The first Star Wars movie was amazing back in 1977 because it brought a whole new dimension to the movies with it’s ground-breaking special effects, as others have said. If you weren’t around then, you can’t understand how much excitement it elicited and how much potential it created for the movie industry. But, other than that, the storyline is just basic good-guys vs. bad-guys and other than the wonderful concept of ‘the force’, or inner strength, it really doesn’t have much going for it, in my opinion. I couldn’t even bear to watch any of the movies past the first trilogy.
Star Trek, on the other hand, is a fully fleshed-out world, with complex characters, real science integration and memorable characters and ideas. There is just no comparison. The fact that it was a TV series had it’s advantages and disadvantages though, so if you are just comparing movies to movies, that is different. I’ve never watched the Trek movies more than a few times each. The many series though, I watch over and over and over.
TREK for me by a long-shot!
For the most part I agree. The only difference is for me is a subjective one - that I was more fascinated in the blue collar universe of SW as portrayed in SW and ESB. I consciously protect my appreciation by ignoring everything that came afterward.
On a large scale galactic-crisis storytelling level Star Trek definitely has a more solid and elaborate foundation. On an intellectual level there's more substance in the ST universe - it's more scientific, politically allegorical, socially relevant and intellectually stimulating than SW. I give you all of that.
The power of SW for me is less about those matters than it is about original visual design (including sound design) and the characters (and their relationships) that inhabit it. I would argue that SW was more original in this regard than ST - especially in the context of sci fi in 1977.
We typically expect futuristic craft to look majestic, shiny, streamlined and glowing. The Milennium Falcon, however, was an asymmetric Oreo cookie with an appendage... it was filthy, needed constant tinkering and the occasional smack. My 11 year old self loved it!
In contrast, the Enterprise (just like fictional spacecraft of the time) will always be sterile, pristine and perfect. Similarly, ST's characters always seem so .... archetypical. SW characters, on the other hand, seemed more palpable.
I do love both but SW just feels more like home to me.
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