Galaxies collided when Star Wars' Mark Hamill and Star Trek's William Shatner went head to head online.
Shatner claimed his franchise's superiority over the beloved Star Wars franchise when NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a familiar image of a surface formation on Mars.
The Orbiter discovered a chevron-shaped symbol evocative of "Star Trek's" Starfleet–the fictional service maintained by the United Federation of Planets that organizes space exploration, diplomacy, research, defense and peacekeeping–insignia.
Shatner, who is known for playing Captain James T. Kirk on the Star Trek TV series and in films, seized an opportunity.
"Hey @starwars! Will you hurry up your Rebel Scums? We beat you!"
It didn't take long for the Jedi master to detect a petulant disturbance in the force.
Hamill, the 67-year-old actor who is known for his iconic role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, saw something else in the captured image.
Shatner, 88, continued poking and prodding his newest nemesis.
Fans of both geeked out over the galactic clash, with one user declaring the "Mars race" victory going to Shatner.
Hamill commented on the presumptuous fan's unsolicited remark.
"Who made you Judge Judy & executioner?"
The rivalry between the two universes goes way back to when George Lucas bestowed Star Wars onto moviegoers in 1977 to global success.
But Star Wars wasn't the first Sci-Fi phenomenon with a strong foothold on pop culture. That distinction belonged to Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, which aired as a television series from 1966 to 1969 on CBS.
The supernova scuffle was not over.
Shatner fired back:
"Looks like someone touched a #RawNerve. Too bad you never came on my talk show we could have talked about your Daddy issues both onscreen and off!"
But Hamill came in for the perfect landing when he implied that the measure of success was based on a certain expansion at a popular theme park.
The Trekkers (or Trekkies) made their final decision.
The Star Wars contingent boasted they were far, far away from an incidental planet.
Star Wars fans would do best to remember they will always have the moon.
It appears we've found the dark side of the moon.
Can peace be restored?
According to CNN, the mark found on the southeast Hellas Planitia region of Mars was created by an eruption of lava at some point in Martian history and flowed around the crescent-shaped dunes instead of covering them.
Winds left behind these "dune casts" in the lava field, and there is no indication the mark was created by the United Federation of Planets.
That we know of.
In 2018, William Shatner released the memoir Live Long And . . .: What I Learned Along the Way, available here. And while Hamill has yet to pen his own memoir, actress and close friend Carrie Fisher's memoir The Princess Diarist, available here, features stories from behind the scenes of the Star Wars franchise.
You can also show your Team Hamill or Team Shatner allegiance with either a Luke Skywalker shirt...
...available here, or a Captan Kirk shirt...
...available here.
@WhatTheHec_tor/X
@K Phillips7/X
@marthabrendel/X
@DefunctWebs/X
