Sci-fi vs. fantasy

[madster111]

Like both, but sci-fi wins out. By quite a lot, actually.

My dream is to one day have enough money to buy an SR-71 and modify it with NASAs proposed upgrades and my own ideas. Could come damn close to achieving orbit in one. Maybe a joint project with SpaceX and some NASA funding to resupply the ISS with things like fresh-baked bread.

 

[Sightless]

Meanwhile, with fantasy, what do we really learn from it? What will it tell future generations?

Your description of sci-fi can indeed ask about the limitations of humanity and our interactions, but fantasy does not entirely exclude this subject. In some ways, it extends beyond the scope of sci-fi precisely because it does not have to be anchored in plausibility. In a setting where nothing resembles our reality, how do we relate? What is it that we take from humanity and transpose, preserve, and distort in fantasy?

 

[intoTheRain]

Like both, but sci-fi wins out. By quite a lot, actually.

My dream is to one day have enough money to buy an SR-71 and modify it with NASAs proposed upgrades and my own ideas. Could come damn close to achieving orbit in one. Maybe a joint project with SpaceX and some NASA funding to resupply the ISS with things like fresh-baked bread.

damn.. where you planning to work?

 

[LinksOcarina]

Who gives a shit about the past.

History majors?

We have to. Especially when were trained to learn from it.


As for me...I like both a lot depending on the story told. Hard sci-fi bores me, I prefer the more space-fantasy style from Star Wars or Mass Effect, to name some examples.

But overall, Fantasy is really the key word here. Be it in space, on earth, with swords or sorcery, that is what makes it special.

 

[Sightless]

I can enjoy both genres, as long as they're *good*, by which I mean both well-written and thought out. Nothing worse than a sloppy/lazy setting except one that's relayed poorly. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stories out there that read like indulgent teen fan fic. If sci-fi has an advantage here, it's that it kind of necessitates a certain degree of being planned out anyway, otherwise the story gets categorized as fantasy, which just means there's more crappy fantasy stories.

 

[cyberjim2000]

I've always thought Star Wars is more sci-fantasy than sci-fi but then again I'm the type of guy who enjoyed the space battle portion of the movies more than the Jedi stuff. Moreso after they tried to explain what the "Force" is. And while people went on about KOTOR, I'm booting up X-Wing or Rogue Squadron.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Yeah the science fiction of Star Wars is way better than the fantasy.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Absolutely.

Hell, the reason why KotOR 2 was so good is because they get more into the philosophy of the Jedi rather than just being a Jedi.

But Star Wars was originally called a "space fantasy" film. So, that's what I still call it.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Yeah the science fiction of Star Wars is way better than the fantasy.

Star Wars has no science fiction in it, actually. Sci-Fi tends to be science that is fake, but plausible, Star Wars has space magic