The upcoming release of the next Star Wars movie brought up interesting English conversations at Smith’s School of English Fukushima and because of this, I felt compelled to do some research about it.
“Are you a Star Wars or Star Trek fan?”, “Who will win in an all-out battle? ” are some of the titles that you can find by just googling a few words.
I was exposed to Star Trek at the age of 7 because of my father, a fan of classic Sci-Fi movies and TV series (Dune, Blade Runner, Back to the Future, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, E.T, Tron, and so on) although my generation fits better with the Star Wars films, I am a mixture from both sides of this Sci-Fi nerdiness. At home, there are three topics that should never be discussed at the dinner table: religion, politics, and the relative merits of Star Trek and Star Wars.
On one hand, Star Wars and The Force and on the other hand, Star Trek and Mister Spock’s charisma. What crew would you be willing to join in?
The first Star Wars movie was released in 1977. The series has become a pop culture phenomenon. Every type of merchandise that can be imagined has been created base on the Star Wars films. Star Wars enthusiasts agree that the action is exciting, easy to follow and filled with all kinds of colourful costumes and sounds effects. The Force is the one thing that really takes Star Wars away from being science fiction. Its pseudo-religious undertones and utterly unexplained properties make it very difficult to compare with anything in Star Trek.
A key difference which has been suggested is that Star Trek is science fiction while Star Wars is science fantasy. For over 40 years, Star Trek has been a fixture in Science Fiction television and film. It has its origin in television and was only known as a television series.
In Star Trek, settlers explore the frontiers of space in peace, but encounter hostility along the way. Their strong moral code allows them to solve disagreements and meet new people and civilizations.
Each episode acts on two levels: as a suspenseful adventure story and as morality tale. The soul of the show is a moral code which the explorers live by. While Star Trek has always had an overall serious feel, there was always a humorous undertone. Some of the memorable Star Trek characters include: Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Spock, Data, and Geordi La Forge, to name a few.
While Star Wars was an instant classic in the theatres and is today a cultural phenomenon, can the longevity and originality of Star Trek hold up in contrast?
Ana, Smith’s School of English Fukushima
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