Star Trek versus Star Wars

Pride Fighter

What do people think is better Star Trek or Star Wars. It is obvious that Star Wars has more mass appeal but I think it is not good sci-fi. Star Trek is far superior. 5 great tv series about 5 out of 10 good films(Star Trek). Or do people prefer 1 good film (The Empire Strikes Back, the film George Lucas had the least to do with) out of 6.

Maccattack

I never liked Star Trek.

I went to see one of the movies at the cinema a few years ago and thought it was so bad that i was actually embarrassed to be there. Even though it was full of fans.

Star wars on the other hand Rocks in my opinion. Yes some of the movies are crap too, but its GOOD crap. Its Star Wars.

ixoy

Probably better suited to the 'Star Trek' or 'Star Wars' forums, where I'm sure it's been discussed before...

'Star Trek' for me and for a lot of the reason that you point out. 'Star Wars' series is very much focused on the big-screen spectacular. It's very poor in the science angle and does little to speculate about many of the ideas that sci-fi explores.
'Star Trek' is far better in this respect - weekly we might examine different concepts in the alien cultures that they encounter and it makes it more interesting for me. However, it has a very rigid format and that inflexibility can be annoying.

Having said that, I'm not a massive fan of either and prefer other examples of sci-fi on TV. With a few exceptions, good hard sci-fi is only ever explored in books.

Pride Fighter

You speak some sense. However Star Trek is the best sci-fi on tv in my book. Stargate was excellent for 6 seasons but I think it is terrible now (Atlantis does not even count). There is a lack of sci-fi on tv nowadays. I need a hit, I am suffering withdrawl symptoms from the loss of enterprise.

dulpit

Star Wars... I could no bother sit down on a saturday afternoon and watch one or more of the films, but would not last 10 minutes of star trek... stoopid show... (except for Riker (that's his name, right?), he's a legend)

monkeyfudge

Should be interesting to see what the Star Wars TV series will be like... but it's still a good few years off yet.

The Clone Wars cartoon series is the only good thing to come out of the star wars franchise in the past quarter of a century.

Johnny Storm

Personaly, I think you are asking us to compare apples with oranges.
Arguably, Star Wars is part of the fantasy/sword-and-sorcery genre rather than science-fiction. OK they have a few space ships but its mainly to do with swords, slaves, wizards, feudal society. The science part of Star Wars is really ropey and never explained at all. EG how long does it take an X-fighter to make an interstellar journey? How does the pilot eat, sleep, exercise or perform other natural functions during the journey?
I like both of 'em, but if I had to I'd go for Trek.

godtabh

Any one see the star wars Christmas special? Very rare and very bad

Reptileboy

I'm a die-hard Star Trek fan, so I ticked the obvious. But I still think that Star Wars is the better film franchise. Granted Star Trek has had 700 episodes aired, while Star Wars has had 6 movies.

It's a terrible comparison to make, and certainly one that gets made every now and again since they are both leaders in their particular field.

MisterAnarchy

No Contest,Star Trek is far superior.
One is an adult show the other is childish drivel.
Only decent Star Wars film is The Empire Strikes back.
All special effects but no plot.

galactus

I love 'em both.

Long time SF fan in general: i take prevous posters points that Trek is "superior" in a sense- ie better science basis.

At an an emotional level ("Spock...Spock" excepted) its hard to beat the mystical side of Star Wars (esp. Empire).

That said, have posters seen every Trek episode: I mean DS9 is really under-rated, even Enterprise has its good notes. OK, Janeway screwed it for a bit but there were some classic Voyager episodes. Trek and stormtroopers are way cool but its all good!!

Just don't ask me to rate Dune or Alien (the original) against SW or Trek
lol

Mossy Monk

Star Wars would be my favourite of the two.

I liked the Star Trek movies, but hated all the tv series that I have seen.

Pigman II

Star Wars for me every time.

Any people who compain about SW not having ropey or not enough science in it are just missing the point imho. Star Wars should never be lumped in with "science fiction". It instead could be more suitably categorised as fantasy or mythology.

Pepe LeFrits

MisterAnarchy wrote:

No Contest,Star Trek is far superior.
One is an adult show the other is childish drivel.

