star trek related to star wars

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Star Trek , originally a TV series, is a space western science fiction that centers around a crew who serves in Starfleet , a space-based peacekeeping and humanitarian armada. Star Wars , originally a trilogy, is a space opera fantasy franchise set in the distant past of a fictional galaxy, revolving around princes, princesses, knighthood, and chivalry. Both these highly popular and successful franchises are now being revived with new movies directed by J.J. Abrams.

Until the recent movies, Star Trek has been more of a cult phenomena than Star Wars , and therefore did not have the same level of mainstream fandom and cultural influence. Star Wars is grander in scope and has a complex web of political agendas, alien species, personal feuds, and galaxy-wide domination. The Star Trek world is modern, sleek, and shiny, while some of Star Wars' settings are dirty and grimy.

Comparison chart

Originally a television series, Star Trek has generally used the same basic plot setup: an altruistic crew is placed in situations of moral dilemma, which are often allegorical nods to current social and political issues. Issues covered include imperialism, war and peace, racism, class warfare, feminism, and human rights. The core characters, Captain Kirk , Spock, Scotty, Uhura, and Pavel Chekov, comprise humans and humanoid alien species. Star Trek only gained mainstream fame after the release of its films in 2009 and 2013. The video below briefly touches on the history of Star Trek :

Star Wars uses archetypes of the fantasy genre, such as princesses, knighthood, and chivalry, and action unfolds in a contest between good and evil. The Star Wars universe is laden with political science elements and historical inspiration. The plot climax of the Rebel Alliance fights for freedom from the Galactic Empire was drawn from the fall of the Roman Republic and the formation of an empire. This 10 minute video gives a retrospective look into the original trilogy of Star Wars :

Science and Fantasy

Common belief is that Star Trek is science fiction, while Star Wars is science fantasy. The technology in Star Trek is supposed to be at least loosely grounded in science or potential future science , rather than supernatural forces or magic. The most visible technologies include personal communication and triangulation devices (inspirations for modern day smart phones), warp drive travel for space ships, and teleporting ( “Beam me up, Scotty” ). The chief technologist for Google Earth has said that the tricorder’s mapping capability was one inspiration for Google Earth.

Star Wars , on the other hand, is not focused on the real-world viability of its science, as it is more science fantasy than science fiction. One of the core elements of its stories is the existence of the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that surrounds all living things and that can be harnessed by those with special abilities. The Force allows for acts of telekinesis, mind control, clairvoyance, and precognition, and can also make a person more physically capable.

Production History

After two Star Trek pilots were made, the original series aired for three years in the late sixties. Despite a fervent fan base, ratings were disappointing, and the show was canceled. Except for an animated series in the mid 70s, no new Star Trek productions were released until the first feature film in 1980. This revived the franchise , and 11 more movies followed, along with overlapping television series running until 2005. The Star Trek reboot films in 2009 and 2013 directed by J.J. Abrams brought a new style to the franchise, and functioned as broad-appeal blockbusters, rather than just being events for long-standing fans of the show.

Unlike Star Trek , Star Wars began as a motion picture rather than a television series. Universal Studios first agreed to make George Lucas’s Star Wars in 1971, but it took several years and multiple script revisions for the project to begin. The original film was finally released in 1977 to worldwide fanfare and became a pop culture phenomenon. Two sequels were released at three year intervals. 16 years after the third film, the first film in a new prequel trilogy was released. A third trilogy has recently been announced: Star Wars Episode VII will be released in 2015, and is being directed by J.J. Abrams, the same director who was in charge of the Star Trek reboot.

Political and Social Elements

When Roddenberry conceived the original show, he did so with a highly progressive, liberal agenda in mind, reflecting the counter culture movement sweeping the nation in the 1960s, although he was not totally forthcoming with the television networks about this element of the show. Star Trek was Roddenberry’s vision of what society could become in the future if humanity learned from its past mistakes. It was one of the first shows to have a mixed race cast.

Star Wars is a classic epic of good versus evil. The Jedi use the Force for good, while the Sith use the Force for evil. Star Wars functions less as commentary on specific social issues, but operates on the grander operatic struggle of dark vs light, dictatorships versus democracies, etc. However, many have attempted to draw parallels between Star Wars and the reality of history and politics , as seen in this video :

Pop Culture and Legacy

Star Trek has a devoted cult following of hardcore fans known as “Trekkies”. There are various Trekkie conventions all over the world where fans dress up in costumes and may have a chance to meet cast members, or to discuss the issues of the show. Some Trekkies even learn the show’s constructed language , Klingon. There was a Star Trek -themed attraction in Las Vegas for 10 years. Two museum exhibits of props travel the world. A NASA space shuttle was named after the crew’s ship , the Enterprise.

The Star Wars movies have expanded into a massive web of spinoffs and products, including books, video games , made-for-TV movies, comic books, animated series, theme park attractions. Even several animal species have been named after Star Wars characters. References to Star Wars are common in movies and the media.

Famous Quotes

• "KHAAANNNN!" -Captain Kirk
• "It can be argued that a human is ultimately the sum of his experiences." --Benjamin Sisko
• "I would be delighted to offer any advice I can on understanding women. When I have some, I'll let you know." -Captain Picard
• "Excuse me… Excuse me. I’d just like to ask a question… What does God need with a starship?" -Captain Kirk
• "What we leave behind is as important as how we’ve lived. After all, Number One, we’re only mortal." -Picard "Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever. -Riker
• The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination. -Garak
• "May the Force be with you."
• “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda
• “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” -Luke Skywalker
• “You don’t need to see his identification … These aren’t the droids you’re looking for … He can go about his business … Move along.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi
• “Use the Force, Luke.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi
• “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” -Darth Vader
• “Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” -Yoda
• “When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master.” -Darth Vader “Only a master of evil, Darth.” -Obi-Wan Kenobi
• “I’ve got a very bad feeling about this.” - Han Solo
• “Wars not make one great.” -Yoda
• “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” -Yoda

Star Trek Stills

Star wars stills.

• Wikipedia: Star Wars
• Wikipedia: Star Trek
• Wikipedia: Comparison of Star Trek and Star Wars
• The Official Star Wars Blog
• The Official Star Trek Website
• The 10 Best Yoda Quotes - Star Wars Blog
• Top 10 Star Trek Quotes - Science Channel
• Star Trek Trivia - IMDB
• Star Wars: Episode IV Trivia - IMDB

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Published May 4, 2019

'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' May Have More in Common Than You Think

From cameo appearances to special effects, have crossed paths more than a few times over the years.

startrek.com

A previous article we wrote for Star Trek.com detailed the relationship between Star Wars and Star Trek . Fans of both franchises have much to look forward to during the next few years: more Star Wars anthology movies and episodes will follow the successful The Last Jedi , and Star Trek fans can look forward to a third season of Discovery, a new show about Jean-Luc Picard, and two animated shows, Star Trek: Lower Decks on CBS All Access, and a newly announced show debuting on Nickelodeon . To celebrate these upcoming events, here are seven of our favorite links between Star Trek and Star Wars , demonstrating that any falsely ginned up rivalry between the two franchises ignores the long history of symbiosis that exists between them.

What’s in a name?

The U.S.S. Kelvin from Star Trek (2009) was named in honor of Harry Kelvin, the grandfather of director J.J. Abrams. The name would again appear in The Force Awakens when droid BB-8 is warned by Rey to avoid the “Kelvin Ridge.”

“Don’t get technical with me!”

In Star Trek (2009) , R2-D2 makes a cameo appearance floating in space after the destruction of Vulcan and the ensuing space battle between the Federation and Nero. R2 also appears similarly in Star Trek Into Darkness .

William Shatner and the Empire

In 2005, William Shatner sang “My Way” to Star Wars creator George Lucas at the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award celebration. Harrison Ford’s surprised expression is priceless. Afterwards, Shatner was carried offstage by the evil Empire’s stormtroopers. A decade later, Shatner would also appear in a stormtrooper costume during the November 2015 Country Music Awards.

Ships of the Galaxies

The special effects for most Star Trek feature films and for parts of the premiere episode of The Next Generation (“ Encounter at Farpoint ”) were supplied by Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects house created by George Lucas to make the first Star Wars film. It would go on to play a major role in revolutionizing Hollywood special effects. The ILM team even inserted the Millenium Falcon digital model to stand in for the Borg cube while rendering the battle sequences for Star Trek: First Contact . In July 2000, Wildstorm Comics published a comic book version of the popular Star Trek: Voyager video game Elite Force , featuring art by Jeffrey Moy and W.C. Carini. The comic book includes a Star Wars Easter Egg, with an Imperial Shuttle appearing among the wreckage of starships.

Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas: Mutual Admiration

StarTrek.com

The documentary Trek Nation features an interview with George Lucas in which the director revealed that he was a fan of Star Trek , used to attend conventions and admired Gene Roddenberry’s ability to create so much despite limitations of budget, time and technology. Roddenberry helped celebrate the 10th anniversary of Star Wars at an event run by Starlog Magazine and Creation Entertainment. The photo of Roddenberry and Lucas shaking hands at that event is pure fanboy/fangirl nirvana.

In Space, No One Can Hear You…

Ben Burtt, the Academy Award-winning sound effects designer and sound editor for the Star Wars films, was inspired by the incredible sound effects of the original Star Trek television show. Burtt also designed special sound effects for Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness . His talented work is profiled as a bonus feature (“Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek ”) on the Blu-ray Star Trek: The Compendium

Sulu and Scotty: Star Warriors

George Takei played the Neimoidian General Lok Durd in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show. Coincidentally, the name “Neimoidian” has long been rumored to be named in honor of Leonard Nimoy. Simon Pegg plays Unkar Plutt, the swindler junkyard boss from Jakku in The Force Awakens .

