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Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny-they must sing.ĭecibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes have been chosen to represent their planet on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And if they fail? Sudden extermination for their entire species. And if a new species should wish to be counted among the high and the mighty, if a new planet has produced some savage group of animals, machines, or algae that claim to be, against all odds, sentient? Well, then they will have to compete. I love the strange and alien, horror in space. Species far and wide compete in feats of song, dance and/or whatever facsimile of these can be performed by various creatures who may or may not possess, in the traditional sense, feet, mouths, larynxes, or faces. Multiverses and space opera I love expansive worlds with a close knit cast of characters, like NOPHEK GLOSS. Once every cycle, the great galactic civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix-part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented-something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding. Valente's science fiction spectacle, where sentient races compete for glory in a galactic musical contest…and the stakes are as high as the fate of planet Earth.Ī century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. I could argue that the Stolen Century actually has a lot of aspects of Space Opera, as they are battling an evil entity that destroys galaxies, zipping around to wild and exotic planets.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision in bestselling author Catherynne M.
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If someone flings a planet at you, and your response is to fling an entire solar system at them, you probably have space opera. If someone is on a spaceship but is wearing a cape, you probably have space opera.
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Enormous scale that spits in the face of scientific realism.Īnother good example is anime like Gundam Wing or Gurren Lagan. But in an episode of the Clone Wars, they will go to one planet to talk to the King of the Toydarians, then fly to the other side of the galaxy to deal with the Witches of Dathomir, then fly to another planet and have a sword fight on a volcano, all while the noble knight-wizard has a torrid romance with the beautiful space queen/senator. The difference between a space opera and other sci fi is: in, say, an episode of Firefly, they will go to a planet and have an adventure dealing with the Governor of a settlement on that planet. The reason “big battles” is often cited, is because Space Opera is about scale. But hopefully that clears things up a bit. Now, how this is going to apply to Ethersea, I have no idea. A hypothetical version of The Princess Bride IN SPAAAACE!!! would absolutely be a space opera, even though it doesn’t have enormous interplanetary battles. Space Opera heroes and heroines explore the stars and discover cool new places in ships which range from beat-up rust-buckets to sleek technologically. Star Trek (the original series, at least) is not a space opera, because its focus is on a much smaller scale and most of the episodes exist to pose some question about humanity. It tends to lean more heavily on melodrama and grand spectacle IN SPAAAACE!!! than does more traditional sci-fi, which tends to be more concerned with deeper questions about life and human nature. Nowadays it largely connotes Star Wars specifically, but it was coined to refer to the serials that inspired Star Wars in the first place: works like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. If it helps with understanding, the term is derivative not of musical opera, but of soap operas: melodramatic stories told in a serialized format, featuring dashing heroes and sly rogues facing off against scheming villains, with high-drama adventure and romance the order of business.