Science Fiction Franchises - How many Star Wars and Star Trek series/films have you seen?

[shadowkat]

List Memeage, only culture junkies need apply.

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

Star Wars Franchise

RELEASE ORDER

* † Star Wars (A New Hope) (1977) [I literally saw it the first or second week of release, and was the first kid in my neighborhood or school to see it - my father was determined. We drove an hour out of our way to see it - (first time sold out), so came back.]
* † The Empire Strikes Back (1980) [Also among the first to see it - and read the book, saw it at a huge theater, double decker in Kansas City, that was an hour away.]
* † Return of the Jedi (1983)
*† The Phantom Menace (1999)
* † Attack of the Clones (2002)
*† Clone Wars (2003-2005)
*† Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
LEGO Star Wars stuff* (2013-??) - the appeal of lego animation and legos is completely lost on me. (Also they are a nasty organization to work for - my cousin worked for them, so no love, sorry folks.)
Rebels (2014-2018)
* † The Force Awakens (2015)
* Rogue One (2016)
Forces of Destiny* (2017-2018) [I've never heard of this one, so until this list, didn't know it existed. Must be animated.]
*† The Last Jedi (2017)
Solo (2018)[saw it on a plane]
Resistance (2018-2019) - also never heard of it.
Galaxy of Adventures* (2019-2020) - never heard of it.
The Rise of Skywalker (2019) - among the few that I didn't bother to see in the theater.
The Mandalorian (2019-2023)
The Book of Boba Fett (2021-2022)
The Bad Batch (2021-2024)
Visions (2021-2025)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Andor (2022-2025) [three quarters of the way through]
Ahsoka (2023-2026)
Young Jedi Adventures (2023-2025)
Tales of the Empire (2024)
The Acolyte (2024)
Skeleton Crew (2024-2025)
Tales of the Underground (2025)

I've not watched most of the computer animated series - because video game computer animation jars me - it gives me headache. The people kind of move like robots or stiffly, and my eyes keep trying to make it work, and it doesn't, and I just can't watch it. There's certain types of computer animation that I can't watch. The Star Wars computer animation, Lego movie, and video game animation - it gives me a headache for some reason or other, which is another reason I'm not a gamer.


I've actually seen more of the MCU stuff than the Star Wars stuff. Although I have admittedly watched more of the Star Wars than Star Trek - at least I think I have? Let's see?

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

Star Trek

RELEASE ORDER

* Star Trek - Original Series (1966-1969) 80 episodes
†Star Trek - the Animated Series (1973-1975) - 22 episodes
†* Star Trek - the Motion Picture (1979) [my parents were fans of Star Trek - so my father was insistent, he loved Trek.]
†* Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982)
†* Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984)
†* Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986)
†* Star Trek The Next Generation - 1987-1994 (176 episodes)
†Star Trek V : The Final Frontier (1989)
†Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country (1991)
†Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1993-1999 (173 episodes)
†*Star Trek: Generations (1994)
†Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) 168 episodes
†Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
†Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
†Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) 98 episodes
†Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
†Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024) 65 episodes
Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-2020) 10 episodes
Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023) 30 episodes
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-2024) - 50 episodes
Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2024) - 40 episodes
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-) 40 episodes
Star Trek: Very Short Treks (2023) - 6 episode

Hmm, I was wrong, I've seen more Trek than Star Wars. [Morale? Never assume without checking first.] There's only a handful that I've not seen. Who knew? Apparently I'm more of a Trekkie than a Star Wars fan. Granted Trek had more content availability when I was growing up - Star Wars didn't take off again until the 21st century.

And that's a lot of Trek. I think that out does the Star Wars franchise ten to one.

Side note? The forgettable film, Star Trek Nemesis? The villain was written with James Marsters in mind - based on his performance as Spike. But Marsters is a die hard Trekkie, and blew the audition. He froze when he met James Patrick Stewart, had similar problem when he met Nimoy. So, Tom Hardy got the role and his career took off instead.

And I've seen more of the DCU and MCU franchise than of those two. Let's face it I'm a sci-fi/fantasy fan, with a weakness for superhero films. I tend to hide this side of myself from most of the folks that I know - current cubicle mate wouldn't understand. I miss my previous cubicle mate who loved superhero films and science fiction.

Comments

[cjlasky7]

* A New Hope (1977)
* The Empire Strikes Back
* Return of the Jedi (1983)
*✝️ The Phantom Menace (1999)

One of the first in line. One of the biggest disappointments of my moviegoing life.

* Attack of the Clones (2002)
* Clone Wars (2003-2005)
* Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
LEGO Star Wars (2013-??)
Rebels (2014-2018)
* The Force Awakens (2015)
* Rogue One (2016)
Forces of Destiny (2017)
* The Last Jedi (2017)
* Solo (2018)
Resistance (2018-2019)
Galaxy of Adventures (2019-2020)
The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The Mandalorian (2019-2023)
The Book of Boba Fett (2021-2022)
The Bad Batch (2021-2024)
Visions (2021-2025)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Andor (2022-2025)
Ahsoka (2023-2026)
Young Jedi Adventures (2023-2025)
Tales of the Empire (2024)
The Acolyte (2024)
Skeleton Crew (2024-2025)
Tales of the Underground (2025)

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

Star Trek

RELEASE ORDER

* Star Trek - Original Series (1966-1969) 80 episodes

Watched them all a million times. But I didn't see the original run. I caught it in syndication.

