When it was announced that “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams would be directing the next “Star Wars” movie last Thursday, my first reaction was anger. I was not furious because these two space-bound adventures have competed throughout history, but because I had grown particularly attached to Mr. Abrams’ interpretation of the “Trek” characters (especially the venerable duo Kirk and Spock), almost as much as I had to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo when I first saw “Star Wars.”
Yet as any reader of fan fiction and internet musings
knows, many people have opinions about which saga is superior. But I argue that not only are “Star Trek” and
“Star Wars” equal, but that they are appealing for many of the same reasons. I recognize that this claim flies in the face
of anyone who holds the traditional view that “Trek” is purely cerebral while
“Wars” is unstoppably explosive, but I believe it nonetheless.
Why? Partly
because both series offer visions of different cultures uniting. What made “Star Trek” inspiring to many
people when it premiered on TV in the 1960s was that it depicted a
multicultural crew of space explorers.
Uhura was black, Sulu was Asian, Chekov was Russian, Scotty was (of
course) Scottish, and Spock wasn’t even from Earth (he was from the distant
planet Vulcan). These days, the fact
that the crew was led by Kirk, a white male, may undermine the beauty of this
vision, but we should remember what leap forward the original “Star Trek” crew represented
at the time. It was a bold move to
feature a black character who wasn’t a maid or servant and creator Gene
Roddenberry deserves credit for putting a Russian on the crew during the Cold
War.
But while this union of separate cultures is prominent in
“Star Trek,” it is an important part of “Star Wars” as well. The first film in the series introduced us to
its colorful cast of aliens in a jazzy, dimly lit Cantina and more memorably, the
companionship of Han Solo and Chewbacca, two smugglers who helped the film’s
heroes fight the rulers of the evil Empire.
Han was a human scoundrel, but Chewbacca was completely alien, a
creature covered in brown fur who communicated only in a grunts and growls
(which were recorded from a real bear by sound designer Ben Burtt). Yet though he and Han couldn’t speak each
other’s language, they understand one another and were best friends. Humans were the main focus in the saga, but
Chewbacca continued to be a prominent character and in the final film, “Return
of the Jedi,” we saw him and Han fight alongside an amazing panoply of species,
including the diminutive Ewoks and the fish-like Mon Calamari. As in “Star Trek,” this brand of
multiculturalism was all the more notable because the characters never remarked
upon it. Working together had become a
fact of life.
In this way, both franchises promoted the idea that we
can coexist with the proverbial “other.”
But the idealism of Mr. Roddenberry and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas
goes beyond that. Not only did they challenge
us to reach across the barriers of culture, but they also implored us to step
over the lines drawn in battle as well.
What these films share is the belief that reconciliation is impossible
in some cases, but not all.
The Klingons of “Star Trek” are an important
example. Buff, bearded, and
bumpy-headed, they were ferocious opponents for Kirk and company. But even before the “Trek” crew officially
made peace with these longtime mortal enemies in the 1991 film “The
Undiscovered Country,” the series showed us that it was possible for friends
and foes to come together for drinks, even in wartime.
If the reconciliation with the Klingons was a cultural
event, then the great truce of “Star Wars,” with the evil Darth Vader, was a
personal one. Concealed by a gleaming
black cape and mask, Vader was a ruthless commander who left a trail of carnage
in his quest to secure the Empire’s power.
No one was safe—he was known for choking subordinates to death when they
failed him. But
one sentence changed all that forever: “Luke, I am your father.” When the heroic Luke Skywalker learned he was
Vader’s son, he was forced to accept being the offspring of a monstrous tyrant. Yet acknowledging Vader as family meant
accepting that this villain was a human being and despite the objections of his
friends and mentors, Luke chose to believe that his father could be redeemed. In the end, just like the idealists of “Star
Trek” who believed peace with the Klingons was possible, Luke was proven
right.
And yet both “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” explore the idea
of family in a way that goes beyond bloodlines.
Both sagas are in some way about the building of intergalactic unity and
the unshakeable friendships that exist within that collective. In the beginning of the newer “Star Trek”
television series (like “The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine”), the major
characters often regarded each other with irritation or bafflement. Yet braving danger and simply spending so
much time together united them in a powerful way. The final shot of “The Next Generation” was
an image of the cast playing cards together and the heroes of “Deep Space Nine”
felt such deep affection for one another that they seemed to perpetually beam
at one another.
You can feel that kind of tenderness at the end of
“Return of the Jedi” too. After the
defeat of the Empire, we see a montage of celebrations on various planets,
before the final shot of Luke, Han, and Chewbacca facing the camera, almost as if
they're posing for a family photo. That image
sums up the power of their longstanding friendship because it somehow eclipses
all the horror and violence we’ve just witnessed. They’re happy together and you’re happy for
them.
For these reasons, I believe multiculturalism,
reconciliation, and friendship are the common themes that make “Star Trek” and
“Star Wars” such close cinematic cousins.
Yet in a way, even these ideas revolve around the same
thing—togetherness. That is something
both sagas embrace, a shared value of that ideal. This is not to say that they are not
different—“Star Trek” does tend to be calmly talkative, while “Star Wars” hurls
you into the primal heat of the moment. But
that is why we need both series so they can teach us the same lessons in
different ways. And because they have
both succeeded in that mission, it’s always a good time to look back and remember
everything each story has given us, as they are.
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