Which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars?

Star Wars is for teenage boys, Star Trek is for MEN. ;-)

the great think about star trek (or at least about TOS) is the element of social commentary. sure, storm troopers are hitler's SA and the evil empire is any number of world empires, but star trek is a future projection that attempts to deal with specific problems from the time period. han solo's friend gary 7 didn't come across the universe to make a statement about nuclear proliferation.

Both great. Period.

both awesome but....

the clone wars animated series and the clone wars computer animated series nudges star wars over the top.

they just need to keep George Lucas from making anymore himself it seems...

Wow - seriously neck and neck in the poll right now o.O The great debate may never be settled if that's the case.

I enjoy Star Wars a lot more - but seriously, it's just bad. I like the shows of Star Trek more than the movies (though for the record - the new Star Trek movie was awesome.) I wish TNG came on at a different time than in the middle of the day here - so I could actually watch it! It's probably one of my all-time favorite series.

Episode III was cool. Other than that, Star Wars is goofy and boring.
Fans love the original trilogy, but think the new trilogy and Clone Wars don't stack up.

No one would deny that Star Trek has gone downhill since Roddenberry's death, but fans love Next Generation (the last thing Roddenberry did). Hell! They don't even agree on which is better, TOS of TNG!

My point is, Star Wars is going steadily downhill (in the eyes of it's fans) and Lucas is still alive.

@ChrisDude - I think you mean episode VI

Bieng born right before the 21st century, I preferred Star Wars over Star Trek simply because the plot was more interesting (this was just my impression). The Graphics are better and everything that happened seemed more plausible than that of star trek.

But, the polls are at 50/50 O_o.

Hmmm. I daresay that Firefly/Serenity are way better, sleeker and meaner than both of these bloated universes. ;-)

Well, I did make a choice, but in the end, would have loved a third choice, I love them both. They both have similarities that made me lifelong fans of both, but both have great differences that I could say I like one because of X and the other because of Y. But reading the article, seeing the first paragraph, it definitely is nice to know there are people out there who actually do like both -- always feels like it's an impossibility or something, one isn't allowed to be fans of the two! LOL

this is tough for me, i have loved Star Wars since i was little, i have always loved the jedi (Lightsabers FTW!) and have always loved han solo, and in this galaxy all things seem to be possible, but i do have to agree that it is a bit linear in comparison to the diversity Star Trek has brought to the table. Though whimsical at times Star Trek has a depth that has eluded Star Wars. Its almost a complete 50/50 split for me.

My vote is for Star Wars all the way, but not so much for the movies. I actually dislike the movies; even the original trilogy. It's the setting that really draws me in. Star Wars has the right mixture of mystery, fantasy and science fiction that creates a spectacular setting for many great stories from the expanded universe, including novels and video games and mini-series.

Star Trek takes things a little too seriously, and I lose interest in the all the "technobabble" and the need to explain everything. Maybe I'm not geek enough, but I'm more captivated by the mysticism of Jedi Knights and Sith Lords.

You needed an additional radio button: those who like them both equally.
I didn't vote, but the results seemed telling

Star Wars are movies. Star Trek is reality.

Bits and pieces of both Star Trek and Star Wars are becoming reality today. Both have their good points and both have bad points. Personally I just like the look of the Star Trek ships better.

Voting for Trek--between the two choices? I think it's fairly clear where the better developed characters are. Star Wars is iconic, but that's partially because it was built that way--the characters are all cliches (I'm sorry, 'archetypes.') in order to MAKE it iconic. The original trilogy was fantastic, but nothing that's come out in my lifetime from that particular franchise has done anything for me.

The revamp of Star Trek, however? Edged Trek right back to the top.

Now, outside of these two? I'd vote for a third option. Firefly. Love Whedon's blended genre and always thought both of the other options overused their aliens as set pieces and plot devices.

Star Wars, in it's time, taught us about space, the final frontier. It was fiction of course but like most all good science fiction there was just enough in it that made it seem that all we needed to do was discover how and it all may be possible. Much had been written in books but this put it right in front of our eyes.

