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How do you personally differentiate between what is science fiction and what is fantasy when it comes to tv show and films? I know that there can be a lot of gray area between these two genres but for most of my life I simply viewed a show or movie as "science fiction" if it involved aliens, space travel, futuristic technology, etc. while "fantasy" was any show or movie that involved magic, dragons, elves, orcs, edged weapons, etc. I found that this system usually worked pretty well most of the time but then you have something like Star Wars which has elements of both sci-fi and fantasy in them. The major fantasy element of course being the "Force".

Science Fiction: there may be fantastical elements, but the technology is for the most part firmly based on actual science. '2001: A Space Odyssey', for example. It gets pretty far out at the end, but the bulk of the story is about as science fiction-y as it gets.

Fantasy (high and low): anything can happen and any explanation beyond 'a wizard did it' is not required. However, in the best fantasy stories there are self-imposed boundaries - only this far, and no further. Gandalf, in 'The Lord of the Rings', for example, has certain limits to what his magic can do, and so does Sauron.

Science Fantasy/Speculative Fiction: this is Fantasy with science (or, more often, pseudo-science) driving things instead of magic. Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, The X-files, The Bionic Woman, Dollhouse - all fantasy with scientific elements.

I thought Fantasy came on a dvd in a plain wrapper thru the mail or nowadays off a sleazy internet page....

....er.....wait....nm

Tach Deneva wrote:Science Fiction: there may be fantastical elements, but the technology is for the most part firmly based on actual science. '2001: A Space Odyssey', for example. It gets pretty far out at the end, but the bulk of the story is about as science fiction-y as it gets.

Fantasy (high and low): anything can happen and any explanation beyond 'a wizard did it' is not required. However, in the best fantasy stories there are self-imposed boundaries - only this far, and no further. Gandalf, in 'The Lord of the Rings', for example, has certain limits to what his magic can do, and so does Sauron.

Science Fantasy/Speculative Fiction: this is Fantasy with science (or, more often, pseudo-science) driving things instead of magic. Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, The X-files, The Bionic Woman, Dollhouse - all fantasy with scientific elements.

Great post Tach and I agree with it pretty much 100%!

I wouldn't put Star Trek in with that ilk, but otherwise I think Tach is right. I think ST is more like traditional science fiction because they bother to justify plot elements and characters scientifically, albeit loosely.