Space opera
|
Classic pulp space opera cover, with the usual cliche elements. |
Space opera is a subgenre of
speculative fiction or
science fiction that emphasizes
romantic adventure, exotic settings, and larger-than-life characters.
 |
"Grey Lensman", 1939 |
"Space opera" was originally a derogatory term, a variant of "
horse opera" and "
soap opera". It does not directly refer to
opera.
Wilson Tucker suggested the term in 1941 to describe what he called "the hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn" – i.e., substandard science fiction[
1]. "Space opera" may still be used with a similar pejorative sense.
A nostalgic fondness for the best examples of the genre of story which produced "space operas" in the original sense led to a reevaluation of the term. It is now commonly used to mean a tale of space adventure whose emphasis is on boldly delineated characters, drama, and especially action. Originators of the first space opera stories in this second sense were
E. E. Smith, with his
Skylark and
Lensman series;
Edmond Hamilton;
Jack Williamson; and later
Leigh Brackett.
The early writers of space opera had, of course, no real-life models or experience of life in space to draw upon. Their early stories therefore owe a great deal to existing adventure and
pulp fiction of the 1920s-1940s; notably frontier stories of the
American West, and stories with exotic settings such as Africa or the orient. There were often parallels between sailing ships and spaceships, between African explorers and space explorers, between pirates and space pirates.
Perhaps the first space opera was
Edison's Conquest of Mars, published in 1898. It has all the cliche elements: spaceships, travel to other planets, flying cars, battles with evil aliens, military weapons of mass destruction, beautiful women being held prisoner, and even the first appearance of a
disintegrator ray. While this story predates the term "space opera", it defined the genre.
Galaxy ran an ad on its back cover, "You won't find it in Galaxy", which gave the beginnings of make-believe parallel western and science fiction stories featuring a character named
Bat Durston. From these ads sprung the term "Bat Durston" to refer to the widespread subgenre of space opera,
stories that merely substituted SF trappings for Western ones.
A space opera is usually set in outer space or on a distant planet. In most cases, to keep the story fast moving, a spaceship can fly almost unlimited distances in a short time, and can turn on a dime, without the boring necessity of decelerating. The planets usually have earthlike atmospheres (Earth's moon is an exception) and exotic life forms. Aliens usually speak English, sometimes with an accent. The machinery of space opera often includes (in addition to spaceships) ray-guns, robots, and flying cars.
Space opera backgrounds may vary considerably in scientific plausibility. Most space operas conveniently violate the known
laws of physics by positing some form of
faster-than-light travel. Many space operas diverge even more from known physical reality, and not uncommonly invoke paranormal forces, or vast powers capable of destroying whole planets, stars, or galaxies.
Depth of character development and description may also vary in space operas.
Lois McMaster Bujold and
Iain M. Banks write space operas with a great deal of human interest. Some critics and fans refuse to use the term 'space opera' for a work with well-developed characterization. Both sides of this debate have been expounded at length in the
Usenet forum
rec.arts.sf.written.
If there is one thing that generally sets space opera apart it is the combination of scale, ultimate Good vs Evil, and romance. In terms of scale nothing less than a planet will be involved and its fate will at times involve the survival of not only the civilization the hero is a part of but the galaxy or entire universe as well. As far as Good vs Evil is concerned there are often next to no shades of gray, a character is one or the other and the side they are on generally determines what they are, though this is not always true of space opera. Romance is another key element that combined with the other two sets space opera apart.
Space opera and planetary romance
Some critics distinguish between space opera and
planetary romance. Where space opera grows out of both the Western and sea adventure traditions, the planetary romance grows out of the lost world or lost civilisation tradition. 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, initially set on Mars, but Brackett's screenplay for
The Empire Strikes Back would belong to space opera, as does most of the work of her husband (and frequent collaborator), Edmond Hamilton. In recent years, works like Robert Silverberg's Majipoor sequence have seen the planetary romance move closer to being considered as fantasy rather than science fiction.
Space opera and hard science fiction
Space opera can also be contrasted 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 science. There is, however (according to some), no sharp division between hard science fiction and true space opera. Many of
Robert A. Heinlein's young adult novels, such as
Starship Troopers, are seen by his fans to qualify as both.
