Space western
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- Compare with the related genre Science fiction Western
Space western is a subgenre of science fiction that transposes themes of American western books and film to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers. Space western differs from Western science fiction in that it has Western frontier themes in an Outer space setting rather than Science fiction themes in a Western setting.
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[edit] "The Final Frontier" as a backdrop
This term supposes that the future of space exploration will be much like the taming of the old west in the United States of America and Canada. In some cases this may quite literally include frontier towns, train heists, and horses. The television series Firefly includes "core" worlds which consist of large high-tech cities and "border" worlds which are uncivilized, violent, and often dusty. In other cases, only some places in the world have a Western feel, such as Planet Gunsmoke in Trigun.
To some, western frontier themes or "cowboyish" characters are enough to establish a space western. Star Trek depicts space as "the Final Frontier"; the StarCraft world setting was designed to feel rough and frontier-like, but contains no obvious visual or thematic throwbacks to Westerns.
[edit] Criticisms
This "frontier stories" view of the future is only one of many ways to look at space exploration, and not one that is held in high regard by futurologists like Raymond Kurzweil, who assert that humans will evolve past the need for rocket ships in the near future.
The Turkey City Lexicon, a document produced by the Turkey City science fiction writers' workshop, condemns the space western as "The most pernicious suite of 'Used Furniture' [that is, use of a pre-established background instead of a freshly created world]. The grizzled space captain swaggering into the spacer bar and slugging down a Jovian brandy, then laying down a few credits for a space hooker to give him a Galactic Rim Job."
Galaxy ran an ad on its back cover, "You won't find it in Galaxy", which gave the beginnings of make-believe parallel western and SF stories featuring a character named Bat Durston. From this ad stemmed the derisive term "Bat Durston" to refer to the subgenre. A Bat Durston is always a derogatory term, indicating that the entire story could be transplanted to the West without more than cosmetic changes. If the story uses Western motifs but contains a speculative element that can not be removed without redoing the plot, it may be a space western but not a Bat Durston.
[edit] Examples
The influence of Westerns on Gene Roddenberry's original concept for Star Trek can be seen in the series' opening narration, "Space, the final frontier...". Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to network executives as "Wagon Train to the stars."
One recent hybrid of Westerns and science fiction is the television series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity. This series not only used Western ideas such as the lawless frontier and the spiritually wounded veteran, but also included Western elements in costuming, design and dialogue. The back-story of Firefly has been called a deliberate echo of the post-Civil War setting of many Westerns, with a hero who fought for the losing side. Director Joss Whedon remarks in the audio commentary about the various Westerns which influenced him and which techniques -- from dialogue to camerawork -- he tried to capture.
[edit] Anime
[edit] Books
- Northwest Smith by C.L. Moore (short story collection)
- Space Hawk by Anthony Gilmore
- The Time Mine by D. E. Patterson
- Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein
[edit] Comics
- Death Hawk by Mark Ellis, Adam Hughes and Rik Levins.
- Jonah Hex, a Western comics hero, was for a time transported to a post-apocalyptic 21st century.
- Star Rangers by Mark Ellis and Jim Mooney
[edit] Film
- The American Astronaut
- Battle Beyond the Stars, The Magnificent Seven in space
- Bravestarr: The Legend
- Galaxina
- Moon Zero Two
- Oblivion
- Outland
- Serenity
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - the scenes on Nimbus III are heavily influenced by Westerns
- Star Wars - Tatooine is the quintessential frontier world, and Han Solo is depicted as cowboyish in both dress and attitude
- Space Rage - A movie set in a near-future timeline on a penal colony planet features several references to the "Old West" style.
[edit] Games
[edit] Television
- The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Syndicated 80s cartoon about interplanetary law enforcers with wild west aesthetics.
- Blake's 7
- BraveStarr Syndicated 80s cartoon about high-tech action on a wild-west style colony planet.
- Firefly
- Silverhawks Animated sci-fi series which included a guitar playing cyborg cowboy named Bluegrass.
- Space Rangers (television) Short run series about maintaining law and order in the frontier of space in the year 2104.
- Star Trek A majority of the show's first season is genuinely considered a space western.
[edit] References
- Gunn, James (1995). Teaching Science Fiction. Center for the Study of Science Fiction. University of Kansas. Retrieved on January 15, 2006.
- Priestley, J. B. (December 5, 1953) "Thoughts in the Wilderness." New Statesman, p. 712. Cited in Padlipsky, Michael A. (1960), "More Than Pulp(?): Science Fiction and the Problem of Literary Value", undergraduate thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URL accessed on January 15, 2006.
