Star Wars or Star Trek

[Saquist]

Right now I'm neither...
That last movie was complete...well trash. It would have been great as any other movie but Trek...even with all the plot contrivances and plot holes.

Star Wars has suxed for a while and briefly Clone War (cartoon not CGI) brought it back to excitement and once again Lucas stepped in...or in it.

I was a Stargate Fan until SGU and it's trash too. We'll see if they step it up a notched from this contrived Drama they have to force every episode because nothing else is happening.

 

[Neumann]

Star Trek?

STAR TREK!

 

[RyuRoots]

Why would you ask this on an ST forum if you wanted anything but an incredibly skewed result?

Exactly, especially since people tend to confuse "What one do you like better," with "Which one is better?"

Which is funny, considering which one "is" better is still completely subjective. There's really no case to be made on that front.

Yeesh. First post and I may get myself run outta town on a rail. Well, might as well go in with a bang...

I voted Star Wars, though I'm a huge fan of the earlier incarnations of both. I was 9 when Star Wars was released, probably more susceptible to its escapism than at any other point in life, so it became a very special part of my childhood. I really got into Star Trek when TMP came out 2 years later. SW had imprinted on my brain by then, so it seemed more significant. 1977-1984 was the Golden Age.

Nowadays, I still get more of a thrill from Star Wars, but really only ANH and TESB. As for Star Trek, I prefer TOS, the first 3 movies and ST IX. I hear there were some other TV series in between, but they sound far too sappy to have been any good.

So wait, just to make sure I have it right: You haven't even seen a single episode of any non-TOS show yet have already decided they can't possibly be any good at all?

 

[Xerxes1979]

The two franchises can be directly compared in the near future once the the live action series comes to tv.

My opinion however is that whatever coolness edge Star Wars may have had disappeared around 1998. The franchise will never recover from the prequels.

Lucas was to much of an ego maniac to stop when he was ahead.

 

[Asimovian]

Why would you ask this on an ST forum if you wanted anything but an incredibly skewed result?

Exactly, especially since people tend to confuse "What one do you like better," with "Which one is better?"

Which is funny, considering which one "is" better is still completely subjective. There's really no case to be made on that front.

Yeesh. First post and I may get myself run outta town on a rail. Well, might as well go in with a bang...

I voted Star Wars, though I'm a huge fan of the earlier incarnations of both. I was 9 when Star Wars was released, probably more susceptible to its escapism than at any other point in life, so it became a very special part of my childhood. I really got into Star Trek when TMP came out 2 years later. SW had imprinted on my brain by then, so it seemed more significant. 1977-1984 was the Golden Age.

Nowadays, I still get more of a thrill from Star Wars, but really only ANH and TESB. As for Star Trek, I prefer TOS, the first 3 movies and ST IX. I hear there were some other TV series in between, but they sound far too sappy to have been any good.

So wait, just to make sure I have it right: You haven't even seen a single episode of any non-TOS show yet have already decided they can't possibly be any good at all?

I was being facetious. I followed the first several seasons of TNG until I got bored. I watched a good number of DS9 and Voyager episodes, and the first several Enterprise episodes, and found the same thing. Someone on this board will no doubt have better information on this, but my understanding is that Rick Berman was heavy-handed and controlling, imposing strict limitations on scripts and direction to the point of rigor-mortis. I know that he was criticized for the decline in popularity of the franchise from the 90s until ST: Nemesis.

BTW, I feel that George Lucas did the same thing to ROTJ and the SW prequels.

 

[3D Master]

The first 40 years or so, Star Trek.

However, JJ's idea of Star Trek is just Star Wars that makes less sense. So JJ and onward Star Wars.

 

[M-Red]

Close race...love em both. Just taking into account my personal view from a quality standpoint....


The original Star Wars trilogy is amazing. I know it's become trendy to downgrade ROTJ....but just because ESB was better means nothing except ROTJ isn't an 11 on a 10 Scale. ESB is arguably the best sci-fi/fantasy movie....ever.


If ROTJ is considered the weak link in the trilogy...it's easy to see why there is a near-unanimous consensus on the awesomeness of the SW OT. Generally, the Star Wars franchise will be represented twice in any publication's Top 5 list of All-Time Sci-Fi/Fantasy films.


On the big screen, Trek comes nowhere close to that. So for me at least, I can't say that Star Wars has 3 great movies and Star Trek has x number of great movies. That doesn't mean that Trek hasn't delivered some great movies -- it has. I love several of them very much. But there is a "masterpiece" category for at least 2 Star Wars movies that a Trek film never really reaches.



