Star Trek vs. Star Wars: The Poll to End All Polls

[Jo498]

As I wrote above, I am in no way a stranger to revisiting children's favorites, and it's partly accidental that neither of these franchises belongs to them. Although I'd say, 11 is around the lower limit and the main audience for Star Trek or Star wars are more like 14-20 year olds.
But I'd never expect and be very puzzled if childhood/youths favorites of mine like Astrid Lindgren or Neverending Story (the movie(s) were not favorites, actually the first one was the first movie I saw in the theater and a disappointment) or some Western or Pirate stories were extended over a dozen or so movies during decades.

[steve ridgway]

Star Trek for me, I enjoyed OST, Enterprise and Discovery.

[DavidW]

And we bought the dvd of the first Picard series, watched it, then gave it to a charity shop. Too slick and violent for us both, and Picard's terrible tired voice and wooden acting as Sage of the Millennia really grated.

Picard is a really strange show.  It exists for nostalgia but is so unrelentingly dystopian, violent and in general anti-trek that it doesn't invoke nostalgia.  I understand that Star Trek needs to evolve to stay fresh but this is not it.  None of the new shows are.  They honestly shouldn't exist.  It is an easy pass for me because in the US you need Paramount+ to stream them.

[Karl Henning]

Picard is a really strange show.  It exists for nostalgia but is so unrelentingly dystopian, violent and in general anti-trek that it doesn't invoke nostalgia.  I understand that Star Trek needs to evolve to stay fresh but this is not it.  None of the new shows are.  They honestly shouldn't exist.  It is an easy pass for me because in the US you need Paramount+ to stream them.

FWIW, I don't believe I'll bother with any Star Trek post-TNG

[Karl Henning]

Well, if we are talking about favorite tv shows, The X-Files and Doctor Who (classic series) are my two top favorites.

People keep saying Star Wars is childish. Of course it is! It is targered to 11-year olds in all of us! Apparently some people lose their 11-year old self when they grow up. I did't. I was super-happy when I was 11. It was in 1982. I had seen in the theatre the re-runs of Star Wars Episodes IV and V. E.T. come out that year and my family had visited Florida, USA that summer! Next year I saw Epidode VI and the following year the second Indiana Jones. That's 5 movies, every one scored by John Williams and George Lucas was part of 4 of them and Steven Spielberg directed 2 of them That kind of childhood experiencies do not go away when you grow up. They are part of you. I happily go mentally into that state of 11-year old me, because those were super-happy and super-cool years. That's why Star Wars/George Lucas/Steven Spielberg/John Williams are so important for me, childish or not. At least it is childish in the coolest way possible.

Tons of things matter to me. It is just a question of how much.

Well, I've said before that (whatever Lucas's flaws) The first Star Wars movie was a significant event in the US movie industry. FWIW, my younger brother (who did not see the first three movies as they came out) is left completely cold by Star Wars.

[LKB]

FWIW, I don't believe I'll bother with any Star Trek post-TNG

I have all the seasons of TOS & TNG on blu-ray, and movies 1,2 and 4. That's been all the Trek I've needed for years...

[Karl Henning]

I have all the seasons of TOS & TNG on blu-ray, and movies 1,2 and 4. That's been all the Trek I've needed for years...

Although I'm grateful that movie 1 got made, because of the occasional good sequel, I haven't brought myself to watch it a second time. And (to be sure) movie 1 gpt made thanks in large part to Star Wars demonstrating that a sci-fi movie is commercially viable.
Last night, I watched "The Inner Light" for only the second time. Very touching.

[relm1]

I love them both but in different ways.  SW is more of a mythic story with character archetypes such as princesses, wizards, boyish heroes, scoundrel, arch villain, etc.  It has superior music and appeals to my sense of the mythic like Oedipus or Odysseus.  Star Trek is an allegory sci-fi with very fine score as well but not of as consistently high caliber as the SW franchise.  ST is at its best as an allegory and weakest as action vehicle (Kelvin Timeline).  Therefore, I prefer TOS and TNG (to a far lesser extent but still highly esteemed) and the movies.  I'm not that in to the most recent series as they have too little in common with the elements that made the show great.  I haven't yet seen Strange New Worlds but it will be judged compared to TOS and TNG. 