One aspect, pure fiction at the time, come to pass. The communicator. We now can pull out that device and talk to almost anyone in the world. Who knows at some point in the future we may even be able to talk to that spaceship with that communicator, or even beyond.

Adrift in space? Ship losing power?
Definitely watch Star Trek.

Star Trek might actually give you an idea about how to fix your hyper-saturated warp coils or re-power your ship by inverting the polarity of the deflector and firing a modulating burst into that damned ion storm you mentioned.

Much better than the "this one goes here; that one goes there" of Star Wars.

In Star Trek there are communicators(Cellphones) and Warp Engines(Ion Drive Propulsion) and even Transporters, but where are the Light Sabers?!
Star Trek seems to capture my imagination by offering what may come to humanity in the future.

"Star Trek is reality"? Dude, you´ve got to be kidding. By the way, I think that the FICTIONAL universe of Star Wars is much more interesting.

To all the jokers that made me laugh about Star Trek...thanks. ST is reality? Only in your dreams. If anything, ST is more racial bias than Hitler. Think about this...Star Fleet is filled with humans and only humans, except for a wayward Klingon and an Android who had an evil brother. And don't forget those Tribbles. Every bad guy in ST is an alien. Is that reality? Or is it reality that the Human Race can become sociable and tolerable of themselves?
At least in SW, the racial bias is for the most part non-existent. Other races of alien beings take a large part in the Galactic governments that run the universe. As for the people that continue to bash the PT in SW, they just don't get it. SW is the story of Anakin Skywalker and his rise and fall, or his fall from grace and his redemption. It shows how an innocent being can be lead to the ultimate evil.
As for ST...what story is there? It is just a bunch of tv episodes that made movies to keep up with SW. And it needed to revamp its entire image after 10 movies, which half absolutely sucked something terrible. Only the even numbered movies were halfway decent. How does that happen?

Ahh, and here is another thing about ST being reality? Where are the bounty hunters? Where are the police forces? Where are the people of other nationalities other than white people?

@J.Sat: If you're going to criticize the content of a series / fictional universe, please be well enough versed in it to base your arguments on the "facts" of that universe. Starfleet has never been depicted as being filled with humans and only humans. What's more there have been many depictions of bounty hunters, police forces, and people of other cultures even within the human race. Your arguments are flawed, poorly worded, and based on a lack of exposure to the content you're criticizing.

@ Everyone Else:
As for the overall debate, both are great series / universes to be sure. I feel that each holds it's own unique strengths and weaknesses. The real differentiating factor is that Star Trek is a fantasy depiction of OUR future, whereas Star Wars is an opera depicting stories and cultures other than our own. By it's own admission Star Trek occurs a long time ago in a galaxy far far away (from our perspective).

I love both fiercely and for very different reasons. However, if I had to pick one and only one I'd pick Star Trek for a few reasons:
- Of the two it is the only one that paints a picture that provides hope for the future of humanity. Star Wars is a wonderful universe filled with fantastic stories, none of which are related to Humanity directly in any way.
- On the whole, excluding literary works, I feel the video-based Star Trek content is more plentiful and of a higher quality per-capita than Star Wars. With multiple series to choose from and multiple movies, even if you don't like all of Star Trek, most fans love more Star Trek than Star Wars fans love Star Wars. After all, it seems to me the average Star Wars fan is willing to write off almost 50% of the bulk of Star Wars content. If you ask me, I like more than 3 of the Star Trek films, how many true Star Wars fans like more than the 3 original SW films?

When it comes down to it, I'll take the series that paints a picture of what we should all aspire to be: A race that respects (on the whole) all of its members regardless of culture. A race that interacts with other species with the same respect and dignity, even to a fault. A race that has risen beyond the myriad of problems that plagues humanity today.

