Comments on: Elf or Vulcan?

By: JoeG

JoeG — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:43:10 +0000

personally I think it is likely that there are no prevalent repetition of specific races because of the fact that there is so much room for creativity. I mean yes a fantasy writer could make up a race that is vastly different from the norms, but he/she is limited to a creature that could exist in the same environment as humans, whereas a Sci-Fi writer can create a world where a creature that would be absurd in a human environment could conceivably exist.

By: JoeG

JoeG — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:40:36 +0000

By: Sofie

Sofie — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:54:49 +0000

Fantasy race-tropes rely on myths that already existed, even in name. Though Tolkien reshaped the stereotype, they’re easily recognised by name because he used concepts that already existed.
That doesn’t mean SF doesn’t have similar tropes – they just don’t have handy pre-made archetypes to pin them on. But they do have a tendency towards Planet of Hats – the Warriors, the Logicians, the Monsters, etc which amounts to much the same thing.
(warning: TvTropes link. Only click if you have nothing critical to do today.)

By: Mataos

Mataos — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:28:24 +0000

I would consider Asimov to be the “Tolkien of Sci Fi”…but Asimov did next to nothing with aliens, so that hardly gives us a comparable basis in that regard. However, as Bill mentioned above, he did pretty much define robots for the future of the genre. He didn’t *invent* them…the idea of AI can be traced back to golems and the like of ancient times, and basic programmable robots existed as early as the 13th century. But Asimov, like Tolkien with the various races, defined some robot basics (e.g. the Laws) which SF writers do (or should) consciously consider.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:19:04 +0000

Little Green Men? Faster than Light Travel? Augmented intelligence through electronics? Better living through chemistry?
The fundamental elements of Fantasy tend to be the triumph of good over evil, through the determination of a certain set of people. Although this is the same for Sci-fi, often the focus in Fantasy is *on* the people, whereas in Sci-fi, it’s more broad. Sci-fi will be focused on the technology, the advances, the galactic government, etc.

By: Meatbit

Meatbit — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:06:16 +0000

If you restrict the topic to races only, then I would have to agree. The above poster mentions AI-like lifeforms and that’s about it as far as standard science fiction conventions go.
However, if you expand that to just include general ideas, Science Fiction actually has quite a few. There are the proverbially wormholes that leap you through the universe almost instantly (everything from Stargate to Hyperion), Faster-than-Light travel, Cryogenic Stasis, artificial gravity, space travel, robots, cyborgs, facehuggers…
Ok so I added the last on my own, but when I delve into Science Fiction writing I pretty much need to make conscience decisions about all the above topics, and many others, just as you did with elves and dwarves. I would also say that you’re correct about Wookies and Klingons; there are tropes for SF but they’ve all been copyrighted by modern business machines and their use is now prohibited or restricted. I don’t think it was a natural evolution of the writing culture as it was with Fantasy.

By: Bill Wolfe

Bill Wolfe — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:29:52 +0000

Two things.
I agree that most of the popular aliens are copyrighted, and that’s why aliens in science fiction have to be mostly reinvented by each new author.
However, that noted, there is the pretty solid “race” of AI. Myself, I have always considered Isaac Asimov as the father of Robots (as some others do), and most of what I read about AI/Robots tends to (in the beginning of those stories, at least), abide by his “3 Rules”.
Alien races? Always different, for the reasons you noted. Robots and AI – tend to be pretty similar and understood from one story to the next. Enough, I think, to be a unifying racial concept in science fiction.

By: Adam Pothecary

Adam Pothecary — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:19:37 +0000

I guess the answer for me is that Sci-Fi is always based around something that could possibly happen in the future. It would be difficult (though not impoosible I admit) to incorporate someone elses ideas in to your vision of the future. Fantasy on the other hand does allow for races to cross novels as they are purely fiction/fantasy

By: magnuskn

magnuskn — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:16:12 +0000

Well, I think the reason is pretty obvious: Tolkien himself drew on ancient mythologies and folk stories. Elves, dwarfes, orks and goblins all were known concepts before Tolkien touched and refined them. That’s also the reason why they are not trademarked like sci-fi races.
Sci-fi by its nature relies on new concepts, which are then of course held by ( mostly ) alive people. Sure, there are exceptions like Warhammer 40k, but all in all, sci-fi is about innovation and new concepts, while modern fantasy is mostly about variations of known themes.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, I appreciate a well-told story even when it only is a variation on the well-trodden ground of what came before. It’s all in how good your characters and the actual story are, after all.