[Olias]

FWIW, I don't believe I'll bother with any Star Trek post-TNG

Same.  I want to remember the TNG characters playing poker in the final scene of "All Good Things".  It was a happy and satisfying send off.

[SimonNZ]

I thought Voyager was on par with TNG, had roughly the same good to average quality of episodes, once they got past some similar early teething problems and started leaning more into the fan favorite characters.


What is the worst item in the Star Trek canon? have they done anything quite so cringe-inducing as Phantom Menace?

[LKB]

I thought Voyager was on par with TNG, had roughly the same good to average quality of episodes, once they got past some similar early teething problems and started leaning more into the fan favorite characters.


What is the worst item in the Star Trek canon? have they done anything quite so cringe-inducing as Phantom Menace?

For me, anything involving Ferengi was cringe- worthy...

[vandermolen]

Star Wars but only the first three films for me, especially 'Return of the Jedi'.
Incidentally the music for 'Parade of the Ewoks' is rather similar to the March from Prokofiev's 'The Love of Three Oranges'. 

[SimonNZ]

A bit of a tangent, but...

I recently watched a dvd of a production of Antony and Cleopatra from 1981 with Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave. In the cast was somehow both Nichelle Nichols (as Charmaine) and Walter Koemig (as Pompey). They both did very well (in fact its a pretty good production all around).

[Rosalba]

A bit of a tangent, but...

I recently watched a dvd of a production of Antony and Cleopatra from 1981 with Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave. In the cast was somehow both Nichelle Nichols (as Charmaine) and Walter Koemig (as Pompey). They both did very well (in fact its a pretty good production all around).

Patrick Stewart is Claudius in a 1980 TV production (with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet). To be honest, I don't like the acting of either of them much! Stewart shows Claudius's bad conscience by retching, which seems a bit gimmicky.

[SimonNZ]

Patrick Stewart is Claudius in a 1980 TV production (with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet). To be honest, I don't like the acting of either of them much! Stewart shows Claudius's bad conscience by retching, which seems a bit gimmicky.

Patrick Stewart is also in the David Tennant Hamlet as both Claudius and as The Ghist, his dead brother. Which is an interesting idea, especially as the two actors playing those roles elsewhere seldom have any family resemblance. But it does rather confuse the "look on this picture and this" bit when they are the same person and you can't really say one looks like a wimp and one looks like a manly man

[Rosalba]

Patrick Stewart is also in the David Tennant Hamlet as both Claudius and as The Ghist, his dead brother. Which is an interesting idea, especially as the two actors playing those roles elsewhere seldom have any family resemblance. But it does rather confuse the "look on this picture and this" bit when they are the same person and you can't really say one looks like a wimp and one looks like a manly man

[DavidW]

I read an article this morning that the new Star Trek show with Captain Pike has returned to the classic format.  Each episode is self contained, the characters possess a moral compass, and the stories revolve around mysteries much like the original shows.  I guess I spoke too soon, I might check it out.

[Rosalba]

I read an article this morning that the new Star Trek show with Captain Pike has returned to the classic format.  Each episode is self contained, the characters possess a moral compass, and the stories revolve around mysteries much like the original shows.  I guess I spoke too soon, I might check it out.

I didn't know about this. Thank you - it sounds promising.

[Karl Henning]

A bit of a tangent, but...

I recently watched a dvd of a production of Antony and Cleopatra from 1981 with Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave. In the cast was somehow both Nichelle Nichols (as Charmaine) and Walter Koemig (as Pompey). They both did very well (in fact its a pretty good production all around).

Fun!

[VonStupp]

I'm a bit late to this party, but I always found a few nights of Star Wars excellent entertainment and Star Trek something I prefer to live with long term. Perhaps it is unfair since ST exists across film and extended TV universes and I only know SW through its movie iterations.

I still have the Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan soundtrack on LP!   

VS