Re: ZAZ's Babylon 5 1/5 (was Re: ATTN JMS: Time for TMoS

On Jul 10, 4:34 am, Stile4aly <stile4...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Now I'm having visions of Marcus and Ivanova in the Shadow Dancing
when they're on the recon mission with Sheridan coming over the
viewscreen saying "I just wanted to say good luck, we're all counting
on you."

That's where you get definitional and run into problems. When I did
SF, Fantasy and Popular culture the definition question was an entire
2 hour lecture and that weeks' seminar.

The first problem is that many people have different views on what
should be included.

Some say that any "magic" makes something not-SF but fantasy, which
for many people precludes SW because The Force "is magic" (some use
the midichlorides as a pseudo-science and thus save it for sf).
Some argue that the realism and accuracy of the science is important
that Hard SF is the only SF.
I've even seen someone claim that any Fiction that contains Science is
SF (which is stupid.)
There are a lot of "pointing" style definitions - but they rely on the
person pointing.

And, of course, as you say, how much future tech (or whatever) is
needed to make something SF. Is Die Another Day (and other Bond
films) SF because of the invisible car and other gadgets?

I believe that the best definitions involve a setting changed from the
normal by cognitively described novum. That is the story exists only
because of some SF "thing" or "change."

The story in Space Cowboys isn't changed by any particular new thing.
A crew of older Astronauts could be sent up to fix a spaceship today
(ships willing).
A Space Station billions of miles away doesn't exist. Encounters with
aliens are also a SF change from the real world.

===
= DUG.
===

.

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