TIL: Today I Learned

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TIL that the term "space opera" sums up a lot of my beefs with some forms of science fiction. Not that space opera can't be a fun genre, but it's not what I'm looking for in sci fi.
 
Phrossack said:
TIL that the term "space opera" sums up a lot of my beefs with some forms of science fiction. Not that space opera can't be a fun genre, but it's not what I'm looking for in sci fi.
Click to expand...

Good space opera
Spoiler :


Not so good space opera
 
bhsup said:
Good space opera
Spoiler :


Not so good space opera
Click to expand...
My beef with space operas is that they're fundamentally generic adventure stories with a sci-fi veneer. They're not "hard" enough for me.

For example, most aliens are just humans in suits, or with "hats". They're either funny-looking humans, or funny-looking humans who are mostly or entirely defined by a few characteristics. Either way, they're not that different physically and aren't culturally so different that there hasn't been some human culture or subculture like them somewhere at some point. This is because the writers want to make them relatable and comprehensible characters. The whole "alien species" thing is just a veneer.
 
Phrossack said:
For example, most aliens are just humans in suits, or with "hats". They're either funny-looking humans, or funny-looking humans who are mostly or entirely defined by a few characteristics.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with you here. I have no problem with that because I think it should be up to the viewer to engage their own imagination and believe they are truly different. I am not going to begrudge a show simply because they don't have the budget to make every alien look truly alien to us.
 
I tend to prefer softer sci-fi since hard sci-fi ends up sounding too much techno babble to me. But then again I'm not really into sci-fi.

One of my beefs with sci-fi and fantasy is when they try to nonsensically insert 21st century modern culture without reason (i.e. even though fantasyland is equivalent to medieval Europe everybody believes in free love and gender equality, and the story doesn't explain why) or try too hard to be the complete opposite (dystopia for the sake of dystopia).

Also I just hate a lot of fantasy cliches. Heck I'd say because of them fantasy has less of a reputable reputation than sci-fi, though this might be starting to change slightly with the popularity of stuff like AGOT.
 
bhsup said:
I have to disagree with you here. I have no problem with that because I think it should be up to the viewer to engage their own imagination and believe they are truly different. I am not going to begrudge a show simply because they don't have the budget to make every alien look truly alien to us.
Click to expand...
I'm not just talking shows, I'm also talking games. A lot of the species don't have much thought put into them, like evolutionary origins or history. Their only role is to give the opera a sci-fi feel. They tend to look pretty human, but more importantly, they tend to act very human in order to be sympathetic characters.
cybrxkhan said:
I tend to prefer softer sci-fi since hard sci-fi ends up sounding too much techno babble to me. But then again I'm not really into sci-fi.

One of my beefs with sci-fi and fantasy is when they try to nonsensically insert 21st century modern culture without reason (i.e. even though fantasyland is equivalent to medieval Europe everybody believes in free love and gender equality, and the story doesn't explain why) or try too hard to be the complete opposite (dystopia for the sake of dystopia).

Also I just hate a lot of fantasy cliches. Heck I'd say because of them fantasy has less of a reputable reputation than sci-fi, though this might be starting to change slightly with the popularity of stuff like AGOT.
Click to expand...
That's definitely one of my problems as well. Modern western morals get kinda transparently projected onto the universes. This is fine if the artists' goal is to create a pretty typical drama with social commentary, but it fails to make a believable universe. Space operas routinely involve a brave human and his/her diverse band of followers, including a lot of aliens whose main purposes are to lend a sci-fi feel to the piece and to serve as indirect but fairly obvious methods of social commentary. Sometimes they drop the second part. The moral is usually "something something tolerance." Not that I have anything against tolerance of people from other races, ethnicities, cultures, genders, etc, but as a theme in fiction it is tired as all hell. It just makes the piece seem like an after-school cartoon show. I'm a little tired of seeing mercenary/military/adventuring bands composed of people from every walk of life, even those who would never be seen doing that sort of thing. How many scantily-clad women flock to armed groups because they want to fight and show off their huge... tracts of land, anyway?

I'd like some kind of realistic game or show or something that focuses on the effects of sci-fi technology on society. Few if any aliens, limited extraterrestrial settlement, very advanced AI, an ecologically devastated world, and so on.

