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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4822970" data-attributes="member: 80487">&quot;Doc&quot; Smith's &quot;Lensmen&quot; series (from which Star Wars appropriated elements, from the psychic-powered elite to planet-sized fortresses and planet-smashing weapons) is a much more legitimate claimant to the title of &quot;definitive space opera&quot; (as well as the runner-up to Asimov's Foundation Trilogy for the 1966 Best All-time Novel Series Hugo Award).What makes it SF is that Edward E. Smith, Ph.D., devoted some attention to the ramifications of his &quot;what if&quot; postulates. The physics is, if not air-tight, then at least carefully considered. His future society is in a sense an escape from the real future (our present) that was closing in, but the epic has some internal plausibility and a scope (extending into the past as well) almost rivaling at least a chapter of Olaf Stapledon's cosmic stories.Star Wars chucks all the science for pure movie magic, eschews the forward-looking aspects and takes the atavistic ones to a blatantly medieval extreme. It's no coincidence, I think, that &quot;magic swords&quot; are the weapon of choice for the Young (Jedi) Knight and the Dark Lord. It's the highest of high fantasy in a vehicle propelled at rocket velocity, searing almost archetypal images into the brain through the eyes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4822970, member: 80487"] "Doc" Smith's "Lensmen" series (from which Star Wars appropriated elements, from the psychic-powered elite to planet-sized fortresses and planet-smashing weapons) is a much more legitimate claimant to the title of "definitive space opera" (as well as the runner-up to Asimov's Foundation Trilogy for the 1966 Best All-time Novel Series Hugo Award). What makes it SF is that Edward E. Smith, Ph.D., devoted some attention to the ramifications of his "what if" postulates. The physics is, if not air-tight, then at least carefully considered. His future society is in a sense an escape from the real future (our present) that was closing in, but the epic has some internal plausibility and a scope (extending into the past as well) almost rivaling at least a chapter of Olaf Stapledon's cosmic stories. Star Wars chucks all the science for pure movie magic, eschews the forward-looking aspects and takes the atavistic ones to a blatantly medieval extreme. It's no coincidence, I think, that "magic swords" are the weapon of choice for the Young (Jedi) Knight and the Dark Lord. It's the highest of high fantasy in a vehicle propelled at rocket velocity, searing almost archetypal images into the brain through the eyes. [/QUOTE]

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