What Happened to the Space Western?

One thing I love is the overlap between Space Westerns and Steampunk. Trigun has a ton of Steampunk influence as well.

Bro, at your age I couldn't have made an analysis like this if a PhD wrote the script for me and put a gun to my head. Love your stuff man.

One of the best thing about space westerns is how the 'western' parts of it brings up very interesting themes of exploration and morality, but also the Vibes TM. All of the space westerns listed in the video have a certified banger soundtrack, and that is awesome. Thank you for digging so deep into the history of the genre! P.S. Kudos for using I was the Sun, before it was cool and A Proper Story, and mentioning Borderlands and Outer Wilds!

As someone who has given a number of panels on space operas and space westerns and their relationship, I appreciate how extremely thorough your sources are.

I absolutely ADORED Outlaw Star as a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Bebop and Trigun too, but something about Outlaw Star really clicked with me. It’s an anime I don’t really hear people talk about much.

"Prospect" is such a hidden gem. The movie that started as a short, and was crowd funded into existance and done on insane budget.

StarCraft was actually older than Firefly. It came out back in '98. Either it, or Brood War, it's expansion. It's still played to this day, and was likely the first televised e-sport.

I share the love for space westerns. Akira, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Trigun, Firefly, Cowboy Beepop, just to mention my favourites, were masterpieces. If it wasn’t for the Mandalorian I would have forgotten about this genre entirely. As always Lextorias, absolutely excellent video, well documented and passion. Thank you for sharing! 👍❤️

Babe wake up, Lex posted a vid 🗿

Having discovered Firefly only as a result of it's cancellation, it was a bitter realization of how out of touch the networks and studios can be. Despite or because of growing up with Star Wars original trilogy and the Spaghettie Westerns, Firefly was and has been one of the most impactful series I've ever seen, only recently challeged by Andor. While I agree that it plays to it's trope, it goes so deep into the characters, environment, and personalities, that it rises above the more popular and less nuanced treatments in actually bringing you into the world and all of it's grit. Not to say that many others, particularly on the Japanese front don't also aohieve that. I just really lament not having seen where that story could have gone.

The journey of exploration and struggle on the frontier of human civilization is timelessly fascinating. Match that up with smart but flawed characters, novel discoveries, and tense action, and I'll always be hyped for more.

I definitely enjoy the space western genre. I think the blend really just appeals to that human desire for exploration, wonder, and a sense of freedom while mixed in with danger and hardship. Plus, it makes a lot of sense to blend science fiction and western given the fact that future explorers may very well end up creating a brand new "wild west" throughout the galaxy and universe, setting up unlikely settlements in backwater planets full of danger like how settlers in the west settled in unlikely areas filled with danger, wether it be from the people they displaced to be there or just the harsh environment.

Space Western and Vampire Western are both criminally underrated and underutilized genre

Chronicles of Riddick is Conan the Barbarian in space, which is appropriate for this video because a some of the original Conan stories shared a lot with Westerns.

Given Kurosawa's influence on westerns, you can throw every space samurai film in there as well. In fact, I'd say that because the tropes that define this identity are both few and specific, you can see it spread in everything from Fantasy to Cop Drama to Teen Dystopia.

Great topic to pick, especially after you watched Trigun: Stampede. Lex, your content is consistently engaging and I love your deadpan/dry wit. Also, it's always fun to mention how the tropes and ideas behind "Westerns" have leaked into other genres. Breaking Bad, for example, uses a lot of character and scene structure from Westerns. Standoffs in the desert, the hyper masculine 'ideal', a literal train robbery... Great stuff.

The choice of Rimworld background music is amazing and fits thematically. Great video Lex!

The Adventures of Brisco Country Jr is 100% Sci-fi western with zero space involved so I could understand why they'd count as separate categories

The end where you started talking about the history and current events at the time of creation for each of the examples really made me realize that media and history and culture is more closely tied together than I often think. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing something in isolation from the world it was created in, but a full and well rounded understanding of everything really brings things into perspective. Thanks for tilting my world view.

So thrilled to see The Expanse getting some love