Maria Jose and John Tenuto are both sociology professors at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, specializing in popular culture and subculture studies. The Tenutos have conducted extensive research on the history of Star Trek , and have presented at venues such as Creation Conventions and the St. Louis Science Center. They have written for the official Star Trek Magazine and their extensive collection of Star Trek items has been featured in SFX Magazine . Their theory about the “20-Year Nostalgia Cycle” and research on Star Trek fans has been featured on WGN News, BBC Radio, and in the documentary The Force Among Us . They recently researched all known paperwork from the making of the classic episode " Space Seed " and are excited to be sharing some previously unreported information about Khan's first adventure with fellow fans. Contact the Tenutos at [email protected] or [email protected].

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Star Wars Vs. Star Trek: Which Came First (And Why Does It Matter)?

T he two most impactful science fiction franchises of the 20th century, "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," have inspired generations of fans while managing to remain at the top of modern pop culture. From hyperdrive to warp drive and Rebels to Starfleet, they've saturated the public consciousness with their characters and iconography like few other properties in the media landscape. But as both continue to create new material in the 2020s and their original release dates fade into history, many people have asked: which came first, "Star Wars" or "Star Trek"?

While "Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope," opened on May 25, 1977, "Star Trek: The Original Series" premiered on NBC over a decade prior, with its first episode, "The Man Trap," airing on September 8, 1966. That timeline might lead some to assume that "Star Wars" was influenced by "Star Trek," but despite both having "Star" in their titles, they are wildly different franchises.

"Star Trek" was first conceived of by creator Gene Roddenberry, who helmed both "Star Trek: The Original Series" and its spin-off "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Set in the 23rd century and beyond, episodes were focused on space exploration in a future where humanity had set aside its differences to venture among the stars. On the other hand, "Star Wars," created by auteur director George Lucas, is famously set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Due to its Jedi Knights, Emperors, princesses, and space magic, it is often distinguished as science-fantasy rather than science-fiction.

Read more: The Entire Star Wars Story Finally Explained

Star Wars Had Several Key Influences Other Than Star Trek

There has been much debate over the degree to which "Star Trek" influenced the later "Star Wars," but while George Lucas and his team took some inspiration, it was minimal. Lucas was primarily inspired by real history and Japanese samurai films, while his science fiction influences were 1930s serials like "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon." Lucas actually sought to license the latter property for a remake and embarked on "Star Wars" after he failed to secure the rights.

When it came to history, Lucas drew from the events of World War II and the Vietnam War. This influence is evident in the Nazi-like aesthetics of the Empire. At the same time, the plot involving a band of rebels fighting a mighty imperial power was based on Lucas' understanding of the Vietnam War. The Rebel Alliance, as Lucas told fellow director James Cameron, was based on the Vietcong communist fighters who opposed United States forces in Vietnam (via AMC+ ).

Meanwhile, with characters like Han Solo (Harrison Ford) created in the mold of action heroes, "Star Wars" aped the aforementioned pulp serials. Other elements, like Jedi and their lightsabers, were futuristic reinterpretations of work by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who was known for samurai films like "Seven Samurai."

Star Trek Opened The Door For Star Wars

The inspirations Gene Roddenberry drew on for "Star Trek" were quite different from those Lucas adopted for "Star Wars." While both franchises are, when boiled down, space Westerns, Roddenberry specifically cited television Westerns when he first pitched his series. As noted by Time  in 2016, he called it a "'Wagon Train' to the stars," referencing a 1950s TV series about a wagon train exploring the American West.

While "Star Wars" has, since its inception, woven an epic tale of good versus evil, episodes of "Star Trek" are typically focused on untangling a moral conundrum. Often, there is no obvious villain present in the narrative, and the stakes rest on intellectually untangling a problem rather than fighting it head-on. When it came to politics, "Star Trek" was influenced by the Cold War, with Starfleet being allegorical to the United States and the Klingon Empire, mirroring perceptions of Russia and the Soviet Union.

However, George Lucas was known to be a big fan of "Star Trek," and Roddenberry's work did influence "Star Wars" to a certain degree. "'Star Trek' softened up the entertainment arena," Lucas said in the documentary "Trek Nation," "so that 'Star Wars' could come along and stand on its shoulders" (via Scott Colthorp on Vimeo). In other words, the success of "Star Trek" caused Hollywood executives to see the market potential of science-fiction stories set in outer space. Lucas attributes his ability to create "Star Wars" to that newfound receptiveness.

Both franchises are still going strong today, with new "Star Trek" series like "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" and "Star Trek: Lower Decks" streaming on Paramount+. And while a new "Star Wars" film hasn't been released in a few years, new streaming series continue to emerge, most recently "The Mandalorian" and "Ahsoka."

Read the original article on Looper .

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Star Trek vs. Star Wars: which one is better in 2023?

For as long as both entities have existed, fans of science fiction and fantasy have debated the merits of Star Trek and Star Wars . But for most of the 45 years that the two franchises have overlapped, Star Trek and Star Wars haven’t actually had much in common, apart from their cosmic setting. Star Trek is an aspirational sci-fi series set in humanity’s future, while Star Wars is a bombastic fantasy adventure that takes place in a far-off galaxy. One has primarily lived on weekly television, while the other has broken big-screen box office numbers.

Star Trek and Star Wars have both leaned heavily into fan service

The streaming era has let both franchises experiment.

• The streaming bubble is forcing Star Trek and Star Wars to pump the brakes — and that’s good

However, in recent years, both Star Trek and Star Wars have become tentpoles for their parent companies’ subscription streaming services , Paramount+ and Disney+ , respectively, each pumping out a steady stream of content in an ever-widening array of formats. This has led them to encroach further into each other’s territory than ever before. Star Trek vs. Star Wars is no longer an apples-to-oranges comparison — they are directly competing products, sharing some of the same ambitions and struggling against the same environmental forces.

We will likely never settle on which space franchise is the greatest of all time, but we can take a moment to ask: Which is better right now?

Studios have become increasingly risk-averse during the streaming era, and that’s meant relying on recognizable brands with loyal fanbases who will remain subscribed to a service as long as there are new releases within their favorite fictional universe. However, this dependence has also left streamers at the mercy of those same fans, who can now use social media to converse with creators or even make demands. While this can lead to crowd-pleasing moments like the return of popular characters or the inclusion of fan-promoted memes back into the product, it can also create a feedback loop in which creators continue to serve audiences slight variations on whatever fans say they like rather than expanding their worlds or telling new stories.

Over the past two years, both Star Trek and Star Wars have released series that are representative of this shamelessly fan-oriented approach. In 2022, Paramount+ released the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , a prequel series set aboard the original USS Enterprise and starring Anson Mount as Captain Kirk’s predecessor Captain Christopher Pike. This series was prompted by a vocal fan campaign after legacy characters Pike, Mr. Spock, and Number One were featured in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery in 2019. A petition to give these characters their own spin-off received over 30,000 signatures, eventually leading to Strange New Worlds receiving a series order. Happily, the fans were right about this one, and Strange New Worlds has become more than just a nostalgic throwback to classic Trek , but exactly the shot in the arm the franchise needed. The series retains the episodic format of pre-streaming Trek series, but benefits from modern production values, a charming cast, and a sense of joy and wonder that the serialized Trek shows Discovery and Picard have yet to deliver.

The recent third season of Star Trek: Picard  has also been a serious crowd-pleaser, reuniting the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one last 10-hour adventure. Though certainly the most recursive and least imaginative new installment of Trek’s streaming era, it has been wildly popular among fans, well-received by critics, and is the first Trek series to make a dent into Nielsen’s weekly Top 10 streaming charts. A petition to launch a sequel series featuring Picard ’s younger cast members has surpassed the one that demanded a spin-off for Pike’s Enterprise, with over 44,000 signatures to date. There is a vocal online contingent that wants to hand the keys to the franchise to this season’s showrunner, gushing Star Trek fanatic Terry Matalas.  

The current state of the Star Wars Galaxy should be a warning against that particular future for Star Trek . While ascended fan and George Lucas apprentice Dave Filoni has produced some of the best Star Wars television, such as the animated Star Wars Rebels and the incredible final season of The Clone Wars , his insistence upon building every new series directly on the back of the last one has left the Star Wars galaxy feeling both smaller and more confusing than it has in decades. Characters’ stories weave between animated and live-action series, making each product harder to follow on its own. Important character beats for the main characters of The Mandalorian are resolved in The Book of Boba Fett . Ahsoka is a live-action spin-off for the popular Clone Wars character, but is also a sequel to Rebels , seeded in a number of Mandalorian episodes . Die-hard fans will have no trouble following this and delight in getting to see their favorite animated characters brought to life in live-action follow-ups, but this comes at the expense of what has always been Star Wars ’ greatest advantage over Star Trek : accessibility.

Meanwhile, the desire to tickle fans’ nostalgia glands with returning characters from the franchise’s past has resulted in creative misfires like the most recent Star Wars feature film, The Rise of Skywalker , the underwhelming Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming series, and the ghoulish practice of digitally applying the faces of young Mark Hamill or the late Carrie Fisher onto new actors. These are indications that even the unstoppable forces of time and death will not dissuade Disney from recycling the most popular Star Wars elements ad infinitum. That way lies madness.

Point: Star Trek

Prior to the streaming wars, Star Trek and Star Wars each had their own clearly defined lanes. Star Trek was weekly television that occasionally spun off into feature films, aimed at adults but also fostering a family audience; Star Wars was a film series that very rarely dabbled in TV, fun for all ages but plainly angling for a toy-buying audience. There had never been a Star Trek series specifically for kids (not even the short-lived 1970s Star Trek: The Animated Series ), nor had there been a Star Wars release that was made solely for adults. Over the past two years, however, both franchises have set their sights on the other’s target audience, with encouraging results.

