The Time George Lucas And Gene Roddenberry Joined Together And Fans Loved It
In 1987, George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry attended the first official Star Wars convention.
Star Wars vs. Star Trek is an eternal debate. Of course, there are plenty of us who just appreciate both franchises for what they are and what they bring to the table. Regardless of your thoughts, it’s undeniably cool that the creators of these massive franchises, George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry, were both at the first official Star Wars convention in 1987. See for yourself below.
A Reddit user on the subreddit r/ObscureMedia posted archival footage of George Lucas doing a Q&A at the First Star Wars Convention, where Gene Roddenberry showed up as a surprise guest. Starlog Salutes Star Wars A 10th Anniversary Tribute to George Lucas and the Galaxy Far, Far Away Which He Created, or Star Wars Celebration 0 for short, was the very first officially sponsored Star Wars event. The convention was held in the Stouffer Concourse Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and only a few thousand people were in attendance.
Along with having George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry on the same panel, the event also resulted in the only known picture of the two together. This convention was definitely a piece of sci-fi history, and it’s cool that there’s a way to watch the whole panel. It’s not often that you get a decent recording of this kind of event before the age of smartphones.
What’s really amazing is that all of these years later, both George Lucas’ and Gene Roddenberry’s creations are thriving and possibly more popular than ever. While Star Wars is undoubtedly the money-maker out of the two, the Star Trek franchise isn’t necessarily slouching with five different TV series currently airing and more in development. While the Star Trek 4 movie may be in limbo at the moment, Star Wars has fully dove into the TV side of things following the critical disappointment of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.
The shift to streaming series seems to be working for Star Wars, as they have critical and commercial successes from shows like The Mandalorian and Andor. While shows like The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi weren’t as well-received, people were still plenty interested in tuning in. Although there have been some missteps along the way, George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry could be proud of the state of their respective franchises.
Both George Lucas and (obviously) Gene Roddenberry are no longer really involved in the massive franchises they got off the ground. Roddenberry’s passing in 1991 means that the Star Trek franchise has been in other hands for a long time now, and Lucas pretty much went hands-off with the Star Wars franchise after handing over the reins to Disney. While Disney’s franchise handling has been a bit of a rollercoaster, Lucas probably has plenty of money to make all of that not really matter to him.
Whether you prefer George Lucas’ franchise or Gene Roddenberry’s franchise, it’s hard to deny that there’s so much content coming out from both that some of it are bound to be enjoyable. For every The Book of Boba Fett, there’s an Andor waiting right around the corner. Whichever franchise you love, make sure you stay tuned here for updates on both.
