Since Luke Skywalker first looked up at the suns over Tatooine in 1977, fans of Star Wars and Star Trek have been in a decades-long debate over which iconic sci-fi universe is the best. Can the Enterprise beat a Star Destroyer? Could a Klingon Bird of Prey do the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs? Could Han Solo beat Captain Kirk in a game of dejarik?
Depending on the person you ask and if they're holding a lightsaber or a tricorder, you're going to get different answers, and chances are we'll never reach a point where all the people of the world agree.
As the years have passed, the debate has taken many forms, from fans debating the pros and cons of the two franchises, to box office revenue and review scores, to message boards. The internet has opened the discussion to everyone around the world, and while many fans like to get into the nitty-gritty of their beliefs, some like to make their point as quickly and with as much wit as they can. And the quickest and wittiest way to make your point on the internet these days is through a meme.
Here are some of the Most Savage Star Wars vs Star Trek Memes That Will Leave You Laughing.
20. The Better Weapon
One thing both Star Wars and Star Trek are known for their weapons - namely the fan favorite lightsaber and the iconic phaser. While both have gone through modifications over the years, there is still no solid answer as to which weapon is better to have in a fight.
The quick thought is that the lightsaber is the way to go. It appears to have a limitless energy source, is easy to conceal, can block laser blasts, and looks super awesome. The bad thing is that it seems like unless you're a Jedi, the lightsaber can be hard to master.
On the other hand, the phaser is easy for anyone to use - it is basically a gun after all. The problem is that, like a gun, you need to make sure it is loaded and while a real gun has one safety to click before firing, the phaser has multiple settings. You may just want to stun your foe, but a click too far and you can disintegrate them!
Keep Your Distance And Win
As this fun meme points out, the phaser has one very specific advantage that a lightsaber doesn't - it is a long range weapon.
While a Jedi can throw their lightsaber and use the Force to control the path of the weapon, that will also leave them open to attack, and since it is rare that a member of Starfleet is on their own, that means a whole lot of phaser fire coming at them.
And as we saw in Revenge of the Sith, the Jedi can be shot down pretty easily. Five or six crew members from a science ship could likely take out a Jedi with minimal injuries to themselves.
That is, as long as the Jedi forgets about their own long-range attack abilities.
Is Darth Gonna Have To Choke A Captain?
In the movies, we've seen Darth Vader use his Force choke on people who were light years away from him, and as this meme suggests, he could probably do it across franchises too!
All Vader apparently needs is the ability to see his target, and since both Star Wars and Star Trek use view-screens, if the two were to cross paths there's little reason to think Vader couldn't contact a Starfleet ship.
Still, there is a Star Trek character who could give Vader a real run for his money. Not just a character - an entire race of what, to us mere mortals, seem to have the powers of gods. And while they tend to keep out of the daily affairs of the rest of the universe, a guy like Vader showing up may pique the interest of at least one of them...
Hope He Doesn't Blink
Q, the best-known member of the Q species, claims to be nigh-omnipotent, and with the powers he has shown, including messing with all of reality and paying no attention to the laws of physics, there's little reason to question his claim.
So would the Force be powerful enough to cause Q problems? Or maybe Q actually uses the Force himself. Maybe the Q are actually Jedi who have reached unimaginable levels of control and, with that control, have lost their connection to mortal beings?
Whatever Q is, and however their power works, one thing we can count on is that a Force choke isn't going to do much to stop them. Vader needs to get some new tricks before he takes on these aliens.
Wrong Universe
Every fan of Star Trek knows how much Q loves messing with Captain Jean-Luc Picard - whatever Q himself may claim.
So it wouldn't be too hard to believe that Q would, given if the chance, send Picard to the wrong reality, trapping him with two irritating droids, one of which makes Data look like a fine conversationalist and the other which makes Wesley Crusher's whiny voice sound like the sweet singing of a lark.
Could this be the secret way to a Star Wars / Star Trek crossover? Not to get too Spock about it all, but it sure seems logical. But what would really happen if the two universes came together? Well, it doesn't look great for Star Wars...
This Is Why You Need Shields
Sure, the ships in Star Wars look really cool, and they shoot a whole bunch of lasers and stuff, but compared to the ships that Starfleet has, they aren't all that impressive.
For one thing, a Star Destroyer is bound to get royally messed up by a phase cannon and the lasers of any Imperial ship couldn't even hope to get through the shields of a Starfleet ship. When it comes to a battle in space, the Star Wars guys have about as much of a chance at winning as Jar Jar has showing up in Episode VIII.
