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If anything, Star Wars has drawn millions of people to Sci Fi.

2001 was bold, but went over the heads of most who watched it. It was a great story, but as a movie, long and slow.

Star Wars took sci fi from the realm of cheese and camp, to fiction/possibility. It was ground breaking in its effects. Virtually overnight, special effects were changed, not only in how they were done, but how often. Today's special effects are taken for granted, because of what SW did back in the day.

I'd also say that SW opened the door for movies like Contact and Interstellar to be made. Gone are the days of sci fi being done on shoe string budgets, being relegated to strictly direct to video releases. Sci fi now is viewed as legitimate, where producers will put up big money, knowing that a movie CAN bring in big bucks.

Star Trek had a big following. But in reality, it was a fairly low budget, TV show. Star Wars opened the door for Star Trek to be made, the way Star Trek should be made.

I'd also say that Star Wars breathed life back into 2001. I was 14 when Star Wars (and Close Encounters) came out. From there I became very interested in anything sci fi. Reading was a joy for me and I had a reading class in school, where most of the books I read were sci fi, with the most prominent being 2001.

2001 was legendary, but it was more a film makers movie vs a theater goers. 2001 came out in 1968. 2010 came out in 1984, I would say, primarily from the success of SW and what it had done for 2001.

Because of Star Wars and because of my love for reading, I was later exposed to the writings of Clarke, Pournelle, Saberhagen, Herbert, Bujold and others.

I suspect millions of others also.

No...I don't think Star Wars ruined sci fi. Just the opposite. I think it pushed it farther in movies and literature than anything else has.

Star Trek had a big following. But in reality, it was a fairly low budget, TV show.

Just not true.

I refer you to Marc Cushman's TOS books, These Are the Voyages. TOS episodes were some of the most expensive television made at the time. Cushman has the numbers.

The other myth about TOS is that the ratings were poor. They were not, which Cushman goes into with the actual numbers for specific broadcasts. NBC became annoyed with Roddenberry, and did not want to be bothered with him.

Star Trek TOS was initially broadcast 8 Sep 1966, and it brought in a vast audience, especially women, who hadn't been fans before. Many of those episodes can be watched and discussed today. I first became aware of Star Wars when I went to Boskone in 1977, and by then, the audience for science fiction had already changed a great deal.

I think in many ways, the first Star Wars movie was enormously beloved because it distilled the very best of the old movie serials of the 1930's and 1940's plus got additional inspiration from Akira Kurosawa's famous movie The Hidden Fortress (I've seen that movie and gawd, you could see the inspiration for the main characters of Star Wars--and that includes both C-3PO and R2-D2!).