Star Wars and Star Trek have played a pivotal role in the world of pop culture. The two franchises are key names in the sci-fi genre. This has also led to numerous instances of the two fandoms going against each other, regarding which is better. But William Shatner proved that the fight among the fans is futile, as Star Trek might not have even existed if it were not for Star Wars.
Many fans of the Gene Roddenberry-created franchise may disagree with the James T. Kirk actor’s view, as he is technically wrong, if we observe the timeline of both the IPs. However, as William Shatner told the full story about Star Wars‘ impact on Star Trek, I cannot agree more.
Star Wars‘ success was crucial to Star Trek‘s rise
Before anybody comes at me with the timeline of both the franchises, it is to be noted that Star Trek: The Original Series ran from 1966 to 1969. On the other hand, George Lucas’ Star Wars: A New Hope was released in 1977.
During a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in 2016 (via CNN), William Shatner shocked several fans, including me, by revealing Star Wars‘ importance to Star Trek. According to Shatner, before the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, their OG series always faced the threat of cancellation, which eventually ended the series after three seasons in 1969.
First of all, ‘Star Wars’ created ‘Star Trek.’ You know that? Every year there was the threat to be canceled. The third year, we were canceled, and everybody accepted it.
However, when Star Wars was released in 1977, it caused massive havoc at the box office. It earned $775 million worldwide and convinced the Star Trek makers that they could move ahead with their IP as well.
At Paramount Studios they were running around bumping into each other: ‘What do we got?! What do we got to equal ‘Star Wars?’ This is a big thing! There was this thing that we canceled, under another management, it was called Star …Trek? Let’s resurrect that!
William Shatner continued that, unlike Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture‘s production was rushed by Paramount Studios. He added that the production was “flawed“, the special effects were poor, and the end product was not as expected.
Despite mixed reviews and major complaints, the 1979 Star Trek movie did a decent box office collection. Most importantly, it convinced Paramount to move ahead with the franchise, which makes me come to the point that Shatner was right when he revealed Star Wars‘ help in Star Trek‘s creation.
What is the central difference between Star Wars and Star Trek?
The Trekkies and the Star Wars nerds may have an everlasting debate on who is better, but it is no lie that both franchises helped each other majorly. George Lucas himself appreciated the original Star Trek show’s impact on the sci-fi landscape. Lucas added that the Trekkies made him realize that his franchise has an audience.
On the contrary, if any Trekkie is still unconvinced by William Shatner’s remarks, it must be noted that after the mild success of the 1979 Star Trek movie, the franchise has only expanded so far. To date, we have 13 movies and 12 TV series, with another series, Starfleet Academy, currently under production.
Nevertheless, William Shatner also mentioned a key difference that sets the two franchises apart. Despite both starting with “Star” and focusing on space travel, Star Trek falls more in the sci-fi genre, and the stories are grounded and based on humanity, whereas Star Wars is more of a fantasy.
Star Trek at its best tells human stories. It’s philosophical. There’s humanity. There’s a principle involved. And it’s well done. It’s about people. ‘Star Wars’ was grand, like opera. It was huge with great special effects. It was a marvelously entertaining film, but it wasn’t specifically about people the way those Star Treks were.
I must also add that the Earth of the Star Trek universe shares many of its historical elements with the real world. But Star Wars follows the trope of The Hero’s Journey, and though it features many humans, the existence of Earth in George Lucas’ universe is a subject of debate.
Their messages and philosophies have differences, but still, nobody can deny that both franchises changed the world of pop culture in their own ways. It will be a lie not to admit that without Star Wars‘ creation, we might have missed a major chunk of sci-fi content from World Cinema.
Everything Star Wars can be streamed on Disney+, while the entirety of Star Trek can be found on Paramount+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire