might wish for.

I think you mistook the stalker switch for the charming switch when you where putting your mind in gear to compose that message.

I quiet enjoy thinking.

Me too, which is why watching the original Star Trek series was so mind numbing.

God I hate the original series.

Oh common, even: The City On the Edge of Forever? The Doomsday Machine? Mirror Mirror? Arena? The Menagerie and The Cage? Trouble with Tribbles? Any of these ringing a bell?

What about the movies? At least half of those where great.

 

[shaneriding]

Princess Leia in a gold bikini. End of discussion

 

[Boba Frag]

I'd actually like to get into Star Trek as there's something about voyages across space with a bad ass Captain

However, I wanted to build my own lightsabre and reach out into the Force long before I ever bothered much with the Enterprise.

I still remember being a little kid on the edge of my seat watching The Empire Strikes back and feeling something akin to a thrill of fear whenever Vader appeared, intensified when his electronic growl boomed from his helmet.

I've always kinda had an attachment to older, wiser teachers and tend to slouch in the corner booths of any cantina I find myself in

Great article, looking forward to your Star Trek one!

 

[Anachronism]

If your answer to The Big Divisive Question is Star Wars, you are likely introspective, compassionate, attentive, and detail-oriented. You probably prefer fantasy to science fiction (more princesses, swords, empires, and sidekicks, please), and your interaction with the world is always with the greater consequences in mind.

This is remarkably accurate for me, actually. I enjoy both, but I definitely prefer Star Wars; there's no question about it to my mind. I think it is largely due to the fact that Star Wars is a fantasy movie in space; I've always loved mythology, and considering how much the films were inspired by myths, which contributed to the general mythic, epic feel to them, it certainly plays a large part in why I love them so much. Plus, I saw A New Hope for the first time when I was six, so I literally grew up watching these films.

Really good article, incidentally; it was very interesting. Looking forward to tomorrow's.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Personally Star Trek. I'm a fan of ship-to-ship battles like that. The entire Jedi bit with Star Wars was a bit of a turn off actually.

 

[rossatdi]

I think there's a massive need for clarification in the Star Trek halg of this delightful waste of time.

Star Trek: Original Series or Next Generation onwards

The original Star Trek series was essentially a silly, fun, vaguely optimistic 'wagon train to the stars'. TNG is a very clear statement in the belief in a realistic, human built utopian society and the character from this civilisation confronting the great unknown.

The Original Series is a lot more like Doctor Who - about vaguely nice heroes, very cheap effects and novelty-to-novelty style.

TNG is a little more po-faced, a little more cerebral (although normally in a painfully blatant way). There is very rarely 'evil' in Star Trek, normally just misunderstanding or nations at war.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I am a huge fan of them both because at their high points they are some of the finest science fiction and science fantasy ever created whose influence flows like a thread through future works.

That said, I hold Star Trek in higher esteem because of their usually unwavering belief in the goodness of mankind and what we could achieve with that goodness. Battlestar Galactica can suck the darkest part of my arse. I WANT my bright future where a child won't starve because they can walk up to the alcove on the wall and say "Ham and cheese on rye, with mustard and onions" or a cancer patient can sit in a doctors office for ten minutes and then walk out a healthy man.

I WANT a future built on the greatness and kindness of my fellow man towards his peers and any other life forms we encounter.


Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars do not offer me that hope. Star Trek does.

Make it so.....

 

[samuraiweasel]

Mandalorians FTW!

I am more into the EU of star wars than some people as i think 1-3 were ok and didnt care that much about Jar Jar ( the devil himself if you believe some people).

 

[Vrach]

Definitely prefer Star Wars myself and the description is pretty accurate, though the 'attentive' part... well, really depends, I pretty much have an ADD switch go on whenever someone is talking about something that's boring, school/uni work very much included... Even if I want to listen to what they're talking about, my mind continuously wanders off in whatever direction the fastest escape is. Although to people talking about something interesting, girlfriend, friends, people I respect etc., I am usually a pretty good listener.

I do like Star Trek however. I'm not much for movies, but the series are, the ones I watched anyway, pretty good, though can be incredibly cheesy at times. They did however promote the pure awesomeness of that which is Patrick Stewart, so all is forgiven

I've never been a fan of either. Although I'm going to choose Star Trek because Patrick Stewart has the coolest voice in the world, and for that reason only. I'll just go back to my bubble of not caring now.

