George Lucas Says Star Trek Paved The Way For Star Wars
While there has always been a friendly rivalry between Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans, the two science fiction franchises have often had an intersection of fans. This makes total sense considering the material, themes, timing and more.
Aside from both being science fiction and sharing the word “Star” in their titles, Star Wars creator George Lucas feels that both franchises are closely related. As reported in Hero Complex, the documentary Trek Nation, released in 2013, includes George Lucas talking about why Star Wars “stood on the shoulders” of Star Trek when it was first released in 1977.
George Lucas contends that Star Trek played a very important role in his space opera, and why the film was ultimately successful with general audiences around the world.
George Lucas said about the series, “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.”
George Lucas continued, “For the studios it was way far out, [they said] what is this?’, but there was a fanbase out there — primarily the Star Trek fanbase — who understood sci-fi, understood visual sci-fi, and was ready for something like this (Star Wars) to be in the feature arena.
In today’s pop culture landscape, the Star Wars and Star Trek rivalry seems less important to audiences. These days, people can just be fans of everything, regardless of affiliation or genre. There are plenty of people who love both Marvel and DC Comics movies and comic books.
The Trek Nation documentary follows Rod Roddenberry’s personal journey to examine why his father, Gene Roddenberry’s, science fiction creation Star Trek has resonated in pop culture for almost 50 years. The documentary also explores Rod Roddenberry’s personal relationship with his father. Trek Nation features interviews from science fiction icons like Stan Lee, Ronald D. Moore, and the aforementioned George Lucas and J.J. Abrams.
So Star Trek paved the way for Star Wars. In 1979, the success of Star Wars led Paramount Pictures to bring back Star Trek with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which launched a decades-long film franchise.
