Geek identity, more than any dress code or profession, stems from what you like.

If you’re a “Firefly” fan, you dedicate your life to educating the world about Browncoats, Reavers and the Alliance. If you’re a “Battlestar Galactica” geek, you puzzle over plot twists, gawk at Cylon babes and wait, oh so patiently, for the end of Season Four. The same goes for the faithful who follow “Babylon Five,” “Farscape,” “The 4400,” “Heroes” and “Lost.”

A geek’s true loyalty, however, falls into two camps: “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.”

As far as science fiction classics are concerned, “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” have a lot in common.

Both started out as awesome shows with impressive, if slightly cheesy, special effects, fun plots and compelling characters. Both launched multi-title series that started out strong (”The Empire Strikes Back and “Return of the Jedi,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine) and finished weak (”The Phantom Menace,” “Enterprise”).

One’s a space opera with foundations in myth, magic and Akira Kurosawa. The other’s an egghead approach to science and space exploration revolving around Star Fleet and the U.S.S. Enterprise.

So which is better?

YouTube poster D.M. Phoenix puts that question to the test with “Star Wars vs. Star Trek,” which pits the crew of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” against Darth Vader and the Empire.

How does Jean-Luc Picard’s impenetrable cool and rich British accent stack up to Darth Vader’s masked menace? Do phaser beams trump the Force?

You’ll have to watch to find out.

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In related news, Jon Stewart may very well be the biggest geek in the talk news universe.

On a recent episode of “The Daily Show,” he bragged about his Black Friday purchases: a C3-PO Bobblehead and the Lego Millinium Falcon. Way to geek out, Jon!

Thanks to Gizmodo Australia for the heads-up.

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Want to know more about Wes Anderson? Stanley Kubrick? The Coen Brothers?

“The Films of”, a YouTube series created by Barringer82, is the perfect movie primer for novices and experts alike.

Barringer82 — nom de reality Paul Proulx — presents clips of each filmmaker’s most famous flicks in music video format, setting bits of David Fincher’s disturbing, darkly comic movies to The Dust Brothers and Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man.” “Fight Club,” “Se7en,” “Zodiac,” even a split second of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — they’re all there.

In his homage to Quentin Taratino’s five feature films, Paul pairs the obvious (gunplay and bloodshed) with the subtle (a terrific sequence of bare feet. Just feet). Clever moments like that are a trademark of his films.

Other videos pay paean to Michael Mann, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, David Lynch and Kubrick, identified by our host as “the greatest filmmaker of all time.”

Each video features dialog and songs from a myriad of films. In fact, half the fun is linking each clip to its respective masterpiece.

Now that you’ve wet your whistle, try the Cinefiles series, also available on YouTube.

Hosted by former contestants of IFC’s “The Ultimate Film Fanatic,” The Cinefiles review both genres (UK crime dramas, Bond movies) and individual filmmakers (Mel Brooks, Peter Jackson).

They offer insightful, in-depth commentary about movies (sans video clips, unfortunately), much like our very own “Take Two” radio hosts.

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Thanks to loyal reader I Love A Magician for the tip.

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Step aside, Dr. Horrible: Evil League of Evil seeks applicants 

Back in July , a singing supervillain captured my heart.

“Buffy” creator Joss Whedon struck Internet gold with “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” an online series starring Neil Patrick Harris as a mad scientist with only two ambitions: to win over the girl of his dreams and join the Evil League of Evil led by Bad Horse, “the thoroughbred of sin.”

“Dr. Horrible” was such a hit that Whedon and company took the next, inevitable step and invited ordinary criminals to join the Evil League of Evil.

Most of these applications tend to be awkward, embarrassing or just plain painful. However, there are a few gems — such as the tiny tyrant depicted in the above video.

As her mom explains, the Pint-Size Pirate has been terrorizing the neighborhood “almost as soon as she could walk.” Her crimes include accosting strangers in the streets, robbing banks and kidnapping the governor in order to make him her cabin boy. She’s even lured her own sister into a life of crime. Despicable.

Sneak Attack launched a campaign against all cute Australian critters after her husband was “spurred to death” by vicious platypuses (platypi?).

She seems to be trying the same tactic as the Cutinator (pronounced “Cute-i-nator”), a charming puppy with a lovely singing voice.

This bizarre application from the brain-sucking Skull Spider — complete with accordion music! — gets my “Best Use of A Puppet” award.

