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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6129100" data-attributes="member: 22779">That's not what separates Star Trek from Star Wars though.&nbsp; What splits the two is theme.&nbsp; In Star Wars, you have aliens, but, the aliens never have any real thematic impact.&nbsp; There's no discussion of slavery of intelligent beings (droids), there's no discussion of Chewbacca and his culture in comparison to human culture.&nbsp; He's just there, he's hairy and big and strong.&nbsp; The droids are just there.&nbsp; It's all accepted.In Star Trek, the presence of any of the &quot;aliens&quot; on the Enterprise always entails discussions about what they are, how they differ from humanity and what their &quot;alien-ness&quot; tells us about humanity.&nbsp; Spock, Data, Odo, Seven-of-Nine all have the same thematic niche.&nbsp; They are the &quot;Fish out of Water&quot; who act as a mirror to our own cultures and society.That's what differentiates SF from fantasy.&nbsp; Pew pew lasers and robots certainly don't.&nbsp; Is Pinocchio SF? Well, no.&nbsp; No one would really argue that it is.&nbsp; Because we don't get any sort of discussion about what it is to be a &quot;created human&quot;.&nbsp; It's all, &quot;I wanna be a real boy&quot; and that's the end of it.&nbsp; There's no ethical discussion about whether it was right or wrong to actually create Pinocchio in the first place.&nbsp; OTOH, if you look at Frankenstein, which is effectively the same basic idea as Pinocchio, that's the whole point of the story. What are the ethical consequences of being able to create life?&nbsp; You want a couple of good straight up SF stories?&nbsp; Try <a href="http://www.theferrett.com/ferrettworks/2011/10/new-story-run-bakri-says/" target="_blank">&quot;Run&quot; Bakri Says</a> by Ferret Steinmetz - a story where a young woman is trapped in an endless time loop where she must rescue her brother to break the loop.&nbsp; It's all about the dehumanization effects of lack of consequence.&nbsp; Fantastic story.&nbsp; Or, Paulo Baccigalupi's <a href="http://www.starshipsofa.com/2010/02/17/aural-delights-no-121-paolo-bacigalupi/" target="_blank">The Gambler</a>.&nbsp; Or, well, pretty much anything by Baccigalupi actually.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 6129100, member: 22779"] That's not what separates Star Trek from Star Wars though. What splits the two is theme. In Star Wars, you have aliens, but, the aliens never have any real thematic impact. There's no discussion of slavery of intelligent beings (droids), there's no discussion of Chewbacca and his culture in comparison to human culture. He's just there, he's hairy and big and strong. The droids are just there. It's all accepted. In Star Trek, the presence of any of the "aliens" on the Enterprise always entails discussions about what they are, how they differ from humanity and what their "alien-ness" tells us about humanity. Spock, Data, Odo, Seven-of-Nine all have the same thematic niche. They are the "Fish out of Water" who act as a mirror to our own cultures and society. That's what differentiates SF from fantasy. Pew pew lasers and robots certainly don't. Is Pinocchio SF? Well, no. No one would really argue that it is. Because we don't get any sort of discussion about what it is to be a "created human". It's all, "I wanna be a real boy" and that's the end of it. There's no ethical discussion about whether it was right or wrong to actually create Pinocchio in the first place. OTOH, if you look at Frankenstein, which is effectively the same basic idea as Pinocchio, that's the whole point of the story. What are the ethical consequences of being able to create life? You want a couple of good straight up SF stories? Try [url=http://www.theferrett.com/ferrettworks/2011/10/new-story-run-bakri-says/]"Run" Bakri Says[/url] by Ferret Steinmetz - a story where a young woman is trapped in an endless time loop where she must rescue her brother to break the loop. It's all about the dehumanization effects of lack of consequence. Fantastic story. Or, Paulo Baccigalupi's [url=http://www.starshipsofa.com/2010/02/17/aural-delights-no-121-paolo-bacigalupi/]The Gambler[/url]. Or, well, pretty much anything by Baccigalupi actually. [/QUOTE]

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