Blasting Off into Space Opera

This article is labled as a Genre Article and refers to Strongly_O_Platypus' article, "Tolkien About High Fantasy " from V1I1. LordHenry's article focuses on a subgenre of science fiction known as space opera. Described are some common and defining tropes of the genre along with a list of example works including:
 * Dune (books, movie, miniseries)
 * Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV show)
 * Star Wars (Movies, books, TV shows)
 * Star Trek (Movies, books, TV shows)
 * Stargate (Movies, books, TV shows)
 * Firefly (TV show)
 * Farscape (TV show)
 * Hyperion Cantos (book series)