I'll take the optimistic view of our future filled with fun and good characters over the opera filled with fun and good characters. Hey, that's just me though :)

Ooops.... meant to say Star Wars occurs a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, not ST =P

To J.Sat, it's true that Klingons are dark-skinned and often the enemy, but overall in ST, aliens are friends AND foes. You never know if you're going to get an enemy or an ally. Even Q played both sides at times. That's the complexity of people, whether human or 'alien'. From reading your comment, I'm not sure you've ventured much farther than TNG. DS9 has much more variety in their aliens -Cardassians and Bajorans both good and bad, and Nog was the first Ferengi to go through the Academy. In contrast, SW is very straightfoward, archetype, cut-and-dry -I suppose that may be why it's never held much interest for me. For a well-done, updated example of how ST and SW can merge (and all you Firefly fans out there!) check out Farscape. Best sci-fi series EVER. Then again, we're the choice is between the [i]movies[/i] and not the show... so unless my ST choice is either the reboot or First Contact, I'm watching the Ewoks dammit.

First, I love how close the pole is: 51 - 49% I think both franchises have tonnes of merit, and I would hate to see one side totally slaughter the other.

That said, I'm a Trek gal myself. Not that I don't love Star Wars, it has so much to offer any geek. But, I grew up in a home watching TNG with parents who grew up watching the original series with their parents. Star Trek in general was just such a fundamental part of our family boding experiences.

Of course, nostalgia alone isn't enough of a reason to presume any one thing is superior to another, so I will add that, as an adult now myself, Star Trek has continued to deliver thought provoking, and in some cases action packed, entertainment over the years. In all its forms (ok, let's make that most, not all, because there are some craptastic offenses in the franchise, apparent to even the biggest fan), Star Trek offers more depth to its characters and universe, and like all good sci-fi, it offers tremendous philosophical debate and an examination of the human condition that I have just never taken away from Star Wars.

That said, Star Wars offers some way cooler (and practical) cosplay opportunities!

The men of Star Trek are hotter and there are many more to choose from. You only get Hans Solo in Star Wars.

-Female geek.

I'll never understand all of the Star Wars prequel haters. Who said they were supposed to be compared to the original trilogy? Maybe they ended up being exactly what they were supposed to be and the reason so many people trash talk them is because a) it has somehow become cool to say you like SW but hate the prequels and b) your own expectations were not set correctly. If you were expecting something else, don't blame Lucas. I enjoyed them for what they are. I don't hate them for what they aren't.

go STAR WARS

STAR WARS FOREVER!!!

Star Wars!!!
Never forget the 17BBY and the 501st!

i love them both lots,
i have to say i love trek more cause i grew up with it more as tng ds9 voy and even ent (and tos reruns) where all on the t.v. here in Ireland alot during the 90s .

i think we should all see who the real enemy the new battlestar galactica which i just did not like ( well o.k. it hard its moments but it was all drama no sci fi), or even worse DR Who which the guiness book of records came out saying it the most popular sci fi show (what a joke).

STAR TREK/WARS FOREVER

kill the trekkieeeessss!!!

Star wars rules and always will. By the way did picard do space coke? he only slept like 3 out of how many episodes. Space coke mmmmmmmmmhhhh.... yea

Episode IV blew me away when I saw it as a kid in a way that no Trek ever has (though the big Borg attack 2-parter comes close) - but the original and TNG just keep giving. Although I have to say, that style of television is really looking dated after The Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome etc etc

I grew up watching TOS (in reruns) with my dad, and watched TNG through high school and college. I think there is a lot to like and admire about Star Trek. DS9 gave a lot more depth and plot structure to the universe. (Of course, much of that was "inspired by" Babylon 5... And if we're going to talk about hopeful visions of humanity's future... Let's talk about B5.) I do like Star Trek, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

However, as I watch the movies and series today, they all look very dated, and it's hard to get absorbed in them as I once did. I'm not hating on them. But I don't get sucked in.