In 2021, Paramount+ and Nickelodeon debuted Star Trek: Prodigy , a 3D animated action-adventure series aimed at kids under 12. Sporting a cast of colorful alien teenagers and a decidedly Star Warsian tone, Prodigy explores the Star Trek Universe from the perspective of complete outsiders, making it a perfect on-ramp for a young new fan. Prodigy is like no other Star Trek show before it, and yet it is still essentially Star Trek — a show about curiosity, cooperation, communication, and tolerance — winning it the enthusiastic approval of many adult Trekkies. It’s also a lot of fun, the sort of show that could easily capture the same sort of audience that The Clone Wars garnered during its earliest, most kid-friendly seasons. Naturally, it has spawned a toy line and a tie-in video game but is unlikely to compete with Star Wars to become a merchandising juggernaut.

Conversely, 2022 saw the release of Andor , the first Star Wars offering that feels totally adult-targeted. While still not explicitly sexual or any more graphically violent than the feature films, Andor is a slow, dense, character-driven drama that would bore most kids to tears. It is, nevertheless, one of the best new shows on television, the sort of series that could ably compete with Succession or Better Call Saul  in the acting, writing, and directing categories at next year’s Emmys. Even after the relatively gritty Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , to which Andor serves as a prequel, few fans predicted that a new Star Wars series would emerge that had so little interest in being commercial or toyetic.

And yet, its radical politics and revolutionary vigor are a perfect modern extrapolation of George Lucas’ original intent behind Star Wars , a film inspired by the Vietnam War in which the well-armed, well-funded government and military are the bad guys. It’s the side of Star Wars that was buried under mountains of merchandise as Lucas built his own Empire. Rival Star Trek has always been more overtly political, but with Andor , Star Wars has delivered an incisive dose of agitprop that would make Gene Roddenberry blush.

Point: Star Wars

The streaming bubble is forcing Star Trek and Star Wars to pump the brakes — and that’s good

As recently as 2022, both Disney and Paramount were betting the farm on streaming, spending unbelievable sums to pump out new installments of their most expensive franchises year-round. Disney+ debuted three live-action event series ( The Book of Boba Fett , Obi-Wan Kenobi , Andor ) and a set of animated shorts ( Tales of the Jedi ), totaling 23 weeks of new Star Wars content on the app. That same year, Star Trek hit critical mass, with a whopping 51 new episodes premiering on Paramount+ across all five of their ongoing series ( Discovery , Picard , Lower Decks , Prodigy , and Strange New Worlds ). As both services continue to hemorrhage money, it’s become clear that this breakneck pace of new content is not sustainable. Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger has ordered Lucasfilm and Marvel to slow the rollout of their planned streaming series in favor of more theatrical releases, and a trio of new Star Wars films was announced at 2023’s Star Wars Celebration event. Meanwhile at Paramount, Star Trek: Section 31 , once planned as an ongoing series, is being retooled as a TV movie, with plans for new standalone Trek specials every two years . This strategy may allow Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman’s “Phase Two” of streaming Star Trek to explore new angles for the franchise without committing each of them to a pricey ten-episode season order.

While it’s true that a more conservative approach to either franchise could result in fewer big swings like Andor , it could also strike a blow against mediocrity. During the peak streaming era, mediocre installments like Picard season 2 or The Book of Boba Fett did little damage to their streamers’ credibility, as there was always another release right around the corner that might potentially make up for it. This pattern could continue uninterrupted for years, with a steady stream of good, fine, or outright bad Star Trek or Star Wars and very little great Star Trek or Star Wars . The less we get, the more valuable each new chapter will be, and the more invested everyone — from creators to fans — will be in its quality.

Individually, both upcoming franchises’ upcoming slates represent an exciting variety. Star Trek ’s most uneven pillars, Discovery and Picard , are wrapping up, but Strange New Worlds , Prodigy , and the animated sitcom Lower Decks continue to go boldly in markedly different directions from each other (though Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have a crossover episode coming up this year). Section 31 promises to be something totally new for Trek , a spy-fi adventure starring Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh. A new series, Starfleet Academy , is also in early development. Across the divide, Star Wars has the hotly anticipated Ahsoka coming out this summer, with more Andor  and The Mandalorian on deck. Star Wars: Visions , the exciting anthology of animated shorts created by studios around the world, is back for another season this year, and the trailer looks positively dazzling. Middling animated series The Bad Batch is coming to an end, seemingly putting the Clone Wars-adjacent era to bed for a while, while upcoming series The Acolyte and the three unnamed feature films will each take place in a different time periods, expanding a galaxy that has started to feel strangely claustrophobic.

Both of these upcoming slates look promising, but the sheer variety of announced Star Wars projects is simply too enticing to deny. However, whatever your individual preference, fans of space sci-fi will have plenty to argue over for years to come.  

Point and overall winner: Star Wars

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In 2022, Disney+ and Lucasfilm unveiled Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, a six-part series of animated shorts. A second season was announced soon after, and it's now just a month away. However, the show has undergone a name change to Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, and it's about to dive into even darker territory. Disney+ has dropped the first trailer for Tales of the Empire, and it chronicles the story of two women who embrace the Dark Side of the Force.

Tales of the Empire | Official Trailer | Disney+

Since the launch of Disney+ in 2019, there have been four live-action Star Wars series, including The Mandalorian and Andor. But the one thing that each of those shows had in common was that they followed the hero of the story. This summer, The Acolyte is flipping the switch on that by putting the spotlight on Mae (Amandla Stenberg), a former Padawan in the Jedi Order who seems to have quite a grudge against her onetime masters. That may be why Mae is attacking and apparently killing Jedi with knives in the first trailer for The Acolyte.

The Acolyte | Official Trailer | Disney+

The great thing about a hit movie is that you tend to find out things during interviews, premieres, and press conferences that would have never surfaced otherwise. Dune: Part Two is one such movie. In the lead-up to the movie's blockbuster opening weekend, we've discovered Josh Brolin's hidden talents as a poet and photographer, Javier Bardem's dedication to his children, Zendaya's love for the sci-fi classic Metropolis, and Austin Butler's appreciation for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The most recent revelation, however, tops all of those. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Christopher Walken, who plays Shaddam IV, the film's fearsome Emperor, explains why he came out of a four-year break from acting in films and joined Dune: Part Two. One reason was due to his admiration for the first film, which cemented Denis Villeneuve's status as one of the best sci-fi directors ever, and his appreciation of the sequel's impressive cast, which also includes Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, and Dave Bautista.

13 Ways Star Wars And Star Trek Are Way Too Similar

It's a longstanding joke — and reality — that non-fans frequently confuse the franchise titles "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." This seems preposterous to devotees of either, many of whom will go on at great length about how completely different they are in terms of themes, outlook, technology, and tone. They may argue that "Star Wars" is a science fantasy with mystical knights who have laser swords and magic powers that leans heavily into destiny and predestination. Or that "Star Trek" is science fiction with extrapolated future technology and humans driving their own destiny. In the broadest strokes, that's true, but as a wise old Force Ghost once said, "You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

A closer examination reveals that as both franchises have grown and sprawled they've increasingly rubbed up against one another and exchanged some cinematic and narrative DNA, with the result that the two really aren't always as distinct as they might've once been.

Boushh and the Breen

While no one's going to confuse an Imperial Stormtrooper for a Klingon warrior, there was one particular time when a masked "Star Trek" character bore a striking resemblance to a "Star Wars" counterpart with the introduction of the Breen. Name-dropped in several episodes of "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," it wasn't until the latter show's fourth season that they actually appeared.

And what an appearance. At first glance a lot of viewers familiar with "Star Wars" were likely struck with their resemblance to Boushh, the disguise assumed by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) in "Return of the Jedi" a dozen years earlier. Going on memory alone, anyone could be forgiven for thinking the Breen helmets were just reused Boushh helmets. In a side-by-side comparison it's obvious they're not identical, but they're damned close. That the Breen's sharp, metallic dialog was conveniently untranslated by the ubiquitous universal translators made the similarity even more pronounced. 

Another similarity: In "Jedi" the figure we've believed to be Boushh pulls the helmet off to reveal Leia. A Breen pulls a similar reveal in the "DS9" episode "What You Leave Behind," only this time it's Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor). Coincidence? Homage? Separated at birth? You decide.

Space is Small. Really Small

As Douglas Adams observed, "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." But you wouldn't get that impression watching "Star Wars" or most of "Star Trek." Both treat screaming across light years like driving to the mall.

To be fair, "Wars" treated such journeys as trivial from the get-go, with the trip from middle-of-nowhere Tatooine to political hotspot Alderaan taking the length of one conversation. "Trek" didn't start off this way. It routinely took days for the Enterprise to go from planet to planet, and only occasionally hours if Scotty pushed the engines to "cannae take it" status. But by the 2000s warp drive had — for all intents and purposes — become hyperspace. Starfleet ships blast from Earth to the Klingon border seemingly as fast as the Falcon zipped to Alderaan. This has effectively erased one key distinction between the shows (although unlike the Millennium Falcon, Starfleet ships can still do pew pews in warp drive).

Of course, space is Douglas Adams big when it serves the needs of the story, as when the USS Voyager took 7 years (with massive shortcuts) to cross the galaxy. But that's become the exception, not the rule.

Small Universe Syndrome

In 1967, "Star Trek" Associate Producer Bob Justman complained when a writer tried to bring back the same Klingon commander from their first appearance:

"Here we are in the outer reaches of our galaxy [...] and who should Captain Kirk run into, but good old Kor — an adversary that he has encountered before ... Just think of it — billions of stars and millions of Class M-type planets and who should he run into, but a fella he has had trouble with before. No wonder Kor doesn't recognize him at first. The coincidence is so astounding, that he must feel certain that it couldn't possibly have happened. "

He could just as well be describing every "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" story since the '90s, since both are obsessed with linking absolutely everything. Characters from across each respective galaxy know each other or have some connection. Young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) not only knew Greedo as a kid, but built Threepio (Anthony Daniels). Artoo hung out with Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) despite "A New Hope" Kenobi (Alec Guinness) barely giving him a second glance. Over in Starfleet, La'an (Christina Chong) is a descendant of the infamous Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban) and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is the adopted sister of Spock, and the president of Earth is the son of Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig). These people can't be important on their own, they have to be related to someone we know.

