Star Wars vs. Star Trek: Could the Empire kick the Federation's ass? And other galaxy-shaking enigmas

by Matt Forbeck, Bulloch Jeremy, Russ Tim

Could a Jedi knight use his light saber to deflect a beam from a phaser?
Which aliens are cooler: the Cardassians or the Chazrach?
Have any Federation ships ever made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs?
And most important, in a fight between the Empire and the Federation, who would win?

Ever since Princess Leia's starship hovered into sight on the silver screen, fans of Star Wars and Star Trek have been debating these questions. Now, side by side, they can line up aliens, technology, story points, weaponry, and heroes from the two great science fiction/fantasy stories of our age.

For fans everywhere, this volume offers detailed information about both universes, as well as trivia, quizzes, quotes, and information drawn from these two iconic settings. So phasers on stun and light sabers at the ready! It's time for the duel to begin.

Genres: Star Wars, Nonfiction, Star Trek, Humor, Science, Science Fiction Fantasy

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2011

About the author

I'm an award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author and game designer and happily married father of five, including a set of quadruplets. For more on my work, see Forbeck.com.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Resist temptation, leave it on the shelf. The "facts" weren't checked well, and 90% of the "vs." scenarios fall flat in my humble opinion. Even the battle-royale at the end was less than amusing. I found myself finishing only out of some twisted OCD on not leaving a book unfinished.

This is a great concept... but terrible execution.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those "competent...but why is it NECESSARY" books. Some fans are obsessed with competitions between SF universes...why can't you simply enjoy all the ones you enjoy and be satisfied? I'm a Doctor Who fan, a Star Trek fan, AND a Star Wars fan...and I've never needed to defend them against each other. Voyager/Enterprise/Episode 1-2-3 prequels aside (all equally disappointing), I love all THREE series, and all THREE universes. That's more than good enough for me -- debate is unnecessary.

[David Lott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of this book is simple; compare two similar yet distinctly different science fiction franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek, to see which one is best. However the follow through on this book lacks the basic understanding of the key difference between the franchises, Star Wars is a movie franchise while Star Trek is a series of TV shows. True, there are a few (good) animated TV shows in the Star Wars universe and there are (currently) 12 Star Trek movies. The substance of the debate is trying to compare two science fiction franchises that have different goals and accomplishments.

The book tries to compare these two universes by breaking them down into similar parts. The wise old men would be looked at first, then the young rash characters next, and then the scoundrels. Eventually the book compares all the main parts of the shows like the men, women, aliens, worlds, weapons, and technology. The problem is that they compare them by pitting them in a fictional fight between one another. Do you think the best approach to comparing people is to see who could knock the other one out first? Just because you might be better in a fight does not make you a better person. I could barely finish the section that forced an Ewok and a tribble to fight to see who was best. Such comparisons were more tiresome than enjoyable. Most of the fictional fights in the book I skimmed not bothering to read them at all.

I did enjoy the quizzes at the beginning of each chapter. They were pretty simple but allowed me to test my knowledge from both universes. I also enjoyed the fairly interesting summaries of each person, place, or thing. They had a lot of info packed into those short paragraphs.

I wanted to read a book that would look at the various aspects of each universe and point out similarities or differences that make them unique. This book fell short of my goal for it. It is probably a book that I won’t be reading again because I’m spending time trying to find a different book that does what this book doesn’t do.

In the end I feel like the book misses the point. Star Trek and Star Wars should be celebrated together, not made to fight in some kind of battle royale.


Post Script…

Let me try to show you what I’m talking about. A Star Wars fan can watch all six Star Wars movies in 13 hours and 17 minutes (797 minutes total). That is a long day but still doable. That is the entire canon for the Star Wars universe. It is true that books, games, and TV shows have expanded on the universe but the main part requires only about a half a day of watching. Contrast that with the first season of the original Star Trek. It has 29 episodes and had a running time of 50 minutes an episode. That means the first season of Star Trek would be 1,450 minutes of running time (24.17 hours). That is double what the entire Star Wars movies provided. You then can add two additional seasons of the original series, two seasons of Star Trek The Animated Series, seven seasons for Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven seasons for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seven seasons for Star Trek: Voyager, and four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise. Here is the break down…

TOS: 3,950 min/66 hours (79 episodes with 50 minute run time)
Animated: 506 min/8 hours (22 episodes with 23 minute run time)
TNG: 7,832 min/130 hours (178 episodes with 44 minute run time)
DS9: 7,568 min/126 hours (176 episodes with 43 minute run time)
VOY: 7,224 min/120 hours (172 episodes with 42 minute run time)
ENT: 4,116 min/69 hours (98 episodes with 42 minute run time)

All told if you wanted to watch every official Star Trek TV show you would have to spend 31,196 minutes doing so. That is 519.9 straight hours or 8.66 straight days of TV without interruption.

