--- title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Chooses Between Star Wars and Star Trek description: One of pop culture's biggest questions canonical: https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-30T19:27:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:12.935Z og:title: Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Choose Between Star Wars and Star Trek og:description: One of pop culture's biggest questions og:url: https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Choose Between Star Wars and Star Trek twitter:description: One of pop culture's biggest questions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Use Science to Choose Between _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ ## Video: Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UyGxWpXw.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2015-10-20. Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 30, 2015 7:27 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 30, 2015 7:27 PM UTC It’s every die-hard sci-fi geek’s nightmare scenario: being forced to choose between _Star Wars_‘ hyperdrive-enabled Millennium Falcon or _Star Trek_‘s supreme vessel, the Starship Enterprise. Some evil genius posed that very question to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on his National Geographic television show _Star Talk_ and despite looking chagrined at having to weigh in, he had a very quick answer to the question that has plagued generations of dueling fandoms. “That’s easy,” said Tyson in a YouTube [video](https://youtu.be/TMH1vDDd1xc). No spoilers, but watch the video above to see how he made his choice based on hard scientific facts. While normally astrophysics school wouldn’t prepare you to answer one of pop culture’s biggest debates, Tyson handles it with panache and solid reasoning. Now that Tyson has weighed in on the question, does that settle the debate? Probably not. Fans will probably always debate whether Han Solo’s beloved Millennium Falcon is better equipped for life in the stars than the U.S.S. Enterprise. \[[H/T National Geographic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMH1vDDd1xc&sns=tw)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/"},"headline":"Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Use Science to Choose Between Star Wars and Star Trek","datePublished":"2015-11-30T19:27:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:12.935Z","description":"One of pop culture's biggest questions","url":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","movies","Star Wars topic","Pop Culture","Star Trek","neil degrasse tyson"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/","name":"Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Use Science to Choose Between Star Wars and Star Trek"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer","description":"Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UyGxWpXw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-20T02:40:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UyGxWpXw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/","duration":"PT2M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4129417/neil-degrasse-tyson-science-star-wars-star-trek/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```