Grunts are Mostly Useless in Combat

Admittedly, this is a common trope in movies and TV well beyond these two franchises. And let's face it, audiences are there to see the heroes be heroic and perform acts of daring-do. We want to see Captain Kirk (William Shatner) take down that Klingon, not some nameless redshirt, just as we want to see Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) blow up the Death Star, not Gold Leader (Angus MacInnes). So the heroes end up being the best shots, and largely invulnerable, because they have to survive to win the day and receive medals or starship commands at the end.

This results in the similarity that only the leads can shoot straight, and everyone else can neither hit the broad side of a battle station nor avoid being cannon fodder, be they members of the Galactic Republic/Empire/New Order, Federation Starfleet, the Rebel Alliance, or the "Trek" alien menace of the week.

The OG "Star Wars" cleverly dodged this cliché bullet by revealing that the Imperials allowed the heroes to escape the Death Star in order to track them, which Leia surmises. But after that? And in Starfleet? What's the excuse?

Destiny's Children

Given its fantasy roots, "Star Wars" is unsurprisingly replete with characters marked by special destinies and fates. "Star Trek" began without this, but over time it's fallen prey to the easy trap of special destinies — so much so that "Strange New Worlds" Season 1 concluded with the message that Spock (Ethan Peck) is a chosen one who must survive at all costs. There was once a novel titled "Spock, Messiah!" and the franchise has embraced that too literally.

Bratty Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force. It's implied that he had no father other than the Force. On "Deep Space Nine"  Benjamin Sisko's  (Avery Brooks) birth was caused by aliens who possessed his mother and made her bear a child with a man she didn't love. Why? Because the Emissary "could be no one else." There's no consent on the mother's part in either of these scenarios.

Even Rey (Daisy Ridley) can't just be a Jedi in training, she's got to be related to the saga's big bad. Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) can't just be a child, but a "Mozart," as The Traveler (Eric Menyuk) puts it, of "time, energy, propulsion, and the instruments of this vessel which allow all that to be played." Such fates are anathema to the underlying philosophy of "Trek," which routinely suggests it's our choices that determine our futures and fates and that we're not shackled to predestination.

Parental Loss Abounds

Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) lost his mother twice. His children, Luke & Leia (Carrie Fisher), lost their mama, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), at birth. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) lost both parents as a child, then lost his adoptive father. Jyn Erso's (Felicity Jones) mother was killed and her father taken away. Ezra Bridger's (Taylor Gray) parents were imprisoned then killed. Rey was ditched by her parents. Finn (John Boyega) was taken from his family. Even Boba Fett (Daniel Logan) lost his father!

Meanwhile, Jonathan Archer's (Scott Bakula) dad died when he was young. Michael Burnham lost her parents at age 10. Kelvin Timeline James T. Kirk's (Chris Pine) pop died moments after his birth. La'an's family was torn apart by Gorn, and Uhura's parents and brother died in a shuttle accident. Benjamin Sisko's birth mother died before was 5, his adopted mother died, then his first wife died and left their son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton), motherless ( and yet he's still more grounded than most "Trek" captains ). Even B'Elanna Torres' (Roxann Dawson) deadbeat human dad (Juan Garcia) walked out on her family when she was a child. The cast of "The Next Generation" really took this to the extreme, with only Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) reaching adulthood without losing one or both parents. Even android Data (Brent Spiner) had his "parents" abandon him.

Keep going deeper into the respective canons and you'll find even more. Seriously, there's no need to go all Bambi's mother on so many characters' parents.

J.J. Abrams is controversial in both fandoms

Outside of the films and shows themselves, one big commonality in fandoms of both franchises is the work of director J.J. Abrams, who directed two "Trek" movies and then a pair of "Wars" films. His efforts are frequently derided, and often for identical reasons. As a writer, he's criticized for derivative storylines lacking in originality, and that he merely moves the chess pieces around the board without inventing anything new. He's pilloried for a tiresome overreliance on MacGuffins and being unable to pay off the things he's set up. His "mystery boxes" are raked over the coals for being empty vessels, revealing nothing about the characters as they chase after them. As a director, he's attacked for an all style, no substance approach.

Beyond those broad strokes the fandoms have franchise-specific nits to pick. "Star Trek" fans accused him of making "Trek" too much like "Star Wars," and treating the two franchises as interchangeable. "Star Wars" fans accused him of effectively remaking previous films of the franchise without adding anything new. Phrases like "creatively bankrupt" got thrown around a lot in both fandoms.

The Mandalorians are Klingons

If "The Mandalorian" proved anything, it's that the honorable warrior race is a trope showing no signs of going quietly into the night. Both ridge-skulled Klingons and helmet-headed Mandalorians are caste societies centered around noble houses, and members of both live by codes of honor in the same way that the samurai class of feudal Japan cleaved to the code of bushido.

The two are so similar because, frankly, both franchises could've made more of an effort to develop their cultures beyond western genre stereotypes. The concept of a How does a society made up wholly of warriors work? Do Klingon chefs want to die in battle? Do Mandalorian nursemaids? Who keeps the books? Who picks up the trash? I was frustrated when "The Next Generation" first tried to sell me on it, and the "Mando" take doesn't work for me either.

Both would do well to look more closely at Edo-period Samurai culture, where they weren't just warriors, but a class in the caste system. Beyond their duties as fighters, they were also administrators, politicians, poets, and farmers. But neither the Mandalorians nor the Klingons efface such complexity. Another similarity? Let's face it — K'Ehleyr is Bo-Katan. There, I said it.

Overpowered Weapons

Both franchises have a fascination with preposterous planet-killing superweapons, be they Death Stars, Doomsday Machines, Starkiller Bases, Genesis Devices, preposterous Superlaser equipped Star Destroyers, Xindi death balls, or the much maligned and ridiculed Red Matter.

Other than the H-Bomb analogy of the planet-killer, OG "Trek" didn't dabble in planet-smashing weapons. Devastating a planet's surface was one thing, as when the Enterprise threatened to "glass" the surface of Eminiar Seven, or when the V'ger weapons would have devastated the entire surface of the Earth. But by the time of the show "Enterprise" and the 2009 "Star Trek" movie they'd gone full Death Star with planet-smashing weapons in the name of keeping up with the Palpatines.

Blowing planets apart is preposterous fantasy and would serve no practical function — even militarily — other than as an over the top terror weapon. Is the planet itself a problem, or the little carbon units that infest it? If what you're after is to kill everyone on a planet, think mass drivers. Or just fling a Star Destroyer-sized asteroid (or a Star Destroyer) at the target. The resulting blast, quakes, and hellfire raining from the sky will do the job quite handily. Just ask the dinosaurs.

Underpowered Weapons

For every Death Star or Doomsday Machine in each franchise there are 50 weapons which are little more effective than a small caliber handgun. This wasn't always the case in "Trek," where early on a single phaser shot or photon torpedo blasted unshielded ships to space smithereens, or a single hit could vaporize an entire person. But as time wore on the movies and shows increasingly portrayed phasers as firing energy bullets, with results that were effectively indistinguishable from the blaster hits of "Star Wars."

And speaking of blaster hits and phaser pulses, are they any more effective than a contemporary handgun? Stormtrooper armor seems utterly ineffective against ... well, everything, so why rely on this high-tech weaponry when a lead slug would do the job?

Okay, sure, if phasers worked as portrayed early on, it would be about as hard to miss with one as it would with a flashlight. In beam mode it's effectively a lightsaber of incredible length, where you could pull the trigger and sweep your arm around, which would require rethinking gunfights entirely. But why do that when "Star Wars" has made everyone want to go "Pew! Pew!"

They're Both Science Fantasies

"Star Wars" has always worn its fairytale pedigree on its sleeve, so no one cares if there's no science behind its fiction. "Star Trek," though, has always had pretensions to be science fiction, even if soft. But much of that "science" has been magic since day one. In science fantasy I can buy a Jedi sensing a million voices crying out in terror from light years away. In science fiction I can't buy a telepath sensing thought patterns at similar distances. Exotic tech warp drives can handwave Einstein aside, but since when are brainwaves faster than light? Looking at you, Vulcans.

Transporters are a physicist's nightmare, but if they were only used to move people and property from plot point A to plot point B, that wouldn't be so bad. It's all the other abilities the writers grafted onto it which beam it into fantasyland. It can split people into Jekyll-Hyde duplicates, merge two beings into one, undo aging, or whatever the plot requires of it each week.

And such nonsense isn't just limited to that. "Trek" routinely slathers scientific-sounding jargon over whatever nonsense the plot requires to lend the illusion that it's grounded in reality, but it's mostly rubbish. Statements like "synchronizing the transporter's annular confinement beam to the warp core frequency" is about as scientific as a Harry Potter-esque techno incantation like, " synchronizo trabes claustri annularis motoris ad stamen nucleum frequentia ! "

All that's missing is a magic wand ... or the Force.

A.I. is a Subclass

"They do the work that no one else wants to do because it's too difficult, or too hazardous..." Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) said of androids in the "Star Trek" universe. "You don't have to think about their welfare, you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people." That just as easily applies to the droids of "Star Wars," because another similarity between the franchises is that being an artificial life form in either sucks.

"Star Wars" flat out treats droids as property, despite the fact that quite a number of them exhibit levels of both sentience and sapience. Up to a point you could pretend that droids were merely programmed to act like self-aware beings, until "Solo" introduced socially conscious L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) making a passionate case for droid rights. "Andor" even features sensitive droid B2EMO (Dave Chapman) literally mourning the death of a human.

