Out of Pod Experience

Well, back to the original topic:

1) Star Wars wouldn't have ever existed in its current form if Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek hadn't trail blazed for them. Roddenberry was required by the networks to make a Western with space opera backdrops, or it wouldn't have been broadcast (google Star trek Episode 1). I LIVED this. I know because I was there.

2) Star Trek REALLY pushed the limits in the equal rights movement, to the extent that it was nearly banned from television; Star Wars did what? In the 1960's there were a few isolated units where blacks could serve as enlisted men (no women) under white officers, in some white countries. The idea of a BLACK, FEMALE officer was completely beyond the pale.

3) Star Trek spawned multiple generations of fans (trekkies) and where are the "warries"? The idea of marketing was the only innovation added by George Lucas. He had better tech and a bigger special fx budget. So what?

4) Debates on weapon strengths and who would pwn whom are about as meaningless as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin..........

So, in RL, the clear answer is that Star Trek wins. There is no more question than whether your car is somehow "better" than a model A Ford..... well, without Henry Ford, your car wouldn't really exist.

I know...

Nope. Star Wars was inspired by the 1940s Flash Gordon movies (and similar scifi of the time) and various archetypes of fantasy/myths/etc. Star Trek had little, if anything, to do with this.



I admit that the first Star Trek series had some very good messages, but that's more than balanced out by the fact that since The Next Generation it's been full of racism and scientific ignorance. You can't keep claiming credit for a handful of good episodes that are almost 50 years old now.

Also, "good social commentary" is hardly the only standard by which fiction should be judged.



You have got to be kidding. Are you honestly so ignorant that you don't think Star Wars fans exist?

Maybe you should ask these guys to help you find some.



Err, no. That's just stupid. Even ignoring the question of how innovative Star Wars was story-wise, as a film it added some MAJOR innovations:

1) Star Wars did a lot to define the "dirty and used" vision of the future that we take for granted now. This style might be familiar to us now, but at the time it was a major departure from the conventional visual style of what a "future" world looks like (such as what you see in Star Trek). Without it scifi would probably look a lot different.

2) It doesn't matter how much of an effects budget you have if you don't have the artistic vision to use it. Star Wars was a massive innovation in special effects technology, and not just because they had a larger budget than previous movies. They invented a lot of new technology/techniques/etc specifically for the film, to execute the artistic goals they had in mind. It just goes way beyond the modern approach of "give the effects studio $100 million and get your CGI".



Sure it's meaningless. I'll gladly admit that in the big picture it's just an irrelevant way of wasting time while ship spinning. It's hardly my defining goal in life to prove that Star Wars wins, I just hate it when Star Trek fanboys resort to stupid and/or dishonest arguments to "prove" that their beloved show is better than anything else.

Also, debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin is something we have a long tradition of. At least, unlike god/angels/etc, Star Wars and Star Trek actually exist...