Star Trek responds to wild accusations.

It's time to nerd it up SciFi-style...

I'm here to defend an aging franchise that people seemed to have abandoned. It seems that the SciFi masses have all flocked to Battlestar Galactica like moths to the flame. They are quick to point out how it is far superior to Star Trek. Some examples below:

• On why Battlestar Galactica is good - Xiao Pangzi
  
• Where they've gone before... - Of No Import
• The Return of SF Blogging - Dymaxion World

This is nothing new of course. There was the Star Trek vs. Star Wars argument. There was the Star Trek vs. Babylon 5 argument. There was even the incestuous ST:TNG vs. ST:TOS argument. But the fact remains that ST:TNG remains the gold standard for sci-fi series. I don't hear people pointing out how BS-Galactica is superior to StarGate:SG1 or Space: Above and Beyond.

Now I don't claim that ST:TNG is better than BS-Galactica. I'm saying that you can't compare the two. ST:TNG first aired in 1987. BS-Galactica comes almost 20 years later. ST:TNG and the other Star Trek franchises laid the groundwork for:

• Poker night with the crew: High stakes poker games between officers? Star Trek did it first.
• The enemy is among us: Cylons look human and feel human. This theme was explored when the Dominion went to war with the Alpha Quadrant. The shapeshifters were able to infiltrate and exploit their enemies, causing mass paranoia and panic.
• That poor bastard: You gotta feel sorry for Helo being stuck on Cylon-occupied Caprica as a pawn in some game... But it pales in comparison with the life of Geordi LaForge. Poor Geordi's been kidnapped, brainwashed, taken hostage, tortured, shot at pointblank range by a phaser by stupid aliens, and sent to his death for the good of the crew in a holographic simulation. At no point in time, did he ever have the chance to engage in sexual relations with a hot Cylon agent.
  
• Robot-on-human action: Before Cylons started banging BS-Galactica crew members, there was the scandalous Data and Tasha Yar incident.
• Break out the latex ears and foreheads: Star Trek has taken a lot of flak for their alien races looking like humans with prosthetic foreheads and ears. Well, there are no alien races in BS-Galactica thus far except for Cylons... and most of them look EXACTLY human.
• The relentless robots out to kill us all: Cylons. Borg. The Cylons like to play mind games, and have a knack for being just a few seconds too slow in destroying Galactica before it makes the FTL jump. Cylon fighters also seem to have a tough time against older model Vipers. The Borg are more frank and to the point: Join us or we'll destroy you. The Borg have laid the smack down on several civilizations, while the Cylons are still kinda working on wiping out their first one. The Borg adapt, and would probably find a more efficient way of destroying Galactica than attacking with only one mothership at a time, only to have it FTL jump away all the time.

Dear God.... I could go on forever, but I think I should stop now. My point is that BS-Galactica has the advantage of borrowing the best elements from those that came before it. You can compare captains, or first officers, or whatever you want... but the fact remains that ST:TNG was first, and it had staying power. The Star Trek vs. Babylon 5 debate fizzled after the Shadow Wars when Babylon 5 started getting lame. ST:TNG had a run from 1987 to 1994 and ended on a high note. BS-Galactica is on it's second season. Only time will tell if it's got the same staying power.