On the other hand, Star Wars (Episode IV, for you young'uns) was the first movie I remember seeing in the theatre. I still get chills when I hear that opening fanfare. While I freely admit that the characters in the films (ignoring the expanded universe which breaks this convention much more readily) are often drawn with more black and white thinking in mind, these are iconic characters. These stories echo the great myths, and for that reason, still resonate. I can watch the six Star Wars films (I am a fan who readily admits to liking the prequels... Even as I hate Jar Jar... I hated Ewoks, too, but I still watch Jedi) over and over again and love them just as I first did. These were the stories that shaped my childhood and adulthood.

Star Trek, more often than not, was merely a fun diversion.

I don't begrudge anyone else their choice. I'm not trying to convince you to like one better than the other. Some of my best friends like Star Trek better... ;)

If we're going to expand the debate, though... Firefly, Farscape, Bablyon 5, and Battlestar Galactica (the new series) are all top-notch sci-fi that give these two franchises a run for their money. (That said, nothing will ever take Star Wars' spot in my heart.)

The fast pace excitement of Star Wars versus the thought provoking cleverness of Star Trek. The new Star Wars show has some really convoluted plots and the new Star Trek movie has been speed up and dumbed down for the masses. So in fact I am not sure that their current output is that different any more.

With any luck both Star Wars and Star Trek will end up meeting in the middle and becoming something similar to Serenity/Firefly.

Star Trek does have:

Geeks
Scotty, The Master Geek and a long series of geeks such as , Geordi La Forge, Wesley Crusher, Reginald Barclay, Miles O'Brien, B'Elanna Torres, Charles "Trip" Tucker III (and many more).

And Chicks
Uhura, Janice Rand, Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar, Ro Laren, Kira Nerys, Ezri Dax, Leeta, Dabo Girls, Kes, Orion slave girls (:-o !!!! ) and (really hard to choose the best those) Seven of Nine, T'Pol and Jadzia Dax

'nuff said.

See the results of the epic battle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNxhrPaaCA4

Re: Star Wars treats its main characters like they're the most important people in the universe

Um...THEY ARE. Anakin is the Chosen One, and Luke is the instrument of his redemption. Saying that the Star Wars movies focus too much on the Skywalkers is like saying that the Bible focuses too much on Jesus. Anakin gets to hang out with Obi-Wan and Yoda at the end because in rejecting the Dark Side, he brought balance to the Force.

Furthermore, although the OT is iconic, heavily archetypical, and Color Coded for Your Convenience, the PT is filled with moral gray areas. The Jedi are quite clearly shown to be not the saints they were thought to be in the OT, and the Republic that the OT Rebellion is trying so hard to restore was grievously bloated and corrupt.

On the matter of egalitarianism, while I'll give Star Trek props for including a black woman as core cast, it wasn't until after Roddenbury's death that the female StarFleet officers wore anything other than skirts, and it's been criticized for *decades* for the lack of GLBT characters. Similarly, Princess Leia is a pretty darn awesome female role model, but white men are still awfully prominent.

As for appearance and world building, Star Wars, hands down. I realize that there are significant budgetary differences between film and television, but Episode IV had very little to work with for a film that relied so heavily on special effects, and it was *still* awesome and innovative. There are scenes in all of the movies that I could happily watch frame by frame, just looking at all of the cool stuff in the background. (And for all of the issues with the PT, I can say that for the entirety of every installment.)

And, from a purely female perspective, personality-wise, Luke is a sweetheart. Kirk, I just want to punch in the face for being an arrogant jerkass.

Odd how Star Wars is currrently winning the poll by the same margin (52% of the vote) as Barack Obama won the election... As November proved everyone, even the majority, makes mistakes...

If I had to choose just one show/film to watch from the Star Wars or Star Trek sagas while stuck on an island, it would be "The Emprie Strikes Back", but if I had to choose a group of people to be on the island to watch it with me, it would be the crew from Star Trek's original show.

I love both, but I have to go with Star Trek.