The "Star Trek" franchise repeatedly touches on A.I. rights, but never makes the big jump to extending rights and self determination to them as a class, generally opting to make exceptions for individual cases. The whole plot of "Picard" Season 1 revolves around bans against A.I. and attempts to annihilate them out of fear. Be it Data, or the self-aware programs known as Moriarty (Daniel Davis) and The Doctor (Robert Picardo), all have to argue for their rights, and not always to entirely satisfactory results.

Ginormous Space Navies

In the photochemical age, visual effects were difficult to accomplish and often very expensive. On OG "Trek" and even the movies it was vanishingly rare to see two or more ships simultaneously. This is why the sheer number of ships seen buzzing around in 1977's "Star Wars" was so revolutionary.

But with "Return of the Jedi" the bar was raised, and just having a dozen ships or asteroids whizzing around was no longer enough. That film's most complex effects shot, SB19, consisted of 63 different space ships made up from 170 small rolls of film, and was a nightmare to choreograph and composite.

By the late '90s the introduction of digital compositing made such shots far simpler to do, so much so that even TV shows could afford to have massive space navies squaring off against one another, as demonstrated on "Deep Space Nine" in episodes like "Way of the Warrior." Once CGI became more practical, the die was cast, and the makers of both franchises decided bigger is better to the point of absurdity. See the preposterously enormous fleets capping "The Rise of Skywalker," all three seasons of "Picard," and the first season closer of "Strange New Worlds." When the shooting starts, the distinctions between "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" gets increasingly blurred.

Star Wars and Star Trek Have One Similarity Most Fans Never Notice

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Smaller ships use creative cunning, star trek gets bigger battles to match star wars, star trek's small ship justifications, key takeaways.

• In both franchises, significantly smaller ships have been able to infiltrate or even destroy much larger ships and stations.
• Star Trek reworked the intrigue in DS9 to bring bigger conflicts and battles into the fold to entice audiences like Star Wars had.
• Star Trek 's shuttles and later The Defiant were integral to overcoming many larger threats in the franchise.

It's easily seen throughout media history the great divide of taste and difference that the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises have. One is set in a space fantasy setting of wizards fighting an overwhelming empire, and the other is set in a techno-jargon-justified utopian science fiction adventure. Regardless of fans' preference of Star Wars, Star Trek , or both, it's often agreed that the similarities between these two very different franchises are quite sparse. However, one of those few similarities is often not seen or acknowledged. Although it was Yoda that said "Size matters not." Star Trek and Star Wars both share this philosophy when it comes to their space battles.

Of course, when it comes to Star Trek , the difference between ship sizes is often much more subtle than in Star Wars . Comparing the original USS Enterprise NCC 1701 to a Vulcan Surak class ship is only a size difference of around 150 meters. On the other hand, Admiral Akbar's Mon Calamari Cruiser Home One is 1300 meters, versus Vader's Executor-Class Dreadnought coming in at 19 kilometers long, which is an intense difference. In Star Trek even their shuttles are quite large and clunky, carrying an array of useful systems that Star Wars' fighters cannot compare with their limber frame and tight 1-2 pilot fighters and shuttles. Despite this, there are many examples of under-classed and smaller ships overtaking or defeating larger ones in both franchises. From Borg Cubes to Death Stars, the franchises are seen celebrating underdog vessels. How does this happen in two very different space-based franchises?

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• In the Battle for Sector 001 in First Contact , Picard uses his knowledge of the Borg to focus the fleet's fire on an unimportant point of the cube, destroying it.
• A Star Wars Star Venator-Class Star Destroyer is 88-times bigger than an X-wing fighter.

Both the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises have been shown to have smaller ships and their crews overcoming physically bigger odds. One of the most obvious examples in Star Trek is the NCC 1701-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation going up against the Borg in their Cube ship spanning 27 cubic kilometers. The difference between these ships is considerable in the scope of the Star Trek universe and victory against the Borg ships involves tactical retreats, time travel, and heavy sacrifices of both ships and crew. In the same respect, but presented differently, the entire military culture of space warfare in Star Wars is centered around in-water naval and airborne warfare a-la World War II, lifted into the void of space, which creates dramatic and bombastic battles.

Luckily for Star Wars , despite its ever-growing techno-jargon, is first and foremost a fantasy world with a loose and vague logic behind its technology that allows the rules of cool to flexibly play with the design and spectacle of ship battles. Because of this, small fighters can deliver killing blows to massive space stations like The Death Star, justifying it with gathered intelligence and espionage plot lines in films like Rogue One that reflected spy networks and saboteurs that were organized in WWII. In the case of Star Trek , the shows and films attempt a more future-grounded approach, foregoing the idea of small fighters are a useful tactic since their defense and weapons technologies are far beyond those of the Star Wars franchise from "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away..." Therefore, battling ships can have significant size differences, but none so vast as those seen in Star Wars .

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• One of the largest space battles in Star Trek history is The Second Battle Of Chin'toka in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 .
• The Second Battle of Chin'Toka was fought on several fronts during the Dominion War against many contesting factions.

The two audiences between Star Trek and Star Wars had long been in a struggle to mix and mingle due to the differences in their worldbuilding and genre definitions. With the Golden Age of Television over-saturating the market with spectacular and exciting new sci fi and fantasy shows and films, the Star Trek franchise has tried to write in more reasons to have Star Wars scale battles in a universe of larger and more powerful ships. Before the J.J. Abrams films and shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds elevated Trek's spectacle on television, Star Trek pushed the envelope in a divisive way with Deep Space Nine . Set in a territory only stewarded by the Federation but located in contentious territory, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a wartime espionage sci-fi drama set in a universe so-often focused on exploration and discovery.

To some in the Star Trek fandom, Deep Space 9 was too far gone from the original literature's aim of optimistic futurism, but for many other fans, it was the right tone for the intense intrigue and action people craved at the time. Deep Space Nine featured several climactic large space battles involving smaller enemy and allied ships mixed-in with the more familiar larger ones. Comparatively to Star Wars, these "small ships" were still much larger than an X-wing or TIE Fighter, but still brought the "filling-the-frame" chaotic and operatic spectacle that Star Wars had used to raise the bar on fictional action entertainment.

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• The Defiant is five times bigger than The Millennium Falcon
• Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien was responsible for The Defiant's systems being upgraded and updating it past its original design flaws.

Star Trek has always had one major small ship that has been used to an insanely dynamic number; the shuttles. The use of the shuttle has been the crux and centerpoint of countless episodes throughout the franchise for exploration, unconventional combat, and transport when the transporter beams receive interference. Because of the futuristic technology to this hyper-realized timeline, the shuttle is a wildly dynamic ship that can do an insane amount more than a Lambda-class imperial shuttle from Star Wars . It's almost as operational as a crunched-down version of the larger Star Trek ships minus heavy weapons systems and, even then, is heavily modifiable. All this is to say that Star Trek has proven time and time again that Star Wars is not alone in using significantly smaller ships to overcome larger threats and exploring wonders whether it be big ships or strange and powerful entities. Unlike Star Wars however, their approach to using small ships, even ones equipped for combat, like The Defiant , come with a much more nuanced need to strategize on multiple levels against their more weapons-savvy enemies.

Although not often outclassed in their technology nor inexperienced in warfare, the Federation makes a point to focus their technology on exploratory and utilitarian tools to equip their ships. Their phasers and torpedoes are still essential tools for combat, but they have also used them for scientific purposes as well. This often urges them to need to heavily modify their ships and weaponry in times of war or desperate times, since they are not inherently a warmongering organization primed for battle against enemies with equally-powerful tech that is focused on weaponry. Because of this, using their creative thinking and resourceful variety of officers and intelligence agents creates a formidable brainstorm against even the most powerful enemies. In an attempt to give them a military edge in The Dominion War, Commander Benjamin Sisko took the military prototype for the Federation's fighting ship out of storage and into service. Although The Defiant is much larger than the Millennium Falcon, its old-model story and need to be heavily upgraded and repaired by Miles O'Brien gave it a similar character and function as the ship that led the charge in major missions and battles. The Defiant was originally built to thwart the earlier Borg threat, but it became integral to the Dominion War instead.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

The original trilogy depicts  the heroic development of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi and his fight against Palpatine's Galactic Empire alongside his sister, Leia . The prequels tell the tragic backstory of their father, Anakin, who is corrupted by Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader.

SDCC 2020: The Psychology of Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Moderator Brian Ward of “The Arkham Session” posed four topics to pop culture psychologists Dr. Drea Letamendi (“Lattes with Leia”) and Dr. Ali Mattu (“The Psych Show”) and special guests Todd Stashwick (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) and Jennifer Muro (“Star Wars: Forces of Destiny”) to analyze “The Psychology of Star Trek versus Star Wars.”

Ward did a switcheroo and changed Muro from Team Wars to Team Trek and Stashwick from Team Trek to Team Wars.

·  Dr. Ali Mattu

·  Jennifer Muro (“Star Wars: Forces of Destiny”)

·  Dr. Drea Letamendi

·  Todd Stashwick (“Star Trek: Enterprise”)

First Topic

The Mandalorians and the Klingons have largely been defined by their strong sense of cultural identity, creed and code. How do these two groups demonstrate real-world group dynamics and which group actually shows more promise in terms of social justice? Whose set of principles seems more realistic?

Letamendi of Team Wars : The Mandalorians have a strong code, not unlike the Klingons, that emphasizes strength and bravery in combat. For the Mandalorians, separate pieces of armor have specific significance. The Mandalorians are not a race and they welcome other ethnic groups unlike the Klingons. The Mandalorians “seem to embody what a sophisticated group would think about in terms of actualizing everybody” and “those two components include belongingness and individualism.” While she loves Star Trek, with the Klingons, she struggles to understand the concept that a race such as the Klingons are “characterized by aggression and combat and violence.” It seems to be implied that “this is an inherent part of this race.”

