What Science Fiction Genres Do You Like the Most?

[Rick Canaan]

What is your favorite in science fiction? Is it space operas? Multidimensional stories? Science fiction horror thrillers? Time travel? Science fiction marvels in present day? Aliens come to Earth? What is it? What gets your juices flowing when you think "science fiction"?

I've placed all of the above in a poll. No real reason for the poll - more than just to see what folks might be most into. And maybe start up some fun discussion, besides.

So tell us what kinds of science fiction stories you like. Tell us what genre of science fiction excites you the most!

[Nelle Kozera]

Space opera, is my all time fav, followed by time travel, multidimensional stuff, alien visitation, not so much invasion.

[Daryn]

I am a fan of space opera and modern day tech thrillers. I do like a lot of other different types, but those two are the ones that I tend to go back to. Reading The Saga of the Seven Suns right now, which while it isn't up there with Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth or Void stories, is still pretty good.

[SliceOfDog]

D: I'm afraid that my favourite two sub-genres aren't even on the list! Post-Apoc fiction (did anyone guess that one coming?) and alt. history (which I suppose sometimes involves time-travel, but generally only as a framework. Someone goes back in time to kill baby Hitler, maybe, but the story isn't about that, the story is "a world where Hitler never rose to power". So... yeah)

If I have to, I'll cast my vote for Space Opera, which I do rather love, and secondary votes in Time Travel and Multidimensional, since both tend to boarder on alternate history anyway. I'd like to like Horror Thrillers, but I've rarely seen them done right. Obviously Alien and Predator are good examples that you've given, Rick, but apart from those I genuinely struggle to think of a single one I've seen that I've liked.

As far as the rest go, I tend to prefer my sci-fi with some subtlety. Giant Monster flicks and Mars Attacks style films that aren't supposed to be funny just tend to bore me. That's right, actually bore me. The larger the battling robots ripping up New York and the nastier the giant monster taking a nuke unflinchingly to the chest, the more I roll my eyes, sag in my seat and start thinking how I'd have rewritten it. Cloverfield and Transformers were truly awful films, in my opinion, and I've stayed far clear from the Transformer sequels.

Happy to see Space Opera so far ahead in our little poll. At the time of me posting this, every single person who has voted has put a vote in for it

[Rick Canaan]

Well, I kind of messed that up.

I meant to add a bunch more selections to the poll, thinking that I could reset it so that everyone could cast their votes again with the new options. But... didn't work!

Or maybe I'm just too dumb to be able to figure out how to reset polls.

But I'm on the phone with Daryn now, trying to get it sorted.

Either way, I added several new options to the poll:

• Post-Apocyliptic
• War
• Cyberpunk
• Comic Book Heroes and
• Exploration

As soon as Daryn and I are able to get the poll reset, everybody will be able to recast their votes with these new options included.

[Rick Canaan]

Okay, got it reset!

I apologize for making everyone re-vote, but at least you now get to vote with a much more comprehensive set of choices!

Oh and Slice, I couldn't think of a good example for the "Hitler" scenario you described. I wracked my brain pretty hard for one, too. Guess it'll just have to fall under time travel - as you had originally suggested.



On to the voting!

[Rick Canaan]

Either way, heh...

My favorite is space opera, too. Babylon5 was one of my all time favorite television series.

A huge space station wherein all manner of races congregate for trade, diplomacy - and almost as often, criminal enterprises, too - was a completely awesome idea. It had a great production budget, too, allowing for some of the best character designs and set special effects ever previously seen in such quality in a TV series. Then add in the absolute killer special effects for the space ships, the station itself and especially the enormous space battles, and you had a show which was completely over the top with coolness.

There have been a few other that ranked almost as high with me as did Babylon5, but it took the cake in television series for me.

Space opera is my favorite in the science fiction literary genre, too. Peter F. Hamilton with his commonwealth saga stands as the best I have ever read. I will pick up and read just about any other quality space opera, at any rate, before I'll read other science fiction stories.

Space opera all the way for me.

I am also a keen fan of the giant monsters and horror thriller genres. In the latter, as you pointed out, Slice, there is disappointingly very few quality films available. Like you, I can't think of any films other than the Predator or Alien movies which held any interest for me.

Giant monster movies are a genre I have loved since I was a child. I will readily hop onto the couch with my bowl of popcorn to watch even the cheesiest of them. As I've grown older, my tastes have matured, of course. But even still, if a giant monster movie comes out, I will rush to see it, even if the critics labeled it a completely flat bore.

