William Shatner, Carrie Fisher in Star Trek / Star Wars Snark Shootout

A war of words pitting the Web’s oldest debate – Star Wars versus Star Trek – has gone personal, with William Shatner taking on Carrie Fisher via YouTube on the success of both franchises.

We’ve embedded the video below, naturally.

Shatner himself fired the first volley, apparently as a part of The Shatner Project, a reality project starring Shatner and Lisabeth Shatner, his daughter.

“Star Trek has relationships, and conflict among the relationships, and stories with philosophical questions which dramatizes it,” Shatner said. “Star Wars was special effects, ws ILM at its best. First of all, Star Wars was derivative of Star Trek, by what ten, fifteen twenty years, whatever it was… Derivative!”

Star Trek, the TV show, first aired in 1966. Star Wars appeared in theaters in 1977.

Shatner then went on to suggest that the Star Wars actors were essentially nude, but clothed through the magic of special effects. He then somewhat praised the J.J. Adams reboot of the franchise. “Now Star Trek now has even more special effects than Star Wars, so Star Wars has nothing to stand on.”

Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original trilogy, wasn’t about to take this lying down. She too appeared in her own YouTube video, challenging Shatner to a “costume-off”, with her appearing in her famous metal bikini from Return of the Jedi. “And my space buns – they’re so much better than [Leonard] Nimoy’s ears,” Fisher suggested.

Fisher also ruminated at length over the origin and financial viability of Shatner’s kidney stone.

“Skinny Carrie Fisher,” Shatner responded in yet another video. “What are you, 39? I’m much older than that. Get to my age; see how much weight you gain. This isn’t weight, this is muscle. Look at that; this is muscle,” Shatner argued, showing off his own guns, er, phasers, for the YouTube audience.

Frankly, with the gravitas afforded us as members of the Fourth Estate, we would suggest that the give-and-take is embarrassing for both sides. But as dedicated fans of the original VHS versions of the first three Star Wars films, we have to give the edge to Fisher so far. We can only hope for her rebuttal.

All three videos (so far) are below; give us your take in the comments. The links were originally reported by Roger Ebert’s blog.