I'm sorry, did you just indirectly call James Earl Jones anything other than the owner of THE most awesome voice in the world? (Sean Connery and Morgan Freeman notwithstanding due to too easy of a choice and not relevant to the discussion at hand)

Spoiler: I challenge you to fisty-cuffs!

 

[paragon1]

Can't I just like both more than is probably healthy?

 

[marygoodden]

I prefer Star Wars, though I'm not sure the description is apt.

Star Trek is probably the better science fiction, but I always enjoyed Star Wars more.

I think you're right Zachary. If I'm being pedantic, I'd say "the force" is more magic than science fiction, making Star Wars more o a fantasy.

But I still prefer it too. The Empire Strikes Back is still one of my favourite films.

As far as TV shows go, the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica is my favourite.

 

[marygoodden]

I WANT a future built on the greatness and kindness of my fellow man towards his peers and any other life forms we encounter.


Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars do not offer me that hope. Star Trek does.

I don't want to be a dreadful pedant, but aren't Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica both set in the distant past?

But I agree, Star Trek's optimism and idealism are inspiring

 

[marygoodden]

Plus, I can't believe no-ones said this yet:

The Star Wars prequels were DREADFUL.

The clever thing about the original trilogy was the fact that many things were alluded to but never explained: "Many Bothans died to bring us this information" etc.

By trying to explain everything, the prequals shrunk the universe, not made it larger. Case in point, having young Anakin build C3PO. Also, trying to explain the force.

All the mystery and contemplation of one's place in the universe (as explained in the excellent article) was squashed by the prequels.

 

[minimacker]

Star-Trek has Picard. Winner by walkover.

Yeah, like everyone else said. Star-Wars is more Fantasy. They tried to go SCIENCE! in Episode 1 (Think Mediclorians). You've got princesses, knights, light good - dark evil.

Star Trek is more Science (or Technobabble). It's a Fantasy too, yes, but not on the same fairytale type as Star Wars.


But in the end, I'm a sucker for Star Trek. I have many characters I can call my favourite, (Data, Picard, Scotty, Chekov) while the Star Wars movies has a true lack of "favourites". The Star Wars MOVIES are masterpieces. The Star Trek FRANCHISE is what I like.
(But "The Undiscovered Country" was the best, anyway).

STAR TREK.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I like both /shrug

 

[Explorator Vimes]

I've never been able to stand Star Wars really, which is odd since I'm a fantasy fan at heart. I've tried watching the original trilogy and just never found myself caring. Star Trek on the other hand, Next Generation specifically, is where it's at for me. I think it's nice and all what she said about Star Wars fans, but I think she's just trying to butter up both sides since she's newer here with the Escapist.

Curious what she does to pick apart Star Trek tomorrow, we'll see if she says nice things about me, and by extension all Star Trek fans. Also, curious if she will note the divide between the movies and all the various series, since as some people noted they all have their own following, with some cross over obviously, but with all the different series I don't think you can get as cohesive of a group with Star Trek as you do with Star Wars, which is ironic to some extent because Star Wars always felt more diverse than Star Trek.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I wonder if age is a factor here? Star Trek debuted in 1973 as a TV series, while Star Wars debutted in the movie theatres in 1976. Both were pretty revolutionary at the time, and if you were an adult or at least a teanager back then you'd be able to judge them equally and have a good distinction. For anyone born during or after that time then wouldn't there be a strong bias towards Star Wars? That's the cooler and more kid friendly of the two, a timeless classic which we all would have watched and enjoyed before we were at an age to appreciate Star Trek. And by the time we were old enough to get into Star Trek it's no longer as revolutionary or new as it once was.

Personally I loved Star Wars starting as a kid, and for Star Trek as a teen was a big fan of The Next Generation... but that was the only series I liked, they're all actually fairly different. So for someone my age (near 30) I don't think it's a fair question because I don't see the two as being on equal standing to be compared with each other, like an older geek would

Absolutely. If you were a kid when there was no Trek on the air, you probably don't have as big an attachment to it. Similarly, if your first exposure to Star Wars was *shudder* the new trilogy, you're not going to feel the same way about it as someone who saw the original trilogy in the theaters as a child.

Me, I'm a Star Wars girl. Don't get me wrong, I adore Trek, but Star Wars quite literally changed my life. The idea that an ordinary person could make a difference and should stand up to the bad guy is a very important concept for a child to embrace.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Mix the toys (lightsabers and droids) and aliens from star wars and add the politics and the feel of technology from star trek and that's perfect.