Sci Fi, Fantasy, Both

[MarshAngel]

I think EFC was science fiction as well. Just about every scifi show has these elements where, as a viewer, the writers assume you understand there's a scientific explanation for everything that happens even if they make no attempt at one.

My idea of fantasy has always been that fantasy's attitude toward science is that it is either irrelevant or fails to grasp the true nature of a magical reality.

On the other hand, science fiction assumes that all things fantastic have a scientific explanation even if it isn't understood by the viewer or the characters. so it's not so much what happens as how you understand it that determines what falls into each category. If you're of a fantasy bent, a ghost is a spiritual manifestation, if you're of a scientific bent, a ghost may be a shifting of energy into another dimension...or some such bs.

[ToasterOnFire]

I like both, but I prefer SF over fantasy in TV, anime, movies, and books.

[AvatarIII]

I like both, but I prefer SF over fantasy in TV, anime, movies, and books.

do you prefer fantasy in any medium?

I think EFC was science fiction as well. Just about every scifi show has these elements where, as a viewer, the writers assume you understand there's a scientific explanation for everything that happens even if they make no attempt at one.

My idea of fantasy has always been that fantasy's attitude toward science is that it is either irrelevant or fails to grasp the true nature of a magical reality.

On the other hand, science fiction assumes that all things fantastic have a scientific explanation even if it isn't understood by the viewer or the characters. so it's not so much what happens as how you understand it that determines what falls into each category. If you're of a fantasy bent, a ghost is a spiritual manifestation, if you're of a scientific bent, a ghost may be a shifting of energy into another dimension...or some such bs.

i sort of agree with that logic,
i am currently reading the Dune series, and i have decided i am not really enjoying it all that much, and i believe this is because it is not true Sci-Fi, and by your logic, it isn't. it's all "spice does this, spice does that" and you just have to take it for granted, there's not an ounce of actual explanation behind it.
my real love is in mid-hard sci-fi, with a space opera slant, and when i picked up dune, having seen the film, i thought thats what it would be, but it's not. it's a futuristic fantasy series with a political intrigue slant. oh well.

[ToasterOnFire]

do you prefer fantasy in any medium?

Hmmm...maybe graphic novels and artwork. Dragons, warriors, and mages are much cooler to look at than the hard lines of spaceships, IMO.

[AvatarIII]

Hmmm...maybe graphic novels and artwork. Dragons, warriors, and mages are much cooler to look at than the hard lines of spaceships, IMO.

yeah i can agree with that, it's rare that anyone does any sci-fi artwork that is as cool as dragons and stuff like that. it is a shame though.

[Xicer]

i sort of agree with that logic,
i am currently reading the Dune series, and i have decided i am not really enjoying it all that much, and i believe this is because it is not true Sci-Fi, and by your logic, it isn't. it's all "spice does this, spice does that" and you just have to take it for granted, there's not an ounce of actual explanation behind it.
my real love is in mid-hard sci-fi, with a space opera slant, and when i picked up dune, having seen the film, i thought thats what it would be, but it's not. it's a futuristic fantasy series with a political intrigue slant. oh well.

The book is VERY different from the movie in that the movie seemed to be slightly dumbed down in order be acceptable for a mainstream audience, and many things in the plot were changed as well. IMO you can't start reading Dune thinking that its gonna be just like any space opera. It may seem like fantasy, but I tend to think of it more as scifi in the sense that it goes deep into talking about the human condition and talks about how out civilization may advance a few thousand years from now. Its just set it a more fantasy-like setting.

Now as for me, I like both but I like scifi slightly better. I like fantasy if it has a very large, complex background and history. Science Fantasy is a nice mix I think that can turn out great if done professionally (i.e. Warhammer 40K).

[AvatarIII]

my GF keeps going on about Pulmans "his dark materials" trilogy, which is apparently a sci-fi/fantasy cross, since the movie is coming out soon she wants me to read it before we go see it, and is going to lend me northern lights. is it a good book for a young adult (21) or is it quite kiddy?

[avidffan]

let me be more clear on this subject

you can take any sci fi and make it fantasy
you can take any fantasy and make it sci fi

also you can switch them back and forth in the same story or idea

so both sci fi and fantasy are indeed the same genre with only the reality of science to seperate them

what im saying is that sci fi was fantasy before science

[avidffan]

where is everyone?

[maneth]

For TV I definitely prefer sci-fi over fantasy. I never could get into Buffy, Charmed, Dark Angel, Hercules or Xena, whereas my favorite TV shows include Babylon 5, BSG, Farscape. Even as a kid I loved shows like Knight Rider and Street Hawk, although as an 80s kid I was probably just too old to enjoy Xena and Hercules that came along in the mid-1990s.

For movies, it depends. There's certainly been a lot of decent sci-fi and fantasy filmed in the last ten years. My favorite fantasy on screen is LotR, my favorite sci-fi is The Abyss, but only the Director's Cut, and Blade Runner, especially the recently released final cut.

I probably classify sf & f a bit differently to many other people. For example, for me movies and shows that are based on characters from comics (Spider-Man, Superman, Fantastic 4, Batman, The Phantom etc.) are definitely fantasy, not science-fiction. I don't know why exactly, but that's the way I feel about them. Similarly, I think Star Wars is scientific fantasy rather than sci-fi, because the science is never explained in any way (not that I like unnecessary technobabble either), and doesn't play an important part in the story, it's just background. And the Force worked best when they kept it as something mystical, it lost a lot of charm for me when they introduced the midi-chlorians and attempted to explain them.

When it comes to books, I probably read slightly more sci-fi than I do fantasy, but it really depends on what mood I'm in.

[ReplicatedJedi]

I like them both...
My favorite sci-fi:
Stargate (All shows except Infinity)
Firefly
Star Wars
Star Trek
Metroid

My favorite Fantasy:
Harry Potter (All books)
Final Fantasy (All games)
Legend of Zelda (All games)

[gotthammer]

I like both Fantasy and Sci-fi (and mixes of both, like the Iron Kingdoms steampunk setting, or Shadowrun's take on cyberpunk and magic).

It just depends on mood, I guess, as to which I'm likely to enjoy 'at the moment'. (availability is also a factor)

Right now:
Books: Sci-fi (I have a backlog for both sci-fi and fantasy stuff...)
TV: Fantasy (Game of Thrones )
Movies: Either
Video games: Fantasy (The Witcher 2 )
Tabletop games: Fantasy (I want to get back to the Game of Thrones card game, but I think the 'local scene' is dead )

[Laxian of Earth]

hm,

depends on my mood, i like it equally, it is just, some days i prefer one over the other, sometimes i like both equally and so i might watch a science fiction show episode and then a fantasy one (or the other way round)

however, if you look at media in general, i can say that science fiction mostly is better on TV (stargate SG-1 was way better then angel and other fantasy shows of the time....i hope that changes (mostly because "a game of thrones" has upped the ante signifficantly!)) in books depends on the author (some can make a good fantasy plot as booring as listening to the history teacher drone on about the german wall (i hate this particular part of history, it is boring, stupid and i am just not interested in it....if they would present the cold war as a whole (with spying scandals, vietnam war etc.) that would be interesting, but booring german democratic republic (witch doesn't even exist anymore) is just...well makes me wanna puke!) but then there are authors that are able to do this to science fiction, too - so it really depends)

as for movies:

there it is equal (at least mostly - but it is leaning in favour of fantasy in the last years, because those are made with more pompous (with great pictures of the scenery (mountains full of snow, great rivers and such....))....somehow i think that science fiction producers don't know when to "zoom out" (and show the scenery of their playing field (say in star wars i would have liked to have longer looks at planets from orbit, at cities at large etc. not just "look you are here and now we move you back inside the building)....and the battles in most fantasy movies have a much more "epic" quality to it (saw the first parts of the chronicles of narnia yesterday and today respectively) with tactics (this should be shown in spacebattles etc. in movies/tv-shows, too - but now what they show is is stupid dogfighting of fightercraft etc. or armies slugging it out, but no tactics (i would love to see a small number of well trained and armed people outwitt a larger force etc.) and even more: fights between the leaders (duels for example...the only duel heavy science fiction that comes to my mind is star wars, and even there the epic feeling of a good old sword fight seems to be missing most of the time.....

still, in the end, i like both (and probably always will...i mean i read - almost - everything that has fantasy and science fiction in it and i watch a lot of those things, too

....so my few cents

greetings LAX

[VampyreWraith]

I like both Sci-fi and Fantasy.

In books I guess I like fantasy better, or a sci-fi/fantasy mix.
In TV and Movies I tend to like sci-fi a bit more, but it really depends.
Whether sci-fi or fantasy though, I tend to prefer the ones where most of the action(or the main plot) of the story doesn't take place on modern day Earth. I do like sci-fi and fantasy that take on Earth, but I just usually like the ones that don't better.

[jmoz]

lately it seems the more science I learn, the more all of sci-fi becomes fantasy to me.