I'm surprised that Star Wars has such staying power. With the recent trilogy and weakly animated Clone Wars, Star Wars has been in decline ever since The Empire Strikes Back, while Star Trek seems to be on the rise. Now, the reboot of Star Trek was obviously not without flaws, and I'd personally like to see some of the cleverness and grappling with ideas in the next Star Trek, but at least I'm interested in seeing the next Star Trek. On the other hand, you couldn't pay me to see another Star Wars flick, if one were to come out now.

I hands down went with STAR WARS! I have not been an avid Star Trek fan, but I just got the feeling of a world of anything was possible from Star Wars. Yeah Star Wars maybe more fantasy with lightsabers... WHO CARES! When you're a little kid and now as an adult you want to be that hero (luke skywalker or anakin) and that drift from reality while still "in a galaxy far far away" seemed close to earth in some way. When I did watch Star Trek I just couldn't help feel that I was watching the problems of real life (all the little ones) I'm not trash talkin Star Trek and admit I'm not hugely versed in the subject, I think it is more realistic and that was a complete turnoff for me. "The Chosen One" could be me, you put yourself in their shoes and there universe. It was the aliens and the different place and the end of the universe dominated by the Galactic Empire that just seemed so much more important than real life and demanded that attention and really is the quality stuff GO STAR WARS! May the Force be with you!

Reimagined Battlestar Galactica then Babylon 5 win. SW and ST are so riddled with over done antics they are old...

new Star Trek how ever revitalised my Trekkieness. Clone War Animations revitalised my star wars love.

If it came down to it id say Star Wars cause darth vader would Choke all the federation ships hailing the Executor.

Mr. Spock's "Live long and prosper" over Yoda's backward-speak any day.

Jediism is originated from Star Wars, so why doubt Star Trek is better? I'll go with Star Wars and worship George Lucas as the geek god.

I have to go with Star Wars. To make my point as quickly as possible, Star Wars is Epic! Just picture in your mind the opening of Episode IV, a beautiful starry landscape, the camera pans, and then BAM! This enormous monstrosity of spaceship is exchanging freakn’ laser beams with a yet another sweet looking spaceship. All of this is going on with an amazing score playing in the background. Shortly after you have sentient droids, a laser firefight onboard a ship with masked bad guys, and then James Earl Jones (I know he wasn’t the actor) dressed in all black with the terrifying raspy breathing picking up a dude by his throat, and crushing the life out of him when he doesn’t like the answer to his question…epic.

Star Trek is great though. If I could do ANYTHING, I would join Star Fleet and explore the universe. Just the enormous amount of source material alone is amazing. ST TNG being my favorite hands down, virtually every episode was gold. I literally watch an episode every night before going to bed, its great stuff.

I love both dearly, but in the end, Star Wars wins.

star wars is the best only hutts like star trek i mean revenge of the sith was killer attack of the clone was genious and the clone wars series are AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and all the star wars movies by far can beat star trek
p.s if i had a light saber i would destroy star trek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
how strong can thy be we got JEDI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

strong is the. force kill star trek i must.may the force be whith you
and screw star trek

Perhaps if we redirect the ion plasma flow from the deflector shield to the Sirius Cybernetics Nutro-matic, ask it to make tea and then throw the tea into the computer's main console, the Enterprise will be thrown into a alternate universe to find itself orbiting Tatooine... And Ewoks have adapted the Klingon way of live! Ka'plagh!

I voted Trek, I find it... fascinating and wider than Star Wars, there's a whole universe involving such complexity while in SW you find most of the characters to be 'good' or 'bad'.
Talking about complexity... I've spent some deal of time reading the last comments and I find that from people who wrote well explained comments most voted ST, while most of the ones who voted for SW and bothered to write a comment just stated things like "kill trekkies" or "sw rules"... so I suppose that gives an idea of which kind of fans ST and SW have.

