> took scientific plausibility seriously
Didn't Star Trek essentially pioneer the concept of technobabble?
> eschewed scientific realism in favor of hyper space or whatever
Warp travel? Subspace? Q? Accelerated human evolution into lizard people?
Didn't Star Trek essentially pioneer the concept of technobabble?
> eschewed scientific realism in favor of hyper space or whatever
Warp travel? Subspace? Q? Accelerated human evolution into lizard people?
There's a lot of bad Trek out there. But also a lot of good Trek. The best of it is like a slice of speculative fiction - like a mini District 9, Interstellar, Her, or Arrival. The worst of it is pure melodrama with technobabble layered on top.
I think what the parent is getting at is that Star Wars never, ever goes the speculative fiction route. It's all "character drama in space".
Star Wars has more political and interpersonal conflicts lead to shifts of power. Palpatine gained control of the Galactic Senate through political maneuvering - letting the Trade Federation apply political pressure through shipping fees, and then manipulating weak-minded senators while their stronger-minded companions are fleeing the Trade Federation. Rarely are technical details relevant to the plot - starship fuel or reactor operation details are vague at best, an executive summary. They don't goto Watto for engine parts, but a whole new engine, and Jedi aren't trained on starship repairs as they have astromech droids.
Star Trek has more situations where mechanical failure or damage leads to interpersonal conflicts and shifts of power. During the Klingon Civil War, you get a pretty good idea of how Geordi keeps the Romulans away. Ship fuel was a main plotline through the entire Voyager series. Everyone on every Starfleet ship has taken a college class on how the warp core reactor works, and they flaunt that knowledge regularly.
That's mostly the 1-3 trilogy. The original trilogy is mostly fantasy in space/space opera
Hell, no. Technobabble has been a staple of science fiction all the way back to its origins.
The point remains: Star Trek's science is frequently either nonsensical or laughably bad. Hard sci-fi it's not.