When I was thinking about starting this Lemmy community, I tried writing down every single Weird West work I'd seen, read, or played. In that list, I added Wild Wild West. But now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I'd call it a Weird Western.
Most Weird West works involve some sort of supernatural or fantasy element added to a Wild West setting. But does steampunk count as supernatural or fantasy? I mean, technically there weren't any giant steam-powered spiders in the Wild West but is that "weird" enough to qualify? The fact that it was steam-powered makes it harder for me to call it sci-fi. Besides, if I call Wild Wild West a Weird Western, does that mean Back to the Future Part 3 is a Weird Western too? I'm at the point where I'm questioning the definition of the genre to determine whether or not to post something.
Here's a trailer, and I'm sorry if watching it gets that theme song stuck in your head. The movie isn't streaming anywhere though.
I mean... the reason it's science fiction and not fantasy is because it has some kind of backing in explainable phenomenon. Just because you can say "It's powered by steam" or "it's pushed by magnets" doesn't mean it's not in some way fantastic.
Would more grounded science fiction not count as science fiction to you? Things like The Martian or The Expanse don't count because they don't involved magical fantasy technology that turn the world on its head?
Frankenstein is undoubtedly science fiction... but it's just using electricity to awaken a cobbled together corpse. There's no magic space rays or warp drives or matter transporters.
That's true, just because an explanation is given doesn't mean that explanation makes any sense. You still have to suspend disbelief either way.
the expanse features a fair amount of fantasy in regards to the protomolecule and its fantastical effects and results, as well as it's opponents as the story goes on.