What Makes a Great Space Opera?

What Makes a Great Space Opera? A Look at the DNA of the Genre

Space opera is a strange beast. It’s not hard science fiction. It’s not fantasy. It sits in this messy middle ground where spaceships have faster-than-light drives that shouldn’t exist, people punch each other in zero-G without shattering every bone in their body, and somehow there’s always breathable air in the cave on the alien planet.

And yet, when it works, it’s magic.

So what makes it great? Let’s break it down.