What is
Space Opera?

Space Opera is what most people think of when they hear the words Science Fiction: Adventure Stories set in Outer Space - Spaceshps and Rayguns.

Many S.F. fans object to this label, because they think it emphasizes what they think is the worst of sci-fi (another "hot button" term). Space Opera is the earliest, and arguably the least sophisticated form of Science Fiction.

But STAR TREK is Space Opera, as are FARSCAPE and ANDROMEDA,
as well as just about any SF show with an outer space setting
- and there's nothing wrong with that!
If not for Space Opera science fiction would probably have never gained
the wide spread popularity it enjoys today.

  Television and Space Opera have had a long association. Regular TV broadcasts began in the United States in 1947. Science Fiction programs were, surprisingly considering the relatively primitive state of early broadcasting, a part of TV almost from the beginning.

  Let's take a look at the first continuing Science Fiction program - a Space Opera which showed us the potential of Video.