Star Wars vs Star Trek.

This is not a discussion over which is best or who has the best tech or the worst films. This a discussion about the nature of the debate and my own thoughts on it.

One of the biggest sticking points of this debate has always been the status of the Star Wars EU. You see with the EU Star Wars gets stats for its tech, stats that blow Star Trek and most other scifi series out of the water. Naturally this becomes a sticking point as this often leads to curbstomp battles in which th Federation gets slapped around by any faction in Star Wars. Naturally this upsets hardcore Trek Fans.

This perhaps led to many Trek Fans jumping onto a counter arguement that is perhaps the worst response they could have taken; it's non-canon.

See many Trek fans jumped on a statement made by George Lucas regarding the Star Wars EU where he explained it as various tiers of canon with the films at the top. Trek fans took this as meaning the entire EU being non-canon or dubious canon. What they failed to realize is just how much this would alienate and anger Star Wars fans. What it also shows is how different these fan bases are.

First off Star Trek has its own EU novels and video games, these are however established as non-canon. Hard Core Star Trek fans are obsessive about imperical data collection for their franchise.

By contrast the Star Wars EU is massive, covering more than 20,000 years of Star Wars History. Notably this includes wildly popular video games and numerous best selling novels. What needs to be recognized is that many Star Wars fans love the EU and consider just as much as part of the franchise as the main films, sometimes even more so.

Another point is the Star Wars fandoms relationship with George Lucas, and the differences between how both franchises were managed. George, or Darth Flannel as he is sometimes known, is a controversial figure in the Star Wars fandom. On the one hand he created the series and was its biggest promoter, a major factor in its popular growth. On the other, he made the prequel trilogies. Its a love hate relationship that has resulted in a lot of Star Wars fans placing less value on George's word.

By contrast Star Trek has been tightly controlled outside of the shows. Paramount and other owners of Star Trek pretty much completly disavowed EU material across the board. Star Trek also suffers from having missed the greater part of the modern gaming boom, you can count the number of Trek games on one hand, most of which are very rare and hard to track down. The word of the writers and production heads of episodes is pretty much scarosanct, though it can conflict at times.

Then we go onto Disney and its reboot of the franchise. Disney choose to classify the Old EU as Legends Continuity, a seperate continuity. Disney had a few reasons for doing this, notably because of just how cluttered the Old EU had become. At the same time however Disney has recruited a lot of people who worked on the Legends continuity and slowly recanonized various aspects of it including characters, locations, organizations, and concepts.

You can see the differences very clearly between the two franchises and the fan cultures between them. One is much more fluid while the other is much more imperical, the results are dangerously incompatible. It also doesn't help that the hardcore fans on both sides are hyper aggressive or down right contempteous of the other side of the arguement.

5674489

Why would you do this to yourself? The only real debate would be science fantasy vs science fiction.

5674489
[OBLIGATORY RANT CUT HERE TO PREVENT SHITSTORM. AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST]

Star Trek also suffers from having missed the greater part of the modern gaming boom, you can count the number of Trek games on one hand, most of which are very rare and hard to track down.

Actually there's been a semi-constant stream of them. The issue is that most of them suck and are cheap cash-ins/reskins. Mostly because, since Trek didn't have as much of a combat focus, it's hard to translate the series into a game with mass appeal while still keeping true to the spirit of the franchise (AKA not pissing off the fanbase).*

You can see the differences very clearly between the two franchises and the fan cultures between them. One is much more fluid while the other is much more imperical, the results are dangerously incompatible. It also doesn't help that the hardcore fans on both sides are hyper aggressive or down right contempteous of the other side of the arguement.

Yeah, that's pretty much the crux of the issue. Though thankfully it appears that most of the more toxic members of both fandoms have run mostly out of steam.

Plus, in all honesty, Trek and Wars are completely different types of stories. Star Wars, from a literary standpoint, is a descendent of Tolkien Fantasy, eastern mythology/religion, and a romantic view on the age of knights.
Star Trek, on the other hand, has its roots mostly in classic science-fiction, westerns, and naval dramas. Beyond both being in space, they have absolutely nothing in common.

[REQUESTING OBLIGATORY RANT]

5674971
Well to be honest star wars does draw a bit on the western as well. Tell me Han Solo wouldn't be out of place as a old west gun fighter and outlaw.

5675726
Point taken, though I was referring more to the frontier aspect than character archetypes.

5675742
Fair enough.