Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen
All of these are certainly common to stories I'd categorize as "Space Opera", but they aren't universal. Even FTL isn't necessary - the TV show "Firefly", and particularly its movie, "Serenity", is pretty firmly Space Opera to me, but that setting doesn't seem to have FTL travel, it's all confined to a single (implausibly huge and crowded with habitable planets) solar system.
|
A hypothetical boxed set should have what is commonly thought of as space opera, not everything that it can be.
Ask a bunch of people who don't hang around RPG or science fiction message boards what they think of when they hear the phrase "space opera." That's what it should be about. Let's assume they have a general understanding of the term and know that it's not about large sopranos wearing horned helmets belting out arias in outer space.