Star Trek and Star Wars are different. One is a great movie franchise while the other is a great TV franchise. Let's not pit them against one another. I firmly believe you can love both without having mixed emotions.

[Mike McDevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trivia pages needed another pass by an editor, I think:
Page 2: The first captain of the Enterprise NCC-1701 is not Christopher Pyke (sic) but Robert April as per the episode 'The Counter-Clock Incident'
Page 131: The Enterprise E first appears in 'First Contact', not 'Nemesis'
Page 62: To the question 'Wesley Crusher was last officially seen...' the answer is supposedly 'B: Accompanying the Traveller to parts unknown' yet I JUST NOW saw Wes on DVD 'C: Attending Riker and Troi's wedding'. What's UNOFFICIAL about "Star Trek: Nemesis"? Am I allowed to pretend the terrible movies never happened?

Bitching aside, this is a fun book. Pits my beloved Trek against my beloved Wars in 'fair' combat, without all that silly grousing about motives, i.e. WHY would Janeway battle Asoka Tano? And could Tolian Soran REALLY out-blackmail Darth Sidious? Rubbish. How many ways can a fight between a JEDI and a human Starfleet officer go down without resorting to redundancy: we get it, Jedi can stop phasers with magic.

But lines like 'Star Trek has a better class of losers' make it all worthwhile.

That and Rom handing Greedo his ass.

[cookiemonger · Rating 1 out of 5]

The two forewords, written by Jeremy Bulloch and Tim Russ, were exactly what I was looking for: thoughtful analysis and comparison of two series that really don't have much in common. The rest of the book was a really boring bunch of badly written fanfiction that forced characters to fight. The trivia could be interesting, but as someone pointed out, some of the answers were wrong.

[Palladin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the first chapter online and now I have to read the rest; even though it is obvious that the title was selected under duress. Thanks Matt.

[Craig a.k.a Meatstack · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is no way I can write this review without sounding like a complete neckbeard, so I think the best way is just to proceed, and let the chips fall where they may.

I dare wonder if the author even watched the shows he's comparing, because if he had, he would have realized that the match-ups he's proposing do not even come close to being an analog of each other. Let me give you some examples:

Death Star vs. What? I would think that even the most casual observer of Star Trek, this would be obvious. The Borg Cube. But we don't get that. We get the Death Star vs. Deep Space 9. Now, had the author watched DS9 he would know that 1) it's an old station, with antiquated Cardassian technology. It's in the middle of no where (remember it was built before the wormhole was discovered) because it's basically a guard post for a planet. Who's going to win that? there's no comparison.

Phaser vs. ? The correct answer is Blaster, not light saber. OF COURSE the light saber wins. light saber always wins.

Where is the Phaser vs. Blaster comparison? Where is the photon torpedo vs. proton torpedo? We don't see it. instead we see:

Enterprise E vs. the Super Star Destroyer Executioner. This is now getting ridiculous. The Federation does have battleships, and the Enterprise is not it. The Enterprise is a cruiser. It's an exploratory ship. And, although the SSD Executioner would likely take out anything in the Federation's arsenal, pitting these two is like putting in your Springer Spaniel in with the pit bull at a dog fight.

This book could have been so much better, but it felt like the author was afraid of going too "geek". Well, news flash, you are writing a comparison between two nerd worlds, feel free to dive right in.

Pardon me while I shave around my Adam's apple now.

[Sanalith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to a nice, funny book after reading The Casual Vacancy, but this just left me feeling bored...and occasionally a little annoyed.

The premise is promising: Pit characters, ships, and weapons from Trek and Wars against one another, and see who wins. The problem is that the scenarios in which the the sides duke it out are completely unrealistic, and often just flat-out dull. Plus, it was fairly clearly right from the beginning that the author was biased at least a little toward Star Wars, if for no other reason than I continuously found typos and factual errors during the Trek sections, but never for Wars.

