“Star Trek” franchise creator Gene Roddenberry was notoriously picky about the science fiction rules that framed his work, sometimes to a point where writers felt constrained by his strict adherence to a kind of utopian idealism. Whether he was keeping Starfleet officers on the U.S.S. Enterprise from fraternizing with one another (and killing potential romance subplots) or keeping the writers from ever telling stories about war, Roddenberry had a very structured idea of what science fiction should be. His version of sci-fi prioritized using expanded metaphors to comment on historical and contemporary real-world problems, which leads fans to wonder just how he felt about the other absolutely giant “Star”-titled sci-fi franchise, George Lucas’s “Star Wars.”
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In the 2011 documentary “Trek Nation,” produced by Roddenberry’s son Rod, the elder Roddenberry shared his feelings on “Star Wars” in some archival footage, and his comments were incredibly on-brand. While Roddenberry apparently found the “Star Wars” films entertaining, he was also pretty dismissive of their impact on audiences.
Roddenberry compared Star Wars to King Arthur legends
In the footage, Roddenberry expressed the opinion that “Star Trek” is more high-minded than “Star Wars,” but that both have their place, saying:
“I like ‘Star Wars.’ It was young King Arthur growing up, slaying the evil emperor finally. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of entertainment — everything doesn’t have to create a philosophy for you — for your whole life. You can also have fun.”
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While Lucas absolutely tapped into storytelling techniques defined by scholar Joseph Campbell that speak to ancient archetypes, there are also elements of “Star Wars” that have just as much to say about our reality as “Star Trek.” After all, “Star Wars” is an anti-fascist story about a rebellion overthrowing an evil government, and you can’t tell me that’s apolitical. Not only that, but “Star Trek” has veered into the fantastical on numerous occasions, even on “The Original Series” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” under Roddenberry’s leadership. Following Roddenberry’s death, writers on “Star Trek” projects often had to argue for ideas that broke the creator’s rules, finding a happy medium between his intellectual ideal and more expansive entertainment. There’s plenty of philosophical pondering in “Star Wars” and a fair share of fantastic fun in “Star Trek,” with the two franchises having more in common than Roddenberry seemed to think.
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As a fan of both franchises from a very early age, whenever I’m asked to pick between “Star Trek” and “Star Wars,” I have one very simple answer: “Why not both?”
But what does Lucas think of Star Trek?
In “Trek Nation,” Rod Roddenberry actually visits Lucas at Skywalker Ranch to discuss the impact of “Star Trek” on Lucas’s franchise. While Lucas was careful to not get bogged down in the science and technology side of things as much as “Star Trek,” he was emphatic that “Star Trek” was hugely influential on “Star Wars” nonetheless. In an interview with Sci Fi Now, Roddenberry shared his experience filming with Lucas and called the rift between “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” something purely devised by fans. He said of Lucas:
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“He was so gracious, so respectful, so kind, and I have to say, extremely genuine, he would say a lot of flattering things about my father, but they didn’t come off as just buzzwords, they didn’t come off as just lines he was trying to feed me. As he got comfortable with who I was in the interview, and that my journey was a genuine one, he really opened up and said some amazing things, like ‘Star Wars’ stood on the shoulders of ‘Star Trek.'”
Lucas seemed a bit more gracious than Roddenberry, but there seems to have been some level of respect between these two titans of sci-fi storytelling. The pair met at least once, at the 10th anniversary “Star Wars” convention in 1987, where they shook hands onstage. If only the fans could just get along as well as the creators.
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