Dodo Blog

It occurred to me recently why I don’t generally like sci-fi that much, and conversely why I love a good historical setting.

I want a world I can believe in, that subtle sense that these places are real, and you could go there if only you could charter a plane, or a time machine… Sci-fi is always so neat and tidy. I just don’t buy that anyone would live there.

Fantasy has this problem, but not as much because it tends to have one foot firmly in modern or medieval times which gives it something to work with. Though you can tell the difference between your average high-fantasy and The Lord of the Rings. There’s a depth and truth to Middle Earth that most don’t bother with… but it’s not about volume. People mistake Tolkien’s achievement for being one of sheer effort, but you don’t create an interesting world just by throwing pages of backstory and concept art at it.

It’s in the little things. The worlds that get away with it are the ones that put in those carefully observed details that make them human.

It’s the petty politics of Vampire Bloodlines, it’s the space marines in Starcraft bringing beer to a demolition (“Thank god for cold fusion!”), it’s the way the X-Wings in Star Wars look like they could use another paint-job…

The universes that transcend their fictional origins are the ones that feel ‘lived in’, their inhabitants just getting by in a place that is entirely real to them.