Some of the competitions were amusing. My favorite was probably pitting Redshirts against Stormtroopers. Redshirts can only stand around and die, but Stormtoopers can't hit the broad side of a barn, so....But this was a rarity, and too often I thought his conclusions were simply wrong, no matter which side won.

Technically it did the job I wanted - it gave me something light to focus on - but for a humor book, it wasn't very funny.

[Nightwing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saw the book at CALSCon and thought why not. While reading I realize how much I have forgotten or never new from this book but it was cute.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just. . . bad. I couldn't read it properly. I started skimming after a couple of chapters. The "vs" sections are just. . . *shudders* And the sexism is just exhausting.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book caught my attention: Star Wars vs. Star Trek. As a lover of both, I was curious to see how the author pitted the two against each other. Every topic from weaponry to bad guys, aliens, women and the government (among others) is examined through head to head competition. Parts were very entertaining, but others just seemed a rehash of what I already knew. I actually took my time, reading a section or two, then taking a break for several days or weeks before delving back in. I enjoyed it, though I don't necessarily agree with all his 'battles' or the answers to some of the quizzes at the beginning each section, but it was a fun read all leading up to the victory by ...

Well, you'll just have to read it to find out.

[Hayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I did enjoy reading it, but if you’re expecting a book offering a fair comparison between the two series look elsewhere.
This book sets up all the comparisons based on a short-story scenario instead of a thoughtful critique analyzing all pros and cons of the things and/or people being compared.
So, it makes for a light read, but I don’t feel like enough thought was put in to earn it any more stars.

[Bradyasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Read

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Star Wars Vs. Star Trek: Could the Empire Kick the Federation's Ass? by Matt Forbeck at the bookstore and knew this was a book I had to read. As a big Star Wars fan, I felt the book could have been reduced to a single page, with a big "YES!" on it. However, that wouldn't sell any copies. Instead, the author compares similar aspects of the two franchises' universes and tries to determine which matchups would go to which series. He bases each chapter on one group of comparisons, such as Men, Aliens, Villains, Starships and Government. He will then take examples from each group and compare and contrast them, allowing for matchups such as Han Solo vs. Captain Kirk, Darth Vader vs. Khan, C-3PO vs. Data, and an X-Wing vs. a Jem'Hadar Fighter. He gives a little bit of info on each contestant before going into a brief fictional account of an encounter between the two. At the end of this, he determines who won the matchup. At the end of each chapter there is a wrap-up of the scoring and a running tally so you can see who is winning.

He also has a six-question, multiple choice quiz at the beginning of each chapter, featuring questions about the subjects of the following chapter, and you are invited to keep track of your results to see how you score. After taking all of the quizzes and tallying the results, I scored surprisingly better on Star Trek than I anticipated, although I still fared much better on the Star Wars questions.

This was a fun book to read. You can debate as to the outcomes of many of the matchups, but that does not detract from the fact that this is an entertaining way to look at two juggernauts of popular culture. I know there were a few matchups that I laughed out loud in triumph as Star Wars kicked Star Trek ass, at least in those particular matchups. I discovered that I knew much more about Star Trek than I thought I did. While never an avid Star Trek watcher, I have seen most of the movies and seen the occasional episodes of the tv shows. I also learned some things about the Star Wars universe as well, as the matchups drew from the movies, plus television apearances, video games and the many books written about the two series.

As for the titular question: could the Empire kick the Federation's ass? Come on, did you expect me to ruin it for you? I will say that both my wife, who is a big Star Trek fan but not much into Star Wars (I somehow manage to overlook that personality flaw) and I both really enjoyed the book, although one of us was much happier at the end...

[Paul Lunger · Rating 2 out of 5]

