Star Trek & Star Wars: From an Autistic Point of View

Nearly twenty years ago, I was the same age as my son is now, 13, when I was introduced to the new installment of Star Trek, in the form of the Next Generation series. I had never much cared for the original series, but I found myself fascinated by this newest incarnation. I became addicted to it, I am unashamed to say, and even when I was pregnant with my son, I did not let that stop me from finding a way to watch the series.

I am pleased to say that my son has inherited my love of Star Trek. I had hesitated for a long time in allowing him to watch it, but he has shown amazing maturity and an understanding for many things in Science Fiction, so I have allowed him to watch some of the Star Trek Voyager episodes that are in syndication locally. He always has tons of questions about the characters, their situations, etc.

His interest is not limited to just Voyager, of course. He has developed an interest in the newest series, although cancelled, Enterprise. Just recently, we had a very interesting discussion about the various "aliens" that have been on Star Trek. We discussed the Dr. Flox (Danoblian), Neelix (Talaxian), Spock (Vulcan), along with Seven of Nine (of course!). That was just the tip of the iceberg. His understanding of this universe is only one portion of his love for this topic, and is surpassed only by my own.

Years ago, I ordered a binder that was filled with sheets of information all about Star Trek. It covered the Original Series, The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine. I no longer have that binder. My son now possesses it. It has a proud place of honor in his room, along with his books about his other interests. He still enjoys looking through the information, as he did when he was a much younger child.

Of course, his love of Star Wars has surpassed his love of Star Trek. He would rather dress as a Jedi, than a Starfleet Officer. For the last seven or eight years, since the coming of the newest Star Wars Trilogy, he has been fascinated by the world of Star Wars. He has watched the movies so many times, that he knows all of the scripts. I cannot say that I have heard him do the same with any of the Star Trek movies, which is not to say that he can't, I just haven't seen him. He knows so much about the Star Wars world that he asked for a compendium on the subject. Of course, books are not the only things that he possesses.

His other obsession, Transformers, recently melded with the world of Star Wars, so as far as Matt is concerned, Star Wars is much cooler than Star Trek. Has anyone seen an Enterprise that turns into a robot? I doubt it. However, there is a Millennium Falcon, which does.

Therefore, I suppose, from the point of view of my Autistic son, Star Wars is much cooler. They offer much more in the way of stimulating toys for kids like him. Star Trek does not have as much. Maybe they do, I don't really know for sure, but in his eyes, it really doesn't matter. To him, Darth Vader is the coolest villain ever, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a great hero, and let's not forget Luke and Leia. Of course, by my estimation, he thinks Padme was cooler than her kids were. That might be because of her looks, as well as, her fighting abilities. He is, after all, still a teenager.

I sat him down as I was finishing my thoughts on this article and asked him for a reason why he loves Star Wars so much. He said, "There's some colorful lightsabers, indestructible weapons and incredible force powers in my game." He's been playing a game called Star Wars: Jedi Outcast. When I asked him if he would be interested in playing a Star Trek game, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I might be." I am not sure if he knows what he wants, but something tells me that the Force will be with him when he does figure it out!