Mattu of Team Trek : Mattu told Letamendi, “You need to watch more Star Trek.” While he found that Letamendi brought up some great points, Mattu felt the Klingons “are a better parallel to the world we are living in right now.” He also noted that the Klingons “have always been a reflection of the world that we live in.” In the 1960s (TOS), even with Mr. Chekov on the bridge of the Enterprise, the Klingons were “kind of the Soviet Union villain.” He added, “We didn’t really know much about them; we just knew that we hated them.” With Worf in “The Next Generation,” he noted, “You begin to see that there’s actually a lot more diversity to the Klingons, to their beliefs.” In “The Next Generation,” the Klingons are not so driven by aggression and war, “but they do have this very strict honor code.”

In the newer series, “Star Trek: Discovery,” the experience with Klingons is mixed. In the first episode of “Star Trek: Discovery,” you see that “there are actually different tribes of Klingons that have evolved on different planets. Worf’s journey from “The Next Generation” to “Deep Space 9” to the movies, is “a great parallel for how we all experience culture” because in some ways Worf is very much Klingon in that “he’s very much integrated with his Klingon identity.” He speaks Klingon very well and appreciates Klingon cuisine and music, but in other ways he’s separated and “more estranged from his Klingon heritage.”

Stashwick of Team Wars : Stashwick stated, “Mandalorian is a choice; it’s not a state of birth.” There was a planet that had a social hierarchy, but where it stands today, “they have come to the aid of the oppressed.” As for Klingons, what he has seen, they have been presented as a very aggressive and Worf is the exception, but not the rule. He is an outlier.

Muro of Team Trek:  Muro was 50-50 on this. When she thinks of diversity with Klingons, she thinks there is a psychological diversity. When Worf talks to other Klingons, some are honorable, and some are really bad to him. She feels it is very relevant now because “It is one race, but there is so much psychological diversity in that race. That is kind of how humans are.”

Mattu of Team Trek:  Mattu added there’s something inspirational to have the “these villains who just a few years later are at peace with the Federation and have a Klingon serving on the bridge of the Enterprise.”

Second Topic 

Ward wanted to talk about emotional intelligence in the context of “someone who started out as an idealist” but who “dipped their toes in the waters of darkness.” The hubris and self-doubt of the characters sent them into hermitage, meaning both Luke Skywalker and Jean-Luc Picard. How do their lives show experience of trauma and how do they grow emotionally?

Mattu of Team Trek:  Mattu said he was really stressed “because honestly, I love Picard and Luke’s journey so much and I think they’re just such beautiful stories of trauma.” Picard has experienced many traumas. He was assimilated by the Borg and was responsible for the deaths of many humans and humanoids. Picard also lost his brother, his sister-in-law and his nephew in a fire (“Star Trek: Generations”), and then he had to face the Borg again and again. Through this all, “what has helped Picard to stay emotionally intelligent to understand what he’s going through to get what he needs, to emotionally be resilient and bounce back, it’s his ship; it’s his crew.” The support of Troi and the meaning and purpose behind being a Starfleet officer is what gave him that resilience and this is “compromised” in “Star Trek: Picard” where he was trying to save Romulans and the Starfleet wouldn’t support him. He could not handle that compromise and went into hiding. “That is something many people do who experience trauma.” Mattu is also a big fan of the journey seen in “The Last Jedi” with Luke. In both, he thought we’re reminded to learn from our failures.

Letamendi of Team Wars : Letamendi agreed that these two stories are about the development of emotional intelligence. EQ is about how we try to override the logic and “just tap into the emotions that we’re experiencing.” EQ is not just about our emotions, but also being able to empathize and understand the emotions of the people around us and letting those feelings drive our behaviors. She said, “I’ve always looked at Trek to help understand social relationships and Star Wars is more about the interpersonal.” When Luke goes into isolation, he is “not yet learning from his setback; he feels responsible for Kylo Ren becoming darkened in his path…he lets that resentment and feelings of self-doubt and failure permeate.” When Rey comes, he’s able to understand that it’s not about himself all the time.

Third Topic

What do Rey and Michael Burnham show us about healthy coping and self-care? How do they preserve or deny their heritage and identity to maintain their mental well-being? What’s the importance of legacy when it comes to saving the universe?

Letamendi of Team Wars : Rey had to adjust and adapt to being a scavenger and this gives her great resilience. Her journey is about developing this sense of resilience. Resilience is “our ability to mentally and emotionally cope with hardship,” but also how we use external resources and ask for help. Despite the hardships she faces, Rey finds contentment and joy which is not only difficult to do, but “also shows that she’s holding on to a sense of hope.”

Mattu of Team Trek:  Mattu mostly agreed and added that she “struggled deeply with her being a Palpatine.” The notion of legacy is “really what you make of it and what you learn and who you want to be.” With Burnham, we find out that she has been raised by “probably the most famous parents in Star Trek and she is a sibling to probably the most famous character, Spock.” Mattu highly recommended watching “Short Treks” because there’s one about her and her father (“Star Trek: Short Treks,” Season 2, Episode 9, “The Girl Who Make the Stars”). She lost her parents and was raised on Vulcan after being adopted by Sarek and Amanda. Burnham has been able to code-switch which adds to her ability to see things from different perspectives. In a sense, this shows how diversity is better. It is harder, but “diversity is a superpower that will help you solve problems you could never do, you could never solve with everyone coming from the same place,” Mattu explained.

Stashwick of Team Wars : Stashwick noted that while many people criticized “The Force Awakens” as being a retread of “A New Hope,” Rey was looking for a sense of family and belonging while Luke was running away from family and looking for adventure. Rey’s newfound family fortified her enough to be able to overcome the darkness.

Muro of Team Trek:  Going last left Muro with little to say and expand upon, but she noted that with Burnham, she has invested a lot in attempting to emulate the Vulcan culture, but finds her resilience is from “giving in to the passion of her humanity.”

Fourth Topic

The Kelvin Timeline was, according to the Official Star Trek Online Wiki, the alternative quantum universe created when a Romulan starship traveled back and destroyed the USS Kelvin.

Mattu of Team Trek:  Mattu talked about “Star Trek Beyond,” and how it begins with Kirk and Spock really struggling with their positions. Kirk feels that things have become “episodic.” Spock is struggling with the loss of Spock prime “as we all were with the death of Leonard Nimoy .” The whole story is about reconnecting with what is Starfleet. Reconnecting with the meaning of what you do can help you through tough times, including living under COVID-19 restrictions.

Letamendi of Team Wars:  Letamendi doesn’t know enough about the Kelvin timelines to be critical. These stories have given us purpose. Star Wars “is storytelling around concepts of redemption” and that’s something that we struggle with. The human experience is filled with making mistakes, having flaws and dealing with not only our own flaws but the flaws and mistakes of others. The Star Wars story has always been about a sense of “can we work on rebuilding connection and harmony.” If you can come back to the good of yourself, “you can accept some of the mistakes you’ve made.” That’s something that is hard to do.

Stashwick of Team Wars : Stashwick noted that with J.J. Abrams, he “clearly was a Star Wars man” who was “handed the keys to the Star Trek kingdom and he made a Star Wars version of Star Trek,” but Stashwick then noted that with Star Wars, “just because you blew up a Death Star once, your problems aren’t over.” Beating back the demons is “an eternal struggle” and “a noble pursuit.” He concluded with “the struggle is real,” and we need to “be strong and be together.”

Live Long and Prosper and May the Force be with you in 2020.

Jana Monji, made in San Diego, California, lost in Japan several times, has written about theater and movies for the LA Weekly , LA Times , and currently, Examiner.com and the Pasadena Weekly . Her short fiction has been published in the Asian American Literary Review .

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Star Trek vs Star Wars: Difference and Comparison

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They have many forms of media and merchandise. Star Trek started as a TV show, and Star Wars began as a movie. Galaxies and unusual species are seen in both.

Key Takeaways Star Trek focuses on scientific exploration and diplomacy, whereas Star Wars revolves around a grand battle between good and evil. Star Trek takes place in a single galaxy with multiple interconnected storylines, while Star Wars is set in a vast, expansive universe with distinct sagas. Star Wars primarily relies on mystical elements like the Force, whereas Star Trek emphasizes technological advancements and human progress.

Star Trek vs Star Wars

The difference between Star Trek and Star Wars is that Star Trek is science fiction while Star Wars is a science fantasy. Star Trek focuses on technology and its possibilities. But Star Wars is centred on a magical force that is too distant from reality.

Star Trek: The Original Series has three seasons. The first episode was aired in 1966. It was created by Gene Roddenberry. The story revolved around the voyages of the USS Enterprise.

Star Wars is a multimedia franchise developed by George Lucas. The first film was released in 1977.

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What is star trek.

Star Trek ran for three seasons with a total of 79 episodes from 1966 to 1969. It tells the story of a space exploration mission in the 23rd century.

Later, the series got recognized and grew into one of the most recognizable science-fiction series of all time. Many spin-off series were produced afterwards.

The organization named Starfleet in Star Trek is headquartered on Earth and was established for defence, research, peacekeeping, and exploration. It is maintained by the Federation.

The show included a multicultural and multiracial cast, which at that time was daring and brought about some controversies. It is altruistic and discusses the political and social issues in an allegorical manner.

What is Star Wars?

Star Wars franchise includes novels, comics, movies, video games, toys, and several television series. It is an example of the space opera genre.

The mainline story known as the Skywalker Saga wrapped up in 2019. There are various successful series in this franchise, like The Mandalorian.

Unlike the other space heroes who are militaristic, Star Wars characters are romantic individualists. Two noble Jedi Knights identify a boy destined to wield the force – mystical energy.

Star Wars explores themes like unity, democracy, knighthood, bravery , adventure, redemption, hope, the good, and the evil. It has its inspiration from the fall of the Roman Republic and empire formation.

Main Differences Between Star Trek and Star Wars

• The most famous character in Star Trek is Mr. Spock, who is a good guy. In contrast, the most recognized character in Star Wars is an evil one -Darth Vader.
• Star Trek shows the modern world with shiny, advanced technologies. But in Star Wars, an old world with dirty, grimy types of equipment can be seen.
• https://search.proquest.com/openview/5f5fe66403758b4b09c08267ea5b87ff/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=5938
• https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article-abstract/55/1/27/1641439

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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page .

