is it possible to combine fantasy with sci-fi?

[Camacha]

Yes you can. Some won't like it.

/thread.

[CalculusWarrior]

I like to think of magic in stories as something that does not break the Laws of Physics per se, but rather lets you sidestep them somewhat (sort of like how orbiting the Earth lets you stay up there despite gravity's efforts to bring you down). That being said, I have yet to find a story that incorporates magic and science/technology satisfactorily.

[TheSaint]

bio-fuel will also takes place in future rocketry.

Depends. If we develop practical fusion power, all other power sources will pretty much get kicked to the curb.

the laser really has that power? Isnt that will gonna burn up the vessel?

A lot of information on different proposals here. It's inefficient because you expend a lot of energy ionizing the atmosphere, and because the inverse square law really starts to take its toll as you gain altitude. But since your energy source is sitting on the ground instead of in your ship, it can be as large as you can make it, so efficiency isn't really an issue. And it's all pie-in-the-sky anyway, with current technology we couldn't come close to building a laser that big.

[FenrirWolf]

Magic and physics can coexist well enough if you consider both of them to just be facets or manifestations of some higher order or law to the universe in question. Remember The Matrix? The characters were capable of seemingly impossible feats. but they didnt act in violation of that world's laws, but rather they had a greater understanding of what their world actually is and the principles that govern it.

Think also of the current schism between relativity and quantum physics. We understand that they model the universe in their respective spheres, but we have difficulty reconciling the overlap between them. And so we look for a greater understanding of our universe so we can find out the greater principles from which those laws manifest.

[Aghanim]

Last post on this, I swear but that's electricity + ablating material and electricity + ionised gas. The point is, no matter how you look at it (and discounting magic 'space drives'), you need some kind of reaction mass and just electricity is not going to work.

Photon drive. Its inefficient as hell but it works.

[DonLorenzo]

I think fallout does a pretty good job of combining sci fi with fantasy. Now they don't use magic as such, but the radiation in that universe might as well be magic. It creates all different kinds of races (mutants, ghouls, strange talking animals, pixies etc.) and gives superpowers and causes no end of problems.

[Sillychris]

Is it possible to combine sci fi with fantasy?

Abso****inglutely.

eg: Star Wars. The Jedi are wizards. Explanation? "The force". Not very scientific.

example 2: Dr Who.

[eurybaric]

Isn't Dune just that also?

[JtPB]

Isn't Dune just that also?

ive just been waiting that someone will mention that! I didnt read it, but at somewhere else i asked that question, someone suggested that story as a scientific fantasy...

Is it possible to combine sci fi with fantasy?

Abso****inglutely.

eg: Star Wars. The Jedi are wizards. Explanation? "The force". Not very scientific.

example 2: Dr Who.

Ok got it, star wars is sci-fantasy.

didnt watch dr who so dont know about that...

[sojourner]

I will echo the other calls of Shadowrun. The setting is a cyberpunk world where magic has "re-emerged".

Great stuff. I highly recommend the novels.

[Wahgineer]

Wizards - various spells to summon storms and natrual disasters

Regular humans - Nuclear, thermo-nuclear, and conventional weapons, orbital bombardment weapons, warpdrives, machine guns, quantum computers, etc.

I'd say that the wizard is outmatched.

[Simon Ross]

I think Larry Niven gets pretty close with his Warlock series.

Not really any technology involved, but the use of magic is grounded in the Mana that powers it being an exhaustible resource (fossil fuels ?)

It certainly makes an interesting play on the idea of magic as a power, and the limitations once the basic energy source is used up

[Tex_NL]

Isn't Dune just that also?

How could I've forgotten to mention Dune? Of course Dune can be called fantasy!

A movie/series doesn't need to have swords and arrows or wizards, elves and goblins to classify as fantasy.

[JumpsterG]

Going back to my gradeschool book reading period, I remember loving Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider's of Pern and Brainship series (although these days I will admit they are not the best-written books). Entirely sci-fi universe but with many fantastic elements explained and explored.

Also, while not really touching on sci-fi, Eragon is a fantasy novel that has descriptions of its magic obeying at least some fundamental laws of physics (matter cannot be created from nothing, conversion of matter from one form to another takes more or less energy depending on the difference in composition, etc.). In this setting, working knowledge of physics/chemistry aids in magic use because a caster more readily understands the required energy of tasks and the effects of various substances interactions with one another. It falls apart when you start encountering magical creatures, blessings/curses, and other silliness, but for a little while at least, it tried to alleviate the blatant disregard of physics that magic generally requires.

[Drunkrobot]

Magic is science that is not yet understood. Once, only angels and birds could fly, now thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people are aloft at any moment. Telepathy was once impossible, now we carry around little black slabs that let us communicate to anybody we know, at any moment (Or not. It has become so trivial to us, we can deny messages on a whim).

If the abilities wielded by wizards and superheros in current fiction turn out to be possible, then we will find a way of making them a reality, to the point where everyone has that ability, and we stop noticing that we have it.

[SelectHalfling0]

Some people (including myself) find that Star Wars is fantasy and sci-fi. You've got wizards (the jedi) a light faction and a dark faction, swords, and there are even creatures in the series that are sentient space-faring dragons.

[Simon Ross]

Though it does bring to mind Arthur C Clarke's 3rd law

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

[Comrade Jenkens]

Warhammer 40K fits that description perfectly.

[JtPB]

So from all the posts here i understood that the only difference between wizards and engineers(regular people) is that single wizard can do many large manipulations on hes nature and enviroment(its just depends on how much he strong & expert at magic), while single engineer need some(actually many) more fellows to get the same results. (its also quite not efficient relativly to a wizard.. see broom-plane)

Edited March 6, 2014 by JtPB

[Nibb31]

In most fiction, wizards, computer geeks, and scientists are interchangeable. Magic and advanced tech are used in exactly the same way as plot devices by Hollywood and book authors.

Stick LOTR in a sci-fi universe, and Gandalf would be hacking into the cloud to do his magic, instead of waving his staff. There really is no difference as far as the story is concerned. The rest is just decorum.

[Seret]

Most sci-fi has elements of magic in it. Whether it's psychics in Star Trek, Babylon 5 or Firefly, or The Force in Star Wars. You could argue that the label "hard sci-fi" is pretty much defined by the absence of that kind of thing.

[RRG]

Fullmetal Alchemist, it has the fantasy part and a lot of science.

And Babylon 5 had the Technomages, which could summon dragons.

[Palladium Corp]

One old game I remember well is Wizardry 8, which in my opinion combined science and magic well.

You had magic, spaceships, aliens and computers.

I enjoyed that game.

[air805ronin]

I feel compelled to mention a book I love. Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein. Its setting puts it around the Vietnam war (the hero is a vet), but it manages to be both Science Fiction and a Fantasy novel with a princess, swords, bows, dragons, a tower, "magic", and other fun. The end of the fantasy adventure is around halfway through the book, and then you find out that being hero is only fun when there is adventure to be had.

The second half of the book is what loses a lot of people. It might be worth your time.

Edit: The science fiction is out there. Humans are where we were at in the 1960's. The Hero is in an adventure with aliens, to be honest.

[ArmchairGravy]

Roger Zelazny had several books in this vein. Lord of Light, Shadowjack, and Changeling are titles that spring to mind.