The science fiction entertainment genre features two leading franchises that have ruled viewers’ popularity for many decades- Star Wars and Star Trek. Millions of space-adventure fans started to experience two different visions of interstellar adventures featuring distant planets and extraterrestrial cultures through futuristic space technologies.

The epic space opera feel of Star Wars draws its viewers into the trend of the mythic conflict between good and evil. Since George Lucas gifted the world with such grandness in 1977, the Force, lightsabers, and the fight against galactic oppression have become a cultural standard. Star Trek, on the other hand, is more optimistic and places scientific and diplomatic relations in the foreground.

William Shatner, Kathie Browne, and Jason Evers in Star Trek | Credit: Desilu Productions/Paramount Television/NBC

Despite sharing the ability to entertain scientists, writers, and dreamers, both franchises exist as fundamentally different structures with separate storytelling approaches, scientific values, and world-building.