Space opera and military science fiction
One subset of space opera overlaps with
military science fiction, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons (example:
Honor Harrington series by
David Weber). In such stories, the military tone and weapon system technology may be taken very seriously. At one extreme, the genre is used to speculate about future wars involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other it consists of the use of military fiction plots with some superficial sf trappings.
Space opera and space western
Another subset of the space opera is the
Space western genre. The term doesn't have anything to do with wearing cowboy hats and roping steers. It supposes that the future of space exploration will be much like the taming of the old west in the
USA (e.g.
Northwest Smith by
C. L. Moore). This "frontier stories" view of the future is only one of many ways to look at space exploration, and not one that is held in high regard by scientists and futurologists like
Raymond Kurzweil, who assert that humans will evolve past the need for rocket ships in the near future.
Starting with M. John Harrison's
The Centauri Device in 1975 and, following a 'call to arms' editorial in
Interzone, a number of writers, mostly British, began to reinvent space opera. 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 space opera, involves newer technologies, and has stronger characterisation than the space opera of old. It does, though retain the interstellar scale and grandeur of traditional space opera. New space opera is therefore scientifically rigorous while ambitious in scope. Among the practitioners of the new space opera are
Iain M. Banks,
Peter F. Hamilton,
Alastair Reynolds,
Stephen Baxter,
Paul McAuley,
John Clute,
Charles Stross,
M. John Harrison,
John C. Wright,
Simon Green, and
Ken MacLeod.
|
Harry Harrison's Bill the Galatic Hero, parodic space opera protagonist |
In his
1965 story
Space Opera,
Jack Vance parodied the genre by writing about an interstellar operatic company which brought culture to deprived worlds.
Harry Harrison's
Bill, the Galactic Hero, and
Douglas Adams's
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ("...men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.") are classic space opera parodies.
In
Manga, possibly the most ambitious and long-running space opera series is the
Five Star Stories.
While most science fiction in television and film, from
Star Trek to
Battlestar Galactica have space opera elements they usually lack one or more of the elements that sets space opera apart from the other parts of the sci-fi genre.
Anime (
mecha sub-genre particularly) in particular really messes with the key ideas seen in classic space opera.
For example
Trigun lacks the scale seen in space opera for most of the story, not dealing with the survival of a planet until near the end. The
Macross/
Robotech series had 'bad guys' and 'good guys' on both sides. Other
Manga like
Legend of the Galactic Heroes have such complex storylines that it is next to impossible to tell who is 'good' and who is 'evil' without a score card. By contrast
Voltron and
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs are pure space opera fulfilling all the key elements of scale, Good vs Evil and romance.
Space opera plays a part in the belief system of
Scientology, whose founder
L. Ron Hubbard was originally a pulp science fiction writer. The story of
Xenu illustrates space opera themes in Scientology, which regards science fictional space opera as being an unconscious recollection of real events which occurred in the distant past.
In all media.
Books
A Fire Upon the Deep and
A Deepness in the Sky by
Vernor Vinge *
Alliance-Union universe and
Foreigner Universe by
C. J. CherryhCaptain Future by
Edmond HamiltonChilde Cycle by
Gordon Dickson*
Culture series by
Iain M. Banks*
Dune universe by
Frank and
Brian Herbert*
Ender's Game series by
Orson Scott Card*
Foundation series by
Isaac AsimovGap Cycle by
Stephen R. DonaldsonThe Honorverse by
David WeberHyperion Cantos and
Ilium/Olympos by
Dan Simmons*
Known Space by
Larry NivenLensman and
Skylark series by
E. E. Smith Night's Dawn Trilogy and
Commonwealth Saga–Void Trilogy by
Peter F. HamiltonPerry Rhodan by
K. H. Scheer and
Clark DarltonRevelation Space universe by
Alastair ReynoldsSaga of the Skolian empire by
Catherine AsaroSaga of Seven Suns by
Kevin J. Anderson*"
