Star Wars is essentially good guys/bad guys space opera. Where the heroes (and galaxy) are saved from catastrophe by the skin of their teeth. Typically through sheer luck and/or wu wu magic. Fun, but not worth watching more than once IMHO. Star Trek is more pure sci-fi. Better in-depth stories dealing with a myriad of questions and topics, as well as more rounded characters. On the downside, it relies too much on “ex deus machina” type episode endings where everything is put right at the end by some scientific fact. Star Wars is cotton candy. Sweet, and simple. Nice summertime treat, but you’ll get a belly ache if you consume too much. Star Trek is like Mac ‘N Cheese. Comfort food for souls hopeful of a better future, even though H. Sapiens haven’t even figured out how not to defecate where they eat.
Except for a couple Roman provinces where the Roman army needed to keep peace between the inhabitants of the province the Roman armies were on the frontier to protect the empire from outsiders. The army drew on the many peoples who were part of Rome, and some of their poleis & kingdoms had joined Rome voluntarily because of the benefits of being under the shield of the Pax Romana. No ethnic group in the Empire joined in fighting against it as the Western empire collapsed. (Or the East, centuries later, although there were quite a number who signed up with the invaders simply because they found some Byzantine emperors a total pain.) On the other hand Cortéz did not conquer the Aztecs with less than 400 men as so many history books distort. The Aztecs army kept the conquered peoples down and thousands of them fought with the Spaniards. (The old books tended to leave smallpox out of the equation too, which was probably more important than thousands of native Americans fighting against the Aztecs, and the allies were more important than the tiny number of Spaniards.)
Judea was a province of trouble makers. Most Jews in the diaspora enjoyed being part of the Roman Empire. But a minority in Judea thought God wanted them to conquer the world and impose their theocracy and Romans tried to protect the peace. (The crazies had started the fighting under the Greeks. While the Hasmoneans/Maccabees became remembered as heroes they were mostly killing Jews who disagreed with them, and many in the population were calling on the Greek Seleucids to save save them from the religious terrorists.) A distorted reading of the New Testament has created the image of Rome as occupying force.
sergioandrade Premium Member 11 months ago
Heretic!!!!
sevaar777 11 months ago
Star Wars is essentially good guys/bad guys space opera. Where the heroes (and galaxy) are saved from catastrophe by the skin of their teeth. Typically through sheer luck and/or wu wu magic. Fun, but not worth watching more than once IMHO. Star Trek is more pure sci-fi. Better in-depth stories dealing with a myriad of questions and topics, as well as more rounded characters. On the downside, it relies too much on “ex deus machina” type episode endings where everything is put right at the end by some scientific fact. Star Wars is cotton candy. Sweet, and simple. Nice summertime treat, but you’ll get a belly ache if you consume too much. Star Trek is like Mac ‘N Cheese. Comfort food for souls hopeful of a better future, even though H. Sapiens haven’t even figured out how not to defecate where they eat.
LawrenceS 11 months ago
Except for a couple Roman provinces where the Roman army needed to keep peace between the inhabitants of the province the Roman armies were on the frontier to protect the empire from outsiders. The army drew on the many peoples who were part of Rome, and some of their poleis & kingdoms had joined Rome voluntarily because of the benefits of being under the shield of the Pax Romana. No ethnic group in the Empire joined in fighting against it as the Western empire collapsed. (Or the East, centuries later, although there were quite a number who signed up with the invaders simply because they found some Byzantine emperors a total pain.) On the other hand Cortéz did not conquer the Aztecs with less than 400 men as so many history books distort. The Aztecs army kept the conquered peoples down and thousands of them fought with the Spaniards. (The old books tended to leave smallpox out of the equation too, which was probably more important than thousands of native Americans fighting against the Aztecs, and the allies were more important than the tiny number of Spaniards.)
Judea was a province of trouble makers. Most Jews in the diaspora enjoyed being part of the Roman Empire. But a minority in Judea thought God wanted them to conquer the world and impose their theocracy and Romans tried to protect the peace. (The crazies had started the fighting under the Greeks. While the Hasmoneans/Maccabees became remembered as heroes they were mostly killing Jews who disagreed with them, and many in the population were calling on the Greek Seleucids to save save them from the religious terrorists.) A distorted reading of the New Testament has created the image of Rome as occupying force.
Havel 11 months ago
Well, Star Trek did have the episode “Bread and Circuses”.
Old Time Tales 11 months ago
Come on, the Inca were the best!
Jhony-Yermo 11 months ago
Inca and Aztecs great also, BUT, IMNSHO, the MAYA were the best. The Magnificent Maya!
sloaches 11 months ago
I like ’em both, but Star Wars, inc. has yet to come up with a series as clever as Star Trek: Lower Decks!
Amra Leo 11 months ago
Babylon 5!
GaryCooper 11 months ago
Star Trek is actually good. Star Wars is dumb.
mistercatworks 11 months ago
“Yeah, well, ‘Roman Trek’ is far superior to ‘Aztec Wars’.”
“Oh, yeah!”
“The Romans left a continent-wide network of year-round accessible roadways.”
“??? … Oh, yeah.”
Aladar30 Premium Member 11 months ago
No, he’s totally right. I love both, but Star Trek is the great, true sci-fi.
chireef 11 months ago
now lets not forget Farscape Claudia Black and the others were great
TIMH 11 months ago
Star Trek is science fiction. Star Wars is space opera.