In "Star Wars vs. Star Trek: Could the Empire Kick the Federation's Ass? and Other Galaxy-Shaking Enigmas", Matt Forbeck takes the reader through 5 scenarios per chapter across 18 of them where we examines various concepts from leadership to technology to governments & everything in between to see just which universe would come out on top. Each chapter starts out of a with a quick 6 question quiz where we the reader get to test our knowledge of the universes themselves & then we get to delve into this hypothetical scenarios. In theory, this book should be good reading. The problem is it's not really. Each pairing takes 2 different things even down to the point of the fans & tosses them into scenarios in either universe & determines a win, lose or draw based upon potential outcome which at times can be entertaining our downright frustrating. Forbeck also attempts to write what amounts to be a Star Trek/Star Wars crossover at times in this book having some of these possible scenarios depend on the outcome of prior ones which may not entirely be fair to the results. The final chapter is also a bit of a stretch as the Death Star encounters the Borg & we the reader get the ultimate battle of good vs evil in both universes combined. Overall, this is a book strictly for the fans who have an in-depth knowledge of both universes. For the non-fan, this book is a skip simply because without the background & context the reader will be lost.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about time that someone wrote a detailed breakdown of how these two universes compare. Forbeck has written an entertaining treatise that involves a lot of creatively hypothetical situations, but that provides enough forethought and nuance to be able to be taken seriously by devotees of either franchise. Of the ninety head-to-head competitions he presents, fewer than five are debatable; I only wish that he had included a few more categories in the section on impact on our society. The whole exercise is ridiculous, but it kept me fascinated for a couple of hours. This isn't a read for most people, but nerds like me appreciate the effort.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically an internet article that got out of hand. The only thing that makes it readable is that Matt Forbeck is a talented writer (also the only reason I picked it up in the first place, that and it was on clearance).

Nearly everything is turned into various contests between two characters from the different universes, instead of being a comparison of the various technologies, governments, physical laws, etc. It makes for an easier to follow narrative, but I feel opportunities were lost.

Ultimately, this kind of comparison is probably best left to fan discussions, but I think there is more possibility in the concept than was realized in the execution.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite Wars vs Trek match ups: Han Solo vs Captain Kirk, Padme Amidala vs Seven of Nine, Admiral Ackbar vs Locutus of Borg, Stormtroopers vs Red Shirts, Battle Droids vs the Borg, Darth Vader vs Khan, The Galactic Empire vs The Klingon Empire, the Jedi Council vs the Q Continuum, Jar-Jar Binks vs Wesley Crusher, Wicket vs the Tribbles, Mace Windu vs Hikaru Sulu, Executor vs Enterprise-E, Death Star vs Deep Space 9, hyperdrives vs warp drives, John Williams vs Alexander Courage, $24.5 billion since 1977 vs $4 billion since 1966.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

A candy book about what would happen if various Star Wars characters hit against various Star Trek characters. Ultimately, the situations posed in the book lead to a fun set of diversions from the real world (and the worlds of both universes). Taken as what it is, it's worth a read for the humor.

Overall we get an OK book of What-Ifs from the Trek and SW universes that's a decent way to spend an evening. Wouldn't give it a second read though; it's definitely a one-off read.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute popcorn-style book, exactly the right thing I needed to take a break from the very heavy reading of Underworld. The most entertaining part was the very end where the Emperor joins the Borg and goes after the Federation, but Spock's solution of using red matter to blow up the Borg Star leaves a black hole in the solar system - which means Earth is pretty doomed. :)

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed it more if some of the match ups had been different. (The Death Star vs DS9...I mean, c'mon.) I also felt like Forbeck was a tad biased, but maybe I'm just projecting.

All in all, quick, silly, and flawed, but still fun. I read bits and pieces of it aloud to my 9 year old, and he cracked up.

[Nancy Spagnolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really fun way to look at two of the most iconic sci-fi franchises in history. Characters who fit similar achetypes were placed into senios with pitted them against each other to see who come out on top.

[Scott James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Forbeck has accurately codified every late night drunken geek argument in this book. Rogues, redshirts, starships and space stations--Matt breaks it down in easy to read and hard to dispute scenarios. Buy this book, and become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

[Sarah T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute, quick read for fans of Star Wars and Star Trek. I'm slightly more a fan of Trek, but grew up loving both. The matches sometimes felt kind of apples & oranges, but... as long as Q always wins, that's what matters, am I right? ;)

[Kevin Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only problem with this book is that nowhere cares about how it gets to its answer, just what the answer is (unless it's your team that list, then you may read it). Overall, an interesting Wars vs Trek setup.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick easy read. I am a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars, so I enjoyed the scenarios the author set up. I could have done without all the references to the Star Wars Clone Wars stuff.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun easy read. I bought it for Dan for a happy and we both had it read in 24 hours.

[Deb Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out enjoying this, but it couldn't hold my interest. Some good trivia, though.

[Max Write · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'll get the most out of it if you know a lot or everything about both universes. Which I do not, but I enjoyed parts of it. The section on cell phones was amusing.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun to read...but you have to know your Star Wars/Star Trek.