'Till the Fat Alien Sings

In the early days of radio, fictional drama took to the air waves. No, not the news variety, but what we would think of as the daytime serials of TV. These often melodramatic skits were primarily sponsored by soap companies and so acquired the tag of "soap operas." The next evolution of this sobriquet was given to the predictable and formula bound westerns (Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, etc) which were dubbed "horse operas." The final and most derisive form of the name was given to the adventures of characters like Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon. Because of their strong (and often deliberate) resemblances to the "horse opera," they were dubbed "space operas."

The term languished as an albatross around the necks of sci-fi artist for decades until 1972 when Brian Aldiss publish his book by the same name: "Space Opera." Since then, the genre has continued to grow in respectability and popularity with fans world wide. Consider the popularity of the Star Wars franchise as proof positive. Other beloved series, such as Firefly also fit in this category.

Yet there are further sub-divisions of the space opera category. We'll leave most of those for another time and briefly look at the one that Star Seeker fits into: Military Sci-Fi. While still involving deeds of daring-do, there is the added framework of military discipline (ish), service, and epic starship combat. Star Trek is the most accessible of these with the current CBS Star Trek: Discovery being the best example of the various series. For those who are more literary minded, consider Scot Cards Ender's Game (the short story, not the novel), Halderman's Forever Wars, Heinlein's Star Ship Troopers, David Drake's Hammer's Slammers and Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.