Ummm… General, we’re not discussing the Strategic Defense Initiative. 
I couldn’t have summarized my own feelings any better.
LOTR weren’t my favourite books, but the movies are of high quality. The third’s a bit weak but is still a good movie.
The Star Trek and Star Wars films, however, are mostly very bad films. Star Wars began with two good films, with the second being great, and was followed by four stinkers. Star Trek, which is up to eleven movies, has really had only one really good one (Wrath of Khan) a few decent but flawed ones, and six or seven stinkers.
I just don’t think there’s any comparison in terms of quality.
Lord of the Rings. It’s not even close.
Even though I’m a huge Trek geek, I’m also a huge Tolkien geek. And the Trek universe really doesn’t translate to film very well, IMHO. I consider television Trek the only *real *Trek. So it is easy for me to vote for LoTR in this poll.
Now if you hadn’t specified *movie *franchise in the question, it would have been tough…TRM (who didn’t even consider Star Wars, as that’s for kids)
I had to go with LOTR. If it was the whole universe I would have gone with Star Wars in a heatbeat, simply because I feel Tolkein’s world has been simply improved on too much in out-of-universe contexts while Star Wars’ universe remains a little more unique and in-universe. But just movie-wise LoTR wins. I don’t mention Star Trek because I’ve never even seen an episode of Star Trek, so I can’t exactly say anything about it.
Note that LOTR is the grandpappy of virtually all modern fantasy-to claim it is unoriginal on that basis is questionable. Now, if you mean in terms of even older myths and stories from English folklore, then that’s more of an argument, but still not a strong one. Seinfeld is Unfunny.
Are you referring to my post? If so I probably didn’t phrase it well. What I meant was that LoTR, being the grandpappy of all fantasy, has been ripped off of and, I personally think, improved upon a lot over the years. In addition, very few people (in my knowledge) have touched or added to the universe directly, whereas the Star Wars universe has things like KOTOR, the Jedi Knight Series, Comic Books expansions (etc) that have really given the universe a more expansive identity without changing it into another franchise entirely. Nothing has quite done the same “ripping off scheme” to Star Wars, the few imitators I’ve seen have either put it in a different setting or failed to capture a similar feel to the universe.
I acknowledge that LOTR is, itself, the original, it’s just that I feel it has been improved upon by other sources whereas the Star Wars universe as a whole remains internal and somewhat unique in setting.
Wow. You know, I’m not really sure. LOTR, which I only saw just recently, has the benefit of only having three films, each of which was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed each one. My intense immersion into the trilogy this Spring/Summer was one helluva good time (enhanced greatly by all the cool people here who guided me through it), and I know I’ll be enjoying these films over and over.
Star Wars … well, I absofreakinlutely adored the first two films, and the third one came pretty damn close, Ewoks notwithstanding. Of all the individual films from each of the three franchises, I would say I’ve gotten the most pure enjoyment from Star Wars. Both as a kid, seeing it dozens of times in the theater back when it opened, and as an adult. The magic has not faded for me. However, the three other movies? Bleh. They screwed with the average. Couldn’t get through I, barely made it through II, and never saw III because by then I was so sick of Anakin and Padme that I couldn’t stomach spending more time with them.
Star Trek… I’m not actually a big fan of TOS, so the first TOS-only films are a wash for me (except for IV, which I did see and enjoy). I do love TNG, however, and my deep affection for the characters means I feel great fondness for Generations, Insurrection and especially First Contact. (I never saw Nemesis because I couldn’t stand to see the unpleasant fate of one of my favorite characters.) I think being so attached to the TNG crew bumps up my feelings of nostalgia for the few TNG films. I know they’re not that high quality (except perhaps FC) but it doesn’t matter to me, 'cause I just had such a great time visiting with Picard, Data, Riker, Troi, LaForge, Crusher, and Worf again.
So it’s hard for me to choose. (Which is the sign of a great poll – well done, Qadgop!) If I harden my heart and pick quality alone, pound for pound I must acknowledge Jackson and Lord of the Rings.
This would not be my answer if Lucas had stopped at three.
Star Wars is my first choice because it was my first love in the sci-fi/fantasy genre.
LOTR is a close second. Emotionally these movies affected me more than the other two.
Star Trek never interested me till recently. I absolutely loved the recent movie which I saw an embarassing amount of times while it was in the theaters. I rank it last because I haven’t explored the Trek 'verse enough to like it as much as the other two.
I love them all!
Tough one for me, I mean I eliminated Star Wars immediately. To me only The Empire Strikes Back was actually a good and well directed movie.
The Tolkien movies were well directed, the visualization of Middle Earth was breath take, the acting was mostly excellent and better than the other choices in this poll and the scores were great. The source material is of course (IMO) the best ever. But this last part is why I voted for Star Trek. I could never completely enjoy the masterpieces that Jackson made as almost every time he made a change or worse yet added a scene it was usually jarring and annoying to me. Also He upgraded Arwen’s part a lot and gave it to a very pretty girl than can barely act.
For Star Trek, the Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home* (IV or the Whale Movie) were completely enjoyable romps from start to finish and very beloved. It helped that I was able to watch them far less critically. I like these two more than the 3 LotR movies and more than any Star Wars movie by far.
I would place the pair of Wrath of Khan and the Voyage Home as tied for 1st. Followed by the 3 LotR movies. Then a few more Treks (3,6,8 and the new one) finally ESB then Star Wars. Star Trek 1,5,7,9&10 were all bad. Jedi and the 3 prequels are unwatchable also.
- Also I got to watch them film some of The Voyage Home. I was on the USS Ranger when they were filming the USS Enterprise CVN-61 scenes. I cannot be seen, but am one of the hundreds of sailors on the Hanger Bay in the Sailor Caps.