The aliens make SW better

[Darth Klingon]

Many of the ST aliens look basically like humans, but with one differing feature, but otherwise they look human. The Vulcans looked just like humans, but they had pointed ears. With the exception their strange looking foreheads, the Klingons looked human. The Bajorans looked human, except for their nose. Other than their strange skin texture, the Cardassians looked like humans.

Whereas with Star Wars, the non humans look totally alien. Yoda looks like a short green skinned goblin. The Wookies look like big furry apes, similar to a Yeti or a Sasquatch. The Mon Calamari are anthropomorphic aliens with squid like faces. The Ewoks look like little teddy bears. I could go on and on describing the SW species, but you get the idea. None of the SW aliens look mostly human, but with one alien differing feature. SW has a more interesting variety of non humans.

Some would argue that Gene Roddenberry didn't have a large enough budget, so that's why he couldn't make the aliens look totally alien. He could just make actors wear make up and prosthetics.

But regardless of the real life circumstances why ST aliens look the way they do, that doesn't change my attitude towards watching it.

[Batman]

Goomtu. The Horta. Species 8472. The plethora of energy beings. What about the fuckton of deep space lifeforms we saw in Trek?
The vast majority of person meets person lifeforms in Wars looked vaguely human too. Same size and width, same approximate number of limbs, distinguishable limbs and head and eyes. If anything at least on the 'species you might run into in a bar' level, I think Trek has the upper hand.

[Stark]

Aliens being basically human can work to narrative advantage anyway. Str Trek just started out with zero budget.

[Darth Klingon]

The vast majority of person meets person lifeforms in Wars looked vaguely human too. Same size and width, same approximate number of limbs, distinguishable limbs and head and eyes. If anything at least on the 'species you might run into in a bar' level, I think Trek has the upper hand.

Yoda, the Wookies, the Gungans, and the Ewoks were all humanoid in appearance-with two arms and two legs, but there's a big difference between them and the Klingons and Vulcans.

The Vulcans looked almost entirely human, with the exceptions of their ears. Without their strange looking foreheads, the Klingons would pass for human too. They looked mostly human, with one differing feature.

Of course the SW species were mostly humanoid. It would be goofy and hard to relate to if they were otherwise. However, the Wookies looked closer to a Sasquatch than a human. They had long brown fur, an animalistic voice, and their faces looked nothing like humans. The Gungans had scales and floppy ears, and weird voices. It's more than just one differing feature-their features are totally different.

Compare them with the Vulcans and Klingons, and it's pretty clear that at least those aliens look mostly human, with just a small difference.

[Batman]

Really. Whatever happened to the 'totally alien' from the OP?

[Metahive]

[img]ttp://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20050829145935/starwars/images/thumb/9/9e/Neealavar.jpg/250px-Neealavar.jpg[/img]

Yep, definitely no aliens that are only a feature or two away from human at all. O yeah, and which species is the by far dominant one in the SW galaxy? Good ol' humans.

[TOSDOC]

Geez, I thought TOS did pretty well for what it had. I wonder what Arena must have cost for the Gorn costume and some nice space effects and ground explosions. The Salt Vampire was a great costume for it's time too, especially when you consider all the work that went into it for just a few seconds of screentime. The Melkot and Excalbian couldn't do much, but they certainly don't look humanoid either.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Don't forget the CG Gorn in "In a mirror darkly", and the Xindi Insectoids... and Aquatics. Yeah, basically humanoid

[Baffalo]

I think there's a theory being bounced around that even though evolution offers numerous shapes and opportunities to become anything needed to survive, humanoids are the basic template of the universe if a species wants to become sentient. I have absolutely no idea if that's true or not but it does present an interesting idea.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

In ST, the canon explanation for the abundance of humanoids was given in The Chase, where an extremely ancient race seeded the Galaxy with DNA that directed evolution towards humanoids.