Why is Star trek nerdy but Star wars Cool?

[Steve Roby]

Star Wars is 6 movies plus an expanded universe probably invisible to 95% of the population that saw those movies.

Star Trek has a much narrower audience and is more demanding on its fans. There is a lot of continuity you need to keep track of. You are looking at spending over a grand buying it all on DVD. 10 movies. 6 tv shows with over 800 episodes.

Considering the success and mainstream acceptance of franchises that are as or even more nerdy than Star Trek (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings), I'm beginning to think that it's less about content and more about how "into" it people get.

Star Trek was (mostly) weekly television. Over the course of a year, a casual fan could be expected to watch around 20 hours of it. More, if there was more than one spin-off running at the same time, or if one of the many movies was released that year.

With Star Wars over that same year you could expect a casual fan to see either none of it, or two hours worth, depending on if there was a movie released that year. Yeah, Star Wars has a gigantic expanded universe, but the average joe is barely literate, proud of the fact that he hasn't read a book since high school, never set foot in a library or bookstore and completely unaware that the SWEU even exists. So that doesn't really hurt Star Wars the way oversaturation hurt Trek.

I think these are very siginificant points.

Generally speaking, nothing is less cool than being deeply into something and obsessing about it and being committed to it. That is the Way of the Nerd. Cool, on the other hand, tends to be about the appearance of effortlessness. It takes very little effort to get into Star Wars: watch half a dozen movies and you're done. You can do it in a day.

Star Trek? Ten movies and several hundred episodes. That's a major commitment.

Both properties have plenty of other things you can get into, books, games, comics, etc, but most fans of any TV or movie series ignore all that. Of course, if you say SW is cool and ST is lame or nerdy and then go on to debate old Clone Wars vs new Clone Wars or talk about the development of Mandalorian culture in Jeter's novels as opposed to Traviss's, everyone around you should and will laugh at you and call you a nerd.

 

[collins1707]

I dunno - I've been called a Nerd for many things I like to do. Cars, Rally-X & Auto-X, Star Trek, etc.. It seems the common thread between all of them is that they require a bit more effort to enjoy them. I think it makes people a bit Jealous and that causes them to whip out the "Nerd" label.

 

[Augustus]

yeah, I actually had to do a research paper on something like this once, about what is nerdy. Found an academic paper that suggested that one of the reasons people call Star Trek fans "nerds" (the paper actually used trek fans as its main push) is because of fear. They don't understand and belong in the world of Trek. They don't get it. So they have to put it down and deride it. Like a kind left out of a group and so he makes fun of that group to lessen his pain.

Interesting


It went on and on about stereotypes etc, but that was the main idea...

 

[Therin of Andor]

So they have to put it down and deride it. Like a kind left out of a group and so he makes fun of that group to lessen his pain.

Exactly. Putdowns are a form of bullying, but we all do it at some time or other, even subconsciously, to make ourselves feel better with our own place in the world. It's how we handle it, when we are on the receiving end, that is 50% of any problem that may arise.

 

[Steve Roby]

yeah, I actually had to do a research paper on something like this once, about what is nerdy. Found an academic paper that suggested that one of the reasons people call Star Trek fans "nerds" (the paper actually used trek fans as its main push) is because of fear. They don't understand and belong in the world of Trek. They don't get it. So they have to put it down and deride it. Like a kind left out of a group and so he makes fun of that group to lessen his pain.

Fear? Pain? No. That might make sense in terms of class- or status-based resentment, but there's no stigma whatsoever in not being a Star Trek fan.

 

[Augustus]

I would have to read the paper again to be sure, but if I remember correctly, it is not an intense or abiding fear or pain, it is simply not being a part of a group, not that you WANT to be a part of the group, but as Therin of Andor points out we put it down from our own insecurity to make ourselves feel better or that we aren't missing anything.

I do it with things like Firefly, BSG and the other non-trek shows discussed (besides B5) on this board.

 

[Keith1701]

Star Trek is not nerdy........by a long shot!!!!!!!

 

[Therin of Andor]

there's no stigma whatsoever in not being a Star Trek fan.

I have definitely heard people who have no interest in "Star Trek" fandom grumble things like, "Why are you people always so damned happy?"

At busy times of the academic year - like report card writing time - teachers grumble the same phrase to seemingly-carefree school librarians.

