Film Junk Versus Episode 4: Star Wars vs. Star Trek

Posted by on February 22nd, 2007   Filed under: Versus, Video Content

In this fourth installment of Versus, the Film Junk crew (plus a very special guest) breakdown the pros and cons of two of the greatest science fiction franchises of all time, Star Wars and Star Trek! Tune in and find out who’s cooler, Spock or Boba Fett! Also, take a tour of Darth Nameless’ unbelievable Star Trek collection and find out which Star Trek celebrity has their very own personalized bottle of ketchup!

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  • WolfMarauder

    “Star Wars” is not science-fiction. It is fantasy. It has an entirely different aim than Trek does.

  • We’ll save that for our ‘Science Fiction vs. Fantasy’ debate.

  • In the end, I think they both aim to entertain. Don’t they? You can get wrapped up in semantics all you want, but in the end the general movie going audience will place Star Wars in the same category as Star Trek…Science Fiction. Sure, hardcore fans such as yourself (i assume with a nickname like WolfMarauder that you’re into fantasy and science fiction) may indulge in the need to sub-categorize things into the ground. But in the end, we’re comparing two franchises that revolve around characters existing in a fantastic world full of aliens and technology. It just so happens that one is more romanticized then the other. Until the day a woman can have sex with a self sufficient, self aware humanoid android…or a starship is capable of achieving warp speeds…or better yet, we live in a world without money or war…I will always think of Star Trek AND Star Wars as card-holding members of the Sci-Fi club that in the end, both rely on an equal dose of fantasy.

  • I would agree that Star Wars leans a lot more towards fantasy than sci-fi… however, that certainly doesn’t mean these two franchises can’t be compared. Next week on Versus: apples versus oranges!

  • Greg

    Fuck apples.

  • Pacifistopheles

    WolfMarauder has a valid point, but I think he is missing the intent of these Versus debates. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they are merely a free-form forum for discussing general opinions of a non-specific nature regarding two contrasting subjects that may or may not have any relation to each other, and that result in a preference that is purely subjective.

    This may sound goofy, but Star Trek for me is a sort of religion because it espouses values that I’ve grown to believe in. Everything from the prime directive to the ideology of expanding our understanding of the universe are expressed through Trek adventures.

    The great things about Star Trek as a religion are that worship is not exclusive to any particular day of the week, and tithes are paid to the merchandising altar that rewards you with oodles of baubles.

    And Star Trek has never caused a war (at least to my knowledge).

    I guess Star Wars can also be treated as a religion, but I grew up a Trekkie and it’s hard to shake someone from his original faith.

  • what’s with the care bear’s stars in darth nameless’ star trek room? when did the care bear’s stars ever make an appearance in star trek?

  • Kings Town Ted

    That was a great versus guys (had me laughing at the end…’can I change my vote?’).
    Very difficult comparison really – the fact that we (for the most part, 30ish folks) grew up with Star Wars and all the toys that came with it will always slant our perception in it’s favour. I would vote Star Trek BTW for the simple reason that Kirk and boys were on TV every day at some time of the day when I was a kid and left a deeper lasting impression.
    Really enjoying these versus vids – keep it up.

  • cuebert

    That was a pretty funny clip, although the comparison is difficult.. for most.

    These particular series have always been pitted at each other. Although I am a Star Wars fan, I can see some of the points for Star Trek, although I feel the need to mention the Star Wars Holiday Special when talking about Television and these series.

    I’ve never been a fan of the original Star Trek series, although I watched TNG and DS9 when they were on. The ST movies were pretty good, but could never hold a candle to the affect that Star Wars had on me when I was young.

    Although the prequels are all garbage, and I think Lucas has done nothing but ruin the franchise since thinking it would be a good idea to make them.

    Darth Nameless: your collection is pretty impressive and I still think outdoes my Star Wars collection when it was in it’s prime. I’m sad to say i’m down to very, very few peices of my original collection.

  • Blaggard

    Awesome podcast. Great work production-wise.

    I know Darth Nameless personally and I say he should be allowed to take back his vote for Starwars! I’m sure it’s eating him up inside :(

    I vote for Star Trek btw.

  • Pacifistopheles

    I know Darth Nameless personally, too. The mask didn’t fool me. I recognized his whiny voice.

    I thought katie was pretty perceptive in noticing the Care Bears on the wall. So I asked Darth Nameless, “What’s up with that?”, and his reply was, “Sh*t, man. Is that what that is?!?!” When he composed himself, he ran to the nearest Internet terminal, and came back with this rationalization. “In the mid to late 80s, there was an episode of The Care Bears Family entitled ‘Space Care Bears’ which was an obvious homage to The Original Series.” After he told me this, he disappeared in search of this episode.

    So I guess the lesson here is that Star Trek is connected to all things. It is a force that binds all things in the universe.

    Who wants to play 6 degrees of Star Trek? :-)

  • Cracksmith

    Awesome episode guys. Best intermission ever.

  • Darth Nameless

    I don’t get it. Who’s buying all this Star Wars merchandise that keeps popping up at Toys ‘R’ Us? It’s a good thing I’m only addicted to scoring Star Trek stuff. (Okay, I recently bought a Darth Nameless bobblehead, but only because it was discounted to 5 Canadian bucks.)

    Since appearing in the Versus episode, I happened to find myself in Vegas at the Star Trek: The Experience where they have a Star Trek store. I so badly wanted to grow up and kick the habit, but I ended up buying a plush U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, a plush Klingon Bird-of-Prey, a plush Porthos (that’s Captain Archer’s dog from Enterprise), a plush Andorian, a plush Uhura teddy-bear, a plush next gen movie teddy-bear, a bottle of Romulan Ale, a bottle of Klingon blood wine, a mini-bust of Spock, a phaser water-pistol, a bottle of Sulu hot sauce, an isolinear chip key-chain, a Klingon bobble-head, and some Star Trek lollipops.

    It also doesn’t help that there’s a comic specialty store near my place of employment. This store gets the Art Asylum Star Trek figures and other Star Trek stuff like the Mego re-issues of the original series figures from the 70s. So you can guess what happens to my lunch money.

    Man, growing up is so hard.

  • Ryan

    Never stop collecting Darth Nameless! That room is envious and I like Star Wars better.

    You guys left out two crucial points for Star Wars. First, the production design is way more inventive and unique. Second, Star Trek is just the military in space. You could say Star Wars is as well but at least it does a good job of hiding that with things like the force.

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  • Marc

    You guys are awesome! Good show guys.