May the Fourth be with you?
Forget it.
Try “ad astra per aspera.”
The former is the motto for “Star Wars” day, May 4. The latter is the motto of Starfleet Command, the Earth-based command of the exploration and military wing of the United Federation of Planets. And when it comes to the battle between “Star Wars” and “Star Trek,” there’s no doubt “Star Trek” is superior.
Don’t believe me? Then consider the variable characteristics of each brand’s universe.
First up, philosophy.
Where “Star Wars” is centered around a group of disparate alien heroes who worship laser swords and the Jedi religion, “Star Trek” is centered on the peoples of Earth and their Federation allies. And while liberal values reign supreme in “Star Trek,” they do co-exist with conservative realism. Starfleet is a distinctly military organization marked by duty to the mission, promotion on merit, and the service of noble ideals. Similarly, the bad guys in “Star Trek” are politically nuanced: The Borg are driven by a Leninist ideological authoritarianism, the Romulans by a calculating Chinese-style expansionism, and the Cardassians by a Putin-style prideful pursuit of past glories.
In contrast, the good guys in “Star Wars” are rebels who have no obvious political identity beyond the diversity of their species. The bad guys in “Star Wars”? They pursue power as an end in itself, lacking even the Borg’s scientific end goal.
Next, there’s the question of strategic realism.
While the “Star Wars” bad guys are always defined by their overwhelming power, they possess a singular inability to translate that power into dominant strategic effect. Instead, they fly around in Death Stars, dreadnoughts, and Star Destroyers getting played by ancient ships and lucky pilots. Their commanders have about as much strategic vision as Guy of Lusignan had when he decided to march his lumbering army into the desolate desert to face a superior Saladin.
The good guys of “Star Wars” aren’t much better. Their operational security is about as pathetic (has there ever been a Rebel base that wasn’t discovered by the Empire/First Order?) as that of the Nazi agents who infiltrated Britain during the Second World War, and their unity of action is nonexistent.
“Star Trek” is the antithesis of “Star Wars” in this regard.
The Romulans sometimes employ intelligence dangles to trap Starfleet vessels, the Cardassians form alliances in the short-sighted pursuit of restored glory, the Klingons storm into battle but also place honor before all else (except when they don’t). Starfleet is sustained by highly disciplined command structures but also the initiative of its best officers. And while its moral compass is strong, like all great commanders from history, Starfleet also renders truth to Cicero’s warning that the laws fall silent in conflict.
Then there’s the divergent sustainability of the stories.
The empire is defeated in “Star Wars: Episode VI,” but somehow by “Episode VII” the victorious rebellion has managed to cede power to an extraordinarily powerful military force inside the republic. The simple truth: in “Star Wars,” the good guys cannot translate their victories into durable effects. In their utter failure, they must be considered totally incompetent. This does not support the narrative that the good guys in “Star Wars” are anything other than well-intentioned fools. In that sense, the stories of Star Wars play to a galaxy that, while it might be far, far away, is also consistently illogical.
Again, the timeline of “Star Trek” takes the opposite tack. Consider the evolution of the Federation-Klingon and Federation-Dominion story arcs.
In the years of the 2100s, Starfleet and the Klingons largely leave each other alone. In the 2200s, the two powers fight each other in a number of bloody, albeit sporadic, conflicts. For most of the 2300s, the two powers are close (if sometimes uneasy) allies forged by shared sacrifice. In the 2370-2378 period, Starfleet goes from facilitating trade with the Dominion to entering a Cold War with the Dominion, to entering into a major war with the Dominion.
Regardless, at each step along the way of “Star Trek”‘s 744-episode and 13-movie timeline (perhaps excluding the final season of the original series), we see the constant development of characters, politics, and societies. If not always realistic, these developments make “Star Trek” that which it is: a universe of rich histories and limitless future possibilities.
“Star Wars”?
It has nine movies (soon to be 10), but the galaxy of “Episode VIII” isn’t all that different to the one that entered in “Episode I.” It’s sad.
And that’s why “Star Trek” is definitively better than “Star Wars.”
