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Star Wars vs Star Trek: Let's settle this once and for all

Felicia

Felicia

Power is fleeting, love is eternal
(She/Her)
Scene: Princess Leia talking to Captain Janeway.

"So that small badge on your chest, it's a long-range communicator?"

"Yes, but not only that, it's also an automatic translator. It immediately translates practically any language that I hear, without me having to do anything. Most of the time I forget it's even there."

"That does sound very convenient."

"It is! But you seem to be from a technologically advanced culture yourself, I'm sure you have some kind of translator technology as well?"

Leia suddenly flinches as an upset mechanical voice begins shouting from nearby.

"Your highness! Your highness! I accidentally opened the wrong door and alerted a platoon of stormtroopers to our prescence! Also, my joints are sorely in need of a thorough oil-bath, but when I mentioned this to Captain Solo he replied with some quite rude remarks!"

Leia puts a hand over her face, sighing deeply.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

There's an episode of TNG where a space ship approaches the Enterprise while aggressively firing lasers, and they harmlessly bounce off the ship. And everyone on the bridge rolls their eyes at how quaint yet annoying it is before swiftly rendering the adversary inert. And I am 80% sure that scene was written specifically as a dig at Star Wars.
 
Zef

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
The universal translator is never going to thank its maker, though.
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
Quick, someone write up a scene between Worf and old-man Obi-Wan where Worf gets to talk about honor and stuff.
 
Bongo

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
Opinions are mixed regarding movies and I don't want to proselytize here without being invited, but you can't deny that Star Wars TV shows have a better track record than Star Trek TV shows.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I think Star Trek II does a better job of being an homage to classic submarine warfare films than Star Wars I does being an homage to classic air dogfight films.
 
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Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Zef said:
I

I want subway warfare films now
Click to expand...

doh.gif
 
RT-55J

RT-55J

space hero for hire
(He/Him + RT/artee)
Sorry Bongo, but I can deny the notion that Star Wars TV shows have a better track record than Star Trek TV shows.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

RT-55J said:
Sorry Bongo, but I can deny the notion that Star Wars TV shows have a better track record than Star Trek TV shows.
Click to expand...
Can't blame Bongo. One franchise's best known TV entry has its ship in the Smithsonian. The other franchise's best known TV entry gave us this:

chewie-son.gif
 
Zef

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
Is it, though? The SWHS is "known" only because only comedians unearthed it and turned it into an injoke. Even among dedicated Star Wars fans, I'd think The Clone Wars isn't just better known, it's also what their mind gravitates to when they think of "Star Wars on TV".
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
The only Star Wars TV I can even think of is Clone Wars and Mandalorian. The latter just came out and the former is one show. So I really don't see where Bongo is coming from here: two shows versus all of Star Trek TV? That's just bananas.
 
zonetrope

zonetrope

(he/him)
TV is Trek's home playing field. I've barely seen any televised Star Wars to compare, but if you want to talk about inconsistent Star Trek, the movies are a way easier target.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Zef said:
Even among dedicated Star Wars fans, I'd think The Clone Wars isn't just better known, it's also what their mind gravitates to when they think of "Star Wars on TV".
Click to expand...
I was joking with the Holiday Special, but my point mostly stands.

Dedicated Star Wars fans are a small vocal minority of the overarching fandom, and even then I don't think close to a majority of them cares much for the Clone Wars. One of my best friends spent years working on the show and even he hasn't bothered to watch the majority of it. Most people who like Star Wars do so in a very casual manner, where they watch the movies when it shows up on reruns, and watch a stray episode of one of the cartoons when they have time to sit and watch TV with their kids. Mando broke through into the mainstream, but a year or so of Baby Yoda memes and toys I don't think is quite enough to outmatch naming a whole god damned space shuttle after the other franchise at this point. I do think ubiquitous access to the Star Wars toons via streaming has done a lot to gain the show traction and fans posthumously, but the same is happening to the lesser-known Treks to a BIG degree at the very same time so it more than balances out.
 
Bongo

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
My point was that a majority of Star Trek series have been poorly received.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Ones got cool laser swords
The other has weird curvy regular swords

Ones got weird looking space robots
The others got robots that look like they’re suffering liver failure

Ones got Ian McDermitt
The other has Ricardo Montelban

I’m... sorry, I like Trek but the math is indisputable
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Bongo said:
My point was that a majority of Star Trek series have been poorly received.
Click to expand...
An assertion that doesn't hold up under even the barest of scrutiny.

Every Trek show is certified fresh on RT save for one. Every Trek show has a 7 or higher on imdb save for one.

Just like with Star Wars, don't let a vocal minority of toxic fans trick you into thinking things are less popular/well received than they really are.
 
Bongo

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
My Star Trek liking friends have warned me against several of them and I have heeded their warnings. Minority maybe, but I don't get toxic vibes from them.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
WisteriaHysteria said:
An assertion that doesn't hold up under even the barest of scrutiny.

Every Trek show is certified fresh on RT save for one. Every Trek show has a 7 or higher on imdb save for one.

Just like with Star Wars, don't let a vocal minority of toxic fans trick you into thinking things are less popular/well received than they really are.
Click to expand...
I knew it was Enterprise before I looked it up which is a shame because I really liked that show despite its rocky start. (I still think a lot of the hate is for the theme song w/ vocals...)
 
Zef

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
I've barely watched a dozen eps or so from OS and TNG, and a smattering of DS9, VOY, and Ent (no CBS Access so no Disc), but I get the very distinct impression that all Trek series are poorly received the first few years, but then less judgmental fans take a look, or the old fans open their minds a bit, and even a famously maligned series starts getting enough praise and accolades for its successes to drown out the jeers over its failures.

(Except DS9 maybe? I think that one was received pretty positively from day 1.)
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I do feel that Star Trek has had more bad episodes of TV shows than Star Wars has.

It’s also had far more episodes total, so I don’t think the percentage swings one way or the other
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Octo you apparently don't think Data is cool, so I'm getting the vibe that Trek just isn't a very Octo-show. Ironically, I think Trek's more historically maligned episodes (like "Spock's Brain" and "Threshold") are probably extremely-Octo.

Edit: For the record, this is not a judgment of you, Spock's Brain and Threshold are incredible episodes, IMO.
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
You are absolutely right that I prefer my Star Trek to be weird. I like the other episodes fine too, but you give me someone visiting a haunted house planet, or curing ghosts or revealing that Satan is a conman with a spaceship and my attention is rapt.

And I have no beef with Data as a character, but aesthetically, he’s less interesting than just about every Star Wars droid design.
 
Vaeran

Vaeran

(GRUNTING)
(he/him)
Data: full of Christmas tree lights
Star Wars droids: not full of Christmas tree lights

Advantage Data.
 
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