Hiya.

[fade]

Unfortunately that's a pretty subjective measure. Knowing what we know now, Edgar Rice Burroughs would not be considered science fiction. The atmosphere on nearby planets is not human compatible, and there aren't creatures on those planets.

But he is certainly considered an early pioneer of science fiction, and you'll be hard pressed to find any serious science fiction organization claim otherwise.

I'd say that's true, but then the lines between spec fic/science fic/science fantasy are pretty fuzzy and subjective. It's possible for a story to be viewed as all three. But what makes Princess science fantasy isn't that the science is wrong. It doesn't have to be right to be science fiction, just believable. What makes it science fantasy is that the science is there, but the fantasy opera story is also there.

 

[Chippy]

Forgot to add Hark! A Vagrant and Three Word phrase to the list of good webcomics

 

[bhamv3]

I feel like there's an Arthur C. Clarke quote appropriate here.

 

[Calleja]

I feel like there's an Arthur C. Clarke quote appropriate here.

You mean the one PatrThom already used?

 

[figmentPez]

Just call it Speculative Fiction and stop worrying about where the line is.

If you don't like that, I'll just be over here reading Donnerjack, The Practice Effect, The Fifth Elephant...

 

[bhamv3]

You mean the one PatrThom already used?

Erm... yes.

I fail at reading.

I shall hang my head in shame for a period of time no less than five minutes.

 

[drifter]

 

[Gilgamesh]

drifter - I'm all across that board.... I really need to narrow my hobbies.

 

[The_Khan]

drifter - I'm all across that board.... I really need to narrow my hobbies.

I know right. They're missing SCA furries, renfaire furries, roleplaying furries, LARP furries, comic furries, and bald furries?

 

[Calleja]

What? that chart's stupid, it's implying being "more geeky" is bad. I'm the biggest geek I've ever, ever met. Seriously, there's no sphere of geekdom I don't at least have the equivalent of a high school diploma on. I have several geek PhDs, too.

 

[Bubble181]

What? that chart's stupid, it's implying being "more geeky" is bad. I'm the biggest geek I've ever, ever met. Seriously, there's no sphere of geekdom I don't at least have the equivalent of a high school diploma on. I have several geek PhDs, too.

In other words, you write ST Furry fan fiction with a Mary Sue star?

 

[fade]

Hey, in defense of those artists, it's really hard to draw breasts while masturbating.

 

[BananaHands]

Hey, in defense of those artists, it's really hard to draw breasts while masturbating.

Hell, I can barely type this sentence.

 

[bhamv3]

Hell, I can barely type this sentence.

So that's what Banana Hands means.

 

[PatrThom]

...the lines between spec fic/science fic/science fantasy are pretty fuzzy and subjective.

Ayep. For a really good example of "Where exactly do I put this one?" you can check out Christopher Stasheff's "The Warlock in Spite of Himself," which can pretty much be described as quintessential Science Fantasy.

ANY Hard SF series [will] become bogged down with long, technical explanations.

True, but most of them are written with the assumption that they are not required to educate their readership about the principles involved (though many do anyway), it's just a requirement that the story be grounded in our current understanding of reality. I completely agree that Hard SF can get pretty tedious and dry as the author drones on and on about minutiae, but I don't pretend to "get" every XKCD comic without a little help from Google, either.

--Patrick

 

[strawman]

I DON'T CARE THAT THEY USED A WORMHOLE AND THAT OUR PLASMA WEAPONS WORK VIA PHOTOSYNTHESIS JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE ALIEN INVASION AND HOW WE BEAT THEM REAL GOOD.

 

[PatrThom]

I DON'T CARE THAT THEY USED A WORMHOLE AND THAT OUR PLASMA WEAPONS WORK VIA PHOTOSYNTHESIS JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE ALIEN INVASION AND HOW WE BEAT THEM REAL GOOD.

Or just, y'know...explode a lot. People love explosions.

--Patrick

 

[strawman]

True dat.

 

[Gilgamesh]

After all, look at Michael Bay's box office record.

 

[The_Khan]

After all, look at Michael Bay's box office record.

I heard that JJ abrams was replaced at the last minute by Michael Bay

 

[Gilgamesh]

I heard that JJ abrams was replaced at the last minute by Michael Bay

On what?

 

[The_Khan]

On what?

All future star trek related things

 

[Gilgamesh]

All future star trek related things

Yeah but Abrams can put together a coherent story and action scenes where you can actually tell what's going on.

 

[@Li3n]

I like science fiction, not scifi, there's your problem.

I thought you said you like Star Trek...

 

[Calleja]

I thought you said you like Star Trek...

You really should read the rest of the thread before replying on old posts like that, I address that later.

 

[@Li3n]

I just never could get into that show.

S1 is hard to get through... just pay attention to the b plots in each episode and ignore the main plots up until the season finale...[DOUBLEPOST=1359154319][/DOUBLEPOST]

You really should read the rest of the thread before replying on old posts like that, I address that later.

No, no, no... i had to make that dig... it is known.

Especially because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfury#Real_world_interest

Yeah, ships that could actually work irl = Jules Verne level SF.

 

[Calleja]

I never said I didn't consider B5 science fiction, read again. I even specify that exact phrase somewhere.

 

[@Li3n]

I never said I didn't consider B5 science fiction, read again. I even specify that exact phrase somewhere.

Hey, stop interrupting my righteous rant with your silly pointing out of clarifications you made in the meantime...[DOUBLEPOST=1359155112][/DOUBLEPOST]

Unfortunately that's a pretty subjective measure. Knowing what we know now, Edgar Rice Burroughs would not be considered science fiction. The atmosphere on nearby planets is not human compatible, and there aren't creatures on those planets.

But he is certainly considered an early pioneer of science fiction, and you'll be hard pressed to find any serious science fiction organization claim otherwise.

Mars having life or not doesn't actually matter in this case, the actual question you need to ask is "if Mars had life, could it work like in the book IRL?"