Space Opera

I loves me some space opera. Lots of times that will genre blend into military scifi or a bit of cyberpunk here and there but that subgenre is my bread and butter. The cookie that swallows my reading piles.

What really got the space opera bug for me rolling?

"It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where Humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call – home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five-hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5."

– Commander Jeffrey Sinclair 

Thanks dad! Addicted for life! Man, I was only a wee thing when this series started. Got to see it on regular tv: UPN I think? Then to TNT. But we wont talk about TNT for the moment. Plus they loved changing the time slot a whole lot.

As a kid this was my gateway into the wider world of sci fi. So naturally I did my best to find things like it. Luckily for me dad had some books to help fuel that. Like Dune, when I got older. He started me off on Lensmen and LoTR/The Hobbit. The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. Read John Carter of Mars when I got older, early high school.

Why I love B5:

• Kosh is a cat in Vorlon Form
• It really is a Book on Screen
• Excellent Worldbuilding
• Ancient Space Races and Relics
• Mass Effect should have ripped B5 off more. Esp with how the Shadows/Vorlon War was handled. A good way to solve the Reaper Issue rather then use that fracking Star Kid.
• Character Arcs and people to care about
• Politics served the setting. Not the other way around.

The story really did come first. If it happened to make some allegories, then it was natural and not hamfisted. Really love that show. Doing my daily re-watch at the moment. Already on Season 3 again. Sheridan and the rest are about to go through the big crucibles.

So time to show my big favorites of Space Opera:

I hope everyone finds something fun about any of these series. I usually like a balance of character interaction, drama and pew pew "EXPOSIONS!" space battles.