Shatner Gives 'Star Wars' Credit for 'Star Trek''s Success
by EG
The decades-old rift between the fans of Star Trek and the fans of Star Wars maybe got a little narrower last weekend - or maybe it got a little wider - when Starfleet's most famous starship captain gave credit to Star Wars for the popularity of his own series. William Shatner told fans at a Star Trek convention that, in his opinion, the Star Trek franchise would not be what it is today without the help it got from the popularity of Star Wars.
Shatner's remarks came at the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, where he was addressing an audience of devoted Trek fans.
"Star Wars created Star Trek. You know that?" he said to the startled crowd.
He didn't mean literally, of course. The first Star Wars movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, didn't debut until eight years after the original Star Trek TV series had been cancelled. But Shatner argued that it was the commercial success of Star Wars that led Paramount to resurrect Star Trek as a theatrical film in 1979, two years after A New Hope. That first Star Trek movie led to a successful film franchise, as well as several new TV series.
The mostly-good-natured conflict between fans of the two franchises stems from the belief among Star Trek fans that their franchise is a thoughtful, philosophical exploration of a possible space-faring future culture, while Star Wars is pure, action-oriented fantasy.