pre-TOS space opera series

[jefferiestubes8]

(The concepts for two of the technical accomplishments that enable them to do so—positronic brains and starship drives for near-instantaneous hyperspatial translation—are direct adoptions from Isaac Asimov's science fiction universe.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among the stars. The first stories of this type were Ray Cummings' Tarrano the Conqueror (1925), Edmond Hamilton's Across Space (1926) and Crashing Suns (in Weird Tales, August–September 1928),

The author cited most often as the true father of the genre, however, is E. E. "Doc" Smith. His first published work, The Skylark of Space (August–October 1928, Amazing Stories) is often called the first great space opera.[4] It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing a space-drive with science fantasy or planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera

The Skylark of Space is often categorized as the first literary space opera (in the complimentary sense), complete with protagonists perfect in mind, body, and spirit, who fight against villains of absolute evil.

It was written between 1915 and 1921 by Edward E. "Doc" Smith while working on his doctorate and later as a food chemist, and Lee Hawkins Garby,

It was written between 1915 and 1921 by Edward E. "Doc" Smith while working on his doctorate and later as a food chemist, and Lee Hawkins Garby,

Edward E. "Doc" Smith - He is sometimes referred to as the father of Space Opera.

What other written or radio space operas were very similar to the whole Star Trek space opera style? Is Asimov the default source for this stuff?

What book or story series most closely emulates or pre-dated TOS as we know it?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Do you mean a book or series set on a "starship" on a mission with miltary and exploratory elements?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Do you mean a book or series set on a "starship" on a mission with miltary and exploratory elements?

Yes. What book or story series most closely emulates or pre-dated TOS as we know it?

book, comic book, radio drama. any of these 3.

 

[Nerys Myk]

How close does it have to be? Quite a few books, show and movies that are set on ships with a military crew. From comics like Tommy Tomorrow to films like Forbidden Planet.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Asimov's galactic empire probably became the best-known version of that cliche, but in fact all this stuff was in use by various pulp sf writers before Asimov came on the scene. His single reasonably novel contribution to pulp sf was the idea of programming behavioral failsafes into robots, which eventually formed the basis of his "three laws of robotics."

Of course, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet contains ninety percent of what would later appear in Star Trek and was itself probably derived from the screenwriters' familiarity with forty years or so of pulp science fiction stories.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, FP pretty much had all the elements that TOS did. I think what TOS added to the mix was the "alien sidekick" in the form of Spock. Though that particular trope goes back to at least to John Carters buddy Tars Tarkas in ERBs Mars books.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Or the indian sidekicks in westerns, apropos of another of today's TOS topics.

 

[Kai Winn]

the german space patrol in 1966. huge success. might have inspired roddenberry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raumpatrouille_%E2%80%93_Die_phantastischen_Abenteuer_des_Raumschiffes_Orion

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Doc Smith has been mentioned, but IMO the Lensmen series was the template for modern space opera. It heavily influenced Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Asimov's Foundation series, the Mass Effect video games, and many, many others. A must-read for any fan.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

No mention of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers yet? They appeared on the scene around the same time as Lensmen - late 20's/early 30's. Of course Burroughs beat all of them. Everyone knows about Warlord of Mars, but I've always like his Carson of Venus series the best. Carson Napier struck me as his most interesting hero (among a group that tended towards the cookie-cutterish) and it's easy to see the humor and humanity of James Kirk or John Crichton as descending from Napier.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Doc Smith has been mentioned, but IMO the Lensmen series was the template for modern space opera. It heavily influenced Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Asimov's Foundation series, the Mass Effect video games, and many, many others. A must-read for any fan.

And the Silver Age Green Lantern.

 

[The Badger]

A.E van Vogt's 'Voyage of the Space Beagle' (1950) is a compilation of four short stories from the late thirties and early forties. It features a thousand strong crew on a starship assigned to deep space exploration, with a mixed scientific and military crew. It's a possible influence on Trek.

One of the stories, 'Black Destroyer', features an alien creature at loose on the ship. van Vogt attempted to sue the makers of Alien for plagiarism. They denied any connection, but did settle out of court. Rather cheekily, a recent reprint had a prominent note on the cover proclaiming it to be the 'story that inspired Alien!'

 

[Greg Cox]

Yes, FP pretty much had all the elements that TOS did. I think what TOS added to the mix was the "alien sidekick" in the form of Spock. Though that particular trope goes back to at least to John Carters buddy Tars Tarkas in ERBs Mars books.

And you can argue that Spock, the cold-blooded thinking machine, was sort of a flesh-and-blood version of Robby the Robot.

But, yeah, FORBIDDEN PLANET is pretty much the "unofficial" pilot for STAR TREK. Just like "Assignment: Earth" owed a lot to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. And NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is basically Matheson's I Am Legend with the serial numbers filed off . . . .