There’s a discussion on Frank Wu’s blog about Sci-Fi vs. Science Fiction. Sci-Fi (pronounced skiffy by the “in” crowd) has always meant film or TV to me and is quite a bit different from Science Fiction, which I think of as literary. Science Fiction would apply to Arthur C. Clark or Heinlein or the art of Frank R. Paul, but not to Aliens III or Star Trek.

When I hear the word Sci-Fi, it usually comes from Science Fiction outsiders, and it is most often associated with horror movies. The Blob, for instance, is a horror movie that uses a science fiction element (the blob) and should be categorized as Sci-Fi. It lacks the one thing that makes Science Fiction stand out for me – A Sense of Wonder.

Sci-Fi and Science Fiction overlap from time to time. The Twilight Zone was literary – short plays – and many great Science Fiction Writers contributed to the show. I have always thought that many 1950s movies like Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Day of the Triffods had literary merit and transcended Sci-Fi. I Think the every once in a while Star Trek had Science Fiction moments as did Bab-5 and Movies like Blade Runner.

Sci-Fi has it’s good points. It is a conduit into the real thing. Science Fiction is the true religion and we should accept converts from Sci-Fi when some kid makes the jump from TV, gaming, comic books, or Film to print. Sci-Fi is still near enough to Science Fiction as to be better than most alternatives. I prefer a good book, but, as I have said many times, bad Star Trek is still better than anything else on TV.

If this sounds a little elitist, then I confess that on some level I feel superior to the Sci-Fi crowd. I am in it for the words, not the computer graphics. The words and the images they create in my head will always be far more compelling than the images on a screen. I went to a “literary” fantasy convention not too long ago and was very disappointed to find that it was all about TV and Movies.

Heinlein proposed using the term Speculative Fiction, which I use when I lump Fantasy and Science Fiction together. I like Hugo Gernsback’s original term Scientifiction, which he later shortened to Science Fiction. I don’t particularly like Sci-Fi.

“scifi” versus “science fiction”