I voted Star Wars. Why? Because I'm someone who is not into fantasy or sci-fi at all, someone who was forced to watch both SW and ST...BUT still fell in love with Star Wars. I personally like the epic feel of Star Wars. For many years, I never thought it was something I would enjoy but after watching all of them, I was hooked.
I guess you could say that there are more archetypal characters in Star Wars than in Star Trek but that's what classical lit does too. Going to sound like a nerdy lit major (which I was) but anyone who's ever read Shakespeare or Aristotle knows that the central elements of a Greek tragedy play out in Star Wars (the prequels anyway). The prequels are more gray area while the originals I see as more "this character fits in this box". Of course that changes through the three OT movies because we see Leia/Han/Luke maturing and Vader as well.
I enjoyed the whole saga. There are huge flaws for sure but coming from someone who grudgingly sat through the movies while my boyfriend insisted I would love them, I never expected Star Wars to grip my imagination as much as it did. And the first time I saw the saga was only a few years ago so I am fairly new to liking Star Wars.
And to the comment above me, I hope my long, erudite (Star Wars fans know big words too!) comment makes you re-think your generalization of fans' intelligence based on comments on a poll :)

When I was younger, I was all about Star Trek and ONLY Star Trek. As I've grown, I've learned more about Star Wars and quite frankly, I find the choice almost impossible. But as John T. mentioned, there's just something heartwarming about the "idea" (it's my own personal belief actually) that humanity isn't on a constant downward spiral and is not redeemable. That we can make ourselves better, and accept not only each other as humans, but accept and even love other types of beings. I'll always be obsessed with Spock, because he speaks to me about how you can be different and feel alone, and yet when you reach out you find your best friends of all right beside you. Although yes, Kirk is quite annoying at times, I love at the end of ST V when Spock says he has lost a brother, and Kirk says he lost a brother too once, but he got him back, and looks at Spock. The three guys, Spock Kirk and McCoy, truly are family. They love each other and have been at each others sides (and sometimes throats!) through it all. That's the kind of world I always wanted to live in. Thankfully, with my good friends and family, now I do.

i love star trek. i think it somehow seems less cheesy. at least to me it does. nothing against star wars honestly but come on! i even love the next generation even if it doesn't have spock.

speaking of spock. the spock in the new movie is hot. so is kirk which is weird cause i never thought he was hot...ever.

did anyone see who (star trek v. star wars) won on the great debate on vh1?

Totally agree darling. I'm a lover of both but you can't beat spock and data.

Звездные Войны - это великая сага о великом мире, а star trek это всего лишь очередной фильм.

The choice is easy...when it comes to which is the very best....the Beatles!

Star Trek: TWOK alone defeats all of Star Wars, in my opinion. The character development in TWOK was just brilliant (for what it is). I mean, they took traits that were just hinted at in the series, and amplified them, gave them depth, moved them forward. In just the first few minutes of the film, we see the following:

* Kirk is the only one to have 'solved' the Kobayashi Maru.
* Kirk's interest in history & literature is explored.
* Kirk is wise: "How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life".

My favorite two quotes of all time come from this movie - and are spoken right next to each other:

"I don't believe in the no-win scenario."
"I don't like to lose."

I know that if I were adrift in space, I'd be watching this movie for that scene alone!

The writers of TWOK knew Kirk - and all the main characters - very, very well.

Star Wars may be "iconic" - but it is shallow. It's an adventure, but lacks the character depth of Star Trek.

IMHO.

Lets see first off armor or pajamas.... armor wins
guns or remotes.... guns win
submarine like war fare or dog fights.... dog fights
Not even to mention the Force and lightsabers
come on its not even a challenge the Star Wars movies alone trump Trek not to mention the Star Wars books and games.
Kyle Katarn Chuck Norris Jedi FTW.
And if there was ever a battle between the Empire and the Federation, the Empire would wipe the floor sheer numbers and firepower.
Star Wars hands down.

May the Force be with you

Let us keep it simple

- Star Wars is for children

- Star Trek is for adults or smart teenagers

I like space and fantasy so it's Star Wars for me altough I like Star Trek too.