It was resistance to this idea that inspired a very different kind of space opera. Our inter-galactic future, it seemed, would repeat the brutal empires, futile warfare and oppressive social structures of the past, but on a grander scale.
#Space opera series books series#
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series made science the ultimate saviour of humankind, its only hope against the irrational forces of human nature, a fantasy Richard Dawkins would certainly appreciate. Libertarian author Robert Heinlein used space opera to play out his militarist social fantasies in novels like Starship Troopers. Star Trek presented itself as a utopian future, but it was a utopia complete with blunt racial caricatures of America's enemies as Soviet Klingons and inscrutable oriental Romulans. It seemed we were alone, and the edgy possibility that space opera stories might reflect the un-glimpsed reality of outer space gave way to the blunt realisation that these were fantasies, plain and simple.įar from showing us the universe, space opera reflected and amplified our earthly conflicts. There were no secret messages from the makers of the universe encoded in the transcendental number Pi and no signals game from a distant star welcoming us to the United Federation of Planets. Mars was not striated with canals hiding the lost civilisation of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter stories. But as we probed the reality of outer space we found only infinities of inert matter and a barren solar system. In the early 20th century when it was still possible to think space might be crowded with alien civilisations, stories like EE "Doc" Smith's Lensman series were immensely popular. Stories of space exploration have never lacked popularity. After years condemned to the outer darkness of secondhand bookshops, Space Opera is once again exciting the imagination of sci-fi fans.Īt the box office Guardians of the Galaxy has resurrected the kind of camp space adventure made popular by Flash Gordon, while on the printed page Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie has scooped the prestigious double honour of Hugo and Nebula awards. These genres flow in and out of fashion like the solar winds. The pulp fictions of Planetary romance and the dark visions of the sci-fi Post-Apocalypse. The techno-cynicism of Cyberpunk, or its halfwit cousin Steampunk. The rigorous scientific speculation of Hard SF. The most successful literary tradition of the 20th century is as impossible to neatly categorise as the alien life forms it sometimes imagines.