Final Rant on Story Vesus Stuff
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Not a thing
Topic: Simple Things
I hate beating animals to death (and beyond) and so, I will not cover this subject here again. Let us say that I disagree with J.G. te Molder and him with me. To argue further is pointless, particularly in such a public forum where other, more interesting ideas can be discussed. I find Serenity to be consistent, he doesn’t. I don’t actually think of it as Science Fiction – on which I believe we agree-- but more as Science Fantasy. However I find it less-so Sci-Fan than Battlestar Galactica’s current incarnation, but more-so than Babylon 5. Even more, I don’t care if someone wants to label it Science Fiction. If that is their perception and they enjoy it, more power to them. The distinctions are dubious at best.

I do want to repeat some of my questions without answering them, for all to ponder:

When did the definition of science fiction narrow to that which is speculatively possible in light of current given facts about the universe?

"Why does it matter what you call it as long as it is good entertainment?"

An effort to move the discussion away from Firefly into a general trend was made, but we seem to always come back to Firefly and as a result I always come back to story, at which this series excelled. J.G. te Molder seems to come back to cattle and slug throwing weaponry. Each to his own area of interest I say.

No matter which genre you write in, you are making Myth in some form or another: if it is a disaffected youth prowling through New York City looking for a little truth in his life, a god seeking his place on a strange, new world, or a boy and his dog traveling in an apocalyptic waste, in all cases, they must remain internally consistent and tell us something about our humanity. If it does these two things, regardless of what you or anyone else wants to call it, I will call it good fiction. In addition, rather than use arbitrary genre labels to describe it, I will use the simple rules of “internally consistent” and “tells me something about humanity” as my measuring rod.

I'm adding links to the related articles at SciFi Weekly:

"Don't Dismiss "Science" Fiction",
"Science Fiction Is Not Science",
"Genre Infighting Is Pointless",
"Remember the Real Sci-Fi",
"Everyone Defines SF Differently",
"Science Fiction Should Feel Real"
"Science Matters Most of All"

I believe that's most of them. My own you can read here.