Still, this simulated battle gave one inventive person a bit of an idea about something we all saw in The Force Awakens. Just keep reading to see it!
That Explains That (Not Really)
It would be crazy to try and fit in a massive Star Wars vs Star Trek crossover between Episode VI and Episode VII, but you can bet a whole lot of people would love to see it! Han and Data duking it out with Boba Fett and Lore would blow fans brains right out of their ears. Alas, it will likely never happen, not even in comic book form.
So in space, the Star Trek gang certainly has the upper hand, and while Jedi may cause a problem for Kirk and his pals, overall they would fall to the phasers, but what about the underlings?
What happens when you pit a Stormtrooper against a Red Shirt? This is one of the great riddles of the world.
Miss And Die
If a Stormtrooper and a Red Shirt get in a fight, who wins?
This is one of the questions that keeps philosophers up at night. Luckily for us, one meme maker took the time, likely decades of their life, to figure out what would happen in the battle of Stormtrooper and Red Shirt.
As we all know, the Stormtroopers couldn't hit the broadside of a barn (unless they were aiming for something else) and the Starfleet Red Shirts are as sure to die as the sun is to rise, so clearly the only answer is that while the Stormtrooper never actually hits the Red Shirt, the Red Shirt would die anyway.
Overall, it seems like the two franchises are pretty much equal in a war. But what would they have to fight about in the first place? Is there anything that could make the characters from the two franchises honestly angry with each other?
He Loves Me More!
For ages, the people behind the franchises never really worked together. Sure, Industrial Light & Magic, which was founded by George Lucas to make the first Star Wars movie, worked on the Star Trek films (and even slipped in R2-D2 in the background of a few of them) it wasn't like they had control over the story, and fans were cool with it.
Then came JJ Abrams.
An avowed Star Wars fan, Abrams was credited with breathing new life into Star Trek when he directed the reboot and its less-liked sequel. When Abrams left Trek to make Episode VII, the nerd community was as shocked as Han when he sees Vader on Cloud City. Now, for the first time ever, the two franchises found themselves arguing who a director loved more.
Traitor!
Mark Hamill became a household name when he first played Luke Skywalker in Episode IV, and since then he has been known to mess with fans. He often makes little jokes on the items he signs, and on Twitter he often responds to Star Wars articles or questions with a quick quip.
Hamill has also mixed it up with Star Trek fans from time to time, and he's even had a few fun bouts with William Shatner over Twitter, which all the fans love.
But one thing Hamill has done on a few occasions that shocked Star Wars fans is give people the traditional Vulcan greeting. While everyone knows Hamill is just trolling, it still gets the blood going for some junior Jedi who want to call their leader out for his traitorous ways, and Star Wars fans aren't kind to traitors.
You're Building What?!
Stormtroopers may not be known for their accuracy with a blaster, but according to this meme they sure know how to give out a beat down. This poor fella was just using his lunch break to make a model of his favorite ship when his "pals" showed up and taught him a rough lesson.
Clearly, this meme takes place sometime after the prequels since the Stormtroopers can't all be clones - if they were, then wouldn't one of them liking Star Trek mean they all like Star Trek?
Maybe that is Finn under there and, as his fellow Stormtroopers beat him up, he swore that if one more messed-up thing happened to him he would quit the First Order. Sure enough, his buddy getting killed right in front of him the next day was the last straw.
Across The Multiverse
The argument over Star Wars and Star Trek is so big that, according to this meme, it has even made its way into other geek universes. Now, we all know that Captain America: Civil War claims that the friendship of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark falls apart over a disagreement about the Sokovia Accords and Steve's old pal Bucky's role in the death of Iron Man's parents, but could there be more to it?
Is it really so hard to believe that the rift in the greatest superhero friendship in comics started because of a disagreement on which iconic space-based series is better? It sure seems like the kind of thing that could ruin a friendship.
With the Guardians of the Galaxy meeting up with the Avengers soon, you can be pretty sure that Star-Lord will agree with Tony on this one. He is a kid of the '80s after all.
Leaf In The Wind
Obviously, while Star-Lord would be all about Star Wars, Drax would probably like Star Trek more, just because Spock and Data are both so still and emotionless. Gamora wouldn't really care, and Groot would probably like both equally. But what about Rocket?
Well, Rocket likes to be a real rebel, and something about the trash panda suggests that Han Solo isn't rebel enough for him. No, Rocket is the kind of guy who would anger both Star Wars and Star Trek fans by claiming Firefly is better than both of them combines.
