Space Opera

Space operas are in a lot of ways were the beginning to high fantasy and the way we know fantasy stories. First I wanted to talk about Forbidden Planet, which was directed by Fred Wilcox.  This movie is about a group of officers who have been traveling the galaxy to investigate a planet that they lost connection with. They were sent to see if there were any survivors. This movie was hard to watch, because of the acting. The setting and story made it seem like it would be an intense space movie. As the movie continues it slowly becomes a drama in space. I think the only reason it’s considered a sci-fi movie is because of the context of the story. Only because the setting is in space and there are weird noises and robots that can do highly scientific things. I think Forbidden Planet was a definite good start to the sci-fi genre, but it can’t even compare to Star Wars and what that story did for the genre.

I’m not entirely sure where to start with star wars, simply because the magnitude of the universe that George Lucas has created. It is incredible how simple Star Wars is when you think about the story. It’s a western movie that is set in high fantasy. Luke sky walker is the underdog whose fate is to fight the most infamous guy in the universe, Darth Vader. The original three movies are what make it a western. We spend three movies with Luke finding out who Darth Vader is and why he must defeat him. All western movies have this, we are presented with a problem that must be resolved and the main protagonist must overcome a big fear of theirs to defeat the problem. Most endings of westerns are really epic, because we see the progression of the protagonist and we root for them to defeat the big problem they are facing.