Law Ninja combines one of my favorite things, ninjas, with one of my least favorite things, lawyers. And the demon Pickle Jar has some pretty impressive credentials; he’s responsible for “the knife, bathroom graffiti (and) the concept of heating a liquid to a dangerously high temperature and then throwing it on someone.”

However, the award for “Best Effort” has to go to the Canadian fellow who crafted not one, not two, but six application videos for the Evil League tryouts. His personas include Custodius Rex (King of the Janitors), The Allergen and crusty pirate cook Captain Shrovewreaker.

Oh Custodius Rex, you’re an inspiration to us all!

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You never known what you’re going to find on YouTube.

A dorky kid swinging a homemade light saber? Yup. A distraught teenager defending Britney Spears? You betcha. Chad Vader? Tron Guy? “Chocolate Rain”? Check, check and check.

As music and movie buffs have discovered, however, the Web site has also become an amazing resource for concert footage, music videos, trailers and film clips.

Britain’s “The Observer” has hunted down 50 of the best arts videos currently available on YouTube. They range from Jimi Hendrix and The Who smashing their equipment to Jack Kerouac reading from “On the Road.”

Some of these clips are a bit erudite for the average viewer, but here are some of my favorites:

Nirvana, circa 1988: The band, minus drummer Dave Grohl, rehearses “Love Buzz,” “Scoff” and “About A Girl” in a dingy Aberdeen, Wash., garage. Witness a raw but inspiring performance by Kurt Cobain and Company, three years before they hit it big with “Nevermind and launched a grunge revolution.

Kurt Russell and Carrie Fisher trying out for “Star Wars“: A surprisingly baby-faced Kurt Russell puts a genial cowboy spin on the character of Han Solo. And Carrie Fisher turns on the husky sensuality for her Leia tryout, opposite Harrison Ford.

James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti sing “This is A Man’s World”: Sounds like an odd pairing, but turns out the Godfather of Soul and the legendary opera tenor make a good team.

The Beatles’ final concert: The Fab Four unite one last time on a New York rooftop in 1969. Awesome music. Incredible historic significance.

Vladimir Nabokov talks “Lolita”: One of the world’s greatest writers discusses his greatest novel in this two-part video. Nabokov’s Russian accent is pretty thick, but his comments on his “shocking” novel are enlightening. (Hint: He’s the chubby guy wearing glasses.)

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I remember the first time I tried Red Bull.

I sipped. Shivered. Quivered with a caffeine high. Then I realized just how terrible it tasted.

Nevertheless, energy drinks have become a beverage industry giant, pulling in more than $5 million a year.

These days, they come with sleek silver “bullet-cans” with eye-ball melting colors and outrageous names like Cocaine, Xtazy and Pimp Juice. They have weird ingredients like guarana and taurine. And they still, in my opinion, taste pretty awful.

That’s why I’m turning to a new beverage: Powerthirst.

“Sound the alarm! You’re going to be uncomfortably energetic.”
This faux ad for Powerthirst features a hyper-aggressive announcer hawking flavors like Schockolate and Rawberry and Schockolate. Who wouldn’t love an energy drink that turns your babies into Kenyan sprinters?

You’ll want to use your headphones for this one. It’s loud, raw and has one stray F-bomb for the unwary.

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Tom Waits is one of the marvels of the modern world.

He’s a musical icon and a force of nature, a raspy-voiced prophet of booze, brothels and circus freaks, a gentleman scholar, and a stone-cold cat. As this video and this NPR interview prove, he’s also a natural cut-up.

Here, the ever-lovin’ rebel promotes his Glitter and Doom summer tour.

Wait for the punchline. It’s worth it.

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Thanks to reader Robot Downey Jr. for the suggestion.

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I like to follow in the footsteps of greatness.

So when Gizmodo.com says “The Great Nerf Office War” is the funniest Friday-at-work video ever, I sit up and take notice.

Talk about workplace agression. This is sales versus IT, red ties versus blue in the fiercest Nerf battle you’ve ever seen.

Check it out.

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Today’s “Video of the Week” comes to us courtesy of the comic geniuses at RunAwayBox.com.

That’s right, the folks who brought you “One Semester of Spanish Spanish Love Song” and “Ooh Girl — An Honest R&B Song.” Gotta love ‘em.

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For all you Indiana Jones fans out there, here’s a video of a faux Indy being chased by a giant Lego boulder. Yikes!

Look for the fake Sallah and Dr. Henry Jones.

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What better way to end the week than by watching a man in a pith helmet rap about tea?

Elemental dishes it out, Victorian style.

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