B.a.Debate: Star Wars .vs. Star Trek

My name is B.a.D, and I'll be taking the "Star Trek" side of this argument. I know Mizzle will be taking the other side, and anyone else who wants to join in will be more than welcome to present their side. The only rule is one paragraph at a time, so no one goes off on any tangents. Except for me. I get this paragraph to introduce, plus my next one stating my first argument.


All right, well I can make a variety of arguments, but first let me state that I DO NOT HATE STAR WARS. I don't. I kind of like it. Some of it. I just think Star Trek is better. But since this paragraph actually has to make an argument for my side, I'll start with an obvious one. In terms of TV and movies, Star Wars has had 6 movies. Star Trek has had 10 movies and 5 series, 3 for 7 seasons, 1 for 5 seasons long, and one for 4 seasons long. That's over 400 hours of Star Trek .vs. maybe 14 hours of Star Wars. Now, I'm not trying to say that all of that has been great and that none of it's been bad, because that's not true. However, in terms of what's been better than Star Wars, I believe what's good in Star Trek completely dwarfs what's good in Star Wars. Even if you think everything in Star Wars is good, which it's not, that's still a pretty daunting comparison. Especially since you consider that there was at least comparable levels of hype and poularity between a lot of the movies. So my first argument would be that in terms of airtime and actual material, the amounts for Star Trek .vs. the amounts for Star Wars speaks to how much more demand there is for Star Trek.

Ah yes, the old "we have a tv series" speach... well let me tell you Mr. B.a.D, 100 hours of Star Trek is worth 1 hour of Star Wars, I'm going for quality not quantity. And you must remember that there are gay little cartoons about Star Wars... mainly about the clone wars, but still. Either way they don't matter. What matters here, is that of the 6 Star Wars movies. 3 of them (the originals) have been re-released how many times, and how often have they brought in millions? Did I mention I have a copy of the first Star Trek movie in Plastic and can't get an offer from a single person for it? Or how about those line ups for the Star Wars movies that have always been there? Seen the extra footage? They have 70's nerds lined up camping out for MILES.

It's not A TV series. It's MULTIPLE TV series. 4 of them over the last 2 decades, plus the one in the 60's or 70's or whenever it was. And while I'm quite sure that every single Star Wars re-release HAS had millions, if not "billions" of people buying them, that doesn't really prove much. Star Trek has only been remastered a few times for DVD, but I find George Lucas' affinity for re-releasing things a lot like a 65 year old hooker breaking out the pink pumps and some glitter (because the guys like that) and blowing sailors (Star Wars fans) for 5 bucks a pop. The fact that there's ACTUALLY people out there with 18 copies of the original Star Wars does not mean that much. How many times can you really re-release something? IT'S THE SAME MOVIE, all Lucas wants is the money, and fair play to him, really. If I had nations full of people waiting on baited breath to buy me a new mansion when and all I have to do is spend 20 minutes putting some audio base in a wookies voice so he can snort more like a retard, I'd be doing it too. I'd also be laughing. A lot. And mark my words. He will not be having as many re-releases of the last 3 installments. Because they will never be regarded as what the originals we're. Maybe one "ultimate Star Wars set" with all 6 movies. That's it. He shat all over his legacy with the last 3, and even a lot of the Star Wars faithful will back me up on that.

Hell, I'd even back you up on that one. But if someone can read they'd realize that there's so much depth to those poorly put together movies. And even though they are shit, they are gold shit. Just check the box office. And I think it speaks volumes when you can re-release the same thing over and over again and each time make millions. It's just that good. Think of if they re-released the Star Trek videos or seasons or whatever they try to call themselves. The "faithful" would buy a copy maybe, but it wouldn't be all over you McDonalds cup, or your sev (7-11) slurpee cup that you paid $3.50 more for so you can have that wicked Darth Vader Helmet on top that I placed by my tv for at least a month. Furthermore; how much time do you need "4 of them over the last 2 decades" to write about some homoeratic men in tights who circle the galaxy pointlessly trying to be diplomatic to a universe of poorly dreamt up "aliens" who don't care about their mission. Yes the 6 movie set is coming... yes it will sell out before it's in stores. Yes I will buy it. Yes, it will be the same, yes I will be happy, yes George can retire 10 more times because of it. Look at the Simpsons... they are 10 or 11 seasons deep, when they started releasing their seasons (1 per year) and they've been making a killing off of it. Lets just take a step back to our school days and turn to page 37 under the heading "Marketing Genius". You can't hate something or someone for being smarter then you. Sit down and enjoy the ride. Grab one of the million books they have with the Star Wars name on it if you need to pass the time. You just might buy another one when you realize how much depth their actually is.

Ha ha ha, OK Mizzle, well I already agreed with you a bit on those, so let's switch gears and not just go back and forth about the same stuff. So let me pose a question to you... if you've watched Star Trek with an unjaded eye, you know that a lot of the stuff they have on their programs are pretty good stories. Maybe they're not ALL (all though there are some good ones) "action" stories, they're still good stories. Do you think that Star Wars stories are really that rich, going beyond a typical, "good .vs. evil" story? I'm not saying "good .vs. evil" can't be a good story. I'm just asking if you think there's much there BEYOND that.

Yes, I will meet in the middle with you. To answer your question... I would say yes. I say yes because I think several video games all with different stories and backgrounds, as well as countless books, all with their own stories and backgrounds to the things that exist in the star wars world can't be wrong. Let me take this another direction. Lets view why maybe it is that I like Wars so much better then Trek, and you more Trek then Wars. I myself find I have too little patience for a story like Star Trek. Allow me to explain. I'm a fairly simple person in terms of my tv viewing. I never watched a lot as a kid, and still don't to this day. However I do and have watched a lot of sports... could it be that I am more suited to the "give me the goods and send me on my way" style of entertainment? Where you (I get this from your following of the various tv seasons) enjoy to see a story drawn out over a couple of months with more tension that is delayed for a longer period of time? We're getting a little bit out there with this, but do you think that we should agree to disagree because we have two different styles of entertainment needs? Please feel free to speak for yourself, but I think I like the 2 hour sit down hit the story start to finish, leave me with it for a few years and we'll get back to it. Where you might find you have better planning and or time commitment to actually follow such a series? I guess to keep people happy, I'd say my personality type enjoys Star Wars and their layout. However, what does that say for those who like em both?

Well, I assumed we'd be agreeing to disagree from the beginning because I know we're both too set in our views for either one to convince the other. And while I believe there might be merit to your point, I don't think you give yourself enough credit in terms of your "media intelligence". After all, we watched The Shield and Arrested Development and you liked those, and those are smart shows with a lot of story to both of them. In either case, I do believe your point has merit. However, I do believe this would be a good point to end it unless you have anything else to bring up. If you do, then I'll be glad to give my response. If not, this has been fun. We should have a B.a.Debate over something that's actually relevant to society and not just nerds sometime. Blahahaha.

B.a.D

Yes, well it seems as though we didn't accomplish anything with this. Other then possibly just go over points already discussed. I actually feel bad that we have taken time from the readers to read nothing... I hope they were at least mildly entertained and have perhaps thought out their opinion... ah well. You like your like and I like mine. And yes, maybe someday we'll have another debate on something more relevant.

Mizzle