Space Opera
The Space Opera (also space opera ) is a genre of science fiction with strong action-oriented stories, playing in interplanetary or intergalactic space, often over disputes between rich space.
History of the genre
The term Space Opera was first coined by the American author Wilson Tucker in the fanzine Le Zombie in 1941 :
“ Westerns are referred to as horse operas , the morning housewife teasing as soap operas. For the cheap, tedious, stinking, worn or world-saving space yarn, we suggest the designation space opera. "
Alpers and others watch The Adventures of the Skylark , published in 1928 as The Skylark of Space , by EE "Doc" Smith as the first space opera:
“… Gigantic machines, miles of spaceships and huge distances impressed the young readers. This novel, written between 1915 and 1919, had a lasting influence on the development of the SF and can be considered the first pure space opera (based on "Horse Opera" = Wild West epic, which the Space Opera in turn unintentionally describes as what it is: "Wild west in space"), if you ignore Captain Mors, the air pirate ... "
Brian Ash saw Robert William Coles (1869–1937) The Struggle for Empire (London 1900) a space opera. Space operas were an integral part of the “ golden age of science fiction ” (approx. Late 1930s to early 1950s), to which Adam Roberts formulated: ... linear narratives, heroes solve problems or fight threats in a space opera or technological adventure . Scientific explanations, e.g. B. to spaceship propulsion is generally omitted. The focus is on romantic adventures, strange worlds and peoples and spaceship battles.
Space Opera experienced a renaissance in the 1970s. The works were often laid out as cycles or series. The first space opera in the science fiction film form the serial to Flash Gordon (USA 1936-1940) and Buck Rogers (USA 1939). The genre has also been parodied.
Well-known examples
In the literature
- Adventure Edge World Cycle by A. Bertram Chandler
- Amnion cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson
- Armageddon cycle by Peter F. Hamilton
- Atlan booklet series
- Barrayar: The Miles Vorkosigan Saga by Lois MacMaster Bujold
- Buck Rogers (comic)
- Captain Future by Edmond Hamilton
- Cities in Flight by James Blish
- The air pirate and his dirigible airship
- The Hyperion Chants by Dan Simmons
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Ender series by Orson Scott Card
- Flash Gordon (comic)
- Foundation cycle by Isaac Asimov
- Fulgor, the space flier (comic)
- Ginga Eiyū Densetsu by Yoshiki Tanaka
- Hainish by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Heliosphere 2265 by Andreas Suchanek
- Honor Harrington by David Weber
- Culture cycle by Iain M. Banks
- Lensmen cycle by Edward E. Smith
- Mark Powers booklet series
- People like gods - trilogy by Sergei Snegov
- Nick the spaceman (comic)
- Perry Rhodan Series
- Revelation Space Cycle by Alastair Reynolds
- Ren Dhark
- Saga of the Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson
- Seikai no Monshō by Hiroyuki Morioka
- The Lost Fleet by John G. Hemry
- Uplift Universe by David Brin
- Valerian and Veronique (comic) by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières
- Space partisans of Nikolai von Michalewsky alias Mark Brandis
- ZBV (= for special use), series of novels by Karl-Herbert Scheer
In film and television
- Andromeda
- Babylon 5
- Battlestar Galactica
- Blake's 7th
- Buck Rogers (TV series)
- Buck Rogers (Serial)
- Captain Video and His Video Rangers
- Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere
- Cowboy Bebop ( Anime )
- The Expanse
- Farscape
- Fireball XL5
- Firefly - The Dawn of Serenity
- Flash Gordon (Serial)
- Flash Gordon (TV series, 1954)
- Flash Gordon (TV series, 2007)
- Futurama
- Lexx - The Dark Zone
- Macross ( Anime )
- Space patrol
- Rocky Jones, space ranger
- Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers
- Space 2063
- Space patrol
- Space Patrol (1962)
- Star Trek
- Star Wars series
- Stargate SG-1 , Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe
- Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
- Uchu Senkan Yamato
In video and computer games
- Starcraft series
- Mass Effect series
- Halo series
- Space Quest
Authors
- Edward Elmer Smith (Lensmen Cycle, Skylark)
- Jack Williamson (The Legion of Time)
- Edmond Hamilton (Captain Future)
- Karl-Herbert Scheer (ZBV, Perry Rhodan, Atlan)
- Kurt Brand (Perry Rhodan, Ren Dhark)
- Wilson Tucker
- David Weber
- Peter F. Hamilton
- Leiji Matsumoto
- Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space cycle, Poseidon's Children)
- Dan Simmons (The Hyperion Chants)
literature
- Brian Ash (ed.): The visual encyclopedia of science fiction , London a. a. (Pan Books) 1977. ISBN 0-330-25275-5
- Rainer Eisfeld : Farewell to space operas. Science fiction as an image of time and a criticism of time. Comments from 25 years . With a preliminary remark by Wolfgang Jeschke and a contribution by Jörg Weigand , Lüneburg (Dieter von Reeken-Verlag) 2011. ISBN 978-3-940679-47-5
- Gary Westphal: Space Opera , in: Edward James / Farah Mendlesohn (eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction , Cambridge 2003, pp. 197–208. ISBN 978-0-521-81626-7
- Subchapters: "Up, Up and Away": Space Opera , in: Hans Joachim Alpers / Werner Fuchs / Ronald M. Hahn / Wolfgang Jeschke: Lexikon der Science Fiction Literatur , Vol. 1, Munich (Heyne) 1980, p. 55– 64. ISBN 3-453-01063-9 .
- David Pringle : What is this thing called Space Opera? In: Gary Westfahl (Ed.): Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction. Greenwood Press, Westport 2000, pp. 35-47 (Contributions to the study of science-fiction and fantasy 87, ISSN 0193-6875 ). (Online copies: Questia , excerpt (Google) )
- Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell: The Space Opera Renaissance . Macmillan, 2007
- M. Keith Booker , Anne-Marie Thomas: The Science Fiction Handbook . Wiley, 2009, pp. 40-52
- Andy Sawyer: Space Opera . In: The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction . Routledge, 2009, pp. 505-510
- Hans Frey : Departure into the abyss. German science fiction between democracy and dictatorship. From Weimar to the end of the Nazi dictatorship 1918-1945 , Berlin (Memoranda Verlag) 2020, pp. 416–424. ISBN 978-3-948616-02-1 . ISBN 3-948616-02-7
Web links
- Arno Meteling: Space Opera: Spaceships. Aliens. Cosmic adventure . Audible Magazine, March 18, 2013
- Space Opera in the lexicon of film terms at Kiel University
- Wolfgang Neuhais: The birth of the Space Opera from the spirit of imperialism . Telepolis, June 22, 2003
- Charlie Jane Anders: [ Space Opera isn't just back. It is better than ever ]. Wired March 30, 2017
- Nicholas Barber: Out of this world: are space operas making a comeback? . Guardian.com, June 12, 2014
Individual evidence
- ^ John Clute : Science Fiction - The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley, London 1995, ISBN 0-7513-0202-3 , p. 306 (Glossary).
- ^ A b c Jeff Prucher: Brave Worlds: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction . Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 205
- ↑ Telepolis , The Birth of Space Opera from the Spirit of Imperialism , June 22, 2003.
- ↑ Le Zombie , No. 36, January 1941 . Quotation, uncounted page 7: In these hectic days of phrase-coining, we offer one. Westerns are called "horse operas", the morning housewife tear-jerkers are called "soap-peras". For the hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn, or world-saving for that matter, we offer "space opera".
- ^ "Up, Up and Away": Space Opera , in: Hans Joachim Alpers / Werner Fuchs / Ronald M. Hahn / Wolfgang Jeschke: Lexikon der Science Fiction Literatur , Vol. 1, Heyne, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-01063 -9 , p. 59.
- ^ Ash, p. 87.
- ^ Adam Roberts (Adam Charles): The History of Science Fiction (= Palgrave Histories of Literature ). Palgrave Macmillan UK, Basingstoke [England] 2006, ISBN 978-0-333-97022-5 , pp. 195 , doi : 10.1057 / 9780230554658 : "… linear narratives, heroes solving problems or countering threats in a space-opera or technological-adventure idiom"