Star Trek or Star Wars ?

I said most. Those aliens definitely aren’t typical of Star Wars any more than tribbles and horta are typical of Star Trek.

At its heart, Star Wars is an action driven space opera with moral themes. Authors of the novels don’t always follow this mold, but that’s the bread and butter of Star Wars.

At its heart, Star Trek is about exploration which, more often than not, requires understanding alien motives, histories, cultures, etc.

Three guesses. First two don’t count.  8-)

TTTTTRRRRREEEEEKKKKKYYYYYY.  But do like the Star War stuff. Clone Wars cartoon was good for the kids.

@LHoffman:

@amanntai:

I just find the aliens in Star Trek boring. They all look like humans. Vulcans are humans with pointy ears. Klingons are humans with weird foreheads.
Star Wars has more biodiversity in my opinion.

I would agree. Starting as a TV show, I think the biodiversity aspect was handicapped a bit. They haven’t shifted much from that in the (non-JJ) movies either.

Ditto. 
also from series to series or movie to movie, due to costume budgets, the Klingons changed a few times.  Weird.

The main races appear more consistent in Star Wars.

Battlestar Galactica (and I always rooted for the Cylons).

Horta, Tholians, Sheliak, Species 8472, Calamarain, Tribbles, to name a few on the top of my head. And then there are aliens like Gorn, which I guess could pass as humanoids in a way.

Just because those pretty dancers have lekku doesnt mean they are non-humanoid, and the same goes for wings of Geonosians.

Comparing not only screened aliens (would be unfair I guess) but all things in the books as well, I dont think that Star Wars has more biodiversity. And in any case humanoids cannot come cooler than Romulans :)

And as Wheat said, Star Trek explained why there are so many humanoids, in I guess another attempt to picture our similarities, not our differences.

So having said all that, both franchises are great if you include the books, but Star Trek is maybe richer overall, with more time devoted to more cultures.

Agree with Wheat, SciFi cannot come better than as DS9.

@wheatbeer:

@amanntai:

I just find the aliens in Star Trek boring. They all look like humans. Vulcans are humans with pointy ears. Klingons are humans with weird foreheads.
Star Wars has more biodiversity in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

This episode sort of explained away the similarities but saying that life was seeded by some earlier species.

Most Star Wars aliens are still bipedal, with heads featuring eyes/nose/mouth/ears, who communicate with vocalizations. A truly alien creature wouldn’t be able to emote for a human audience.

(and just in case, I didn’t geek out enough already, Star Trek aliens have more deeply developed cultures than Star Wars aliens)

@alexgreat:

Horta, Tholians, Sheliak, Species 8472, Calamarain, Tribbles, to name a few on the top of my head. And then there are aliens like Gorn, which I guess could pass as humanoids in a way.

Just because those pretty dancers have lekku doesnt mean they are non-humanoid, and the same goes for wings of Geonosians.

Comparing not only screened aliens (would be unfair I guess) but all things in the books as well, I dont think that Star Wars has more biodiversity. And in any case humanoids cannot come cooler than Romulans :)

I once read that, strictly from a practical point of view, the Star Trek production people (and in particular the makeup department) categorized the on-screen characters into three groups: humans (characters for which the actors required just normal cinematic makeup), humanoids (non-human characters like the Vulcans or the Bajorans or the Trill, whose creation required only minimal prosthetic and/or makeup work on the actors) and aliens (non-human characters like the Cardassians, whose creation required extensive prosthetics and makeup on the actors, plus often complicated special wardrobe).  The last group presumably also included non-human life forms that weren’t portrayed by actors at all, but rather depicted by puppets, dressed-up animals (like Worf’s pet targ, played – I think – by a wild boar to which fake spines had been attached), and assorted mechanical, optical and computer effects.  The Klingons are interesting in this regard: the ones from the original series would be categorized as humanoids under this system (all they required were dark make-up, slanted eyebrows and Fu Manchu moustaches and beards), but from the motion pictures onward, which saw their design become much more complex, they would be reclassified as aliens.

@alexgreat:

Horta, Tholians, Sheliak, Species 8472, Calamarain, Tribbles, to name a few on the top of my head. And then there are aliens like Gorn, which I guess could pass as humanoids in a way.

Just because those pretty dancers have lekku doesnt mean they are non-humanoid, and the same goes for wings of Geonosians.

Comparing not only screened aliens (would be unfair I guess) but all things in the books as well, I dont think that Star Wars has more biodiversity. And in any case humanoids cannot come cooler than Romulans :)

And as Wheat said, Star Trek explained why there are so many humanoids, in I guess another attempt to picture our similarities, not our differences.

So having said all that, both franchises are great if you include the books, but Star Trek is maybe richer overall, with more time devoted to more cultures.

Agree with Wheat, SciFi cannot come better than as DS9.

@wheatbeer:

@amanntai:

I just find the aliens in Star Trek boring. They all look like humans. Vulcans are humans with pointy ears. Klingons are humans with weird foreheads.
Star Wars has more biodiversity in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

This episode sort of explained away the similarities but saying that life was seeded by some earlier species.

Most Star Wars aliens are still bipedal, with heads featuring eyes/nose/mouth/ears, who communicate with vocalizations. A truly alien creature wouldn’t be able to emote for a human audience.

(and just in case, I didn’t geek out enough already, Star Trek aliens have more deeply developed cultures than Star Wars aliens)

I wasn’t thinking of Twi’leks. I was thinking of Hutts, Ortolans, Wampas, or the Sarlacc (which is indeed a sapient creature in the Star Wars universe).

I also believe the humanoid species in Star Wars are considerably less human than the humanoids in Star Trek. Dugs are technically humanoid, but don’t really look like humans.

Also, Geonosians aren’t really humanoid. Just take a look at the Geonosian Queen, she doesn’t resemble humans at all.