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Star Trek Vs Star Wars and More: Settling the Ultimate Sci-Fi Debate

It’s a debate that’s raged for what seems like aeons — but ahead of the premiere of the latest Star Trek series, Picard , now is a good time to take a fresh look at the forces of Star Trek and how they’d fare against those of that other epic space saga, Star Wars. While we’re at it, we’ve also taken the opportunity to compare the Star Trek universe against that of Warhammer 40,000 — because why not? — and the influential  Dune , which is getting a Denis Villeneuve-directed big-screen adaptation later this year. But we don’t stop with just the writer’s opinion. These things are nothing if not contentious. Which is why we’ve also consulted Fandom community representative, Mike Delaney — an expert across all four properties — for his valuable insight. To boldly go…

Star Trek Vs Star Wars

At first glance, this seems like a fairly even match. Both sci-fi franchises depict interstellar civilisations where faster-than-light travel is routine, where myriad alien species live and work together, and where conflicts are, by and large, resolved by spaceships firing powerful beam weapons at each other. 

But the devil is in the detail. In Star Wars, ships typically fire lasers . But in Star Trek, ships typically fire phasers – weapons that emit streams of pulsed energy particles. Far more powerful than conventional lasers, ship-mounted phasers are capable of destroying asteroids and laying waste to entire continents. 

In comparison, lasers are relatively feeble. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “ The Outrageous Okona “, the USS Enterprise-D is struck by ship-mounted lasers that fail to penetrate even the navigational shields of Captain Picard ‘s iconic starship. Thus we can see that even with a huge numerical advantage, the forces of Star Wars simply could not survive any engagement with the Federation , the Romulans , or even the Cardassians .

We can foresee only two ways that the fleets of the Galactic Empire could triumph over the forces of Trek. One would be to follow in the footsteps of Vice Admiral Holdo , and to use hyperdrive-equipped ships to simply ram their opponents. The other way would be to convince the commander of the Trek forces to communicate via a video link; as we saw in The Empire Strikes Back , this would allow a suitably ruthless Sith practitioner to simply choke him remotely. 

While both Kirk and Picard have demonstrated steely resolve in their many adventures, neither would long resist the pressure of a crushed windpipe. The Trek forces would soon surrender.  

WINNER: Star Wars

Community Verdict

Mike says: Star Trek versus Star Wars is a hotly debated topic, with both sides having their good and bad arguments, and counterpoints. The argument presented here is a little too simple, and rooted in information that I’d counter is not entirely accurate. While smaller vessels such as starfighters or armed freighters do mount laser weapons, larger capital warships, such as Star Destroyers, are armed with turbolasers . Turbolasers are more powerful, and are also capable of destroying asteroids in a single shot, as shown in The Empire Strikes Back , as well as destroying the surface of a planet in a tactic known as Base Delta Zero .

Another factor to consider is sheer size and tonnage. A standard Imperial-class Star Destroyer is 1,600 metres in length and mounts at least 120 individual weapon emplacements (generally sixty turbolasers and sixty ion cannons ). In comparison, both the Galaxy-class and Sovereign-class  only measure up to 641 and 685 meters respectively.

Depending on refit configuration, the Galaxy-class is armed with a maximum of 14 phaser arrays and two torpedo launchers , while the Sovereign mounts 16 phaser arrays and 10 torpedo launchers. In a straight-up fight, the forces of the Empire would have a size and weapons advantage. However, the technology of the Federation can even the playing field somewhat.

Star Trek ships, in general, are shown to be a lot more maneuverable than the bulkier capital ships of the Star Wars universe. Other technological innovations include transporter technology, and the skill of Federation engineers in adapting technology on the fly to defeat enemies would serve them well in a fight with the Empire.

All of this doesn’t even bring ground forces into the mix. The Empire fields an army of millions of troops, backed by mechanized war machines. In comparison, none of the major ground forces of the Star Trek universe have been shown to employ similar methods. In a stand-up fight, races like the Klingons and Cardassians could match the Empire for military discipline and prowess, but the Federation has always been shown to be outclassed in ground combat operations. Unless the Federation can find a primitive race of teddy bears to deploy as front line troops that is.

Star Trek Vs Warhammer 40,000

There are vast volumes of official lore for Warhammer 40K , but it all boils down to this: “In the grim, dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only war!” Most settings in speculative fiction depict a future that would be in some way or other cool to live in, but 40K is a nightmare for everyone involved. The Imperium of Man is in a near-constant state of total war with undead robots, intergalactic insect monsters, humanoid fungus creatures, insidious space commies, and literal demons from hell. 

The arrayed star fleets of Star Trek would enjoy an initial advantage in terms of efficient chains of command, and technology – Warp Drives do not require ships to travel through a parallel universe filled with supernatural horrors. But in any protracted engagement, the forces of Trek would face insurmountable asymmetrical threats. 

The Dark Eldar would launch lightning raids to enslave hapless Federation citizens, vanishing back into the Warp without a trace. Brave Klingon warriors would find their Bat’leths of little use against the claws of the Tyranid Carnifex . Even the wily Ferengi would meet their match if they tried to trade with the treacherous, rat-like Stryxis . 

As for the Imperium of Man, a pan-galactic empire spanning millions of worlds, the United Federation of Planets would be perceived as an abomination, seeing as it fully integrates non-Human species (filthy ‘ Xenos ‘). Even though full mobilisation would take years, the Imperium would ultimately field millions of Space Marines and billions of Imperial Guard , utterly overwhelming all resistance.

If counsellor Deanna Troi were to read the mind of an Adeptus Astartes storming the bridge of the Enterprise, she might get a brief insight into his fanatical obedience to his Emperor before being sliced in two with a chainsword for the unspeakable crime of having a non-human mother. “ Live long and prospe r” would be no match for “ Exterminatus ”. The Imperium may be the human faction in 40K, but they’re not exactly the good guys. 

WINNER: Warhammer 40,000

Mike says:  In my opinion, this is pretty much spot on here; the entire ideal of the Federation as a United Nations of space is anathema to the ideals of the Imperium of Man. The Federation’s alliance of races would be an immediate target for the Imperium as they sought to cleanse the universe of Xeno filth. They might offer the human race a chance to renounce their alien allies and accept Imperial compliance, but the ideals of the Federation would not allow them to abandon their fellow denizens of the galaxy.

Militarily, the Federation would have no chance against the forces of the Imperium. As noted above, the Federation has consistently been shown to be outclassed in ground combat. This would only be intensified by the condition known as “Transhuman Dread”. Normal humans would literally freeze in fear as their minds rebelled at seeing seven-feet tall armored killing machines with speed and strength beyond that of a normal person. Warrior cultures like the Klingons and Jem’Hadar might fair better, but the outcome would be inevitable.

Star Trek Vs Dune

Dune is an oddity amongst sci-fi franchises. It depicts a distant future in which advanced computers, AIs, and androids have all been outlawed. Instead, the human race has sought to maximise its effectiveness through selective breeding, meditation, and powerful mind-expanding drugs. A rich or powerful person with access to the Spice Melange can live for centuries, and the galaxy-brained Guild Navigators , who make faster-than-light travel possible, can live for millennia.

In the realm of ship-to-ship combat, it would appear that the vessels fielded by the varied star-faring civilisations of Star Trek would have a tremendous advantage over Guild Heighliners , which are little more than gargantuan tubes used for hauling cargo. In any direct confrontation, the anti-matter explosion created by a single Photon Torpedo would be enough to reduce a Heighliner to space scrap. 

But in terms of human potential, the aristocrats of Dune definitely have the edge. Paul Atreides , his son Leto II , and other members of their esteemed bloodline have the gift of Prescience : the ability to see with perfect accuracy events in the future – and the present. 

Assuming Paul or Leto II (known to some as the ‘God Emperor’) were leading the myriad forces of Dune in battle, they would have absolute knowledge of all enemy starship locations. They would then be able to make landings on undefended targets with impunity, fielding Sardaukar terror troops, Fremen partisans, and Fish Speaker super-soldiers to kidnap or execute leaders, sabotage key infrastructure, and subjugate civilian populations. 

In any scenario where the probability of victory was higher than zero, the forces of Dune would triumph. An implicit axiom of the Star Trek universe is that we should believe in the power of technology. Dune teaches us that it might be more important to believe in ourselves. 

WINNER: Dune

Mike says:  On the face of it, the areas of engagement would be evenly split. The forces of the Star Trek universe would have the edge in space combat, capable of travelling at faster-than-light speeds with incredible combat capabilities. The Dune forces, despite the capabilities of the Heighliners and the skill of the Navigators, would still need to unload their forces from the massive vessel’s holds before they were capable of attacking.

Conversely, as has been stated above, Federation ground forces are wholly lacking and have been shown time and again to be weaker than those of the Klingons or Cardassians. Against the various forces of the God Emperor, they would again be on the back foot and subject to defeat.

The Prescience of the God Emperor would be a defining factor in any conflict, but the Federation has proven itself to be resourceful time and time again when having to overcome adversity. If Picard managed to reason with Q , and Kirk could literally talk robots into self-destructing, then the possibility exists that the two powers could come to some kind of accord. If all else fails, the Federation could employ time-travel by slingshotting around a sun to counter the powers of the God Emperor. At the very least, this would be a much more even fight.

WINNER: Neither/both (It would be a fairly even fight and they’d probably forge an alliance)

Ultimately, the forces of Star Trek would fail, if push came to shove, against those of Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 — but with the possibility of forging an alliance with the forces of Dune , there’s hope for the crossover universes yet.

Star Trek: Picard premieres on January 23.

Covering the business and politics of space

Star Trek vs Star Wars Debate at 39th Space Symposium: Who Won?

