# Moonraker: Science Fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498 "2009-09-25T09:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/1 "2009-09-25T09:32:42Z")
I’m reading through various movie synopses, and [Moonraker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_%28film%29)is classified as science fiction. Imho, I don’t think it’s any more or less science fiction than say any of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, particularly the one with the North Koreans and the solar laser. Should Moonraker be classified as a spy thriller with a sci fi backdrop, or a sci-fi story featuring spies? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/2 "2009-09-25T10:54:21Z")
Objectively, both or either. In practical terms “spy”, simply because that’s how people think of James Bond movies. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/3 "2009-09-25T11:17:44Z")
You are quite the splitter, aren’t you? Life is messy, and not every item fits into one pidgeonhole. In entertainment, genre borders are remarkably porous and it is a rare film or book cannot be said to fit into more than one genre definition. That being said, Moonraker is a spy/action film with science fiction and comedy elements. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/4 "2009-09-25T11:20:23Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I’m reading through various movie synopses, and [Moonraker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_%28film%29)is classified as science fiction. Imho, I don’t think it’s any more or less science fiction than say any of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, particularly the one with the North Koreans and the solar laser. > > Should Moonraker be classified as a spy thriller with a sci fi backdrop, or a sci-fi story featuring spies? None of the above. It’s pure fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/5 "2009-09-25T12:49:02Z")
It definitely has science fiction elements (many of the Bond flms do). Heck, it was science fiction when Ian Fleming wrote it. But it’s also a spy film with comic elements. Fantasy? Only in the most general sense in that it portrays events that never happened (and in the sense that all science fiction is fantasy). The tropes are purely science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/6 "2009-09-25T13:24:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It definitely has science fiction elements (many of the Bond flms do). Heck, it was science fiction when Ian Fleming wrote it. > > But it’s also a spy film with comic elements. > > Fantasy? Only in the most general sense in that it portrays events that never happened (and in the sense that all science fiction is fantasy). The tropes are purely science fiction. Although it has to be said that what Fleming wrote in the book and what was in the film are two entirely different things. The book was a very tradition Bond story where Drax wanted to start a nuclear war by firing the UK’s new missile Moonraker at Russia IIRC. The film had a dodgy plot about poisonous orchids and space stations, the only common factors between the two are the title and Drax’s name. I would say the film was a combination of spy story and sci fi. As much as I like Roger Moore in many roles I didn’t like him as Bond as it was far too tongue in cheek and nowhere near as gritty as the novels. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonraker-science-fiction/511498/7 "2009-09-25T14:24:52Z")
Bad films are their own genre. It’s sci-fi in the sense that Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century is sci-fi, and a spy film in the sense that _The Wild, Wild West_ was a spy movie. Instead of straight to video, it went straight to self-parody. Regards, Shodan