Comments on: 5 Greatest Space Operas (And No, Foundation Isn’t One Of Them)

By: Pierre

Pierre — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:39:39 +0000

One of my favourite “space operas” (and I think it does fit the genre) was Stephen Donaldson’s “gap” series. Great characters. Ridiculously convoluted plots.

By: Ana

Ana — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:22:58 +0000

What? No mention on the very first space opera of all time, John Carter of Mars?
For shame…

By: Rob C

Rob C — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:04:57 +0000

Simon Green’s Deathstalker series was hilarious, grandiose, epic, believable, horrifying, and best of all, addicting. It was the longest 10 years of my life waiting for the finale!

By: I Come For Love: Getting Down With Aliens | Science Not Fiction | Discover Magazine

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:14:57 +0000

[…] people expect a lasers-and-spaceships spectacle, but there’s more to science fiction than space opera: tightly drawn character studies that don’t require an army of CGI artists and a rendering […]

By: Raul Soto

Raul Soto — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:43:44 +0000

I’d like to add two Japanese space operas from the 70s:

1. Space Pirate Captain Harlock (Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku)

2. Space Battleship Yamato (Uchū Senkan Yamato)- shown in the US as StarBlazers, in Latin America as Nave Espacial Intrépido

By: Doug Chaplin

Doug Chaplin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:21:59 +0000

And for a series with a difference, I would rate Stephen Donaldson’s foray away from fantasy and into hard sci-fi very highly: his Gap Series is astonishingly good.

By: Ian Sales

Ian Sales — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:46:31 +0000

@Steve Davison - the Hartwell is The Space Opera Renaissance, which seems to me more like an attempt by Hartwell to prove that the New British Space Opera (as it was called) was: a) not new, and b) not British. In defence of his argument, he claimed that 1980s military sf by the likes of David Weber was actually space opera. There are some good stories in the anthology, but Hartwell’s agenda means it also includes some right clunkers and some that aren’t space opera by any stretch of the imagination.

And then you have the two Brian Aldiss anthologies - Space Opera and Space Odyssey. Aldiss does great introductions, but he can’t pick stories to save his life. The contents of Space Opera are mostly unmemorable, and several don’t even fit the definition. A better pair of anthologies, with a higher space opera hit rate, would be his Galactic Empires Vol 1 and Vol 2, although they include a lot of old, creaky and not very well written space operas.

By: Paladin

Paladin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:18:06 +0000

I would’ve included David Brin’s “Uplift” series and Greg Benford’s “Galactic Center” saga in this list.

Actually i’m surprised nobody mentioned them yet.

By: Mark Lund

Mark Lund — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:22:24 +0000

I have always enjoyed the Star Wars saga and Babylon 5. Star Wars in particular had a great way of weaving so many interesting planets and cultures together. Take a look at First World on www.firstworldmovie.com or on IMDB at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1056062/. If I’m able to complete First World as a feature, it should have the makings of a space opera.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:52:14 +0000

I would include Peter F Hamilton for his prose!

There is the Reality Dysfunction series set in the Conferedation Universe
And the Commonwealth Universe - Dreaming Void is the series he is working on now!

By: scott

scott — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:40:49 +0000

not to mention a vast span of years between the two sets of books.

By: scott

scott — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:39:47 +0000

Definitely add Dan Simmons Hyperion and Endymion books, they cover it all: travel across the galaxy, culture/ideology wars, three versions of the human race, a few aliens, et cetera.

By: N Michael

N Michael — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:22:28 +0000

Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee Sequence. It may be Hard SF, but it is also Space Opera at its best.

By: Patrick B

Patrick B — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:03:49 +0000

If I made a list of the all-time best space operas, David Brin’s Uplift series would have to make the cut. Brin starts out with an unimaginably old Civilization of Five Galaxies with an immensely detailed political, social, and religious structure which equals or surpasses anything else I’ve read. If that weren’t enough, by the end of the six books, this civilization is revealed to be only one small fraction of life in Brin’s universe. This series definitely belongs on this list

By: Elmar_M

Elmar_M — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:44:46 +0000

A very influencial novel series (that is highly popular in german speaking countries, but not so in the US) is Perry Rhodan. The series started out in the late 50ies and they had a physicist on board as well as a bunch of awesome writers. The series is still very popular now 50 years later (they now have thousands of novels in the series and tons of spin offs, etc).
Basic story is Perry Rhodan becomes the first man on the moon (in 1972) and meets the stranded Arkonides (an advanced, but degenerated species). Perry Rhodan uses their tech to preent a nuclear war and unite mankind. A few years later he meets a superintelligence called ES and becomes relatively immortal (as in can be killed by weapons and certain illnesses but does not age). This allows him to lead mankind to become the most important power in the galaxy (solar empire).
Now they are like 4000 years later or something. So if you are looking for Space opera that certainly should get a mentioning (if not a space in the ranks).
They also have space battles a plenty with 1000s of 1500m to 2500m diameter spherical ships clashing with each other,or other races ships.
Especially in the beginning they had some believable technology as well (well at least for the time). E.g. Perry Rhodans moon- rocket uses a NERVA-like propulsion system, which I thought was totally cool. They even had him launch with chemical engines to avoid radioactive contamination).The rocket also was almost the same size as a saturn V. Pretty good guessing in my book.

Some things that I first saw mentioned there: Transmitters (basically star treks beaming technology).
Impulse Engines (even with theoretical descriptions on how these things work).
Hyperspace jumps (like in BSG actually).
Defense shields.
All sorts of ray guns etc.
The super species of Cosmocrats (order, but static and no development, evolution) and Anarchs (chaos, war but in favor of evolution) fighting over the control of the universe and the humans are cought in the middle (I saw that later in B5).
The mutan corps (people with psi abilities like telekinesis, teleportation and telepathi, among others). I dont quite like that, but it is very popular in sci fi until this day even.
More realistic space physics ( no up and down, no air-plane- like flying, etc).