By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Science fiction is both a genre in itself and the perfect basis for supporting any other genre that you can think of, from horror (Stranger), drama (Arrival), comedy (Spatial balls), and even romance (Upside down), but nothing has spread as perfectly as science fiction westerns. On the surface, the two genres seem that they would not have much in common; After all, one includes spaceships, and the other uses horses, but in practice, the two are so complementary that it is now difficult to imagine them standing alone. There has been a handful of tubes in small groups, but this list of cult classics with their own unconditional fans is a tribute to the way the mash-up works: Firefly,, Trigun,, Killjoys,, Perspectiveand while Border districts The film was a disaster, the series of video games is another excellent example of how it is the perfect combination.
Life on the verge of civilization
The best science fiction westerns prove that living a life on the border is the same that you colonized a new planet or Wyoming. The heroes are Gunslingers, the bad guys are either ruthless businessmen, or brutal killers without respect for the law, and the great distance of civilization means having a brutal environment as you can. Once you see how both genres are constantly overlapping, you will start to notice it everywhere, from Star Wars: A New Hope has Riddick.
Science fiction Westerns were most successful not with films but on the small screen, where the influence of classic programs like Manure And Wagon train Proves that certain formulas will always work whatever the decade. The first example of which everyone thinks is FireflyWho mixed the six shots with space trips and even included an episode entirely trying to save a mess from a local nasty gang. Even the theme song looks like a country ballad on freedom.
Over a century of science fiction westerns
Firefly was not the first of gender mashups; The 80s gave us the cartoon on Saturday morning Bravestarr takes place on the planet of the new Texas and the Sean Connery SCI-FI Western Outlandfeaturing the star like a Marshall on one of the moons of Jupiter. In the 90s, there was the anime TRIGUN, outlaw star, And Cowboy Bebopwhich are all still among the best in the medium. Even after Nathan Fillion The series of stars has been around with Serenity, there was more, including the more western series than science fiction Challenge And the series of neglected premium hunters Killjoys.
Beyond the screen, one of the first sci-nevels never written, in 1868, was a western sci-fi, The steam man of the meadowsAbout a young boy who created a steam giant who took him to adventures through the border. In the 1950s, during the space race, some authors experienced the merged genres, including Lone Star Planet by John J. McGuire from 1958 then, more recently, the Cowboys and extraterrestrials Graphic novel, which ended up inspiring the film flop.
There will always be a call to life on the border, whether it is a moon of Jupiter or along the Oregon path, and the continuous success of the science fiction westerns over the decades proves. Science fiction aims to explore the problems of today through the objective of the future, but that does not mean that it should ignore the lessons of the past and in fact, when it embraces the tropes and the Classic symbolism of the West, it is able to reach new heights.