Star Trek is an adult show? lol!

Apples and oranges. What's the basis for comparison? Star Wars, 6 films and what, 12-15 hours running time, compared to Star Trek's 5 TV shows and 10 films?

Ultimately, neither Star Trek nor Star Wars are particularly good scifi. They did however manage to arrive at the right time and capture the imagination of the public in a big way that had never really happened before. They were TV and film pioneers, and should be remembered as such. That doesn't mean they were any cop by modern standards and the modern Star Trek and Star Wars would never get any notice if it weren't for the famous brand name attached to them.

Breaking them down:

Star Trek TOS really isn't very good, nostalgia aside.
Star Trek TNG was often very good, but has aged badly. It was very suitable to the time it was created in.
Star Trek DS9 was very good when Ronald D. Moore got to do the stuff he wanted, which wasn't that often.
Star Trek Voyager was dreadful.
Star Trek Enterprise was even worse.

Most of the Star Trek movies are pants and the only reason they ever got made was because they had the Star Trek name attached to them. The Wrath of Khan and First Contact are the only ST films that could stand on their own merits.

The Empire Strikes Back is an excellent film. Star Wars and Return of the Jedi are pretty good too but again, are only really held in such high regard because of the Star Wars name. The new films are merely on a par with the likes of The Chronicles of Riddick (ie pretty damn poor), and would have been instantly forgotten if they were written for anything else.

On TV, Star Trek has been hopelessly surpassed in quality by the likes of Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined), Stargate and others. On film, Star Wars has been surpassed by too many to mention.

Oh, and Star Wars.

Pride Fighter

I am glad to see star trek in the lead at this time.

User45701

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Breaking them down:

Star Trek TOS really isn't very good, nostalgia aside.
.

Sorry i have to disagree, i have always liked it. Some episodes fair enough are not the greatest but others are very good. Its stand alone episodes have great stories. I recently got Season 1 in HD DVD and i was expecting to turn atleast one episode off by now and i only have 1 disc left. Some episodes where so good i had forgoten how enjoyable they where. i was a child when i watched TOS.

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Star Trek TNG was often very good, but has aged badly. It was very suitable to the time it was created in..

I would agree to this one beause it has aged badley i enjoyed re-watching TOS more than i did TNG, but some TNG episodes like Yesterdays Enbterprise are very enjoyable.

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Star Trek DS9 was very good when Ronald D. Moore got to do the stuff he wanted, which wasn't that often.

DS9 was the best of the lot.

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Star Trek Voyager was dreadful.
Star Trek Enterprise was even worse.
.

Disagree on both points. if you want i can post some reccemended watching from both shows, episodes that are very good.

Pigman II

Star Trek is garbage. They throw enough money at it so if they had had a bit of quality control it might be a decent show. However they just churned out 700 odd episodes with the same plots and idea again and again because they know their fanbase are losers who lap it up without question due to having no taste and too much time on their hands as a result of no social life.

Jello

Definitely Star Wars for me (well the original trilogy anyway). Never liked Star Trek, just found the whole thing just too repetitive, drawn out and unappealing.

User45701

Pigman II wrote: »

Star Trek is garbage. They throw enough money at it so if they had had a bit of quality control it might be a decent show. However they just churned out 700 odd episodes with the same plots and idea again and again because they know their fanbase are losers who lap it up without question due to having no taste and too much time on their hands as a result of no social life.

I dont know. As far as i know none of that is true.

Pepe LeFrits

User45701 wrote: »

DS9 was the best of the lot.

What an accolade!

Disagree on both points. if you want i can post some reccemended watching from both shows, episodes that are very good.

No thanks.

Gillie

I never watched all of any of the Star Wars movies. Turned them off as I thought they were crap!
But i'd watch Star Trek any day of the week!

Always loved this pic:

cabrwab

I liked NSG back when it was first aired, now it looks really old, never got into the other series after it, i tried!

But to compare the two is wrong, they aint similar really. Both have there merits and fans. All movies in both series have there likable moments. But ST as of late has had a bad run off movies too. I personally in the middle but will vote star wars just to annoy the OP.

