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Sure, but there's a difference between medium-soft sci-fi and space fantasy. Star Trek is deeply unrealistic, but it at least attempts to, as you say, use its g
by PhasmaFelis 8y ago
Sure, but there's a difference between medium-soft sci-fi and space fantasy. Star Trek is deeply unrealistic, but it at least attempts to, as you say, use its gadgets to explore interesting premises. Star Wars is fantasy with ray guns.
- krapp 8y agoA lot of Star Trek comes really close to being "fantasy with ray guns" too, let's be honest. I mean, which is really sillier, subspace or hyperspace?
- vidarh 8y agoThe difference comes in what they do with it. In Star Wars they "just" pursue the interests of the characters, and the focus is on the excitement, while in most of Star Trek the resolution of conflict is about solving some moral dilemma. They're very similar in that the tech is mostly veneer, but they're very dissimilar in why the details of the tech doesn't matter.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoIt's often exactly that, for sure. But sometimes it tries for something more.
- vidarh 8y agoStar Trek are basically Greek-style morality plays. They could as well be e.g. Aesop-style fables in most instances. And they adopt traditions of Greek theatre of clearly signposting the characters through appearance without worrying the least bit about hitting the viewer over the head with it. Less so in the newer series, but TOS, TNG, Voyager and DS9 very much follows a structure of setting a scene, introducing a conflict that at it's core is usually based around a simple dilemma of morality or ethics, and having a part of the resolution be a dialogue that explicitly addresses the dilemma.