Space opera
Space opera is a
An early film which was based on space-opera comic strips was Flash Gordon (1936), created by Alex Raymond.[3] Perry Rhodan (1961–) is the most successful space opera book series ever written.[4][5] The Star Trek TV series (1966–) by Gene Roddenberry and the Star Wars films (1977–) by George Lucas brought a great deal of attention to the sub-genre.[6] After the convention-breaking "new wave", followed by the enormous success of the franchises, space opera became once again a critically acceptable sub-genre. Throughout 1982–2002, the Hugo Award for Best Novel was often given to a space opera nominee.[7]
Definitions
Space opera has been defined as "a television or radio drama or motion picture that is a science-fiction adventure story".[9] Some critics distinguish between space opera and planetary romance.[10] Both feature adventures in exotic settings, but space opera emphasizes space travel, while planetary romances focus on alien worlds. In this view, the Martian, Venusian, and lunar-setting stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs would be planetary romances (and among the earliest), as would be Leigh Brackett's Burroughs-influenced Eric John Stark stories.
The term "space opera" was coined in 1941 by fan writer and author Wilson Tucker as a pejorative term in an article in Le Zombie (a science fiction fanzine).[11] At the time, serial radio dramas in the United States had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers.[12] The term "horse opera" had also come into use to describe formulaic Western films. Tucker defined space opera as the science fiction equivalent: A "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn".[13][11] Fans and critics have noted that the plots of space operas have sometimes been taken from horse operas and simply translated into an outer space environment, as famously parodied on the back cover of the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.[8] During the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the stories were printed in science-fiction magazines, they were often referred to as "super-science epics".[2]
Beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss' definition in Space Opera (1974) as – paraphrased by Hartwell and Cramer – "the good old stuff".[7]: 10–18 Yet soon after his redefinition, it began to be challenged, for example, by the editorial practice and marketing of Judy-Lynn del Rey and in the reviews of her husband and colleague Lester del Rey.[7]: 10–18 In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete, and Del Rey Books labeled reissues of earlier work of Leigh Brackett as space opera.[7]: 10–18 By the early 1980s, space operas were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as Star Wars.[7]: 10–18 Only in the early 1990s did the term space opera begin to be recognized as a legitimate genre of science fiction.[7]: 10–18
Hartwell and Cramer define space opera as:
... colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes.[7]: 10–18
Author A.K. DuBoff defines space opera as:
True space opera is epic in scale and personal with characters. It is about people taking on something bigger than themselves and their struggles to prevail. Though a setting beyond Earth is central, being on a spaceship or visiting another planet isn't the only qualifier. There must also be drama and sufficiently large scope to elevate a tale from being simply space-based to being real space opera.[14]
Space opera can be contrasted in outline with "hard science fiction", in which the emphasis is on the effects of technological progress and inventions, and where the settings are carefully worked out to obey the laws of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and biology. Examples are seen in the works of Alastair Reynolds or the movie The Last Starfighter. At other times, space opera can concur with hard science fiction and differ from soft science fiction by instead focusing on scientific accuracy such as The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld. Other space opera works may be defined as a balance between both or simultaneously hard and soft science fiction such as the Dune prequel series by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert or the Star Wars series created by George Lucas.[15]
History
Early works which preceded the subgenre contained many elements of what would become space opera. They are today referred to as proto-space opera.
Not widely popular, proto-space operas were nevertheless occasionally written during the late
Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in
However, the author cited most often as the true father of the genre is
Eventually, though, a fondness for the best examples of the genre led to a re-evaluation of the term and a resurrection of the subgenre's traditions. Writers such as Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson had kept the large-scale space adventure form alive through the 1950s, followed by writers like M. John Harrison and C. J. Cherryh in the 1970s. By this time, "space opera" was for many readers no longer a term of insult but a simple description of a particular kind of science fiction adventure story.[7]: 10–18
According to author Paul J. McAuley, a number of mostly British writers began to reinvent space opera in the 1970s[21] (although most non-British critics tend to dispute the British claim to dominance in the new space opera arena).[7]: 10–18 Significant events in this process include the publication of M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device in 1975 and a "call to arms" editorial by David Pringle and Colin Greenland in the Summer 1984 issue of Interzone;[21] and the financial success of Star Wars, which follows some traditional space opera conventions.[7]: 10–18 This "new space opera", which evolved around the same time cyberpunk emerged and was influenced by it, is darker, moves away from the "triumph of mankind" template of older space opera, involves newer technologies, and has stronger characterization than the space opera of old.[21] While it does retain the interstellar scale and scope of traditional space opera, it can also be scientifically rigorous.[21]
The new space opera was a reaction against the old.
