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Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Star Trek or Star Wars?

A: Ah yes, the timeless question. I answer considering the entire concepts of both franchises, and not necessarily as a movie to movie comparison.

First off, I am a huge Star Trek fan. Well, really, I'm only a huge TNG fan, though I do like DS9. Honestly, I think TOS is kind of dumb. I have never watched voyager or Enterprise. I like most of the movies, TOS, TNG, and the reboot included.

Star Trek is pretty cool because it features alien races that are often reflections of ourselves. Klingons are rage, Ferengi are greed, Vulcans are logic and pride, and so on. What is particularly interesting, is that they often show both the positive and negative traits of these attributes.

In Star Trek, people are more understanding and races are presented as having achieved utopia in many places, including Earth. Star Trek seems to suggest that if we really work towards a better future, then we can achieve it. In general, Star Trek is a show of positivity and understanding.

By contrast, Star Wars is of a much darker sort. The characters often act on greed and avarice, and quite frankly, have no motivation for doing so except that they are nasty people. Jabba the Hutt is presented as this horrible creature for enslaving people and killing them. But, Jabba is really a mirror of ourselves. Humans (and those d-bag federation people) like to think that they are altruistic. But, if you are gardening, and you see a slug, what do you do? You kill it because it threatens your vegetable operation.

But, Jabba is just a GIANT SLUG that kills people for getting in the way of his operation. He does't consider the well being of those he harms because they are nothings too him, just as slugs (and indeed other people) are to us. JABBA IS THE HUMAN race. Gaze upon he wretched thing that you are, humans.

Likewise, unlike Star Trek, aside form Darth Vader, evil people often don't have redemption and often get away with their bad actions. Frankly, I think that's closer to life. Lastly, most heroes in Star Trek are basically saints, never having selfish or hateful thoughts. But, the characters in SW, including luke, anakin, obi wan, Han, Chewie, Leia, and even Yoda, often deal with the fact that hatred, greed, anger, and despair are all a part of life that we all wrestle with it. Even the good guys face both sides of the coin, and the right answer is not always easy to discern, in opposition to Trek, were the good guys are usually always 100% good and have little internal conflict.

So, I have to give it to Star Wars. Plus, the space ships, monsters, and aliens in Star Wars are neater than Trek.

Han shot first,
-John G

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