†Star Trek - the Animated Series (1973-1975) - 22 episodes
* Star Trek - the Motion Picture (1979)
* Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982)
* Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984)
* Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986)
†* Star Trek The Next Generation - 1987-1994 (176 episodes)
Star Trek V : The Final Frontier (1989)
†Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country (1991)
†Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1993-1999 (173 episodes)
*Star Trek: Generations (1994)
†Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) 168 episodes
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) 98 episodes
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024) 65 episodes
Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-2020) 10 episodes
Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023) 30 episodes
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-2024) - 50 episodes
Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2024) - 40 episodes
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-) 40 episodes
Star Trek: Very Short Treks (2023) - 6 episodes

Watched all six. Unfortunately.

I am definitely more of a Trek guy. When Discovery, Picard, Season 5 of Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds come to basic satellite, I will probably watch them all.

P.S. You forgot about Section 31. (Lucky you.)

[shadowkat]

Agreed on Phantom Menace. Ugh, Lucas. The mistake was Lucas's friends didn't want to do the films and persuaded Lucas to handle the writing and direction. Just No. Lucas can't write dialogue to save his life, and he sucks at plotting - he's all about the world-building and special effects. What people don't know is Lawrence Kasdan wrote part of scripts for the first two-three films, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher changed a lot of their lines, and while Star Wars was directed by Lucas - he had help with the script. And the second two films weren't directed by Lucas. That unfortunately didn't happen with the next three films. So, you got a ton of world-building, and not a lot else in the prequel films. It's the problem with a lot of science fiction and fantasy - is the writers of it - often get bogged down in all the world-building that they lose track of the characters and the story.

Section 31 wasn't on IBMD's list. (No, I did not do it from memory - I had no idea there was a series called Very Short Treks or Short Treks.) Also I did forget about it. I've not seen it. I was looking forward to it - then read the abysmal reviews, and chose to skip. Strange New Worlds is also getting bad reviews all of a sudden - people do not like Season 3.

[cjlasky7]

Besides Kasdan, one of the great unsung heroes of the franchise was Marcia Lucas, who edited A New Hope and helped Lucas shape the characters into something resembling humans (and not archetypes from 1940s movie serials).

HARRISON FORD (to Lucas): You can type this shit, but you can't say it!

And because he thinks in archetypes and nostalgia bait, Lucas cannot write dialogue for normal people. That became painfully clear in the prequels (especially TPM).

But as bad as the prequels were, the sequel trilogy might be worse. There was no coordination from the Disney braintrust on the general direction of the series and no flow from one movie to the next.

You started off with Abrams' 100% recycled Star Wars movie (which was kind of fun, actually); then Rian Johnson came in with HIS ideas....

And then the braintrust just threw all that away and handed it back to Abrams (after Treverrow flamed out). It was pure hash.

Rise of Skywalker was the only Star Wars movie I did not see in the theaters. I saw it on television FOUR YEARS after release.

[shadowkat]

Rise of Skywalker was the only Star Wars movie I did not see in the theaters. I saw it on television FOUR YEARS after release.

Yep, same. I saw it a year after its initial release. I found it easier to follow than Last Jedi.

I remember being annoyed by both, for different reasons.

Force Awakens - I thought set a few interesting things up? But Rian Johnson ignored them, or didn't like them and by the time it got back to Abrams - he was too busy trying to come up with a clever twist on what he set up in Force Awakens, to really make it work or pay attention to what was in the second film. So we basically had three stand a lone films, that almost work better separately than together. Add to that? Carrie Fisher died while they were making Last Jedi. She was supposed to be the focus on Rise of Skywalker. Her death threw the whole thing off kilter. I actually, think she was supposed to be more of a focal point in Last Jedi - but again her death threw it off. As a result they had to yank Harrison Ford back for Rise.

Say what you will about the Prequels - at least they had a cohesive through line and worked together as a trilogy. The sequels were more entertaining than the prequels, but didn't work as a cohesive whole nor as a trilogy. Also, I despised Adam Driver after seeing them. I've struggled watching him in anything else since then.

[cjlasky7]

That's the real shame about the prequels--because they DO work as a cohesive trilogy. The underpinning of all three movies--how the galaxy gradually shifts from a democratic Republic to a fascist dictatorship-- works PERFECTLY.

If only Lucas could write actual characters to give weight to this tragedy.

[shadowkat]

In some respects - Andor does a better job with this theme - then the prequels.

[shadowkat]

Harrison Ford also famously stated: People don't talk like this, George. (He and Carrie Fisher kept changing the dialogue). Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson didn't feel comfortable doing that - they aren't writers and good at improv.

Strange Not-So-New Worlds

[cjlasky7]

Why has fandom suddenly turned on SNW? There are a number of explanations:

1. The scripts aren't quite as sharp as Seasons 1&2.

2. The continuity police is up in arms. Complete continuity break regarding the Gorn. (Yet ANOTHER Spock romance?)

3. Or maybe fandom has come to the realization that--despite the innovative episode formats (musical! animated!--the series has no real reason to exist except as nostalgia bait.

Re: Strange Not-So-New Worlds

[shadowkat]

I think it's most likely #3. From what I've read - I've not seen more than four episodes from S1, so wouldn't know - it's the fanfic feel of it that is bothering a portion of the fandom. (Not everybody, some people are still enjoying it.)

Re: Strange Not-So-New Worlds

[jesuswasbatman]

All of those for me. I'm not a continuity nitpicker but I really hate the idea of the Gorn as all-evil animalistic monsters and it's not a depiction of a sapient species that I ever wanted to see on a Trek show.

Central Themes

[cjlasky7]

Every great post TOS Trek series explores a central theme:

TNG - What makes us human (and where is humanity going)?

DS9 - Who are we in times of great crisis?

VOY - Who are we if you strip away the comforts of our civilization? (Sadly, they never fully explored this theme.)

ENT - Despite our differences, can we come together and live in this world/universe? (S4 only.)

LD - Why is Star Trek so cool?

I see no compelling central theme in SNW. It can be entertaining, but there's always something...lacking.