Board 8 > Favorite Space Western?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know certain episodes of Doctor Who/Star Trek could be considered westerns, but I'm looking at the franchise as a whole here.

If some of those count, then The Expanse should count and that's my answer.

The Expan...wait, there's some pretty good anime options here.

Damn, this is really tough. All of these are pretty awesome in their own way.

What makes Mass Effect a space western?

I feel like I need an explanation on how Mass Effect or Guardians of the Galaxy are even loosely space westerns

Star Trek is about frontier lawmen, I think there's always that western background to it even when the captains aren't horseback riding or turning the holodeck into a Saloon

Star Wars doesn't feel at all like a space western. It's more fantasy than anything else.

Does Redline(/Trava) count?

KamikazePotato posted...

Star Wars doesn't feel at all like a space western. It's more fantasy than anything else.

I can't really explain why but I feel like it's not far-fetched to say Star Wars (ANH) has Western influences

Some aspects of Star Wars have vague western elements (especially Tatooine) but the series as a whole is absolutely not. It's got:

1. A traditional hero's journey
2. An order of ancient wizards/monks
3. Glowing swords
4. A princess
5. Mystical, undefined powers, including telekinesis and telepathy
6. A prophecy about a chosen one
7. An empire and a rebellion
8. An evil emperor that laughs as he maniacally shoots lightning
9. Wise old mentors
10. Spirits

For the most part it's fantasy cosplaying as sci-fi.

Yeah, but I took "Star Wars" to be the movie and not the entire series here, and I think ANH has western influences

Oh I was considering the series as a whole. ANH is definitely the most western-ish, yeah. Still don't think I'd outright call it one though.

The Mandalorian taken separately from Star Wars is the best.

Say what you like about the rest of SW, but Mando really does feel like a western.

Wasn't Star Wars heavily inspired by Kurosawa movies? Those are basically eastern westerns, right?

I guess I contradicted myself when I said "franchise as a whole" yet had the original Star Wars in mind when I wrote the poll options. Still, ANH fits the Western mold pretty well.

I still defend GotG here because the series feels very "lawless" as is common in Westerns. Mass Effect's a little harder to justify, I mostly wanted game options in the poll, and I knew it'd be more popular than Borderlands or TOW.

GoTG is a space western to me; band of outlaws, going through hostile territories pursued by the law, Star-Lord is definitely meant to invoke a gunslinger, trenchcoat type of antihero too.

Borderlands is definitely space western.

I know Cowboy Bebop doesn't at all fit neatly into a genre but I wouldn't say westerns are all that high on the list despite the title.

all space fiction is space western since space is the final frontier, after all.

Star Wars and Mass Effect are not at all "westerns". Well I suppose the first season of The Mandalorian took a lot of influence from the genre, but nothing else.

DeepsPraw posted...

all space fiction is space western since space is the final frontier, after all.

I'm pretty sure no one would call Alien a western.

Boba Fett had a lot of space western to it too. But that's again because of Tatooine.

Mos Eisley specifically feels very spaghetti western and Flash Gordon is an actual space western influence, but Star Wars blends a lot of influences. It's in there but not consistently