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Space Western is asubgenre ofscience fiction that uses the themes and tropes ofWesterns within science-fiction stories in an outer space setting.[1] Subtle influences may includeexploration of new, lawless frontiers, while more overt influences may feature actual cowboys in outer space who userayguns and ride robotic horses. Although initially popular, a strong backlash against perceivedhack writing caused the genre to become a subtler influence until the 1980s, when it regained popularity. A further critical reappraisal occurred during the 2000s due to critical acclaim forFirefly.
The space Western is a science fiction story that contains Western genre elements within an outer space setting.[1][2]: 1–3 These Western themes can be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or they can be a more subtle influence inspace opera.[2]: 3–4 The genre can be contrasted withscience fiction Western, which generally relies on traditional Western frontier settings.[1] while the space Western, having its roots in science fiction, contains plots, tropes, or archetypes of the Western genre, but is generally set in outer space in a futuristic setting.[3]: 1 [4]
Gene Roddenberry describedStar Trek: The Original Series as a space Western (or, more poetically, as "Wagon Train to the stars").[5]Firefly and its cinematic follow-upSerenity literalized the Western aspects of the genre popularized byStar Trek: it used frontier towns, horses, and the styling of classicJohn Ford Westerns.[6][7] Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western.[8] Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets.[9]
The idea is that the vast distances of space have formed barriers, forcing people to become independent or even restricted. Popular themes within the genre are new frontiers in the galaxy and trying to "control" the vast expanse of space. The stories focus on the hardship and adventure of the unexplored space frontier.[10]
Space Westerns sometimes intertwine withspace opera andmilitary science fiction[2]: 1–3 and are generally placed within thespace warfare in science fiction sub-genre thematic. Specifically written space Western fiction, movies and TV series are sometimes based on established space opera franchises with theexpanded universes ofStar Wars andStar Trek.[11] They often consider and view aninterstellar war and oppression of agalactic empire as a backdrop, with a focus onlone gunslingers in space wielding a raygun with fantastic fictional technologies in a futuristic space-frontier setting.[12]
Westerns influenced early science-fictionpulp magazines. Writers would submit stories in both genres,[13] and science-fiction magazines sometimes mimicked Western cover art to showcase parallels.[2] In the 1930s,C. L. Moore created one of the first space Western heroes,Northwest Smith.[2]Buck Rogers andFlash Gordon were also early influences.[9] Aftersuperhero comics declined in popularity in 1940s United States,Western comics andhorror comics replaced them. When horror comics became untenable with theComics Code Authority in the mid-1950s, science-fiction themes and space Westerns grew more popular.[2]: 10
By the mid-1960s, classic Western films fell out of favor andrevisionist Westerns supplanted them. Science-fiction series such asLost in Space[14] andStar Trek presented a new frontier to be explored.Peter Hyams, director ofOutland, said that studio heads in the 1980s were unwilling to finance a Western, so he made a space Western instead.[15]Outland took the plot directly fromHigh Noon (1952) and placed it on Jupiter's moon Io.[13]
Space operas such as theStar Wars film series took strong cues from Westerns.Boba Fett,Han Solo and theMos Eisley cantina, in particular, were based on Western themes.George Lucas attributes the character of Boba Fett to theMan with No Name in the DVD commentary onThe Empire Strikes Back.[16] Han Solo's original costume and charming rogue gunslinger mannerisms also reflects the Western's influence onStar Wars. These science fiction films and television series offered the themes and morals that Westerns previously did.[17]
This frontier view of the future is only one of many ways to look at space exploration, and not one embraced by all science-fiction writers. The Turkey City Lexicon, a document produced by theTurkey City science-fiction writers' workshop, condemns the space Western as the "most pernicious" form of a pre-established background that avoids the necessity of creating a fresh world.[18]Galaxy Science Fiction ran an advertisement on its back cover, "You'll never see it inGalaxy", which gave the beginnings of make-believe parallel Western and science-fiction stories featuring a character named Bat Durston.[19] The genre of space Westerns has been informally—and often derisively—known as "Bat Durston" stories since.[20] Such scathing attacks on the subgenre, along with further attacks on space operas, caused a perception that all space Westerns were by definition hack writing and not "true" science fiction.[9] Although the underlying themes remained influential, this bias persisted until the 1980s, when the release of the filmOutland and children's cartoons such asBraveStarr andThe Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers re-popularized explicit themes of cowboys in space.[9]
BraveStarr chronicles the adventures of the Space Marshal, as he seeks to uphold law and order in the 23rd century.[21] The opening trailer ofThe Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers showsTexas Rangers–like heroes riding across a prairie landscape on robotic horses. Spaceships and six-guns both feature prominently throughout.[22]
In the 1990s, Japanesemanga andanime series such asTrigun (1995 debut),Outlaw Star (1996 debut) andCowboy Bebop (1997 debut) explored the genre. Several years later,Firefly won acclaim, further causing a critical reassessment of space Westerns.[9]
Games such asStarCraft,[23][24]The Outer Worlds,[25] and theBorderlands series[26] have popularized the space Western theme. Films likeThe Chronicles of Riddick have continued the space Western theme.[27]
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