"Star Wars versus Star Trek" Topic

I know, I know, its the never ending argument.

But, this page seems to answer once and for all. who would win in a flight. the Empire or the Federation.

link

It's a bit like comparing the Austrian or Russian Army to the Grand Armee in 1805. On paper they look pretty impressive, until you factor in the leadership, or lack therof. Now, from what I've endured as Star Wars moved from that first flash of brilliance in Episode IV through the malaise of V and the embarassment of Ewokian VI, followed by the desultory, drudgery of I – III. The Star Wars leadership couldn't lead a platoon of Space Marines into a Denubian House of Ill-repute, let alone figure out who the enemy is, divine his intentions or take effective countermeasures. It all boils down to some snot-nosed kid getting lucky with his gun.

Well for the first half of the season they'd be hated enemies then the Borg would show up then they'd kiss and make up running them out. Then they would start all over until they realized that the leadership was really a shape shifter….

"Deadliest Warrior: SW Clone Trooper vs. ST Redshirt"

Serenity's crew would make fools of them all. "Weapons? We don't need no stinkin' weapons on this ship"….

MMM lets see a guy in a bright RED shirt who will certainly not live the whole 45 minutes, with only a sidearm. Vs a clone of a guy who is in full WHITE combat armor, limited visibility, a blaster rifle.

They both say target. It is just matter of who gets shot first.

Still it is fun to discuss as if it really means anything.

Dare I say it? Hitler vs Stalin!
VR
James Mattes

Luke vs Cpt Kirk?
VR
James Mattes

Streitax 24 May 2010 4:40 a.m. PST wrote:
It's a bit like comparing the Austrian or Russian Army to the Grand Armee in 1805. On paper they look pretty impressive, until you factor in the leadership, …

No Way! Evil Emperor vs Bureaucratic Desk Jockeys at Star Fleet Command. The only time Star fleet had balls was when some alien bugs took them over. Plus Star Fleet had too many women on the high command.
VR
James Mattes

Evil Emperors always had inefficient staffs, they kept them at each other's throats all the time in order to prevent anyone from gaining enough power to overthrow them. And watch out if you were TOO good at your job, that was a one way ticket to the ice mines of Hoth, in your birthday suit.

"Deadliest Warrior: SW Clone Trooper vs. ST Redshirt"

Shoot no. I want to see Jedi vs. Data.

No, The Death Star vs. Wesley!!!!!!

Let's hear it for the Death Star!

Anakin vs. Wesley; who annoyes the pee out of you more?

I want to see Uhura, in her alternate dimension Evil Enterprise uniform, HTH vs Leia, in Jabba's slavegirl costume!
Oh, & a pole dance-off between Twi Leks & Green Slave Women, too.

Jar-Jar vrs Quark.

At least in Star Wars, there is no ship's counselor, or doctor to second-guess every decision being made, so that makes my decision easy.

Sure, there is Luke to question Han, and his ability to outrun the Star Destroyers, but he is pretty close to an airlock, so that is easily rectified…….

Hey, I liked Quark.

I know, I know, its the never ending argument.

as this thread is demonstrating.

They both say target. It is just matter of who gets shot first.

The redshirt gets shot first, since the Federation never bothered to build any military equipment bigger than a rifle.

Star Wars – good (except the new 3)

Star Trek – bad (all of it)

simples.

There were more good Star Trek shows than good Star Wars movies.

Even better:

Deadliest Warrior: ST Redshrt vs. SW Storm Trooper (from episodes IV-VI)

One that must die against one that misses everything he shoots at.

UltraOrk
Storm troopers were crackshot marksmen.. Unless the target actually had a name.

Storm troopers were crackshot marksmen.. Unless the target actually had a name.

Or was an Ewok…Only 2 died in the whole Battle of Endor.

Yes, the the hightech modern super alloy their armor was made of, apernatly dosn't stop small rocks.

Hell even the barbariens managed to make armor that stoped rocks, so SW universe is behind modern armor by about 2500 years.

So I'm quite sure that any technology we have in the 24th century will quite easly outmatch anything the SW universe has.

After all it's for LONG ago, they are infact in the old days we are modern compeard to them.

Sorry, been there, seen that argument, which is based on a whole bunch of silly numbers hand-waved around after the fact to make movies with no scientific thought whatsoever sound as if someone actually did think about it.

At least Star Trek did try to have some science-based rationalization for its ships' propulsion, armor and weapons systems. Star Wars was utterly based on what "sounded cool" to George Lucas.

So I call bogus on the premise of that web site.

Any argument has to be based on what is actually displayed on screen in the two mediums, not what some hack came along and tacked on later to sell geeky books and deck plans.

Given that, there are only three areas where Star Wars tech appears to be superior to Star Trek tech:

1.) Hyperspace Drive appears to be faster than Warp Drive, though the distances travelled are never actually presented in the films. Still, we see everything from fighters to Star Destroyers jump from one star system to another in a matter of a few hours or even minutes, whereas Warp Drive is usually implied to take several hours to several days to traverse between stars. (But at least Starfleet personnel know the difference between measurements of distance and measurements of velocity.)

