As a Trekkie, JJ took the Star Trek movie and treated it like Star Wars. It made a funner, younger, better looking, and action packed movie but devoid of plot or substance of any issues we're dealing with the here and now. JJ's dream was to direct Star Wars and I get the feeling he got a lot of practice and feedback from his trek movies. The other older movies are a mess of more misses than hits and it sucks that paramount decided to milk it to the bone before Abrams put some life into it. Yay more movies, boo that it's soul is gutted with only the known characters and ship remaining. I don't think trek is hardcore scifi, but it's a damn good gateway for people interested in that genre.
I watched Trek as a kid in the 70's and I was ok, but when Star Wars came on the scene when I was 8, everything changed. I've never watched any of the Trek series but the originals, and have only seen pieces of the movies in passing. I probably believe more in the force than organized religion. May the force be with you.
I'm very surprised that the split is so drastic. I did expect Star Wars to have more support, but not by that percentage.
Surprised people are surprised by the results. People really don't think Star Wars is a least twice as popular as Star Trek in the general population? I'm actually surprised the results aren't more skewed.
Yeah, I'm surprised at people's surprise. Box office gross doesn't mean everything, but there is a reason why the original Star Wars grossed more than all the Shatner era movies combined. The Force Awakens has almost already equaled the JJ Trek movies combined. Star Wars is a pop culture phenomenon, while Star Trek is more of a niche franchise. This coming from somebody who considers himself a big Star Trek fan, just not to the level of Star Wars.
I thought it was more taboo being a Trekkie compared to Star Wars (Warsie?). Like when I was growing up people who like Star Trek were prone to being called a nerd while a Star Wars fan was a-OK. But really, you can't really compare the two that much IMO. The closest thing they have in common are the word "Star" and are set in space. Both are good, but I would choose Star Wars because I was introduced to Yoda and Luke before I knew of Captain Kirk.
I bet this is for a lot of people. It was for me too. Star Wars appeals to the child in you, not saying it is a bad thing, it's a good thing. It's simple, it's to the point and it's right in front of you. It's basically about space samurai, dogfighting, and wars. Who could hate that? Star Trek is something different. You are not going to get high paced battles. It's very methodical. I would find it rare for a kid to get into Star Trek. I'd say try to watch TNG now as an adult, they are all on netflix, you may be pleasantly surprised. Nah, you won't see fast paced battles or anything but the intrigue, mystery, characters are all really what makes it. The situations feel a lot more real in Trek. As for JJ, it must be something. He's basically revived both Star Trek and Star Wars. Since Trek is getting a show once again (The small screen is where Trek always shined.) and that wouldn't have been possible without the action trek movies he's made. Those at least made people care about Star Trek once again.
LOL at the people bashing other peoples opinion! Both Star franchises are iconic and both have a huge following! Neither is better than the other, although you/I might not share the same preference. I prefer Star Wars! I even prefer Stargate SG1 over Star Trek, BUT that doesn't mean that I don't like Star Trek, it's just means it's my least favorite. ....... ....... .......
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I was curious, I know Star Wars is the candy of today - was wondering how Star Trek holds up. I like them both, but to me Star Trek is more my style - and Star Wars feels like popcorn fun. Both are enjoyable - but one makes me think a bit more. DD
Not only is Star Trek not hard Sci-Fi, it isn't even less fantasy than Star Wars. The big fantasy element of Star Wars is the force, which allows the users to do things like telekinesis, limited precognition, and minor telepathy. Star Trek has telepaths, telekinetics, immortal slug creatures that bond with a humanoid host body, reincarnated Klingons, a ribbon in space that lets one live in one's happy place, beings that can control reality, and "technology" that can be repurposed to do basically anything (like the main deflector on the Enterprise). Hell, Wars even went with a technobabble explanation for the Force in the prequels, so they have the same "because, aliens" excuse that Trek has. Both are fantasy, one just tries to dress it up more as science.
Spock is arguably the most interesting character that American television ever produced. In any genre.
I love them both and can't really decide which franchise I like better. So for your this exercise I'm just going to say I liked the JJ Abrams version of Star Trek movie very slightly better than the JJ Abrams version of Star Wars movie. I maintain the right to change my mind at anytime though. I thought Star Trek (JJ Abrams movie) was worthy of an Oscar. That movie had one epic great scene after another, the dialog was outstanding, the chemistry between the characters was outstanding and the fact that he successfully replaced the actors for such iconic characters was just amazing. Great camera work and sound work as well. The opening scene where Kirk's father goes down with the ship and the bar scene where Kirk meets Uhura are probably two of my favorite scenes in any movie. I still haven't seen Star Wars a second time yet but the overall story, although similar to the original trilogy, may be slightly better than the overall Star Trek story IMO. The chemistry and interaction between the original cast (specifically Harrison Ford and new members) and new cast members were better than it was in Star Trek. Like Star Trek, the chemistry with the new cast members was outstanding as was the dialog. The special effects for Star Wars was just as good or better than in Star Trek. Hell, as I'm writing this my opinion as to which movie is better might be changing. IMO, JJ Abrams, Star Wars is Oscar worthy. Regardless which movie was better I absolutely loved them both. JJ did as good of a job as anyone could have possibly done and set the franchise up for great 2nd and 3rd movies.
Total Grossing Movies: Star Trek $257.7M Star Trek Into Darkness $228.8M Star Wars The Force Awakens $248.0M opening weekend
Or the new line of Star Trek with the new cast, specifically Star Trek (2009), vs any of the last five Star Wars released, including The Force Awakens.
