Science fiction Western

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about works of fiction which have elements of science fiction in a Western setting. For works of fiction which have elements of American Westerns, except transposed to a backdrop of space exploration and settlement, see Space Western.

A science fiction Western is a work of fiction which has elements of science fiction in a Western setting. It is different from a Space Western, which is a frontier story indicative of American Westerns, except transposed to a backdrop of space exploration and settlement.

A science fiction Western occurs in the past, or in a world resembling the past, in which modern or future technology exists. The anachronistic technology of these stories is present because scientific paradigms occurred earlier in history but are implemented via industrial elements present at that time, or because technology is brought from another time or place. The genre often overlaps with Steampunk.

1 Examples
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Examples

The film serial The Phantom Empire may be the earliest science fiction Western. Since then, science fiction Westerns have appeared in film, television, novels, comic books, and other media. Since the characteristic elements of science fiction can occur in any setting, science fiction lends itself to combination with other genres. ^[1] In 1953, J. B. Priestley described the "Western" as one of the three types of science fiction.^[2]

[edit] Books

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
Hong on the Range by William F. Wu
The Beast Master (and Hosteen Storm series) by Andre Norton

[edit] Comics

Jonah Hex, a Western comics hero, was for a time transported to a post-apocalyptic 21st century.
Daisy Kutter by Kazu Kibuishi ^[3]
Lone by Stuart Moore and Jerome Opena ^[4]
Iron West by Doug Tennapel ^[5]
Dead Or Alive - A Cyberpunk Western by Tatjana ^[6]

[edit] Film

Alien Outlaw
As Time Goes By
The Aurora Encounter
Back to the Future Part III
The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Futureworld
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Oblivion
Oblivion 2: Backlash
Outland
Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann
The Valley of Gwangi
Welcome to Blood City
Westworld
Wild Wild West

[edit] Serial

The Phantom Empire

[edit] Games

[edit] Television

"Spectre of the Gun", an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series in which the main characters are imprisoned in a psychic illusion of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
"A Fistful of Datas", a Holodeck-based episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"Gunmen of the Apocalypse", an episode of Red Dwarf.
Legend UPN Television series featuring Richard Dean Anderson and John De Lancie.
Outlaws
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
"The Good, the Bad and the Wealthy", an episode of Sliders that deals with an parallel universe where Texas dominates the western portion of the United States.
"The Gunfighters", a 1966 Doctor Who serial.
"The Secret Empire" segment of the 1970s TV series Cliffhangers
"Living in Harmony", an episode of The Prisoner
The Wild Wild West included many episodes with science-fiction elements.
Similarly to "The Wild Wild West", the 1966 animated cartoon version of The Lone Ranger often featured anarchronistic technology in many episodes. Such technology included a villain who replaced his damaged hands with the paws of a bear, a deranged botanist who produced a variety of man-killing plants and a recurring villain -a juvenile delinquet named Tiny Tom- who in one episode wreaked havoc with an army of living toy soldiers.