Are there enough 'Science Fiction' style motifs within FIREFLY?
POSTED BY: TheSomnambulist
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 1, 2010 05:22
VIEWED: 9854
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Indeed but it's semantics. We are in space and float about on space type ships so her point still stands, and lets face it the worlds we explore on Firefly still feel pretty familiar. So that aspect of Firefly hardly pushes the boundaries... (not that it needs to)
But ultimtaley to us it doesn't really matter because it's a fresh interpretation of the future and a deliberate one from Joss and Co. And maybe it was more me at fault with how I pitched to her. Because in my mind I regard Firefly as a Sci- fi show... But maybe I was wrong to do that.
Old thread, I know, but just in case people still look.
Introduce your friend to Warhammer 40K. Granted, it's largely a tabletop wargame, but there are novels, rpg's, video games, etc so there's a bit of material out there.
There aren't very many that would argue that Warhammer 40K isn't sci fi, but it has the same kind of idea as Serenity, in a much darker way. As in not every planet is all shiny in the 41st century, some planets are stone age. Natives of a planet who hunt with spears like native Americans have legends about warriors who come in a metal bird every 200 years. While a few systems away Imperial Guard armed with lasrifles fight off cloaked Tau strike teams armed with plama rifles.
It is, from my point of view anyway, a much more realistic idea of what space would end up as. Projectile weapons aren't much use in space where there's no air for an explosion to propel the bullet for example, but at the same time, they're theoretically more reliable than an energy weapon such as a laser pistol and much more usable on a planets surface. A laser you could theoretically shield against, a bullet not so easy. :P
Swords might not be used much nowadays when an AK does a better job, but arm a soldier with a forcefield and some form of speed augmentation and they become much more useful. For that think Dune mixed with.. D20 Modern and Warhammer 40K? Can't remember mechanical augmentations used much elsewhere.. Think bioaugmentation was used in Starcraft, and one could argue that it was used in Firefly. (River is awesome)
tl:dr
Warhammer 40K, Dune, Firefly, are more examples of true sci fi instead of sci fi fiction. The difference being that a true sci fi generally correctly predicts reality instead of shining it up, and planets with differing levels of technology make a lot more sense than the old "everyone in a shiny new jumpsuit and airspeeder".
Your friend thought sci fi fiction, everything shiny, same level of tech across thousands of lightyears when reality would be very different.
Theoretically of course. :P
--- Edited to fix missing /quote
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There's no radiation nor gravity in space, with 1-million miles per gallon of gas.
Can't get any more science-fictiony than that.
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It's definitely science fiction, just a different kind of science fiction. There's the obvious scifi traits of being in space, the dystopic setting with a controlling government, etc. However, the combination with a western genre and the plot's focus on the characters is what makes Firefly unique from most science fiction.
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Quote:
Originally posted by piratenews:
There's no radiation nor gravity in space, with 1-million miles per gallon of gas.
Actually, radiation is indeed present. Basing this more on Serenity (for which Wedon can burn in hell..), they mention Reavers fly without radiation shielding on their engines? Something to that effect anyway.
Gravity I think they mention a few times. Don't really address it as much.. But if you can travel faster than the speed of light, then artificial gravity really isn't that much of a stretch. :P
Definitely sci fi still though.
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