# Which is Better: Star Wars or Star Trek? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076 "2003-05-18T18:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/21 "2003-05-18T21:55:08Z")
Well, it takes the Death Star like 30 minutes to get in position, but _Star Trek_’s superweapons take like eight minutes to arm. So clearly you want the Empire to build your weapons system, but use StarFleet engines. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/22 "2003-05-18T22:15:53Z")
what if somebody else had written LOTR ? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/23 "2003-05-18T22:18:52Z")
_Doctor Who_ ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/24 "2003-05-18T22:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, Star Trek has the more socially stunted followers, the “Trekkies”. > Is there a name for Star Wars moro…err… fans ? Warsies. Star Wars is better… blows up planets. Star Trek has photon torpedoes that, when lobbed down to the planet, do less damage than if you had simply dropped a rock from orbit. Sad, sad, really. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/25 "2003-05-18T22:24:10Z")
Nonsense! In the _ST:TNG_ episode “The Chase”, a couple of Klingon battlecruisers were able to raze the entire surface of a planet (rendering it uninhabitable) over the course of a few minutes. Or did you mean “if you had simply dropped a **really really big** rock from orbit”? ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/26 "2003-05-18T23:08:14Z")
> [@](#): > > from _Buckleberry Ferry_ > Star Wars has…well…the Death Star. We can blow up a planet with the push of a button. Well, Star Trek has Q… And he could turn Darth Vader into a tu-tu wearing ballerina with a wave of his hand… 😃 ::: glances at watch ::: Well, **SPOOFE** should be here any minute now. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/27 "2003-05-18T23:15:04Z")
Sheesh… must have slipped through a wormhole or something. **SPOOFE** is already here. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/28 "2003-05-18T23:28:32Z")
Bah! All the Federation would have to do is seed Corusant with a few tons of antibiotics. No more Force Bacteria, no more Force. Mitachlorians?? Sheesh. What the hell were you thinking, Lucas?? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/29 "2003-05-19T00:27:26Z")
**Star Trek.** **Star Trek** wins because **Star Trek** has Spock in it. What about **Star Wars** , hah? Does your precious **Star Wars** have Spock in it? …No? There you go, then. KHAAAAAAN!!! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/30 "2003-05-19T01:17:30Z")
Star Wars has X-Wings. And WEDGE!!! Rogue Three, going in! ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/31 "2003-05-19T01:45:48Z")
Star Wars because it spawned Thumb Wars. “This is Nasty Butler…” ---
**Author:** ![CaptGarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@CaptGarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptGarf)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/32 "2003-05-19T02:33:58Z")
The question is like comparing apples and oranges. Star Trek is science fiction (and it’s some of the best out there, IMHO, because of it’s optimistic view of the future.) Star wars is classic fantasy with a sci-fi flavoring (much of it ripped off from the masters of sci-fi like Frank Herbert et al.) Both have their merits and their flaws. The biggest advantage Star Wars has is the continuity between the books and films. Both have become watered down from what they originally were (especially since Enterprise and the Phantom Menace.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/33 "2003-05-19T06:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \* > \*\*Star Wars has…well…the Death Star. We can blow up a planet with the push of a button. \*\* Death Star, HAH!! Star Trek has the [Doomsday Machine](http://startrekkie.com/wallpapers/doomsdaywall832.html), made of pure neutronium which is impervious to your puny Death Star, _and can eat planets whole_, without leaving a messy debris field for protagonists to fly through. ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/34 "2003-05-19T06:18:04Z")
I hate both, but like Star Wars more, though that’s not saying anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/35 "2003-05-19T06:35:47Z")
Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Nicole De Boer, Jennifer Lien, Roxann Dawson, Jeri Ryan, Jolene Blalock, and Linda Park vs Carrie Fisher and Natialie Portman? :dubious: Star Trek, obviously ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/36 "2003-05-19T07:44:07Z")
Tribbles \> Ewoks Klingons \> Bounty Hunters, although if the Boba Fett story were fleshed out, he might have an edge. I concede Wars have an edge with Antilles and Yoda. But there is no answer to the Doctors (especially the Picardo hologram), Mr. Spock and the Horta, best non-humanoid creature ever imagined. Scotty, LaForge and Miles would kill to have an R2-D2 prototype. Who would you rather hang with or just hang, Wesley or Jar Jar? Wesley had the excuse of being literally a deus ex machina; what excuse does Jar Jar have to exist? ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/37 "2003-05-19T09:33:13Z")
Farscape SG1 and B5 are better than ST and SW are nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/38 "2003-05-19T09:45:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Firefly. \*\* I hear-tell there’s going to be a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Getuhgrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@Getuhgrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Getuhgrip)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/39 "2003-05-19T09:46:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > **Klingon battlecruisers were able to raze the entire surface of a planet (rendering it uninhabitable) over the course of a few minutes.** Oh yeah, but look at how many manager’s signatures it took, and then how many buttons they had to push! Never the less…Piccard is my man for '04! Solid, articulate and firm adherence to traditional values. Doesn’t let kids run the show. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076/40 "2003-05-19T09:50:04Z")
Okay, well… it took about seven highly maneuverable Species 8472 bioships ten seconds to crack a planet open like a walnut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-star-wars-or-star-trek/176076.md?page=3)