Seemingly since the birth of Star Wars in the late 1970s, there has been an ongoing battle between fans of Star Wars and fans of Star Trek. Now, one man has explained which is truly better, at length. While most science fiction fans hold at least some degree of love for both major franchises, there are those who feel sides must be taken. One of the producers of the TBS show Conan is on team Star Wars in a big way, though he was recently forced to defend that position, dressed as Spock from the original series of Star Trek. It must be said, he makes a heated defense, and doesn't stop for about six minutes. Check it out.
The punchline of the joke isn't actually the speech or the outfit or anything to do with the topic at hand, it's the fact that the producer, Jordan Schlansky, just goes off, while host Conan O'Brien just sits there and listens. O'Brien apparently doesn't realize Schlansky is just going to keep talking unless somebody stops him, and O'Brien's cue cards don't tell him to interrupt, so he doesn't.
However, if we really examine the basic structure of the argument as to why Star Wars is better than Star Trek, it all seems to come down to the idea that Star Trek limits itself by being set in a world that, more or less, matches our own, while Star Wars is much broader due to the fact that it delves into the area of fantasy and mythology. The most interesting thing about the argument, is that there are probably quite a few fans who would argue that Star Trek is superior to Star Wars for literally this exact same reason. The fact that Star Trek is grounded in our own reality means that the stories it has to tell are more relatable, since they all still take place within a more realistic world.
Of course, after making some decent point for the first couple minutes, the argument sort of goes off the deep end when he begins to discuss the way that impressionist art can invoke an emotional response from the viewer. Certainly, a valid point, but he sort of losses how that relates to Star Wars and begins to talk about how all works of art can potentially resonate with the audience, without explaining how Star Wars allegedly does this better than Star Trek.
Still, the monologue is impressive, he never pauses for more than a brief moment and whether he memorized all this or is just speaking off the cuff, he does a great job. He also avoids breaking into laughter, which could have easily been caused by reacting to the audience or the confused look on Conan's face.
So which is truly superior, Star Wars or Star Trek? Let us know in the poll below.
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