Never been much into the post-apocalyptic stuff. Can't say why, really. If I had to answer, I would probably respond that most all of the films I've seen or books I've read in the genre, always depicted violence, anarchy and death and desolation. That sort of thing runs contrary to my grain. I am a doer and a builder and an achiever. The themes of this genre run pretty much contrary to these.

War science fiction was another for which I voted. However, and again, there seem to be terribly few films available along this vein. Star Wars was fun, but grew quickly old with the release of the subsequent films. Since and before Star Wars, I can't think of a single science fiction war film which held in my memory.

I also voted for Exploration. My tastes have matured a bit beyond the Star Trek era, but I can remember clearly, how much I enjoyed the Next Generation when the series was being aired. It was about the only thing available in the genre, though, and it wasn't badly made, so there was little to not enjoy. Either way, I have always enjoyed the notion of discovering new things along with the characters in a story I was watching or reading. Good stuff, exploring.

Thanks for the votes so far, everybody. Keep the votes coming, and lets see if we can turn this into a right proper discussion!

[SliceOfDog]

Hah, many thanks for editing the poll, Rick! Sorry to be the cause of everyone having to recast their votes, but hopefully it's a bit more encompassing now.

Never been much into the post-apocalyptic stuff. Can't say why, really. If I had to answer, I would probably respond that most all of the films I've seen or books I've read in the genre, always depicted violence, anarchy and death and desolation. That sort of thing runs contrary to my grain. I am a doer and a builder and an achiever. The themes of this genre run pretty much contrary to these.

That's an understandable comment, and I think it's something that a lot of people feel about the genre. No end of people don't like some of the absolute greatest (in my humble opinion) examples of post-apoc fiction simply because they find it depressing, for example. They would rather have fiction where the hero always gets the girl, the good guys finish on top, and everyone (except the baddies, who by this point have exited pursued by bears or are simply dead) live happily ever after.

The most common kind of Post-Apoc fiction doesn't allow this. Like you say, it depicts death, desolation, hopelessness and violence, and a typical 'happy ending' is one where the protagonist is suffering slightly less at the end than they were at the start. However, what you have to take into account is that post-apoc fiction, like almost all dystopian fiction, is at its heart a political genre. The dystopia represents horrific things that people who don't enjoy the genre often shun because they don't want to see/read/hear horrific things, but actually the creator of that piece of fiction likely agrees with that opinion. That is why it is a dystopia. Imagine, for example, a post-apoc novel where a black protagonist is fleeing from a society of extremists who blame all non-whites for the apocalypse and are out for revenge. Even if the protagonist is caught and killed at the end (or should I say especially if this happens), it is very unlikely that the author agrees with the racial extremism sentiment. The fact that the protagonist suffers from this point of view shows that the opposite is true: the author is saying that racial extremism is bad. Otherwise the book would be a utopia, written from the point of view of the white society 'cleansing' their world.

The general rule of thumb is that any part of the world in a dystopia that negatively affects the protagonist in the long term, or is portrayed as a negative thing in the narration, is something that the author does not approve of. The hopelessness and the desolation is not something we are supposed to approve of. It is a call to arms, a great cry from the author of "We can't let this happen! Let's change it while we have the chance!".
Recently, of course, Hollywood has bastardised the genre and stolen the aesthetic only, without any of these deeper ideals (and this unfortunately has bled over to a lot of post-apoc games), but ignoring these exceptions: take any post-nuclear war story, and I can almost guarantee you that the author is anti-war. Any story taking place after a global environmental disaster, the author is an environmentalist. Any story where religion is dominant and having a negative effect, the author is anti-organised religion, or any story where the opposite is true, and religion is a positive but oppressed force in the wasteland, the author is pro-religion. Cannibalism, rape and violence will exist only to emphasis that those are negative things.

It is interesting, though, that you mention anarchism, particularly alongside "violence [...] death and desolation". Some post-apoc stories are pro-anarchist, but often these stories actually coincide directly with your urge to do, build and achieve. In these stories, the fall of society is often not a commentary against the cause of the fall. Instead it is a necessary event to allow the rebuilding of society into a new ideal. This may be a society without government (thereby pro-anarchist. Often these will run alongside the failure of a government to function, regain control, or the ruling power being corrupt and toppled by the protagonist), without religion, military etc. Some of them may be anti-anarchist, and show the need for order to be imposed upon the 'wild wasteland' in order for communities to flourish. These often portray rogue cannibals and biker gangs and so on attacking the defenceless settlements who want only to work and provide a safe environment for their children. But in any case they result in the slate being wiped clean and a new society taking its place.