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However, the outcome wasn’t without contention. Team Star Wars walked away with the victory, but the crowd audibly leaned in favor of the arguments put forth by Team Star Trek. 

Who won the Star Trek vs Star Wars debate? — SpaceNews (@SpaceNews_Inc) April 12, 2024

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Star trek: every war in the franchise, chronology explained.

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Star Trek's New Warp Drive Breaks the Prime Directive in a Way No-One Expected

Star trek isn’t supposed to have money: what is latinum, after 57 years, star trek settles the truth about trelane's godlike species.

Star Trek has had many wars over the decades, ranging from smaller conflicts between species to galaxy-wide battles that have gone down as defining points in history. The Star Trek franchise began in 1966 with Star Trek: The Original Series , and to date has produced nine television shows and thirteen films. With the sheer amount of stories that have been told, it isn't surprising storylines about war have popped up so often.

Generally, Star Trek's goal has been to depict a utopian future. Creator Gene Roddenberry was interested in showing an optimistic vision of the future, with humans having overcome their differences as a species to become players on the galactic stage. Conflict, however, is what makes television and films inherently interesting, and not every alien species humans come into contact with in Star Trek  have been friendly

Related: Star Trek Has More Wars Than Star Wars: Here Are The Greatest

The franchise has its fair share of important wars, ones that have laid the groundwork for ongoing storylines and established their own mythos. The series contains ten such wars, plus four other conflicts that mark definitive points on the Star Trek timeline. Not all of these were depicted on-screen in their entirety, but all have been explored in some way by various Star Trek shows or movies.

The Eugenics Wars

One of Star Trek's earliest wars was the Eugenics Wars, which took place from 1992-1996 in canon. The Eugenics Wars were never shown directly on-screen but were referenced heavily in episodes of  TOS and Star Trek: Enterprise . They began when a group of scientists sought to use genetic engineering to improve humanity, creating a race of superhumans who had superior strength, stamina, and intellect. Unfortunately, these individuals also possessed enhanced cruelty and ambition, and took over large portions of the planet, ruling as tyrants and dictators. They were eventually defeated but many escaped on a sleeper ship and were found centuries later by Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise. Star Trek's most famous superhuman was Khan, who first appeared in the TOS episode "Space Seed".

World War III

The Eugenics Wars also gave rise to World War III , which was explored mostly in TOS ,  Enterprise , and briefly in  Star Trek: Discovery . World War III started in 2026 from lingering issues surrounding genetic engineering and went on to reap an enormous loss of life until its end in 2053. Many factions during the war controlled their soldiers with narcotics, and eco-terrorism as well as nuclear weapons were used heavily, resulting in nuclear fallout that lasted until at least 2079. Luckily in 2063, humanity made first contact with the Vulcans as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact . The existence of extraterrestrial life united humanity in a way nothing else had, and within 50 years Earth had eliminated issues of poverty, disease, and hunger. Still, World War III had a profound effect on the planet and its consequences were felt well into the 22nd century.

The Temporal Wars

The Temporal Wars were a series of conflicts fought across both space and time, but humanity first became involved in 2151 when Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew were pulled into a portion of the conflict involving the Klingons and the Suliban. This was explored in the pilot episode of Enterprise  and the Temporal Wars went on to become a major plot point throughout the series. Much of the conflict was considered a cold war, which became a full-scale war in the Enterprise two-parter "Stormfront" when Earth's history was changed by the Na'kuhl. Archer and his crew were able to end the conflict with the help of Temporal Agent Daniels. The conflict was not explored again until season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery , where it came up in conjunction with Discovery's time jump to the 32nd century, the time period around when many of the Temporal Wars had originated.

Related: Star Trek Hints Temporal Wars Happened In The Background Of The Franchise

The Earth-Romulan War

The Earth-Romulan War was the last major conflict between Earth and an alien species before the United Federation of Planets was formed and was mostly shown or discussed on  Star Trek: TOS and Enterprise . The war lasted from 2156 to 2160, although tensions had been building during the early 2150s as Romulans sought to keep humanity from becoming a major galactic power. Open hostilities ended in 2160, when human, Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite forces allied to defeat the Romulans. The end of the war resulted in the creation of the Romulan Neutral Zone, and the four allied forces in the battle became the Federation's founding members. However, the war had lasting effects on Romulan and Federation relations, and hostilities between Starfleet and the Romulans have been depicted in nearly every Star Trek series.

The Federation-Klingon War

The Federation-Klingon War was the biggest of many conflicts between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, although hostilities had existed for a long time. The official war was not initiated until the Battle of the Binary Stars in 2256, which was depicted in Star Trek: Discovery.  While the war itself wasn't shown until Discovery , conflicts with the Klingons were explored in Enterprise and  TOS , including the Klingon invasion of Organia in TOS episode "Errand of Mercy". Official peace would not be achieved between the two powers until 2293, as shown in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

The Klingon Civil War

The Klingon Civil war was a short-lived conflict from 2367-2368, mostly explored in the Star Trek: The Next Generation  two-parter "Redemption". The war was fought over who had the right to be Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, with current Chancellor Gowron on one side and the supporters of the House of Duras on the other. Although the war was fought mostly amongst the Klingons, several other forces came into play, including the Romulans and the Federation. The character of Worf from TNG was heavily involved, at one point even resigning his Starfleet commission to join the fighting. Ultimately, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D helped to expose a plot between the Duras sisters and the Romulans, putting an end to hostilities and reaffirming Gowron as Chancellor.

The Occupation Of Bajor

The Occupation of Bajor by the Cardassian Union was first introduced as a plot point in Star Trek: TNG  but went on to set up several interconnected conflicts in Deep Space Nine and Voyager . It began officially in 2328, although the Cardassians had maintained a military presence on Bajor since 2319. During the Occupation, the Cardassians imposed their militaristic form of government on the Bajorans, strip-mined the planet for its resources, and forced the Bajoran people into slavery, committing genocide on a massive scale. Over the course of the Occupation, the Bajorans mounted a resistance movement that used guerilla warfare and terrorist tactics to attempt to drive the Cardassians out. Fighting between the Resistance and the Cardassians lasted until the Cardassians withdrew in 2396, due to pressure from Cardassian Central Command and the Federation.

Related: Star Trek: Where The Cardassians Are In Picard

The Federation-Cardassian War

At the same time the Cardassians were occupying Bajor, they were engaged in a series of battles with the Federation over disputed territories that later became known as the Federation-Cardassian War. The war started in the 2340s, and the conflicts were largely explored over the course of Star Trek: TNG . During the war, both Cardassian and Federation forces battled for control over locations along the Federation-Cardassian border, but by the mid-2360s, the fighting had come to a stalemate, which led to the peace treaty and armistice being drawn up in 2367. The armistice created further problems however when it established a demilitarized zone along the border. During the creation of the demilitarized zone, a number of planets with both Federation and Cardassian colonies on them fell into dispute, giving rise to the formation of the Maquis.

The Maquis Insurrection

The Maquis were first introduced in Star Trek: TNG but went on to play a major role in both  Deep Space Nine and  Voyager . As discussed, the establishment of a demilitarized zone between Federation and Cardassian space caused a number of Federation colonies to become stranded. The Federation attempted to help the colonists evacuate, but many refused to leave and instead asked for help from Starfleet in protecting themselves, help which Starfleet was unable to provide because of the treaty. Once it was clear to the colonists they were on their own, they formed a group called Maquis and began fighting back against both Cardassian and Starfleet forces. The Maquis grew into a full-blown resistance movement from 2370 to 2373, but once the Cardassians joined forces with the Dominion, they used their newfound military power to wipe out the Maquis, putting a bloody end to the rebellion. Starfleet considered any remaining Maquis terrorists, and those left alive were imprisoned by the Federation.

The Dominion War

The Dominion War was the central focus of much of Deep Space Nine  and was arguably the biggest war depicted during any Star Trek series. Although the official war only lasted two years beginning in 2373, the conflict had been building from 2370. The Dominion was a coalition of planets from the Gamma Quadrant, ruled over by the Founders, a race of shapeshifters who sought to expand their empire into the Alpha Quadrant. Using infiltration tactics, the Founders insinuated themselves into Alpha Quadrant politics in an attempt to destabilize established power structures. This lead to several conflicts between the Federation, the Klingons, and the Cardassians, before all three realized they were being manipulated. The Federation and the Klingons united themselves against the Founders, but Gul Dukat allied the Cardassians with the Dominion in exchange for power. When all-out war broke out between the Federation powers and the Dominion, it took several large-scale battles and a Cardassian rebellion before the Dominion was defeated and forced to retreat to the Gamma Quadrant.

Other Notable Star Trek Conflicts

While the ten wars already discussed make up the majority of important conflicts in the Star Trek franchise, there have been others that aren't necessarily all-out wars but deserve mention. The most important is the Battle of Wolf 359, which was the first battle fought between Starfleet and the Borg. Wolf 359 was depicted in the TNG two-parter episode "The Best of Both Worlds" and was arguably the opening salvo of the Federation's ongoing war with the Borg-  a war that the Star Trek franchise has yet to resolve. In addition to Wolf 359, a few other important battles should be mentioned. These include the battle with Control at the end of Discovery season 2, the Khitomer massacre, a Romulan-Klingon conflict from TNG , and the Attack on Mars in Star Trek: Picard season 1, a Romulan-orchestrated attack that resulted in the Federation's ban on synthetic life in 2385.

Related: All 5 Changes Star Trek: Picard Made To Romulans

Although Star Trek was first conceived of as a utopian ideal of the future, the franchise has seen more than its fair share of conflict. While many of the big wars in the franchise's history took place before humanity's first contact with the Vulcans and the formation of the Federation, just as many took place during a period of time when peace was supposed to be the order of the day. With new Star Trek content being produced for the franchise all the time, it is likely audiences will continue to see storylines about war going into the future.

More: Every First Contact In The Star Trek Movies

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