That was, perhaps, the most impressive display of geekery I have ever seen.

I can only add: "Holy shit! Consider the source!"

Actually, that would work for just about any flick. Dump the _________, make it strictly an action adventure movie starring Ewan MacGregor.

I think Lucas made it impossible with The Phantom Suckage, Send in the Clones, et al.

I said cool, not good. Star Wars is about teen angst and heroes and pirates and a literal rebellion. The characters have swordfights and mysterious destinies and must triumph over Evil. It is capital-R Romantic. The story values things that are cool.

Star Trek is about diplomacy and diversity and empathy and rationality. Its values are straight out of the Enlightenment. These are noble things, but they are not cool things.

It's like this: In Star Wars, if a robot is causing a problem, you slice it in half with a light saber. In Star Trek, you give it a paradox that fries its logic circuits.

The story values things that are cool.

I still think the three most recent movies miss on that point. Probably inevitably. Because they're really the exposition for the first trilogy. The rebels are the bad guys, and evil triumphs. The most angsty teen becomes the Big Bad, and we know it going in.

It's like this: In Star Wars, if a robot is causing a problem, you slice it in half with a light saber. In Star Trek, you give it a paradox that fries its logic circuits.

Doesn't Kirk famously solve a problem at Starfleet Academy by doing the "slice the Gordian knot" solution?

Kirk is supposed to be cool. He doesn't follow the Prime Directive. He's a rebel, ladykiller, leader of men (and women), torn-shirt, grappling with giganto Lizardmen dude. Sure he uses his brain to make a cannon out of rocks and cardboard tubing, but that doesn't make him less cool.

Spock is also cool in the original, Miles Davis, contained/reserved sangfroid way.

I'm not sure if either verse's ethos is particularly cool: rational humanism vs. halfassed buddhism.

But original flavor Trek definitely has as many instances of cool as Star Wars.

While the Star Wars verse is definitely Romantic, it must be noted that Romantic isn't really cool. It's...Romantic. Hot blooded, big-gestured, all-for-love. Naked emotion may be a desirable human quality (or not), but it's the opposite of cool's reserve.

Doesn't Kirk famously solve a problem at Starfleet Academy by doing the "slice the Gordian knot" solution?

Well, he out-and-out cheated because he was too stubborn to lose.

But original flavor Trek definitely has as many instances of cool as Star Wars.

Space hippies!

HP bulletin - Aims alert:

Daniel Radcliffe's Broadway Run of Equus struggling to sell (italics mine).

Also, ABC Family is going to run a "first look" at HP+theHBP during their HP weekend December 5-7th.

And they're scouting locations for Deathly Hallows already.

And they're scouting locations for Deathly Hallows already.

My bedroom for making the Potter-Sprog for the epilogue would do nicely.

Kirk is cool. Star Trek is not. The whole thing -- not a character or a scene. I wish I could think of another word that encapsulates what I mean.

Naked emotion may be a desirable human quality (or not), but it's the opposite of cool's reserve.

Actually, maybe that does get at a part of it. Because Star Trek is not reserved: it is explictly preachy. Of the movies, I always thought the 4th was the most true to the spirit of the show because, my god, it's about saving the whales.

The whole thing -- not a character or a scene. I wish I could think of another word that encapsulates what I mean.

Earnest?