The Great 'Which Universe Would I Rather Inhabit' Tournament Round 2 Match 3

The Great 'Which Universe Would I Rather Inhabit' Tournament Round 2 Match 3

Ultima vs Star Trek

Universe of medieval fantasy, magic and runes vs Universe of spaceships, warp speed and the holodeck.

I swear that I'm not going to use the holodeck as the reason for Star Trek winning in every round. There are negatives to the holodeck of course, although I can't think of any at the moment. But I promise, I'll make this a fair fight.

This in many ways is a re-tread of the previous match, The Elder Scrolls vs Star Wars. It's Fantasy vs Sci-Fi again, although the Elder Scrolls universe is a different place to Britannia, and the Star Trek universe is a different place to the Star Wars universe.

I've always loved the world of Britannia, from the way it's magic and moonstones travel system work, to the lands that make it up. It defined my childhood idea of a fantasy world as much as The Chronicles of Narnia did, and to this day I still consider the rune casting system of Ultima Underworld I & II to be my favourite magic system ever. Britannia, in reality, probably covers an area the size of Derbyshire, and so it's a place where I could get to know a smallish number of fantastical cities and locations very, very well. It has an array of imaginative enemies to fight, and of course I'd be applying for the role of Avatar, and be looking to save the lands that I love from danger.

The Star Trek universe, of course, is opposite in pretty much every way - there's no magic, it's Science Fiction rather than Fantasy, and the universe is the size of...well, the universe. There are countless races we know of, far more than in Britannia, and the sense of adventuring comes from discovering something new, rather than fulfilling a quest to rid the land of evil or discover some sort of treasure. Plus, you get to zoom around in a starship, and play on the holodeck, which can re-create anything you've ever known in the form of a virtual programme and...dammit, I said I wasn't going to rely on the holodeck.

As with the Elder Scrolls vs Star Wars, it's difficult when it comes down to a Sci-Fi vs Fantasy argument - at least if the two universes are from the same genre, you can compare how well they do the concept easily. There's far more of a difficult equation here, adding up how well you like a medieval-style world to explore versus an infinite universe out in space, along with a system of magic that has stuck with you for years versus a piece of technology that can allow you to experience anything you've ever wanted.

Now, as I said in that last match, I'm an explorer at heart, but where the Elder Scrolls series clearly trumps Star Wars in that respect (when does anyone ever do any exploring in the Star Wars films? They just fight a lot. Terrible way to live your life), both Britannia and the Star Trek universe are all about exploring. And really, that's what has led me to make my decision.

Congratulations Star Trek, you've just defeated the might of Britannia. Yep, it's not really the holodeck that has swung it in this round (although it always helps), but more that there's always going to be far more opportunity for exploration in my life if I live in the Star Trek universe. Britannia only has a limited number of cities and dungeons, but Star Trek has such a higher amount of planets to make contact with in the Alpha Quadrant of the galaxy alone that you could spend you whole life doing it and still not see a large proportion of it. Other than this reason, it's incredibly difficult to choose between the two, as they are both shining examples of their genres.

Advance, Star Trek.

Winner: Star Trek

Red Dwarf	Heroes	Buffy
Heroes
Buffy	Buffy
Battlestar Galactica
Star Wars	Star Wars	Elder Scrolls
Aliens
Elder Scrolls	Elder Scrolls
Terminator
Narnia	Ultima	Star Trek
Ultima
Star Trek	Star Trek
Middle Earth
Firefly	Marvel
Marvel
DC	DC
Doctor Who