 

[exodus]

Star Trek fans need to know how everything works on a scientific level, Star Wars fans just accept the fact it works.

Trek fans question what Q is and rather see him as an alien than a God.

Star Wars fans don't question the force and even git upset with the reaoning of the mediclorians to explain it.

Trek fans need to know how a replicator and transporter works.

Star Wars fans don't care how a lightsaber works or how Destroyer Droids unfold, the accept they just do.

Trek fans need to know how Data functions.


Star Wars fans aren't curious how Darth Vader suit keeps him alive, only that it does.

Trek fans spend allot of time analizing the science and technology of Trek.

Star Wars fans accept the mystery & fantasy about Star Wars without caring how real it is.

I think that's why it's easier to introduce and relate Star Wars to a younger audience than Trek.

 

[rick]

i had a complete loser ass trekkie roomate at one time in college...i asked him about trek and star wars...

he said star wars is lame because its a fairy tale...star trek is cool because is real.

i asked what was real...vulcans and warp drive? in response he said, they could be!

then he cried like benny russell..."it is REEALL!!!!"

this is no joke. he cried, after being posed this question.

and THAT is why trek is nerdier than star wars.

 

[Therin of Andor]

and THAT is why trek is nerdier than star wars.

But he knew that "Star Wars" was "lame", so that'll score him a few friends.

 

[dillon3001]

There's been a lot of talk about how Trek is more cerebral or intellectual than Wars, and this seems to be the case IMO after reflecting on it for a bit. That coupled with the fact there always seems to be more action in SW than in ST (space battles, ka-booms and such).

I've never really seen Trek as nerdy myself, but i also like reading and using my brain. I heard those things are a little nerdy (at least thats what i heard in high school. I never did put much stock in that however)

 

[rick]

maybe therin...

but lets hope these friends are patient enough to withstand literal tears over an opinion that vulcans exist...let alone a debate about the force...

dude...tears.

 

[Therin of Andor]

but lets hope these friends are patient enough to withstand literal tears over an opinion that vulcans exist...let alone a debate about the force...

dude...tears.

I'll admit I shed a few when Spock died. But I was also sketching the trapezoidal shape of his maroon fabric belt lug on the back of his uniform jacket at the time.

What?

 

[trekkerguy]

but lets hope these friends are patient enough to withstand literal tears over an opinion that vulcans exist...let alone a debate about the force...

dude...tears.

I'll admit I shed a few when Spock died. But I was also sketching the trapezoidal shape of his maroon fabric belt lug on the back of his uniform jacket at the time.

What?

I watched TUC today(did a marathon of all TOS movies) and found
myself tearing up at the end of it. "Second star to the right..."

 

[Therin of Andor]

I watched TUC today(did a marathon of all TOS movies) and found
myself tearing up at the end of it. "Second star to the right..."

I've never seen the actors' signatures in clear focus. All blurry!

 

[rick]

guys im not talking about the drama itself...hell i think "the visitor" is one of the most emotional pieces of television ever!

im talking about if vulcans and the federation exist...in real life. he said...yes and cried.

 

[Deckerd]

I'm highly diverted that people here think ST is cerebral. It's entertainment. It has schmaltz in every second episode, gung-ho fisticuffs in two out of three episodes, laughably impossible 'science' and very pretty uniforms, considering what the laundry bill must be like.

 

[Morfius]

Star Trek has Scientist Characters and presents a vision of the future where you might get to work along side a half-alien/android/full alien scientist.

Star Wars has high tech without nerdy scientists and presents a vision of the future where if you're lucky, you might get to flying into space because you father is secretly a member of the Master Race that has high midchlorian levels and can to magic while cutting robots up with magic swords.

 

[Butters]

I'm highly diverted that people here think ST is cerebral. It's entertainment. It has schmaltz in every second episode, gung-ho fisticuffs in two out of three episodes, laughably impossible 'science' and very pretty uniforms, considering what the laundry bill must be like.

I agree. Star Trek isn't cerebral, but the nerdiest of fans are quite insistant that it is and can actually be quite offensive toward non-fans insinuating that the masses are somehow inferior because they don't 'get' it. Trek science is as much fantasy as star wars, if not more so because of the explanations are inconsistent nonsense.

The difference I see between Trek and Star Wars is its accessibility. Anyone can watch a Star Wars