Star Wars vs. Star Trek? The seemingly endless battle has taken an interesting twist as George Lucas has revealed that without Star Trek, there may have been no Star Wars.
The special edition DVD of the 2010 Star Trek documentary Trek Nation was released yesterday. The special features include interviews with both those involved with Star Trek and those affected by it. Included was George Lucas, and he had something interesting to say about how Star Trek affected his production of Star Wars.
In an exclusive clip from The LA Times, we get a short look at the George Lucas interview included on the DVD.
“Star Trek” softened up the entertainment arena so that “Star Wars” could come along and stand on its shoulders. There was an effective group of people in the beginning who accepted it, that it wasn’t that far out. For the studios it was way far out. “What is this?” But there was a fan base out there. The fan base was primarily the “Star Trek” fan base who understood science fiction and understood visual science fiction and was ready for something like this to be in the feature arena.
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to hear Lucas say this. In the beginning, the successes of Star Wars and Star Trek were crucial to the successes of the other. If the Star Trek TV show hadn’t had the fan base that it did, perhaps Star Wars would have never happened. If Star Wars didn’t in turn have the success it did, it’s also quite possible that Star Trek would have never made the voyage into the large film franchise it became.
The Star Wars vs Star Trek debate may never end, but it should. Clearly neither would have become what it did without the other.