Space opera
Tucker defined space opera as the science fiction equivalent: A "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn".
[7]: 10–18 By the early 1980s, space operas were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as Star Wars.
Hartwell and Cramer define space opera as:... colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone.
[14]Space opera can be contrasted in outline with "hard science fiction", in which the emphasis is on the effects of technological progress and inventions, and where the settings are carefully worked out to obey the laws of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and biology.
[18] The novel depicts an interstellar conflict between solar men of Earth and a fierce humanoid race headquartered on Sirius.
[19] Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories.
[16] It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing a space-drive with planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
[7]: 10–18 Smith's later Lensman series and the works of Edmond Hamilton, John W. Campbell, and Jack Williamson in the 1930s and 1940s were popular with readers and much imitated by other writers.
By the early 1940s, the repetitiousness and extravagance of some of these stories led to objections from some fans and the return of the term in its original and pejorative sense.
[citation needed] Eventually, though, a fondness for the best examples of the genre led to a re-evaluation of the term and a resurrection of the subgenre's traditions.
By this time, "space opera" was for many readers no longer a term of insult but a simple description of a particular kind of science fiction adventure story.
[7]: 10–18 Significant events in this process include the publication of M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device in 1975 and a "call to arms" editorial by David Pringle and Colin Greenland in the Summer 1984 issue of Interzone;[21] and the financial success of Star Wars, which follows some traditional space opera conventions.
[22] 'New space opera' proponents claim that the genre centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and a moral exploration of contemporary social issues.
The term "military space opera" is occasionally used to denote this subgenre, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.
[7]: 251 Other examples of military space opera include the Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 novel Starship Troopers.
[30] Harry Harrison's novels Bill, the Galactic Hero and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, as well as the film adaptation of the former, the films Galaxy Quest and Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, and Family Guy's Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy parody the conventions of classic space opera.
