No matter how long it's been since each pop culture phenomenon debuted, the Star Trek vs. Star Wars debate still has a remarkable power to get nerds all riled up, especially these days with Spock looking especially foxy and George Lucas trying his best to ruin everything you liked about Darth Vader to begin with. While the actual actors and creators on both sides of the debate have always been respectful to each other, you can't really expect them to remain impartial--least of all William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk who never exactly keeps his opinions to himself. And now, in a video interview he tweeted, Kirk finally throws down his opinion on why Trek is superior:
It's not the shot heard 'round the world or anything-- Shatner is far form the first person to argue that Star Trek had better focus on characters compared to Star Wars's obsession with spectacle. But if you've been fighting the good fight for Star Trek all these years, you've now got a pretty good trump card with Shatner fully in your corner. Of course, next thing we know Leonard Nimoy will pop up with a full-throated defense of Star Wars instead, and the whole argument will be back at level zero all over again.
There are a million other places you can go on the Internet to learn all about the great Trek vs. Wars debate, but I enjoy this incredibly detailed chart explaining why, empirically, the Empire of Star Wars would destroy the Federation of Star Trek. Feel free to pick your own favorite clusters of the debate and point them out in the comments.
