Military Science Fiction

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

quick edit:
Just to clarify - The article was interesting on bringing up so many written versions of military scifi, but I'm aware what the genre is. Just had to go with the unfortunate title left to me by IO9

What Is Military Science Fiction?

Military action has provided fodder for science fiction since the birth of the genre. But just what is military science fiction?

What Is Military Science Fiction? Defining the Violence

Military science fiction is a term that applies to anything science fiction that depicts some element of the armed forces. The stories that involve futuristic (or early) militaries is varied, and encompass a number of styles of science fiction, from tales that features soldiers as characters, to stories that rely on physics, and everything in between.

This wide range brings together an extensive list of stories that might surprise you. When you think of military SF, the books that pop to mind are ones like Old Man's War, by John Scalzi, City of Pearl by Karen Traviss, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo or the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. But what about other books, such as Dune, by Frank Herbert, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein or Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson, which have the political elements that involve warfare, or stories like River of Gods by Ian McDonald or The Windup Girl by Paolo Bachigalupi that use the military to a limited extent? Where do those fall within the spectrum?

And how do the fictional stories that feature military forces mesh with their real-life counterparts?


more at the link, please read on...

I would have added this to the Stargate forum as it applies, but mil. sci fi is such a huge genre that it fit here.

Thoughts?

[Saquist]

I think that....since Star Trek and Star Wars aren't classifed as Military Sci Fi even though Star Fleet maybe military and the Empire and Rebellion are military means there must be a certain focus on the military and military action which these two genre lack and Stargate has.

[thekillman]

military sci fi is science fiction which deals with the military aspects in sci fi.

[Cold Fuzz]

What Is Military Science Fiction?



I would have added this to the Stargate forum as it applies, but mil. sci fi is such a huge genre that it fit here.

Thoughts?

Something like Babylon 5 would definitely be prototypical military sci-fi. It's got marines, navy (well EarthForce I suppose could be a fusion of the Air Force and Navy), and governmental politics...but set in space and in a vast arena. You've got the military organizations of the other alien races portrayed in B5 as well.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

military sci fi is science fiction which deals with the military aspects in sci fi.

*blinks*
well, yeah

Something like Babylon 5 would definitely be prototypical military sci-fi. It's got marines, navy (well EarthForce I suppose could be a fusion of the Air Force and Navy), and governmental politics...but set in space and in a vast arena. You've got the military organizations of the other alien races portrayed in B5 as well.

Yep, definitely agree on B5. I also liked the military sci-fi aspect of Aliens as well. I agree that the military aspect is lacking in Star Trek, despite Star Fleet.

Just to clarify - The article was interesting on bringing up so many written versions of military scifi, but I'm aware what the genre is. Just had to go with the unfortunate title left to me by IO9

One of the aspects I've been finding so interesting is that, given that Stargate is so strongly in the military sci fi camp, does anyone else find it interesting that there is as much of the civilian vs military angry type posts as we've seen?

[Cold Fuzz]

*blinks*
well, yeah



Yep, definitely agree on B5. I also liked the military sci-fi aspect of Aliens as well. I agree that the military aspect is lacking in Star Trek, despite Star Fleet.

Just to clarify - The article was interesting on bringing up so many written versions of military scifi, but I'm aware what the genre is. Just had to go with the unfortunate title left to me by IO9

One of the aspects I've been finding so interesting is that, given that Stargate is so strongly in the military sci fi camp, does anyone else find it interesting that there is as much of the civilian vs military angry type posts as we've seen?

Aliens was some big-time military sci-fi. The personalities we saw with the space marines there, especially Hicks, Hudson, Drake, and Vasquez, were a big part of the movie's appeal.

Despite Starfleet's involvement in the Dominion War with DS9, Starfleet is not a de facto military organization. It's an exploration/scientific organization...that happened to need a lot of big guns from time to time.

Regarding SGU's civilians & military situation, I never got involved with that on-going online debate because the whole situation's a non-debate as far as I'm considered: The people in the uniforms are in charge. Period.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Aliens was some big-time military sci-fi. The personalities we saw with the space marines there, especially Hicks, Hudson, Drake, and Vasquez, were a big part of the movie's appeal. ....

I've collected quite a few of the comics as well, and the Colonial Marines take on a real cool life in those as well

[Cold Fuzz]

I've collected quite a few of the comics as well, and the Colonial Marines take on a real cool life in those as well

Now I'm wondering what Hicks, Hudson, and company were like before they got scragged by xenomorphs...

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Now I'm wondering what Hicks, Hudson, and company were like before they got scragged by xenomorphs...

Hicks is a fave character There weren't a lot of the comics, it seemed to come at a bad time, comic wise, so the art kind of sucked, but still, neat.

[Snowman37]

What is military science-fiction? It is a science-fiction story where a real or fictional military plays a large role. Star Trek and Stargate would be two good examples of military science-fiction TV shows.

[Wayston]

in my book sci fi is sci fi

sure eg starship troopers has a military sci fi aspect, but it is also a story about a futuristic society, so it's "political sci fi"? meh... we don't go pigeon holing fantasy stories into military fantasy or political fantasy or whatnot. Ultimately it's all just a marketing label designed to draw fans of particular genres...

[Snowman37]

Personally, I don't like to pigeonhole stories to genres.

[Artemis-Neith]

Military Science Fiction requires the combination of Science Fiction and the military/soldiers in a way it is known in our world. Therefore I'd like to as the New BSG series as well. And like in nearly all stories from books, or TV/film which were mentioned so far, I don't think, that Star Treck fit to the genre, really. The series never put (mere) soldiers in the focus, like all SG series did (and do), or B5, or BSG, and others did. I've seen (nearly) all episodes of the 4 ST series, but the only series I could take soldiers apart from not soldiers, was the last "Enterprise", but with the other 3 series soldiers, and not soldiers were the same. On the other side the structure from Star Fleet is in the same way organised like we know it in our days from the military, so there are military aspects in ST, but it is not exactly the same as in more strict "Military Science Fiction" shows, for my taste. In one or the other way quite a lot (as to say nearly all) of Science Fction series we have today on our TV, shows strong aspects of the military in different ways.

[Flyboy]

Military Science Fiction is, imo, defined by not merely a presence of soldiers or space battles, but the core focus being how war and combat is conducted in futuristic or alternative environments.

[SaberBlade]

Military Science Fiction is, imo, defined by not merely a presence of soldiers or space battles, but the core focus being how war and combat is conducted in futuristic or alternative environments.

I agree. The presence of military personnel in scifi is nothing new but it should take more than just a few soldiers for it to become military science fiction.

For me, examples would be; Starship Troopers, Space: Above and Beyond, Clone Wars (CG series), Babylon 5, SeaQuest or Battlestar Galactica and Wing Commander (movie based on game). Things have involve the military as a whole rather than a few guys trapped somewhere (like Predator).