So yeah, my main defences of the genre are that the depressing aspects are usually supposed to be disliked, and we as viewers/readers/players etc are supposed to be moved to prevent them in our RL society, and that often they are actually about rebuilding and the urge to continue no matter what.

The more I go on, the more I find stories that just have happy endings and nothing ever goes wrong increasingly infuriating XD

Sorry for the rant, but I suppose I'm the person who likes post-apoc fiction the most on this forum, so if anyone was to speak in its defence it was always going to be me

[WolfyWetFurr]

Anthropomorphic Creatures, Cyberpunk, Exploration , Giant Monsters, Horror Thrillers, Multidimensional, Time Travel, and War.

I dislike post apoch due to being over exposed. Just flat out tired of it. I avoid it unless I can pick out some key thing to focus on. To be more specific, I am tired of dust and dirt. So I most dislike ruined dirt coated landscapes and related. Lota games came out with that all at once, and they keep coming out, and there were plenty things of that nature before the boom of such. So bleh.

[Rick Canaan]

Hah, many thanks for editing the poll, Rick! Sorry to be the cause of everyone having to recast their votes, but hopefully it's a bit more encompassing now.

Hah, no worries! Your suggestion gave everybody a much more comprehensive list from which to choose, so it's all good!

That's an understandable comment, and I think it's something that a lot of people feel about the genre. No end of people don't like some of the absolute greatest (in my humble opinion) examples of post-apoc fiction simply because they find it depressing, for example. They would rather have fiction where the hero always gets the girl, the good guys finish on top, and everyone (except the baddies, who by this point have exited pursued by bears or are simply dead) live happily ever after.

The most common kind of Post-Apoc fiction doesn't allow this. Like you say, it depicts death, desolation, hopelessness and violence, and a typical 'happy ending' is one where the protagonist is suffering slightly less at the end than they were at the start. However, what you have to take into account is that post-apoc fiction, like almost all dystopian fiction, is at its heart a political genre. The dystopia represents horrific things that people who don't enjoy the genre often shun because they don't want to see/read/hear horrific things, but actually the creator of that piece of fiction likely agrees with that opinion. That is why it is a dystopia. Imagine, for example, a post-apoc novel where a black protagonist is fleeing from a society of extremists who blame all non-whites for the apocalypse and are out for revenge. Even if the protagonist is caught and killed at the end (or should I say especially if this happens), it is very unlikely that the author agrees with the racial extremism sentiment. The fact that the protagonist suffers from this point of view shows that the opposite is true: the author is saying that racial extremism is bad. Otherwise the book would be a utopia, written from the point of view of the white society 'cleansing' their world.

The general rule of thumb is that any part of the world in a dystopia that negatively affects the protagonist in the long term, or is portrayed as a negative thing in the narration, is something that the author does not approve of. The hopelessness and the desolation is not something we are supposed to approve of. It is a call to arms, a great cry from the author of "We can't let this happen! Let's change it while we have the chance!".
Recently, of course, Hollywood has bastardised the genre and stolen the aesthetic only, without any of these deeper ideals (and this unfortunately has bled over to a lot of post-apoc games), but ignoring these exceptions: take any post-nuclear war story, and I can almost guarantee you that the author is anti-war. Any story taking place after a global environmental disaster, the author is an environmentalist. Any story where religion is dominant and having a negative effect, the author is anti-organised religion, or any story where the opposite is true, and religion is a positive but oppressed force in the wasteland, the author is pro-religion. Cannibalism, rape and violence will exist only to emphasis that those are negative things.

It is interesting, though, that you mention anarchism, particularly alongside "violence [...] death and desolation". Some post-apoc stories are pro-anarchist, but often these stories actually coincide directly with your urge to do, build and achieve. In these stories, the fall of society is often not a commentary against the cause of the fall. Instead it is a necessary event to allow the rebuilding of society into a new ideal. This may be a society without government (thereby pro-anarchist. Often these will run alongside the failure of a government to function, regain control, or the ruling power being corrupt and toppled by the protagonist), without religion, military etc. Some of them may be anti-anarchist, and show the need for order to be imposed upon the 'wild wasteland' in order for communities to flourish. These often portray rogue cannibals and biker gangs and so on attacking the defenceless settlements who want only to work and provide a safe environment for their children. But in any case they result in the slate being wiped clean and a new society taking its place.

So yeah, my main defences of the genre are that the depressing aspects are usually supposed to be disliked, and we as viewers/readers/players etc are supposed to be moved to prevent them in our RL society, and that often they are actually about rebuilding and the urge to continue no matter what.