But maybe this is the wrong thread for all this.
 
Phrossack said:
My beef with space operas is that they're fundamentally generic adventure stories with a sci-fi veneer. They're not "hard" enough for me.

For example, most aliens are just humans in suits, or with "hats". They're either funny-looking humans, or funny-looking humans who are mostly or entirely defined by a few characteristics. Either way, they're not that different physically and aren't culturally so different that there hasn't been some human culture or subculture like them somewhere at some point. This is because the writers want to make them relatable and comprehensible characters. The whole "alien species" thing is just a veneer.
Click to expand...

The Protoss care about honor.

Humans care about honor we just also care about more stuff too. No wonder the Terrans outcompete them with inferior technology, the Protoss are sociologically handicapped humans. I'm with you in your example that aliens are often humans minus complexity. One thing: a good space opera is still fun. I love starcraft.
 
TIL there was an English dude in the 1600s whose full name was "Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon". Apparently around the time of his birth it was a Puritans fad to give their kids weird long and religiously-inspired names.




Phrossack said:
That's definitely one of my problems as well. Modern western morals get kinda transparently projected onto the universes. This is fine if the artists' goal is to create a pretty typical drama with social commentary, but it fails to make a believable universe.
Click to expand...

I think it is possible to have modern cultural values in a fantasy/sci-fi setting (or their complete dystopian opposite, but I don't like dystopias so screw them), but writers never, ever bother to think about why they're there, and the consequences. You want gender equality in a medieval-esque world where women can fight alongside men? Fine. But why do people allow this to be? What advantages does it have, and disadvantages? And what are the consequences for the military, or succession rights and inheritance? How does this conflict with cultures that don't agree with this sort of thing (without turning it into a clichéd patriarchal douchebag team member learns the value of gender equality and/or suffers because he doesn't)? Stuff like that. It requires a lot of creativity and thought to make it succeed, if at all, and in the case of gender equality writers can actually draw inspiration from real life cultures and history that, while not truly egalitarian, were relatively fair for their time (such as the Mongol nomads in some ways, or ancient Egypt, etc.) instead of plopping in 21st century NYC nonsensically. frankly I'd like to see more works where they do succeed, since I really just hate the opposite of dystopia/deconstruction for the sake of dystopia/deconstruction. I guess I'm a fan of reconstruction.
 
If what that Greek guy from another lab is saying is true, then the Greek islands are good places to see people having intercourse in public.
 
TIL that I don't know near as much about evolution as I thought I did.
 
TIL that Disney owns ABC, ESPN, parts of the History channel, and other random things. I knew Disney was a huge blob but I didn't realize it was this huge.
 
cybrxkhan said:
TIL that Disney owns ABC, ESPN, parts of the History channel, and other random things. I knew Disney was a huge blob but I didn't realize it was this huge.
Click to expand...

It's big.

Spoiler :
disney%2Bcompanies.png


It's one of the Big Six Media Companies of America.
 
Yeah, I always knew it was big, but I never realized it was that big. I mean I thought they already made trillions from their Princess marketing and Disneyland rides and whatever, but I suppose that's only a fraction of where their profit comes from.


Also, TIL the Disney Princess franchise is so much a glorious imperialist soul-devouring warmachine juggernaut poised for world domination that threatens the existence of our world widespread they even made a manga series in Japan about them.
 
TIL Thomas Jefferson coined the word "neologism".
 
Today I learned not to go to Wal-Mart under any circumstances during Missouri's back to school tax free shopping weekend.
 
Not quite today, but recently:

-Asian carp can allegedly be decapitated by grabbing them by the tail and strongly hitting a part of their head on the edge of a canoe.

-Wear long sleeves, pants, and a wide hat when outdoors for a prolonged time in a Missouri summer. It keeps the bugs off better than repellent, and keeps the sun off, too.

-Purple martins eat more mosquitoes than bats. Encourage them to settle in your lands with purple martin houses.

-The Mississippi River, at least on some stretches, is actually pretty safe to float on.

-Foil meals grilled over a fire are delicious. So is Hudson Bay bread.

-The Flood of '93 was really frikkin' high.

-A kayak can store plenty of supplies in the fore and aft compartments.
 
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