Star Trek and Star Wars: The End is Near

Star Trek and Star Wars are about to close up shop. Star Trek: Enterprise’s final episodes will air on Friday. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith hits theatres May 19. Two fandoms will dissolve into the Internet where fanfiction and fan films will inevitably continue to be produced and consumed. Two cultural phenomenon will fade into the past.

It’s odd, really, that both epics will end at the beginning. Star Trek: Enterprise is a prequel to all of the other Trek shows that takes place just before the formation of the Federation. The Star Wars prequels take place just before the formation of the Empire that was well entrenched by the first Star Wars, Episode IV. Fans have gotten a taste of where their favorite universes came from and, in both cases, the taste has been bittersweet. The saga continues, but man is it annoying!

I don’t really see this as the true end of either story. It’s merely a break that both universes are in dire need of. If The Three Musketeers, Zorro, Robin Hood, and other stories can be remade and re-imagined every 10 or 20 years, someone somewhere will find a way to resurrect these universes later on. Fans can only hope that what is resurrected is true to the spirit of the show/movie rather than an evil zombie. Evil zombies just take all the fun out of things. Unless you’re remaking Dawn of the Dead. Then they’re kind of essential.

I’ll probably write more on each as I see their finales. Just thought I’d write a bit beforehand.