zombie84 said:

In 1983, Star Wars was also looked at as a cheap, merchandise-driven money-making empire. It was seen as diluted and hollow, an excuse to sell toys. And it was considered a cult, nerd-like thing the way ST was seen at the time.

My memories of '83 in Northern Ireland SW had fans of all types. In my school the Skin-heads to the nerds all considered SW cool...it was just the nerds who liked Star Trek. Maybe it was different in other parts of the world, but SW back then broke the mold in making sci-fi cool, thats why most sci-fi now are blockbusters.