2.) Lightsabres can apparently deflect energy weapons and cut through almost any substance almost instantaneously, and of course can be limited to less than 3' of beam length. Star Trek has no analogous weapon.

3.) The Death Star can shatter a planet. No Star Trek ship has such capability (aside from that mining vessel in the lame Abrams reboot and the Planet Killer from TOS, though neither were Federation vessels.)

However

Star Trek ship weapons will slice into unshielded hulls and even trigger warp core explosions of multi-ton battleships. Star Wars weapons can't even significantly damage a beat-up merchant freighter.

The weapons effects above ain't because of "shield technology"— Star Wars shields can't even deflect small meteors. Star Trek shields are clearly superior. Want to destroy a Federation vessel? You're gonna have a looong fight on your hands. Note that even the TOS Enterprise took a direct hit from a Planet Killer (the equivalent of being struck by the Death Star's main weapon) and survived intact. Want to blow up a Star Destroyer? Toss something heavy at the bridge (reference: impact of the out-of-control A-wing through a Super-Star Destroyer's shields in RotJ).

Star Trek has the transporter, hologram projectors that can even simulate mass, replicators, and tissue regeneration. Star Wars has none of these— the best it can do is make a mechanical hand, and grainy projections with static problems.

Star Trek can detect life signs down to "particles of pre-animate matter," and distinguish these within species level (for larger forms at least), even through exterior bulkheads, at distances measured in kilometers. Star Wars sensors can't find three humans and a wookie shoved under the floorboards.

Even Star Wars bi-pod mounted blasters aren't any more significantly effective than an equivalent projectile weapon. Star Trek pocket phasers can vaporize rock and metal— not to mention an entire human body— in one shot. Is a blast door blocking your way? In Star Trek, a few seconds with a phaser pistol will cut a hole big enough to walk through. In Star Wars, unless you have a handy Jedi with a lightsabre around, you're not going through that door.

Star Trek ships can take a pounding and still function, even with large sections of the hull cut away. The Death Star explodes after one lucky hit by a snub fighter. Granted, they were exploiting a design defect… but guess who doesn't typically have such defects to exploit? Federation vessels.

Star Trek has the cloaking device and sensor technology that can detect vessels at significant distances, even vessels travelling at high warp, and determine intercept courses from this data. Star Wars vessels can't even detect a ship slapped against the hull (M Falcon in ESB), or trailing within less than a kilometer (Slave 1 chasing M. Falcon in ESB). In fact, the perfect weapon to hit a Star Destroyer? A meteor with a cloaking device and a basic impulse drive. They'll never see it coming and their shields can't stop it.

Star Trek has one android (well, two, plus a spare), who is faster and stronger than humans, able to calculate multiple theoretical and practical physics problems while still performing complex starship duties, and can play poker with friends. Star Wars has a clanky gold 'droid that shuffles along at the speed of a ninety-year-old with a limp and does nothing but annoy everybody with useless whining, plus the occasional translation of the obvious.

Star Trek has the universal translator capable of correctly interpreting even unknown languages almost instantly. Star Wars is stuck with that previously mentioned annoying 'droid.

Technology wise, Star Trek clearly is move advanced than Star Wars on almost all fronts.

(But hey, I love 'em both!)

Star Trek pocket phasers can vaporize rock and metal— not to mention an entire human body— in one shot.

yeh but they look so lame. Tech in Star Trek is pretty good when you analyse as above. Even the background in theory could make it interesting, just some how they lost that. Now I've not seen every episode of Star Trek and not quite all the films, but for me it just never once gave me the 'Wow' 'That's cool' or 'awesome' effect seeing Star Wars for the first time did (and still does). I just found it got boring, used lazy ideas at times and never made me really like it. The original series was too campy and I really disliked Kirk as a character, the first 4/5 films I watched bar iirc Wrath of Khan were woeful,and I never managed to get into DS9,voyager or Enterprise. I love Sci-Fi and really did try with Star Trek, but it just never ticked the boxes for me.

This is so pointless you gotta love it!

By the way, I just rewatched "The Doomsday Machine" episode of TOS, the one with the planet killer. The Enterprise survived not only one hit, but multiple hits. And by the way, I had forgotten that episode was written by Norman Spinrad, one of the most celebrated modern writers of science fiction.

You really should go back and watch some of the classic Trek episodes. The effects are lame? Well, yes, they were working under a television budget using 1960's tech. But that's secondary to story, plot, pacing and characterization. (A bit like complaining about the ugly book covers on '60s era Tolkien novels.)

One of the best is "Balance of Terror." A nice, tight "cold war" themed military piece with exceptional acting by Mark Lenard (later Spock's father) as the enemy commander.

Tor books has been doing a blog about rewatching all the classic Trek episodes. It's worth reading as you view, and the commentary is generally spot on. link