GEEK VS. GEEK 
Come
to the Star Wars side, we have cookies.And blue milk.
But I digress.
It should be mentioned up front that I am not a die-hard Star Wars fan who hates all things Star Trek. In fact, I rather enjoy both of them. The first movie I ever remember seeing is The Empire Strikes Back in theatres, and one of the shows my mom and I would watch together was Star Trek: The Next Generation. My opposing number is likewise not a die-hard Star Trek fan who reflexively hates all things Star Wars. I think fandom has evolved enough to let both sides exist equally. Ultimately, I think trying to compare the two is like trying to compare apples to oranges. Or would that be Tribbles to Ewoks?
However fans being fans have created a rivalry to end all rivalries, perhaps one even bigger than Coke vs. Pepsi, Democrats vs. Republicans, tea vs. coffee and the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the San Francisco Giants. However, unlike these other rivalries, Star Wars VS. Star Trek takes place IN SPACE, which makes everything much more awesome.
When the original Star Wars movie (then just called Star Wars) was released in 1977, no one knew what sort of phenomenon was being unleashed into the world at large, nor the complete culture change it would cause. Star Wars was big. It was huge. From the very opening shots with the backstory-establishing scrawl and the triumphant music by John Williams, to the epic lightsaber battles and the destruction of the Death Star, the movie -- and, later, its sequels -- was an explosion of new ideas and sights. Of course, being a movie about stuff in space it was immediately compared to that of the television show of stuff in space, Star Trek.
And thus the rivalry was born: Star Trek VS. Star Wars! Which is better?
Star Wars, of course
Let us talk about Star Wars.
First, The Universe:
Star
Wars’s galaxy far, far away is one that is full of
truly alien life. They aren’t all rubber forehead
aliens, but instead a strange and motley assortment. You
have giant slug like things -- the Hutts;
dragonfly-pig-elephant alien things -- the Toydarians;
small Muppet-like things -- whatever Yoda’s Species is
called; giant shaggy man creatures -- the ever popular
Wookiees; as well as your usual assortment of humans and
human-looking people that only have large buggy eyes and
blue scales or look like something Cthulhu had a hand
in. The life is varied enough that it’s not humans
sprinkled with a few bits of aliens here and there it’s
a fairly even mixture of things when you look around in
the background scenes. What does Star Trek give us? Vulcans, who are humans with pointy ears; Betaziods, who were supposed to have three breasts at one point, but now just look exactly like humans, except like to get naked a lot; Bajorans, who have funny nose bumps and an interesting earring fetish; and Cardassians, who look like they’ve had an encounter with the Tick judging from the spoon impression on their forehead. In fact! You even have the Romulans who look almost exactly like Vulcans but are, get this, EVIL.
Thus, the Star Wars universe feels more real. It also feels more worn-in and used. Things are rusted and there is trash. It’s like a place that has been lived in. That has a history. It’s not bright and shiny and new, straight off the assembly line. It is not utopia; it’s the space port down the street. It feels more like somewhere you can actually visit, and find things you have a practical use for. (The clothing has POCKETS for example. If utopia means no pockets then send me out to the dystopia.) The most rust bucket looking thing in Star Trek was pretty much former mining station Deep Space Nine, and even then it was always pretty clean looking. It makes you wonder how much the cleaning staff gets paid.
Oh wait. They don’t get paid; the Star Trek universe has evolved beyond money. (Except that it hasn’t. People buy stuff all the time!)
Second: The Characters.
Darth.
Vader. The man in the black helmet. The echoing,
asthmatic deep James Earl Jones voice. The flaring black
cape on the black suit. The sheer and utter menace that
he exudes as he walks down the rebel ship when we first
see him. The complete lack of care for life and his
underlings. This is the man, the monster, that our
heroes have to face off against. And Darth Vader isn’t
even the man in charge. That’s right. Darth Vader -- the menacing, Force-Choking-for-disappointment, radiating evil beyond measure, bad guy that he is -- isn’t even the main badass. There’s a man he calls master. What sort of monster, what sort of individual is the Emperor, then, to be able to willingly employ such an inhuman thing to help keep his rule? This is a man who would sacrifice his own son to the Dark Side and He. Has. A. Boss. A master even. This is a universe in which there is great evil.
This is also a universe where there is great good, and it can come from the same person as well. Let us continue on with Darth Vader. While he committed heinous crimes, he also was able to redeem himself with an act of great sacrifice. The power of love for his son, for his children, allowed him to realize that what he had done was wrong, and he was able to right the wrongs of putting the Emperor in power, by taking him out again.
Unfortunately
he was not able to completely eradicate the Emperor’s
legacy, for the one we now know to be called Palpatine
had set contingencies in place. This is one of the
things that really stands out about the Star Wars universe: the amazing number of gambits
and schemes and betrayals and just sheer diabolical
plotting carried out by the characters. The Emperor had
been planning his take over for over ten years. He was
able to create a clone army without anyone noticing,
create a war to expend resources so that when he did his
actual coup they were too weak to stop him. Not only
that, but he was able to thin the Jedi’s numbers while
making them think they were doing the right thing, so
that when he did finally attack them they were too
spread out and isolated to mount a proper
counteroffensive. Completely and utterly slaughtered.
How’s that for evil?
What does Star Trek have in comparison? The Mirror Universe perhaps, where good is bad and bad is good. Khan is a possible example, but he never really got anywhere. He was stopped by Captain Kirk before he could actually get a good foothold in any place and completely take over. The Borg Queen is another one, but she’s not evil -- sure, she’s frightening in how she wants the Borg to take over everything and erase all identity, but she’s not evil. There is no great darkness threatening the galaxy.
There is, however, a giant space amoeba.
Third: The Force
This
is the fun stuff, the stuff that makes you really want
to jump into the galaxy and say I want to do that. And
the biggest reason anyone would want to do that is the
Jedi and the Sith, with their ability to use the Force.
Now, admittedly, the midichlorians that apparently
enable one to use the Force were not the best of ideas
brought to the Star Wars universe. But
they’re easily ignored in favor of the cool of the Force
and its users. The Jedi are like wizards and paladins combined. They’re the peace keepers of the galaxy, but they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty if need be. The Sith, on the other hand, are their evil opposites. Both the Jedi and the Sith’s powers allow them to perform all sorts of amazing feats, from moving fast to changing people’s minds with a wave of their hand. They can toss things and people around a room and shoot lighting from their finger tips. They also have lightsabers.
Lightsabers are just cool. They’re laser swords that can block blaster bolts and cut through anything and they make awesome zzhhhuuum whuuuumm noises. They’re shiny colors and you can hit people with them in incredible combat scenarios. How can you not want one of those?
And that really is the crux of the matter, Star Wars is a fantasy world set with spaceships. It’s science fiction and fantasy rolled into one amazing ball of action and adventure, hope and redemption.
And also, while there may be a Jar Jar Binks, at least there isn’t a “Spock’s Brain” or a “Threshold”.
-- Further Reading:
A review of Star Trek: The Next Generation
A review of Star Trek: Voyager
A review of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
From Trekker to Director, a look at the plethora of Trek stars who boldly went behind the camera, Issue 5, July 2010
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