FIRST OFFICER'S LOG
[OR] GCS vs. ISD: Why these arguments should end

        I am impassioned defender of SW. Or was up
until this morning that is. It finally occured to me
why any ST ship, even a shuttle craft, would whup the
tar out of an ISD. It is not due to superior ships,
weapons or even the better tactics that ST fans lay
claim to. It has little to do with the ships
themselves. It doesn't matter if George Lucas writes it
or DC Fontana. It will always end the same. Why?
Because SW simply doesn't have the definition that is
Trek, nor should it want it.
        When ST began it was this cool show that
developed a FANatical base very quickly. Within years,
because there nothing new produced, every ounce of what
was had been fleshed out in greater detail than the
Bible. Then came the new generations. Low and behold
they too received 'biblization', to coin a phrase. SW
on the other hand just is. There are these movies
and..... well..... thats about it. The books and comics
must be accepted with a grain of salt considering they
are almost as inconsistent as ST. Through most of this
battle newbies and old timers alike have tried to stop
it by saying things like, "Long ago in a Galaxy far
away" vs. <Insert any number of Trek catch phrases
here> or the ever classic "This so stupid how can argue
about to fictional universes."
        Shouted down or ignored, they are all to oft
forgotten. But they shouldn't have been. It has been
essentially forgottten that in this contest Trek has
always tried, and failed utterly, to be Science
Fiction. SW has no such pretentions. SW was never even
attempted to be more than it was: the fantasy of a man
held over from his youth. SW ships were truly meant to
be back drops. They aren't intergal to the story. All
Luke needed was small ship. All Vader needed was a
large one. You put Han and Chewie on another rust
bucket and the narrative continues. It is extremely
important to remeber that one could destroy the only
truly significant SW ship, the Millineum Falcon, and
still the story will go on.
        Contrary to ST fans claims the ships and
attempts at technology ARE more important the
characters in many instances. By a combination of
design and bad writing, ST attempts to be what it has
not and can not be but the ships in that light. A major
portion of Science Fiction is thw SCIENCE. Somewhere
along the line ST's writers got that confused with
technobabble and allowed it to become ST's excuse for
science. The technobabble is the single largest aspect
of Trek today. Hell, even a newsgroup is dedicated to
just that. I suppose I ca nsum up all of the above
pretty simply: Trek's reality is so full of shit that
it is impossible for anyother fictional reality to
broach it and survive. After participating on both
sides (yes I defended Trek ships for while early on)
then defending SW for a good while.
        Comments accepted, queries desired, challenges
expected, flames answered with the power of god.

Captain Cronan Thompson, guy among men
maliki@worldnet.att.net