What is Scifi?

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I saw a top ten on the scifi channel website and Lost was #1 and Joan of Arcadia was #2 and I thought what are they doing on a scifi poll. Then I saw they said SF&F poll. I watch Lost and find it intriguing and it does have hints of something supernatural going on but I hadn't really thought of it as science fiction.

 

I watched Joan to see what it was about and I didn't see anything remotely relating to science fiction.

 

It seems in theory Fantasy is the total opposite of scifi - the latter is supposed to involve science whereas fantasy involves the supernatural.

[DrWho42 13]

They aren't the same, but then there are times when they can overlap... At times, it can be called “science fantasy”, which I guess an example would be that of Star Wars, or possibly the movie serials of Flash Gordon (based on the Alex Raymond comics of the 1930s). Though, those two can be also called “soft science-fiction”.

 

Anyways, we do see bookstores carry both SF and F in the same section without going through the hassle of sorting them out separately, and Orson Scott Card goes into detail about this in his guide entitled: “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy”. Which I recommend... :unsure: :yes: :cool1:

 

I vote the third choice, since the second is being rather stubborn and the first isn't quite right, in my view...

During the age of Hugo Gernsback and the golden age of pulp-fiction magazines (“Amazing Stories”, “Galaxy”, et cetera...), it was known as “scientification”, and before then...

Click For Spoiler

During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, there was “scientific romances”, which included the works of Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

I voted "No, fantasy is totally separate".

 

As DrWho42 said we do see some “science fantasy” films such as Star Wars and to some degree Star Trek 3. However there are separate films such as Lord of the Rings that are fantasy and have nothing to do with science fiction. They are two separate genres that sometimes converge.

[Matt 0]

They're seperate themes but do join together sometimes.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Maybe, generally no - but sometimes they cross over. I however prefer Trek remain grounded in pure sci-fi.

[mj 7]

I voted generally no, but sometimes there is a crossover.

[Takara_Soong 4]

I vote the generally no but sometimes there is a crossover option as well.

 

It does amaze me what movies have been lumped into sci-fi at times. If it has an alien then it must be science-fiction. I was at IMDB earlier today and was looking at their all time top box office lists by genre and was shocked by some of the titles included in the sci-fi list. I nearly fell out of my chair to see Lilo and Stitch there. I know there were a lot of aliens in that movie but I had never thought of it as sci-fi.

[Spockstellaiter 0]

Often a characteristic of Scifi is the abstract and unknown

[sea trooper 0]

No. Fantasy is Unicorns and Fairies and junk. Sci Fi is aliens and space and science.

[Jack_Bauer 1]

I don't think they can really be considered the same thing.

 

Lord of the Rings is probably the most popular example of fantasy and involves little to no science.

 

However, the prime examples of Sci-fi most notably Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and The X-Files (just some examples), involve some form of science.

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

Maybe, generally no - but sometimes they cross over

 

CS Lewis wrote a series besides the Chronicles of Narnia that was a mix between sci-fi and fantasy. It was uite intriguing, but I forget the title.....

[LoveMalePecs1 0]

Maybe generally No but sometimes they cross over

 

C.S Lewis Books of Narnia

The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe

:lol: :lol:

saw the live mini series on PBS years ago and the live sequels that followed it

[Theunicornhunter 2]

No. Fantasy is Unicorns and Fairies and junk. Sci Fi is aliens and space and science.

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Unicorns are fantasy? :lol: Unicorns are junk?