Now fight nerd fight!!

gordon_gekko

i couldnt watch either the tv show star trek or any of the movies

i love the 3 origninal star wars movies and even the 3 new bad ones are ahead of any of the star trek movies

strar wars are movies that people in general tend to enjoy where as star trek fans are usually tru believer science fiction nerds

gordon_gekko

i couldnt watch either the tv show star trek or any of the movies

i love the 3 origninal star wars movies and even the 3 new bad ones are ahead of any of the star trek movies
the star trek movies had almost shoe string budgets in comparrison to the george lucas movies and they werent even that big at the box office

strar wars are movies that people in general tend to enjoy where as star trek fans are usually tru believer science fiction nerds

loves_to_spooge

Star Trek is great Sci-Fi, as is Star Wars, & it prob would've went down as the greatest sci-fi trilogy ever if George Lucas hadn't ruined it with those awful prequels with annoying & one-dimensional characters!

kowloon

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

One is an adult show the other is childish drivel.

I don't think the Star Trek series' were very adult either, films were better.

The last 3 Star Wars films were so incredibly bad I would be shocked if the franchise ever recovers. I wish I had never seen them as I don't enjoy the originals as much now.

The new Star Trek film might be the end or the revival of the trek franchise.

loves_to_spooge

kowloon wrote: »

I don't think the Star Trek series' were very adult either, films were better.

The last 3 Star Wars films were so incredibly bad I would be shocked if the franchise ever recovers. I wish I had never seen them as I don't enjoy the originals as much now.

The new Star Trek film might be the end or the revival of the trek franchise.

There's a new Star Wars animated film coming out to cinema's soon about the Clone War's which I personally think's gonna be horrific to behold when it finally is released!

As for Star Trek, it's in a slump now, like it was in a slump from the late 60's to 70's, there hasn't been a film in 6 years now, but given the level of hype regarding the new film & also the level of interest from A list Hollywood actors who would give an arm or a leg to star in Star Trek it'd be very brave & difficult to write it off as a media institution.

iguana

I enjoyed the two, I was even once a member of a Star Trek club but on a pure emotional level the original Star Wars movies beat Trek hands down.

And while I did enjoy plenty of Star Trek, it was hardly top class science fiction. Take for example the scene in All Good Things where Riker flies the future Enterprise up through space, and this is seen as an amazing feat which the updated Enterprise has achieved. Well it's space the ship can move in any direction, there is no up or down.

galactus

kowloon wrote: »

(snip)I don't think the Star Trek series' were very adult either, films were better.

I can't agree with that. Granted the the original series wasn't overly cerebral even still there were adult themes (sometimes highly controversial such as Kirk and Uhura's first inter-racial kiss on mainstream TV).

The same goes for The Next Generation, Voyager and especially Deep Space 9 which was often outrageously dark.

Check out this Wikipedia article on the cultural impact of Star Trek:


"Roddenberry wanted to tell more sophisticated stories using futuristic situations as analogies to current problems on Earth and rectifying them through humanism and optimism."

...that certainly doesn't sound such a childish motivation.

And agree that the films were excellent - esp. the even numbered ones!

iguana

galactus wrote: »

And agree that the films were excellent - esp. the even numbered ones!

Except 10, which was the worst of them all.:(

galactus

iguana wrote: »

Except 10, which was the worst of them all.:(

The rule seems to need modifying for n =10.

Hopefully for n>10, all the films are great starting with Star Trek XI next year!

de5p0i1er

Love the two of them, but I'd have to go with Star Wars as my favorite.

Sherifu

Star Trek for me. Engage.

kowloon

galactus wrote: »

I can't agree with that. Granted the the original series wasn't overly cerebral even still there were adult themes (sometimes highly controversial such as Kirk and Uhura's first inter-racial kiss on mainstream TV).

The same goes for The Next Generation, Voyager and especially Deep Space 9 which was often outrageously dark.

It still wasn't very adult. If anything the new series were less adult than the old (taking what was acceptable at the time of TOS).
You had kids in major roles in each of the 3 new series (Enterprise doesn't count). The films were much more adult oriented than the series which were toned down to make pre watershed TV.