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Star Wars v Star Trek

So my new girlfriend is massively into Star Wars, thus very recently i've had to endure all seven films in quick succession and i'll be seeing Rogue One very soon...

I dont like Star Wars, the original trilogy bores me and the prequels suck (aside from the end of ep3 which is hilarious). Force Awakens didnt thrill me either. It wasnt a bad movie but i just didnt care.

Star Trek also exists and i get along with that even less than Star Wars. At least Star Wars has Siths which are rather colourful bad guys, like the old white droid with four arms. Star Trek just annoys me wholesale.

So, the age old question finally comes to ZD: Star Wars or Star Trek?
 

Castle

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Oh no not this again.

Look, these two are not even remotely comparable. They aren't even in the same genre.

Star Trek is hard science fiction.

Star Wars is a fantasy. fan-ta-sy. The ray guns and robots and starships are beside the point in Star Wars. Star Wars is all about a heroic fantasy. The Force is even space magic. literally. (forget what you know about those wretched M-things and Spirit so help me... :P)

lol seriously though, the only reason this question gets brokered is because they share similar pop cultural status.

Trek is speculative fiction. Speculative fiction asks "what if?" What if life exists on other planets? What if robots had souls? What if extraterrestrials came to Earth? Star Trek asks all these questions. Star Wars doesn't care. Despite droids displaying human characteristics no one in Star Wars is concerned about them being anything but machines and servants. To help distinguish Star Wars from science fiction, replace Jabba the Hutt with a dragon, Obiwan Kenobi with a wizard/knight in shining armor (or robe in his case), Darth Vader with Lord Sauron, etc. Star Wars features every classic fantasy motif there is... just not in a form people usually associate with fantasy.

But to answer the question, I am an original Star Wars fan. I have been since I first saw them when I was a kid. I've always had a fondness for Star Trek but my interest is tentative. I enjoy the shows particularly ToS and TNG, I enjoy (most of) the movies - Wrath of Khan is one of my all time favorite movies - and I like Star Trek enough to hate the new ones :P
 
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Pen

The game is on!
I can honestly not pick a favourite. They're so different and have their own unique qualities. I discovered Star Wars at a young age and was a big fan of it for many years. Later on when I got into Star Trek around age 17 or so I was completely struck by it and for a long time I liked it much more than Star Wars. Lately though I find myself unable to pick a favourite out of the two. I think they're both so amazing! They've both got some really lovable characters and stories. Star Wars is great at entertainment action whereas Star Trek generally provides a more philosophical sort of fiction. One might say that Star Wars is the rock 'n' roll while Star Trek is the classical music; and I adore both genres. ^^
 

Kylo Ken

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So hard to choose, but I'd say since Star Wars has better video games, I'd pick them
 

Misty

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Oh no not this again.

Look, these two are not even remotely comparable. They aren't even in the same genre.

Not even remotely? Well, let's just see if I can find some grounds for comparison in my messy toy bin of a brain.

Both are sci-fi.
Both take place in space regularly.
Both have the same first word in their title.
Both have an extensive universe explored in many many many novels.
Both have some really iconic and great films.
Both have some really awful money grabs that fans and normies alike consider to be garbage.
Both feature a vast array of aliens that are involved in the goings on to varying degrees.
Both feature conflicts of ideology on grand scales.
Both essentially tilt on three main characters as their beginning point.
Both have television shows.
Both are massive franchises.
Both are beloved by a very particular segment of the population.


Boy, I really found myself reaching for grounds of comparison. On that one. I almost hurt my arm because it was so far away. No, but my snark aside, they are most certainly in the same broad genre. Within that genre you have a diverse array of types and you are correct to point out that Star Trek is the harder of the two, but I don't think anyone could fairly argue that Star Wars is fantasy unless they just didn't have a proper definition of fantasy handy. We didn't like it when people told us to stop taking in the fat shaming thread, so stop kill joying this thread by calling the question ludicrous. If people are asking the question, then that means culturally they have grounds for comparison. You're probably a Star Wars fan aren't you! Give a straight answer, you cannot. You sir needs to sit the **** down and answer the question sir because me sir think you sir just being a party pooper.

But to answer the question, I am an original Star Wars fan. I have been since I first saw them when I was a kid.
Knew it.



Oh to answer the question: This is like trying to (on a much lower level) choose between the Sopranos and the Wire. Do I give it to the series that taught me so much about the world I live in and ways to see it and solutions (Star Trek) or do I choose the one that undeniably has more flare, more drama, and more awareness for what it is to be art and the legacy involved (Star Wars). I ultimately always give it to the Wire and Star Trek.

See the thing for me, is that I'll nix extended literary universes for both. But Star Wars only has three good movies. (It should be obvious which ones I mean.) It has one passable movie. It has another almost passable movie. And the other two are utter and complete garbage. The tv series from what I've seen of it is complete garbage. So basically that leaves me with about eight hours of really excellent material and about four hours of alright stuff with about six hours of garbage. That means that 33% of Star Wars is awful without question. (I'm being generous, most people don't think the third movie is almost acceptable.)

Trying to push aside the fact that Star Trek simply has more for the moment if I just accounted for the movies it would look like this:

Movies ToS: exactly a fifty fifty split on fun and garbage so we won't count these in either direction.
Next Gen: Once again, fifty fifty split on fun and garbage so we won't count these against.
New Trek: First two are good, newest one is bad.

Which would mean that probably I'm giving Star Trek around a 60% on movies...but, it has a tv series which spans many more episodes of enjoyment and many more of pain. And that puts it well above the 66% of good that Star Wars does. The only reason to like Star Wars better is like...it's the guy I had a lot more fun with for like a month, but broke my heart just as hard compared to the guy I spent several years with and had my heart broken by.

If I actually broke it down in like an ambition and excellence sort of way...well, I think Star Trek has a history of pushing the envelope and trying new things...while Star Wars has been trying to recapture former glory for a very long time and worse yet failing.
 

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