On 02/09/2010 06:46, Walter Bright wrote:
Real sci-fi is based on a "what if X" and then a story is built around it. 2001 is what if we find an artifact on the moon? Colossus is what if a defense computer becomes sentient? Soap operas, horse operas, etc., aren't really sci-fi even if they are in spaceships. Monster movies are sci-fi, but the genre is so tired (something is killing the crew one by one!) that I really don't want to see another one.
2001 A Space Odissey is about much, much more than "what if we find an artifact on the moon" that its not even funny. :p
Is Star Wars sci-fi? I'd say not, because spaceships are the setting, but have nothing to do with the plot which you could transfer wholesale to a western or an eastern. The fact that entire sequences seem to be lifted directly from "633 Squadron" also argues that it is not sci-fi.
I highly disagree that you could transfer the Star Wars plot wholesale to a western. The Force is one big reason right there. Not only because it is equivalent to magic or psionic powers, but also because apparently it is (for better or worse) a central catalyst element in the moral decisions and alignment of characters.
As for an eastern, what is that? A movie set in ancient China/Orient/Asia? -- Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer
