Star Wars vs Star Trek - the ultimate nerd battle

[Savonarola]

I never thought of it that way...

It's a fairly interesting concept, but breaks down when you consider that the Borg are a Star Trek 'species', as well as the plot of the first Star Trek film.  The comparisons would work better if there was magic in the Star Trek universe, which I guess you *could* say there is in the form of the Q species, but IIRC the idea there was that the species was so advanced that its technology appeared to be magic to lesser species.

Star Trek has a number of instances where technology malfunctions and tries to kill people; like in the first movie, or the time the killer robot came on the Enterprise and Kirk exposed it to a paradox which caused it to explode.  I don't think these are sinister in the way that Darth Vader is sinister.  The Borg are an exception, though they're technological monsters that are terrifying the way the Death Star is; I'll concede Star Trek does not always portray technology in a favorable light, but it usually does.

Star Trek has plenty of aliens with mysterious powers which are essentially magic.  In addition to the Q there was that kid on TOS who could melt things with his mind, or Apollo, or telepathic Betazoids; but that's besides the point.  Technology can be portrayed as sinister in universes without magic, as it is in Frankenstein or the new BSG.

[The Minsky Moment]

Star Trek - like the child of the 60s that it was - had a fundamentally optimistic view of humanity, its possibilities, and its perfectability.  So naturally technology as a product of human effort and imagination, is mostly going to be a positive force, though occasionally perverted by wicked.

Star Wars OTOH begins with the assumption of decadence or at least cyclicality (the good old days of the republic are long past now . . .) where the forces of evil have material and technical superirority.  Different premise.

[Barrister]

Since Q features prominently in the both the series premiere and season finale, plus of course introduced the Borg to the world of Star Trek, I'm not sure I can agree with your statement.

Most of us try very hard not to think of the premiere or finale of TNG, I suspect, and the Borg could easily have been introduced in any number of ways.

I thought the finale was fun.  The premier was awkward, but series premieres often are.

[Caliga]

Why would you think we differ in this?  I didn't even use the term "canon" so any assumptions I make about what is canon would be unsupported, would they not?

Right, you didn't say "canon" but I assumed that's what you were getting at.  Bad assumption on my part, sorry.

[grumbler]

Right, you didn't say "canon" but I assumed that's what you were getting at.  Bad assumption on my part, sorry.

We are on the same page, then.

[grumbler]

Star Trek has a number of instances where technology malfunctions and tries to kill people; like in the first movie, or the time the killer robot came on the Enterprise and Kirk exposed it to a paradox which caused it to explode.  I don't think these are sinister in the way that Darth Vader is sinister.  The Borg are an exception, though they're technological monsters that are terrifying the way the Death Star is; I'll concede Star Trek does not always portray technology in a favorable light, but it usually does.

Star Trek has plenty of aliens with mysterious powers which are essentially magic.  In addition to the Q there was that kid on TOS who could melt things with his mind, or Apollo, or telepathic Betazoids; but that's besides the point.  Technology can be portrayed as sinister in universes without magic, as it is in Frankenstein or the new BSG.

Lots of good, thought-provoking stuff from you in this thread, Sav.  Thanks for it all, and keep it up.

[Viking]

The idea was to have a low tech people effectively oppose a high tech superpower, in reference to how some people supposedly saw 'Nam.

I saw Narn. Low tech people who use lots of big guns and are willing to take huge casualties. I curse Lucas for the Ewoks.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Yes but in reality, "reversing the sub-atomic resonance of the anti-matter injectors to reveal a temporal flux in the plasma conduits of the Enterprise" translates to "I was way too lazy to write the plot"

Now called "The Ron Moore school of writing"