Quote:
Originally Posted by talonthehand
Star Wars is the classic example of scifi with supernatural.
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Star Wars is a classic example of what many people will call "science fantasy" or "space opera", even those that aren't devotees of hard SF. But I wasn't looking for a debate over the term.
Psionics has a long SF tradition before Star Wars (assuming we want to stretch the word to cover Force magic). Lensman, Alfred Bester, "The World of Null-A", "Lord of Light", Darkover... and more modern examples, not to mention the other space opera, Star Trek.
"Supernatural" isn't used to mean "psi" nearly as often as it is to mean "magic", "ghosts", "gods", "vampires", and so on. Sometimes those get an SF gloss -- say, "I Am Legend".
So I thought it was worth asking the OP for clarity on exactly what he was looking for with that term. A classic SF setting with minor psi powers (like, say, Traveller) isn't at all the same thing as an urban fantasy like, oh, the Laundry Files.