Neglecting a genre...

[DGMacphee]

I think Western and Sci-fi are almost the same genre...that of exploration. Instead of harsh deserts you have the cold of space. Indians (Native Americans) are replaced by aliens. Six shooter is replaced by a laser (as noted before).

Aye, that's why I said some ideals are the same between the two.

However, there is a lot that separates them. For example, Westerns are a genre that reflects on the past. Sci-fi reflects on the future. And a lot of the motifs of each are different. In Westerns, you have that common motif of riding off into the sunset on horseback. In Sci-Fi, the motif is the opposite: flying off in a spaceship into deep space ala The Starship Enterprise.

[Cluey]

Did anyone play the Timesplitters 2 Western level, that was good....
What about that new western film (Open Ranch is it?)

[Kweepa]

In Sci-Fi, the motif is the opposite: flying off in a spaceship into deep space ala The Starship Enterprise.

At the end of Star Trek VI, the Enterprise sails off toward a reddish sun. I loved that.
(I think it was VI. One of them thar films anyway.)