I was rewatching the Star Trek Alternate Original Series movies the other day when a thought crossed my mind.
Is there anything stopping these franchises from sharing a universe?
The answer I came up with was a resounding no. Nothing is stopping these series from sharing the same universe.
This was surprising considering the fandom rivalry between the two fandoms. Or the rumored rivalry considering I’ve never seen it myself but moving on.
The When
The main thing that makes this shared universe possible is the settings. Star Wars takes place aa long time ago,” while Star Trek takes place in the 23rd century.
With the vague time stamp from the Star Wars franchise, it is possible that the Star Wars series could take place any time in the past, which only serves to help my case.
Nothing stops the events of the Star Wars series from being part of some long-forgotten past by the time Star Trek’s Federation takes to the stars.
The writing for Star Wars supports this. Luke, who was a public figure just 30 years before the events of the Force Awakens, is thought of as a legend by Rey and others. Luke, who was publicly awarded a medal at the end of A New Hope, started a Jedi school full of people he had to collect from somewhere. It is just thought to be rebel propaganda by the general public.
It’s not hard to believe that everything else was forgotten after a long, long time.
The Where
I didn’t mention this before, but the events of these franchises take place super far away from each other.
Star Wars takes place in a galaxy far, far away. It’s super vague, but it works in our favor. Because Star Trek takes place at home, right in the backyard of the Milky Way Galaxy.
This is kind of surprising to think about. In all of Star Trek history, the Federation has only dipped a proverbial toe outside of our galaxy.
Because of this fact, Star Wars’ events fail to be remembered in Star Trek’s story more of a matter of distance and time.
Science Vs Magic
The focus on fantasy vs. science seems to divide the fandoms. Star Wars is a space opera where the characters use light swords and telekinetics to fight, while Star Trek is a space odyssey with science and diplomacy to solve problems.
But that’s not the whole picture of either franchise.
There are characters in the Star Trek franchise who have abilities that one may consider mystical. The being know as Q displays plenty of abilities that could be looked at as mystical. The telepathic abilities of the Vulcan can also be looked at as force telepathy.
I’m not saying force-sensitive people are in Star Trek. What I am saying is the Star Trek universe has room and rules that allow for the force.
For the Star Wars universe, we have to acknowledge the midi-chlorians. The is a semi-scientific explanation for the force. All force-sensitive people have a midi-chlorian count that determines the strength of their abilities. The higher the count, the stronger their force abilities can be.
Measuring location’s or being’s midi-chlorian count sounds like something right out of a Star Trek episode.
Beyond that, the technology in Star Wars is very similar to that of Star Trek. Both franchises have starships with on-ship warp capabilities. (As opposed to other series where the warping is the result of stations built-in space).
Despite how different they look and communicate, both franchises feature (an)droid characters with clear sentience. Thought the droids I’ve seen in Star Trek are still clearly in their early days of development. Most of them are humanoid, but considering child Anikin made C3-P0 using scraps, there is a president for simpler droids being humanoid.
Let’s Wrap This Up
I could probably do a deeper dive with actual evidence linking franchises or argue against the points disproving this theory, but this was just meant to be a quick, fun post that I could crank out while trying to write one of my If I Could Rewrite posts.
This was just me exploring a random thought that ran through my head. Saying that there isn’t anything stopping these franchises from sharing a universe is kind of like saying nothing is stopping Dracula and Frankenstein from doing the same.
Of course, there isn’t. The writers didn’t expect us to try and connect their worlds, so any connection is incidental. There’s no smoking gun or missing link. Similar genres just share worldbuilding aspects that make it popular.
I found it interesting that the difference in presentation for each franchise, one is about understanding the universe and the other about shaping it, leads to a division in their fans when things are pretty similar in structure.
I Think Thinks 