But where do other classic movie characters stand on the issue? Well, most of them haven't weighed in yet, but one guy has, and he thought long and hard about it while waiting for a bus and eating a box of chocolates...
Not A Smart Man
It is hard to tell if having Forrest Gump on your side is a plus or minus. On the one hand, he is not a smart man, but on the other hand, he is a millionaire who has had a pretty amazing life, what with meeting multiple presidents and running across the country and stuff.
So it may not hurt to have Forrest on your team - he is very well liked and tends to know what people really like and care about. At the same time, his decision is obviously going to be based on pure emotion, with no attention to the finer qualities of the two universes. In this case, one of those "finer" details is a real detriment...
Maury Tells The Truth
Jar Jar Binks is the ultimate answer for any Trekkie arguing with a Star Wars fan. No one can really defend the CGI Gungan and his cartoon antics. Star Wars fans were so turned off by the character after he showed up in Episode I that his presence was drastically cut down in the remaining two prequels. Oddly, Star Trek has its own Jar Jar - the original Pavel Chekov.
Chekov was brought into the second season of Star Trek to try and entice a younger audience to watch the show. He was given the same haircut as Davy Jones of The Monkees and everything.
Still, Checkov was never an embarrassment to Trek fans, even with his goofy Russian accent. On more than one occasion, Chekov proved himself to be awesome, both at the com and while fighting on various planets.
I'm A Slave For You
There's no way around it: sex sells, and Star Wars is sexier than Star Trek. While Princess Leia in her slave garb is the usual go-to image to prove that sexiness, you can't undersell Han Solo. With his hip holster and smarmy attitude, Harrison Ford has made many a fan swoon over the years.
While Star Trek has tried to be sexy, especially with the reboot, it has never really worked. Sure, Trek fans have crushes on characters, but you don't see many Seven of Nine costumes out there on Halloween.
Alas, for the Trekkies, the underlying science and deep characterization are what gets them going, but for Star Wars, it's all about being showy. That isn't a knock on Star Wars - that was George Lucas' plan from the start.
Resistance Is Futile
The bombastic showiness of Star Wars is what made the series into a box office juggernaut, something that Star Trek has never really been able to pull off. That box office money, along with the endless amount of loot that comes in from merchandising, is why Disney bought Star Wars back in 2012, and considering the two films released under Disney so far have made a combined three billion dollars, it seems like this was one smart purchase.
While there's really little chance that Paramount would ever sell off Star Trek, it is hard to deny the giant money making machine Disney is, especially now that it has Star Wars and Star Trek. For Trekkies, the idea of Disney turning their beloved franchise into something more like Star Wars is a nightmare.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
We can all hear it - Kirk, seemingly trapped on a planet by his greatest enemy, cries out with all the rage in his body, fearing for the fate of his crew. If Disney were to buy up Star Trek from Paramount (it won't) surely the response from fans would be similar.
These aren't just franchises to the die-hard fans. These aren't just stories. These TV shows, movies, and books are ways of life. They take the lessons of the Jedi and the Vulcan and use them in their daily lives. They learn to read Klingon so that they can really understand Shakespeare in his native language. They grow off-center braid in their hair like a Padawan until they believe they have truly learned the deeper meaning of the Jedi Order.
Choose Wisely
It can be hard to imagine, but out there in this crazy world are couples who have very different feelings about Star Wars and Star Trek. One of them can give you a lecture on the Sith and their ways while the other can break down how dilithium is used to power pretty much every aspect of Starfleet.
So what happens when this couple has a kid? How do they decide which epic to raise them under? Well, the right answer is to let the child choose when they come of age, but then how do you decide what age is "of age"?
Padawans can be selected at birth while the Vulcan ritual Kolinahr starts later in life and can take years to complete. This is not an easy decision for a family to make.
Can't We All Get Along?
Here's the truth, both Star Wars and Star Trek are awesome. Think about it: we're talking about two franchises filled with amazing characters, classic stories, awesome-looking aliens, and cool spaceships. Each one speaks to people differently, but they both have the same message at the end of the day - the good guys will win in the end.
There's a reason these stories have survived for decades while so much other pop culture has faded away - they connect to us on a deeper level. These tales fill us with hope and despair. They make us cheer and they make us cry. They show us our world in a way that we can't see it from the ground. They give us things to dream of and show us places we want to go. Why should we have to choose between them?
---
Are you team Star Trek or Star Wars? Sound off in the comments - and share your favorite memes!
