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Reader Discussion: Star Trek Or Star Wars?

One group's ambitious quest to build a full-scale Millennium Falcon has Star Wars on our minds. Nerds love arguing for the things we love. Few nerdy fires rage as brightly as the debate over Star Trek or Star Wars being the superior science-fiction series. So out with it, already: Rancors or Romulans? Kirk or Luke? The Force or beamin' up?

Let me start. My first true introduction to sci-fi involved seeing Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when the special editions hit theaters. The easy-to-follow story, lightsaber fights, and bad-ass Han Solo were enough to hook me on the space opera. I patiently waited for the other two films in the original trilogy to release, and instantly fell in love with Boba Fett, speeder bikes, and the Battle of Hoth. Layer on a generous helping of Star Wars merchandise and games like Dark Forces to play with, and my fandom was sealed.

Around that time I would also catch episodes of the original Star Trek TV show. I didn’t have the perspective I have now, so I didn’t appreciate how seminal the series was to all science fiction. The cheesy acting, fake-looking monsters, and slowly paced episodes couldn’t keep my attention. Also, the terrible Star Trek games never could stack up against the Super Star Wars series, further solidifying my opinion. Since then I’ve attempted to get into the Star Trek series, but it never sticks. 

I confidently call myself a Star Wars guy, by a huge margin. I respect Star Trek and hope to experience the series' entire, massive offering, but I'd rather rewatch the original Star Wars trilogy any day.

Make your case for either, or both, in the comments below.

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Comments
  • STAR TREK ALL THE WAY.

  • I still love a good Star Wars thing but after TCW and TFU II ripping canon beyond hope... I just have no interest in it beyond maybe 1313/First Assault.

    I should give credit to Dave Fiolini, who was creative director/writer for TCW and also had input on TFU II... takes a certain type of man to nail the final coffin in a fan's patience.

  • Star Wars hands down.
  • star wars ftw, but star trek is still amazing

  • Star Wars for sure. Likeable characters, awesome story, and of course an awesome game regime. Star Trek has a confusing story, annoying characters, and a miniscule amount of actually good games. Star Wars all the way.

  • Shatner, Nemoy and Stewart are awesome but the series is no where close to Star Wars in my book. Hamil, Fisher, Jones and Ford take the cake. Also Obi Wan, I forgot his name... he was knighted so there's a Sir in front of it... anyway, Star Wars... unless you count the prequels... but no one does.
  • Star Trek by far, but Star Wars for the most part is OK. The thing I like most about Star Wars is some of the planets created. I'm also really excited for 1313. Star Wars right now is something I wish I liked more, but I just don't. I love Star Trek. Star Trek created a future for humanity, and what happens around that; I love that. As for Star Wars, I'd like to consider the "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." as literal, because that's more interesting.
  • Trek.

  • Trek star ? yea good o trek star

  • star wars because I'm pretty sure it had more black people in its universe

  • Star Wars. Yes, Episodes I and II are "meh" in my opinion, but the universe and characters are so creative and...well, just awesome. I like Star Trek as well, but I've never been drawn into it like Star Wars. I've read tons of books on it, am currently watching the TV series, etc.

  • To reference the movie Fan Boys, Vader could choke out the entire Borg with his mind. Yeah...Star Wars.

  • When i look at both franchises i have my favorites. From Star Wars the old trilogy imo was much better than the new one, but with Star Trek i like the original series and "The next Generation" much better than Voyager and Deep Space Nine.

  • Star Wars and Star Trek are two completely different kinds of Sci-Fi really. It's stupid to try to say which one is better because they both have entirely different themes and concepts from one another.

    Star Trek's primary themes are about exploration of unknown environments and crew triumph in threatening situations. Stories are told in episodes, not movies, so it focuses more on self-contained plotlines instead of one overarching objective for the characters. Another dominant theme is interaction with foreign cultures, something Star Wars kind of takes for granted. In Star Wars all the races conform to a sort of Galactic Standard, Star Trek is quite the opposite, and it uses that as a basis for many of its stories. Star Trek's technology is extremely far-fetched compared to Star Wars. Time travel and alternate dimensions are commonplace in Star Trek, and the technology found in the series is borderline magical. This all conforms to Star Trek's themes though, it's not so much about scientific accuracy or believability, it's about the ever-expanding experiences of the crew, their relationships with each other, and their interactions with the unknown.


    Star Wars on the other hand is completely different. There's an epic battle between good and evil that looms over everything that happens in the universe. Technology is much more scientifically sound, and the characters are much easier to relate to because they behave in a very human way. Even the strangest aliens in Star Wars seem like humans compared to some of Star Trek's absurd races and beings. This works better for Star Wars because it's more focused on emotionally involving the viewer than explaining the world. A lot of details in the original 6 movies are intentionally ambiguous because it's more about the characters and the overall Dark vs. Light battle than the actual world. Lucas himself has described Star Wars as "The Story of Anakin and Luke Skywalker". Of course the Expanded Universe goes into much more detail on everything, but I'm really only talking about the movies here.

    The point is, you can't just say one is better than the other, they both offer unique entertainment that the other cannot provide.
  • screw'em both DUNE rules all.

  • My only experience with Star Trek is fifteen minutes in the Star Trek Online character creator. So I guess Star Wars. Even though every new thing released under the Star Wars name tests my love for the franchise.

  • I'm definitely a Star Wars girl.  I like some of Star Trek, especially Next Generation and Voyager, but Star Wars is definitely my pick.

  • I'm both. I have been a huge fan of Star Wars for most of my life. The games, stories, and characters are awesome. Omega Squad anyone? Recently I've been getting into Star Trek The Next Generation. The show is pretty good. Haven't seen any with Kirk or Spock though. My verdict: They are both equally awesome.  

  • I'm a Warhammer 40,000 fan. anyone else?

  • Force over phasers any day...