Ok fair I meant only the main movies and tv shows, I am not comparing the full universe of Star Wars to the full universe of Star Trek, especially because didn’t Disney make all of that non-canon?
Also noted, Knights Of The Old Republic II is good, I mean it was peak Bioware so definitely I will take that note.
There is a DNA that is fundamentally different to Star Trek though, an ability to be both epic and everyday, big existential war and small micro story, philosophical and then action packed. There is plenty of awful Star Trek… ooof plenty of it… but there is also a spirit to Star Trek that I think makes it different than Star Wars which isn’t to say there isn’t good Scifi within the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars is about syncretic understanding of life and story and morality, - say, I’d trust a Star Wars fan who’s not a humanities major to understand what anti-fascism is more than a humanities major who’s not a Star Wars fan. I don’t think I can describe it better than Lucas himself does, and he seems to have achieved the opening of his museum telling lots on the subject.
Star Trek I haven’t watched enough to judge. But I think they are orthogonal, where Star Trek has idealism, Star Wars has life and chaos, and where Star Trek has philosophy, there Star Wars has just the story, and where Star Trek has neutrality, Star Wars has choice.
No, you can’t call Star Trek idealistic, or at least you can’t contrast it to Star Wars as more idealistic.
Star Trek is VERY cynical about the capacity of humans and other sentient species to do evil.
1992
The Eugenics Wars (WWIII) begin.[14] At the height of his influence, the genetically augmented tyrant Khan Noonien Singh is said to be the absolute ruler of more than one-quarter of Earth’s population. (WWIII is retconned to be in the 2050s by TNG’s Encounter at Farpoint and Star Trek First Contact and to being a conflict separate from the Eugenics Wars; SNW’s “Strange New World” retcons it to taking place in the 21st century, prior to WWIII.)
2026
World War III begins on Earth. Colonel Phillip Green and a group of eco-terrorists commit genocide that claimed the lives of thirty-seven million people. (ENT “In A Mirror Darkly, Part Two”) (In TOS, WWIII took place in the 1990s and is established as an alternate name for the Eugenics Wars[14] while DS9’s “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?” had the Eugenics Wars in the 22nd century. SNW’s “Strange New World” retcons the Eugenics Wars to the 21st century, but prior to the outbreak of WWIII.)
Star Wars is far more idealistic, evil is about power and a cynical leaders that do anything to get more power… Star Trek has a consistently much more unnerving portrayal of evil as a much more nuanced force that is often irrational and difficult to resolve into pure pursuit of power that it is always attracted to it.
Star Wars has different kinds of evil. It has YV, it has Killick hives, it even has drug addicted sects. In any case that’s not the meaning of the word “idealistic” I meant.
Ok fair I meant only the main movies and tv shows, I am not comparing the full universe of Star Wars to the full universe of Star Trek, especially because didn’t Disney make all of that non-canon?
Also noted, Knights Of The Old Republic II is good, I mean it was peak Bioware so definitely I will take that note.
There is a DNA that is fundamentally different to Star Trek though, an ability to be both epic and everyday, big existential war and small micro story, philosophical and then action packed. There is plenty of awful Star Trek… ooof plenty of it… but there is also a spirit to Star Trek that I think makes it different than Star Wars which isn’t to say there isn’t good Scifi within the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars is about syncretic understanding of life and story and morality, - say, I’d trust a Star Wars fan who’s not a humanities major to understand what anti-fascism is more than a humanities major who’s not a Star Wars fan. I don’t think I can describe it better than Lucas himself does, and he seems to have achieved the opening of his museum telling lots on the subject.
Star Trek I haven’t watched enough to judge. But I think they are orthogonal, where Star Trek has idealism, Star Wars has life and chaos, and where Star Trek has philosophy, there Star Wars has just the story, and where Star Trek has neutrality, Star Wars has choice.
No, you can’t call Star Trek idealistic, or at least you can’t contrast it to Star Wars as more idealistic.
Star Trek is VERY cynical about the capacity of humans and other sentient species to do evil.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek
Star Wars is far more idealistic, evil is about power and a cynical leaders that do anything to get more power… Star Trek has a consistently much more unnerving portrayal of evil as a much more nuanced force that is often irrational and difficult to resolve into pure pursuit of power that it is always attracted to it.
Star Wars has different kinds of evil. It has YV, it has Killick hives, it even has drug addicted sects. In any case that’s not the meaning of the word “idealistic” I meant.