How meaningful is this category? Couldn't we just as easily call it a Space Saga? After all many of The Icelandic Sagas have Western tropes like Determined Homesteaders and their Determined Homesteaders wives, Showdowns at High Noon(with swords instead of guns), Outlaws and so on. Wouldn't it usually make more sense to treat both Westerns and Space Westerns as subtropes of "frontier tales"?
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To continue this point, the heroic tale is a universal archetype. What is it about heroic tales in space that makes them a throwback to Westerns? It is kinder to the dignity of Heroic Sci Fi as it's own setting, kinder to the uniqueness of Westerns as their own setting and kinder to the dignity of hero tales as part of the general heritage of mankind to call it Heroic sci fi. It would also make it correspond to Heroic Fantasy which also shares tropes with Westerns.
Wizzard
- Supernatural: Okay, it's not actually a space Western, more like a, well, supernatural Western set in the modern day. It draws many stylistic influences and themes (such as the individual vs. the system/authority) from the old Western movies (as the showrunners themselves often point out), features mythology involving Samuel Colt, stars two blue collar characters played by actors with Western accents (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are both from Texas in Real Life), and in a DVD commentary, Eric Kripke notes that the show tries to have the Winchester boys use "blue collar" methods of fighting demons and monsters, such as guns (albeit filled with silver bullets or rock salt), as much as possible, as opposed to other fantasy shows/movies that are heavier on Middle Age mysticism. Supernatural's showrunners once expressed a wistful desire to make a Wild West-era prequel...and finally went through with it (sort of) in Season 6's episode "Frontierland," in which the angel Castiel sends the boys back in time to the old West, where they interact with Sam Colt, who was already important in the show's mythology.
"It's not actually a space Western". It's Weird West meets New Old West.
Edited by DaibhidC
Does Moo Mesa really count? The opening theme says that a comet raised a mesa to the Western skies. Being set on Earth, even if it's a Hidden Elf Village, would seem to remove it from the space category.
Edited by Whitewings