Space Western

Space Western is a subgenre of science fiction, primarily grounded in film and television programming, that transposes themes of American Western books and film to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers; it is the complement of the science fiction Western, which transposes science fiction themes onto an American Western setting.

"The Final Frontier" as a backdrop

This term supposes that the future of space exploration will be much like the taming of the old west of America. In some cases this may quite literally include frontier towns, train heists, and horses.

To some viewers, Western frontier themes or "cowboyish" characters are enough to establish a story or setting as a space Western. When Gene Roddenberry first pitched Star Trek, which depicts space as "the Final Frontier", his sales pitches to the Western-fixated TV network executives of the 1960s described his science fiction TV show as a "Wagon Train to the Stars", based on the 1950s-60s Western TV series of the same name.

Criticisms

Rear cover of first issue of Galaxy

This "frontier stories" view of the future is only one of many ways to look at space exploration, and not one embraced by all science fiction writers.

The Turkey City Lexicon, a document produced by the Turkey City science fiction writers' workshop, condemns the space Western as "The most pernicious suite of 'Used Furniture' [that is, use of a pre-established background instead of a freshly created world]."

Galaxy Science Fiction ran an advertisement on its back cover, "You'll never see it in Galaxy," which gave the beginnings of make-believe parallel Western and SF stories featuring a character named Bat Durston. The genre of space Westerns has been informally—and often derisively—known as "Bat Durston" stories since.

Notable examples

The influence of Westerns on Gene Roddenberry's original concept for Star Trek can be seen in the series' opening narration: "Space, the final frontier ...". Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to network executives as "Wagon Train to the stars."

George Lucas attributes the character of Boba Fett to the Man with No Name in the DVD commentary on The Empire Strikes Back^{[citation needed]}. Han Solo's original costume and charming rogue gunslinger mannerisms also reflects the Western's influence on Star Wars.

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers is a cartoon example of the Space Western theme. The opening trailer shows Texas Rangers-like heroes riding across a prairie landscape on robotic horses. Spaceships and sixguns both figure prominently throughout.

In the Bravestarr universe, the culture and landscape of the colony world where the series is set bears a remarkable resemblance to the culture of the American Old West.

One notable hybrid of Westerns and science fiction is the television series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity. This series not only used Western ideas such as the lawless frontier and the spiritually wounded veteran, but also included Western elements in costuming, design and dialogue (such as the Moses Brothers Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B). The back-story of Firefly has been called a deliberate echo of the post-American-Civil-War setting of many Westerns, with a hero who fought for the losing side. Director Joss Whedon remarks in the audio commentary about the various Westerns which influenced him and which techniques–from dialogue to camerawork–he tried to capture.

The most notable space western anime is Cowboy Bebop, which precedes and is similar to Firefly and Serenity in some respects. Another notable example would be the anime/manga Trigun, which differs from most space westerns by taking place entirely on one planet, that planet just happens to not be Earth.

The film Outland is often referred to as "High Noon in space". In both films, the new marshal is abandoned by the town when word spreads of his inevitable confrontation with a group of assassins coming to set him straight.

Books

• The Beast Master by Andre Norton
• Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick
• Northwest of Earth by C.L. Moore (short story collection)
• Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
• Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
• Earthman's Burden sequence by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson
• A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• A Whisper in Space by David C. Drizzit

Short stories

• "On The High Frontier" by Michael F. Flynn, Analog, April 1992

Anime

• Captain Harlock - Leiji Matsumoto combines elements from space opera, western, and samurai genres
• Combat Mecha Xabungle - Real robot anime set in a wild West-style far-future Earth
• Cowboy Bebop
• Galaxy Express 999
• Gun Frontier
• Gun X Sword
• Outlaw Star
• Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs
• Trigun
• Wild Arms

Film

• The American Astronaut
• Battle Beyond the Stars, a pastiche of The Magnificent Seven in space
• BraveStarr: The Movie (released in Europe as Bravestarr: The Legend)
• Cowboys & Aliens
• Galaxina
• Ghosts of Mars
• Moon Zero Two
• Oblivion
• Outland
• Serenity - The movie sequel of the Firefly series.
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - the scenes on Nimbus III are heavily influenced by Westerns
• Star Wars
• Stingray Sam

Games

• Wing Commander: Privateer
• Borderlands
• Gunman Chronicles
• Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
• Policenauts
• StarCraft
• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
• Starhawk
• Wild Arms
• Frontier: Elite II

Television

• The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - Syndicated 80s cartoon about interplanetary law enforcers with wild West aesthetics
• BraveStarr - Syndicated 80s cartoon about high-tech action on a wild West-style colony planet
• Firefly - A series set in the year 2517 where outlying settlements resemble the wild west.
• Silverhawks - Animated science fiction series that included a guitar-playing cyborg cowboy named Bluegrass.
• Space Rangers - Short run series about maintaining law and order in the frontier of space in the year 2104
• Star Trek - Originally pitched by Gene Roddenberry as a "wagon train to the stars"
• Outcasts - British serial set on the fictional frontier planet Carpathia

See also

• Cross-genre
• Space opera
• Cyberpunk
• Steampunk
• Weird West
• Science fiction Western

References

• Gunn, James (1995). "Teaching Science Fiction". Center for the Study of Science Fiction. University of Kansas. http://www.ku.edu/~sfcenter/teaching.htm. Retrieved 2006-01-15. 
• Priestley, J. B. (December 5, 1953) "Thoughts in the Wilderness." New Statesman.

Further reading

• Abbott, Carl, Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West, University Press of Kansas, 2006.
• Katerberg, William H., Future West: Utopia and Apocalypse in Frontier Science Fiction, University Press of Kansas, 2008.
• Mogen, David, Wilderness Visions: The Western Theme in Science Fiction Literature, Borgo Press, 1993.
• Westfahl, Gary, Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction, Greenwood Press, 2000.