What is and isn't Space Opera?

[Paul Farquhar]

Maybe some people. Probably mostly in the past when the genre wasn't yet established.

If you start out with "I'm writing genre X" your writing is going to be generic.

Perhaps I should rephrase to say good writers don't start off with "I'm writing genre X".

 

[bloodtide]

This sounds more like a list of "stuff I like" rather than anything recognisable as Space Opera.

It's a good list, mind.

Well, I was comparing soap and space operas.

1.Pick a show and sit down and watch any episode except the first one. How easy is it get a grasp on the characters and story? How much detail is there? Can you figure out what is going on with ONLY the information given in the episode?

So the Episode Generator gives me: Star Trek TNG The Measure of a Man. Simple enough spaceship has a robot and doctor wants to take it apart for study.

Episode Generator gives me : Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Episode 5: Collaborators. Um, yea, good luck first time watcher.

Episode Generator gives me Bablyon 5 season two The Coming of Shadows: Yea, again, good luck first time watcher.
Take any Star Wars show.....and yup, easy to follow.

Then take number of characters:

Star Trek TNG The Measure of a Man has Data, Picard, Riker, Madox and the Judge. Easy.

Both Battlestar and Bablyon 5 have enough characters to fill a room.

Star Wars show, well, they stick to the five or less.

Note how both Star Trek and Star Wars shows have the same main characters for just about the whole show.

Notice how on both Battlestar and B5 "main" characters come and go...A LOT?

Notice how in Star Trek TNG they defeat the borg by "putting them all asleep", then just crossed their fingers the borg would never, ever attack again on TV.

Notice how the resistance of B5 vs Earth took forever, even once they started engaging in combat, and slowly had to back Earth in a corner and defeat them.

Notice how in Battlestar Galactica they never found the off button to turn off all the cylons?


There are huge fundamental things here about a story. And it works just as well with books too.

 

[Ryujin]

Others have already stated that the name was given as an insult and I think that needs to be factored into any definition. From that angle I would define "space opera" as taking place in space while having a trite, melodramatic, and formulaic storyline. See also: "Jupiter Ascending."

 

[Yora]

So you say space opera must by definition be bad?

The logic applied here is to let the genre be defined by someone who explicity can't see its appeal.

 

[Ryujin]

So you say space opera must by definition be bad?

The logic applied here is to let the genre be defined by someone who explicity can't see its appeal.

Trite, melodramatic, and formulaic sells, so "bad" is in the eye of the beholder

 

[bloodtide]

So you say space opera must by definition be bad?

The logic applied here is to let the genre be defined by someone who explicity can't see its appeal.

Well....by definition Soap Operas are "bad".

So the person saying something is a Space Soap Opera IS saying that it's bad.

 

[MarkB]

I don't think long term development can't be a criteria for a genre. A series of works does not start as one genre and then transforms into another genre once it reaches a certain length and overturn of characters.

A series can be all over the place genre-wise, with individual episodes exploring different themes or even genres.

Look at Doctor Who. It's a science fiction series about travelling in time and space, exploring all sorts of alien species. But many episodes feature neither time nor space travel, some don't feature aliens (beyond the main character) and genre-wise they can be all over the place, from action to mystery to horror to soap opera to comedy. And yes, sometimes even space opera.

And those certainly weren't its roots. It was originally envisioned as an exploration of history, its time-travel premise simply an excuse to place its protagonists in the right period.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Genre labels are usually applied retroactively. See the Lensman series.

You don't sit down and say "I'm writing a space opera". You sit down and say "I'm writing a story about a bunch of characters who become involved in an intergalactic war".

Unless the presumtive writer is living in a literary vacuum, I am pretty sure that they can and will genre-frame their upcoming story as space opera, or maybe military sci-fi depending on angle.

Kind of like the person that want to write a story about a teenage girl that fall in love with a handsome young vampire - I doubt they think they are writing political satire fiction. Well, the vampire might be a slightly orange-tinted former president and the girl a model from Eastern Europe, which changes things, but you get my point.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

A series can be all over the place genre-wise, with individual episodes exploring different themes or even genres.

Look at Doctor Who. It's a science fiction series about travelling in time and space, exploring all sorts of alien species. But many episodes feature neither time nor space travel, some don't feature aliens (beyond the main character) and genre-wise they can be all over the place, from action to mystery to horror to soap opera to comedy. And yes, sometimes even space opera.

And those certainly weren't its roots. It was originally envisioned as an exploration of history, its time-travel premise simply an excuse to place its protagonists in the right period.

Genre mixups is a genre in itself, or at least what spawns many subgenres. But let's not turn too many postmodernist stones, or we'll change the thread subject.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Frankly, the measure of how Space Opera-ish a show is should be measured in Babylons, with 5 being the most.

Seriously. HTF do you get 8 replies in on the subject and nobody mentions it.

I would approve of that.

I think that "Space Opera" is more about tone, than much of anything else. The early stuff in "The Expanse" qualifies as Space Opera because of the broad, sweeping narrative. It's about one group of people but it covers massive, game changing events. Spectacle is a big part of it. Big and dramatic for the win. Hard SF, Science Fantasy, doesn't really matter. That's all flavour. If you can't imagine the Fat Lady singing, it probably isn't Space opera.

Yep. Fifth Element, at least 3 Babylons. Could have more planetary stuff, but it also does the thing where it mixes mundane and fantastical, familiar and alien, to keep the audience off guard and delighted.