Space Viking" by
H. Beam Piper*
Uplift Universe by
David BrinVorkosigan Saga by
Lois McMaster BujoldXeelee Sequence and
Destiny's Children by
Stephen BaxterComic Strips or Comic Books
Adam StrangeBuck Rogers by
Dick Calkins Dan Dare by
Frank HampsonFlash Gordon by
Alex RaymondFunky Koval by
Maciej Parowski,
Jacek Rodek and
Bogusław Polch*
Knights of the GalaxyGreen Lantern
*Metabarons written by Alexandro Jodorowsky, with various artists
*Mystery in Space
*Starstruck
*Star Wars
*Strange Adventures''
Television
Babylon 5, created by
J. Michael StraczynskiBlake's 7, created by
Terry NationBattlestar Galactica (
original)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (specifically the second season)
Captain Harlock, an archetypical
space pirate who stars in a number of different anime by the same name
Captain VideoCowboy Bebop, created by Shinichiro Watanabe, anime, (billed as "Space Jazz" rather than "Space Opera")
Crest of the Stars and the
Banner of the Stars series, anime space opera created by
Morioka HiroyukiFarscape, created by
Rockne S. O'BannonFarscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, directed by Brian Henson
Firefly, created by
Joss WhedonGene Roddenberry's AndromedaRocky Jones, Space RangerSpace Battleship Yamato, anime space opera created by
Leiji Matsumoto and adapted into the US TV series
Star BlazersStargate SG-1 and its spin-off,
Stargate AtlantisStar Trek, created by
Gene RoddenberryThe Super Dimension Fortress Macross, created by Studio Nue and adapted as part of
Robotech, anime space opera
Tom Corbett, Space CadetSpace Patrol (US)Starship Operators, anime space opera
Legend of Galactic Heroes, anime space opera
Stage
*
Starstruck written by
Elaine LeeFilm
*
Barbarella directed by
Roger Vadim* The
Star Wars films, created by
George Lucas*
The Fifth Element written and directed by
Luc Besson*
Stargate directed by
Roland Emmerich*
Serenity directed by
Joss Whedon*
Dune directed by
David Lynch*
Pitch Black and
The Chronicles of Riddick directed by
David Twohy*
The Last Starfighter directed by Nick Castle
*
Lensman, anime movie produced by Kodansha Company (1984) based on 'Doc' Smith's Lensman sci-fi novels
*
Venus Wars anime movie (1989)
Music
Songs from the Black Hole, an unreleased concept album by the rock group
Weezer*The works of
Coheed and Cambria*The works of crossover band
Ariaphonics*The works of Dutch
progressive metal act
AyreonThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a concept album by
David BowieGames
Role Playing Games:*
Bulldogs!*
Fading Suns*
HardNova II*
Space Opera--Space Opera, setting created by E. Simbalist, M. Ratner & P. Mc Gregor
*
Star*Drive, a far-future space opera setting, using the now out-of-print Alternity RPG rule system. Originally published by TSR.
*
Traveller, setting created by Marc W. Miller
Board games:*
Full Thrust, a popular 2D space battle simulation board (and miniatures) game
*
Hard Vacuum, a Board/Miniatures game of WWII space combat in an alternate universe where the
Allies and
Axis have achieved space flight
*
Heroscape, a board game where heroes from all ages of Earth and beyond come together in a hugely customizable strategy game.
Computer games:*
Space simulating games**
Dark Star One**
Descent: Freespace**
Evochron**
Freelancer**
Homeworld**
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident**
Space Quest**
Star Control**
To Boldly Go**
Vega Strike**
Wing Commander*
4x games**
Alpha Centauri**
Galactic Civilizations I and
II**
Master of Orion*
First-person shooters
**
Halo: Combat Evolved**
System Shock series**
Starship Troopers*
Real time strategy games
**
StarCraft, + the Star Craft add-on pack.
**
Total Annihilation**
Star Wars Empire at War**
Supreme Commander (
2007)
Console games:*
Asteroids*
Destroy All Humans!*
Halo: Combat Evolved and
Halo 2*
Metroid Prime*
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes*
Star Fox 64*
Star Ocean*
Xenogears*
Xenosaga*
Aniara*
Galactic empire*
Hard science fiction*
Soft science fiction*
Political ideas in science fiction*
Religious ideas in science fiction*
Science-fiction operas* Dave Langford:
Fun With Senseless Violence* David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer:
Space Opera Redefined*
Locus, August 2003: Special section on "The New Space Opera." Articles by Russell Letson & Gary K. Wolfe, Ken MacLeod, Paul McAuley, Gwyneth Jones, M. John Harrison, and Stephen Baxter.
