Yeah. I never knew that there were 'four elements' of it.

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me neither. I agree with you Haldir. Sci-Fi always seemed pretty self-explanatory to me as well.

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I got those from a book excerpt I read for our Sci-Fi unit at school (in Language Arts). We tested the "Four Elements of SF" on a bunch of short stories and novels and it worked every time.

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Well if that is true... then number 4 does apply. But it is ruled out, since the other ones don't really.

Interesting though... I never knew that. *ponders*

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me neither. But I think it is pretty interesting as well.

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But couldnt a mythology be Sci-Fi, just because the generic sci-fi books have guns and lasers, doesnt mean all of them do... And personally, i think that:

1. LotR depicts human society(along with Elves and Hobbits)
2. World domination has been a scientific/not scientific idea for a while, the sort of "crushing the unusual" thing. But then again, Sauron is a giant flaming eye, so that is sort of unusual.
3. it definately presents the strange and unusual, orcs, goblins, mumakil, balrogs, fell beasts, magic rings etc.
4.It certainly tells a good story and has an amazing plot line.

Human society is there, but "world domination" isn't exactly "scientific". "Not exactly scientific" means a pseudoscience, like alchemy or hypnosis. Stuff like that. Strange and unusual really means concepts, like experimenting with death or aliens. The plotline is definitely there, though.

One particular story that doesn't include lasers and guns and stuff but has still been called sci-fi is The Facts In the Case of M. Valdemar, by Edgar Allen Poe. If you read that, you'd definitely be able to tell that it and LotR have identifiable differences (I still don't think LotR is SF!).

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Do you remember what the book was called? I'm interested in finding out how official it is, because I've never heard of the 'four elements of sci-fi' before.

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I'm not sure because my LA teacher made copies of the excerpt, but I'll ask her. If she knows, I'll post it on here. Also, I asked one of my friends about this and this is what he said:

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I agree with what you friend said about fantasy, because Fantasy doesn't need any element of science. I think the term science-ficiton is pretty self-explanatory, so in my opinion a sci-fi story as to have an element of science which is of importance for the story.

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"is glad to be know as the person who started this thread and has his/her definitions wrong" not funny -_-

Personally, i think this is a "what do you think thread", you can discuss the details of what makes up a "Model Sci-fi and Fantasy" story all you want.

Science:a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.

Fiction:the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form.

Science Fiction:A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background.


Figure it out for yourself, apparently i have my definitions wrong.

Sorry about that, I was reluctant to post it, but I didn't want to change what my friend said....

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its fine, i love being called stupid on a regular basis...

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Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step Joni Erickson Tada

Me too! *high fives*

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Thanks RA, Elenriel, PD/Aliana Dawn, Arwen, Aramel, Shadowcat, Nurr, Tar-Dis!
Pippin of Herenya's Line - "...give nothing back!"
Got fed up and eloped with Ragetti 1-3-08
PHYLLIS, THE ANTI-SUSPIAN!