Definitions by contrast
Several subsets of space opera overlap with military science fiction, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an
Space Western also may emphasize space exploration as "the final frontier". These Western themes may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or they can be a more subtle influence in space opera.[25] Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a space Western (or more poetically, as "Wagon Train to the stars").[26] Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the genre popularized by Star Trek: it used frontier towns, horses, and the styling of classic John Ford Westerns.[27][28] Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western.[29] Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets.[30]
Parodies
Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, Mel Brooks's Spaceballs, Galaxy Quest and Family Guy's Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy parody the conventions of classic space opera.[31]
See also
References
- ^ Agafonova, Karina, et al. "How Do People Read Science Fiction and Why is it Popular: Common Tendencies and Comparative Analysis." CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0313308468. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ISBN 978-0313397523.
- ^ Rastatt (July 1996). "Perry Rhodan 35th anniversary Press Release". Perry Rhodan English Language Homepage. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ISBN 9781529410136. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ^ Child, Ben (20 February 2017). "A modern space opera: Has Star Wars escaped the George Lucas worldview?". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0765306174.
- ^ a b Cerutti, Vera; Gold, H.L., eds. (October 1950). "You'll never see it in Galaxy". Galaxy Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 1. p. 163 (back cover). Retrieved 12 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Space-opera". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ^ Sheidlower, Jesse, ed. (6 July 2008). "Planetary romance". Jesse Sheidlower. Science Fiction Citations in the Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ a b Stokes, Keith (January 1941). "Suggestion dept". Depts. of the interior. Le Zombie. No. 36. p. 9. Retrieved 24 March 2017 – via Mid American Conventions.
- ISBN 1741153727.
- ISBN 9781930997783. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ "A.K. DuBoff {Author of Architects of Destiny)". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
- ^ Britt, Ryan (28 February 2013). "How Timothy Zahn's heir to the empire turned Star Wars into science fiction". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780060846756.
- ISBN 9781474248624. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0873384164.
A full description of more than 3,000 science-fiction stories from earliest times to the appearance of the genre magazines in 1930, with author, title, and motif indexes.
- ^ Clarke, I.F. (November 1997). "Future-war fiction: The first main phase, 1871–1900". Science Fiction Studies. 24 (74). Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ISBN 0879516267.
- ^ a b c d e f McAuley, Paul. "Junk yard universes". Paul McAuley. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2017 – via Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b c Levy, Michael (June 2008). "Cyberpunk versus the new space opera". Voice of Youth Advocates. 31 (2): 132–133.
- ^ Walter, Damien (29 August 2014). "Space opera strikes up again for a new era". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ Livingston, Dan (14 March 2015). "23 Best Military Science Fiction Books". The Best Sci Fi Books. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ISBN 9780786458004. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "A First Showing for 'Star Trek' Pilot". The New York Times. 22 July 1986. p. 18. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Murray, Noel; Bowman, Donna (1 June 2012). "Firefly: "Serenity"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Franch, Darren. "12 Signs It's a Joss Whedon Project". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 22 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ISBN 9781135228361. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Lilly, Nathan E. (30 December 2009). "The Emancipation of Bat Durston, or: "I'm from Iowa, I Only Work in Outer Space"". Strange Horizons. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Hartwell, David G.; Cramer, Kathryn (August 2003). "Space opera redefined". SF Revu (review). Retrieved 8 February 2009.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-915368-62-5.
- Sawyer, Andy (2009). "Space Opera". The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. Taylor & Francis. pp. 505–509. ISBN 978-0-415-45378-3.
- "Interview with M. John Harrison". Locus. No. 12. December 2003. Harrison discusses his view of the nature of space opera in depth.
- Letson, Russell; Wolfe, Gary K.; MacLeod, Ken; McAuley, Paul J.; Jones, Gwyneth; Harrison, M. John; Baxter, Stephen (August 2003). "Special section on 'The New Space Opera'". Locus. No. 8.
- "Interview with Alastair Reynolds". Locus. No. 8. August 2003.
- "Interview with Charles Stross". Locus. No. 8. August 2003.
- ISBN 9780521016575.