The more I go on, the more I find stories that just have happy endings and nothing ever goes wrong increasingly infuriating XD

Sorry for the rant, but I suppose I'm the person who likes post-apoc fiction the most on this forum, so if anyone was to speak in its defence it was always going to be me

I think you just gave me another part to my answer, Slice: Post-Apocalyptic seeks to preach ideals to people, instead of just promoting escapism through good story-telling.

I know that there will always be a good percentage of audiences who will enjoy a good allegory or a good preach session, but I, personally, never have. And to me, that is what most post-apocalyptic stories are all about. As you pointed out, they're about the author's point of view, or what not to do, to avoid this abysmal situation we find the story's protagonist(s)/societies in. And that, in a nutshell, is not what I sit down to a good story to be told. I want escapism.

Theater for centuries, has sought to entertain people and to distract them from the rigors of everyday life. Many of the productions have been allegories, yes, but an even greater percentage of them have been about just pure escapism. These producers who produce only allegories (post-apocalyptic or not), often usually have axes to grind with what society is doing, where they believe societies "decisions" may ultimately take them, or with some policy with which they have differences.

This is not entertainment. It is attempting to gain sway against public consciousness and opinion. And that, I do not like.

Life for me, is full of enough rigors, and problems and challenges to overcome. To constantly overcome - the day-to-day problems I face, the hard work which is required of me to make a living. So the last thing I want to do, is sit and listen to someone preach to me, on my hard-earned dollar. I want to be entertained. I want to be distracted, to be swept away, to be able to escape. Not listen to some "ideals cleric" in director's clothing, tell me how I should better start living my life. And no matter how you slice it, that is what makes up most post-apocalyptic films.

Bet heh, I digress. A very stimulating bit of conversation, Slice. Well done.

[themnax]

my preference is for the engineering/lab rat/detective/problem solver perspective. in the problem solving/natural/and sometimes partially social, context. basically the meat and potatoes of analog-sf and most of the best of literary real science fiction. with of course lots of lovely fun technology and weird science that doesn't too blantantly violate real science, unless/except when, it gives a really good/convincing excuse for doing so. not that i'm rocket scientist enough to judge any of that, but the feel of it, stepping outside of the familiarity of mundane contexts, what are to me mundane contexts, in which i include things like war/cultural/social/religious/ideological confrontation.

[Tha_Pig]

I guess I'm a purist, but my favorite genre of Science Fiction is old time Science Fiction. Like the stories Jules Verne and H. G. Wells wrote, which were an actual mix of scientific facts and a fictional/speculative shoryline.

What is popularly called "science fiction" today contains very little scientific element. Science has been substituted by standard cliche scenarios.

There are few modern examples of "real science-fiction" where the plot is based on a real scientific element with a fictional twist, like Jurassic Park (genetics being a real science and dinosaurs being the speculative part)

But most of the stuff now falls into the "put a spaceship or a robot in an otherwise unimaginative story and call it sci-fi" genre.

[themnax]

I guess I'm a purist, but my favorite genre of Science Fiction is old time Science Fiction. Like the stories Jules Verne and H. G. Wells wrote, which were an actual mix of scientific facts and a fictional/speculative shoryline.

What is popularly called "science fiction" today contains very little scientific element. Science has been substituted by standard cliche scenarios.

There are few modern examples of "real science-fiction" where the plot is based on a real scientific element with a fictional twist, like Jurassic Park (genetics being a real science and dinosaurs being the speculative part)

But most of the stuff now falls into the "put a spaceship or a robot in an otherwise unimaginative story and call it sci-fi" genre.

what you're talking about there is what media does. real sf with real science and real engineering problem solving is why some of us still read books and periodicals like analog-sf.

[Uilliam]

Space Operas are nice, and he 'Coming of Age' type ones are also fun.
My favourite sci-fi novel, by Heinlein is 'Space Cadet'. Which is pretty hard sci-fi for the day. Spin for gravity, considering the mass you're taking with you, even bringing in the 'Broomstick' MMU.
Except for some 'Venus has life on it and it is jungle-like', it's good.

There is a series I'm partial too, which...were it not for the fact that it were set in space, would be Mil-Fi.
Everything about it, is US Navy to a T. only with a lot of floating around.
The 'JAG In Space' series by John G. Hemry.

The other series, is the Galactic Marines series by Ian Douglas. Which starts set in 2060, with some quite probably technologies. All the way into the way-out theoretical stuff like blowing up dyson spheres and generally sticking it to Fermi's Paradox causing aliens.

He also does a cool series, which is more focused on the Carrier Battlegroups, called funnily enough the Star Carrier series.