But when I account for the SW prequels (facepalm) and the periodic greatness of Trek on television, the race is neck-and neck. Television just allows Trek more time to develop its characters, cultures, and universe. TOS is awesome. TNG might be better, and it lasts longer. And DS9 (Trek's hidden gem) might be better than all of them, depending on your tastes.


And of course, some people love VOY or ENT...and think those are the best Treks.


What's most amazing to me is that the great Trek series are anything but carbon copies of one another. They're extremely different but each is able to excel at what it wants to do while still staying within the same broader story...which is really impressive. That's a feat that's actually very hard and Trek has succeeded in doing it multiple times -- to the point where the fanbase expects it.


And for what it's worth....I think each franchise benefits from the other's success.


all my .02 of course

 

[zombieChan51]

I have to say star trek. When there is a monster like the borg

or wars like the Dominion War

badass aliens like Romulans, Klingons and Betazoids

you can't refuse.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

I've always said that I like Star Wars but I love Star Trek.

 

[T'Girl]

The problem I have with Star War (especially the last three movies) is the same problem I sometime have with star trek. While I enjoy a well executed special effect, I don't think you should build whole sections of a movie around them, nuKirk being chased by the FX monsters on the ice planet is one example of this, wow, it's a special effect.

There are multiple scenes in Star Wars which are just FX pieces. I could have cut the pod race down to three minutes and it wouldn't have had any impact on the story telling. Now Star Trek does this sometimes too, in TMP there's the long FX only scene of flying into the V'ger cloud.

I like some of the Star Wars FX, the final lightsaber battle between Kenobi and Skywalker was the best.

What I've seen of the cartoon series (Star Wars) is very interesting, I like Skywalker's trainee, keep wondering what she looks like naked.

 

[Y_O_D_A]

SW FTW! ST FTL!

 

[iguana_tonante]

Is that an alien language? Maybe Dagobahnese?

 

[stonester1]

I love them both, but I give the edge to Trek, both in fictional storytelling setting and which universe I'd prefer to live in.

 

[Withers]

Is that an alien language? Maybe Dagobahnese?

It is the well articulated pith of the hardcore "Star Wars is Awesome/Star Trek sucks" fandom. Rarely have I seen it so nuanced and so erudite.

-Withers-​

 

[Sector 7]

Trek. I just care more about the Trek characters and what is happening in that universe. I still like SW, though, just not nearly as much.

+1

I am not sure why I must choose one or the other. I am a fan of both. I have read books of both. I have purchased DVDs and merchandise of both. Obviously, my favorite is Star Trek, hence my previous work in the franchise. I was a Star Trek fan before there was a Star Wars, but I like both.

"Both" should have been an option in the poll, therefore I did not vote.

 

[issreliant]

It is hard to pick, considering the vast diffrences between both franchises, Star Trek is science fiction, Star Wars is science fantasy. While i love the plots of trek(ie:contemporary stories told in a sci-fi setting, theoretical technology) something has to be said for a rousing mythical story of good vs evil. For me i would have to say its like choosing apples from oranges, the only thing that they have in common is there are set in space. with that said, i would have to go with............Star wars, while i love trek, wars set me on my path of loving science and fantasy fiction, if not for SW i might not have watched star trek or read any sci-fi and fantasy books.

 

[Anji]

Star Trek is about people. Star Wars is about how many fancy effects Lucas can cram into one film.

 

[Luther Sloan]

The Original Trilogy of Star Wars is by far the top most classic science fiction films of all time. However, I am a Star Trek fan at heart, and if given the option, I would rather watch anything Star Trek (besides Enterprise) versus Star Wars any given day of the week.

 

[Chris_Johnston]

I want to say I like them both about equally, but for different reasons, but truth be told, I have a far deeper connection with Trek.

I've never owned a Starfleet uniform or rubber Spock ears, but I was the first one on my block to have the Franz Joseph technical manual & blueprints when they came out, as well as the maps. I've bought every tech manual that's been released, as well as every edition of the Encyclopedia.
Any time I hunker down to pore over one of these, my main thought is: "Boy, they really worked this stuff out! A lot of thought went into it."

In my opinion, Star Trek is the most richly-detailed fictional universe ever (Tolkien fans might argue).
People make fun of TOS because of the "plywood sets & foam rocks" (Ummm, aren't all sets made out of plywood?) and the visual effects, but I don't compare it to the latest & greatest in CGI — I compare it to Irwin Allen's shows that were on at the same time, i.e. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space.
Those shows don't hold a candle to what Roddenberry did, in terms of story structure, character development and worldbuilding... awww, hell, I dunno how to describe it all.
You guys know what I'm trying to say, right?

 

[Pat]

For me, I absolutely love BOTH franchises for all the good reasons so eloquently described above - vive la différence! But; in a "desert island discs" type situation I would have not the slightest hesitation in choosing Star Trek.