What is and isn't Space Opera?

[Ryujin]

Too late!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[payn]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I forgotten about that movie. Im only ever reminded of it here at EN world.

 

[dragoner]

I totally have horked space pilgrims from there.

To me, I like both space opera and hard sf, both are cool in their own way, same as liking Star Wars and Star Trek at the same time.

 

[bloodtide]

I'm a functionalist. A words means what the majority of people using it think it means. If you think space opera means bad sci-fi, then what do you think you have to contribute to the discussion at hand?

It's all relative.

There are a group of people, the "cool kids", that get to label everything....and then the rest of the country just accepts it and uses the label. See for example: History.

So set the Wayback Machine for many years ago: The soap companies make some short drama shows "targeted at housewives" around their commercials for soap products. The shows are bizarre to the extreme, with things like long lost twins, people randomly getting amnesia, people getting trapped in "other" countries, dead characters "somehow suddenly" coming back to life and more.

And someone who did not like such stuff at all, slapped the label "soap opera" on them as an insult.

A couple years later, another someone who likely hated sci-fi (it was very popular to hate sci fi wayback when) slapped the label on the sci fi they really did not like as "space opera".


But that is just them.....the people sitting far away, judging things and slapping labels on things they don't like.

But if your a fan of either or both, then it does not matter what they say: you like it, you are a fan. If you are a fan it's "good enough" and you might even like all the stuff.

It never matters what "they" say.....

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, pity me then because I do not like the fantasy genre. Dont get me wrong, my motto is "dont knock it until you rock it", but as far as literature goes, fantasy is almost always a disappointment to me.

Here is a thought experiment for everyone. Think of a genre you really don't like. Then list all the novels in that genre you have read. I'll allow fractions over 10%.

Can also do it for movies and TV shows.

 

[payn]

And someone who did not like such stuff at all, slapped the label "soap opera" on them as an insult.

A couple years later, another someone who likely hated sci-fi (it was very popular to hate sci fi wayback when) slapped the label on the sci fi they really did not like as "space opera".

Soaps were often melodramatic entertainment, which critics indeed panned regularly. Items created for popular culture are often overexaggerated for impact and thinly constructed for easy consumption.

Now, I think its easy to say folks used to hate sci-fi, which is why they put it on the soap level. Though, if you look at a lot of the sci-fi television/film made decades ago it was pretty melodramatic entertainment (along with some pretty cheesy effects). The initial appeal of Sci-fi is the whizbangs, but over time authors started to bring in more elements of convention literature and bring up the quality of the writing in general. Literature is usually ahead of film and television naturally.

Space Opera might have Soap origins, but I dont think most folks expect or see the reference any longer. While soaps continue to be melodramatic entertainment, Space opera has evolved along with the literature. Which is why I think most fans dont make a stink of the name or its origin.

Here is a thought experiment for everyone. Think of a genre you really don't like. Then list all the novels in that genre you have read. I'll allow fractions over 10%.

Can also do it for movies and TV shows.

That would be a great topic for a new thread. I don't want to muddy this one.

 

[Yora]

Is anyone aware of any resources about creating space opera works?

There's loads and loads of stuff to burry you with suggestions about fantasy worlds, like thinking about the roles and implications of magic, the different impacts of social and political institutions, the meaning of monsters, and so on and on.
Things seem to look completely different in the field of science fiction. "Consider the implications of technology" and "set clear rules for faster than light" appears to be the typical extend of suggestions people are able to make.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The initial appeal of Sci-fi is the whizbangs, but over time authors started to bring in more elements of convention literature and bring up the quality of the writing in general. Literature is usually ahead of film and television naturally.

Hard science fiction came first, with Verne and Wells. The whizbangs came later, when comics and moving pictures made them work.

 

[Ryujin]

Is anyone aware of any resources about creating space opera works?

There's loads and loads of stuff to burry you with suggestions about fantasy worlds, like thinking about the roles and implications of magic, the different impacts of social and political institutions, the meaning of monsters, and so on and on.
Things seem to look completely different in the field of science fiction. "Consider the implications of technology" and "set clear rules for faster than light" appears to be the typical extend of suggestions people are able to make.

Write a Space Opera / So You Want To - TV Tropes

The universe is in danger. There is a quest to save the world, and a hero to undertake it. They meet aliens and exotic creatures, they travel from planet to planet, and fight armies of insurmountable odds to great personal cost, all to beat a …

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