Science Fiction is D&D

Something always bothered me about science fiction shows and movies.

• No, not the fact that they only became popular after special effects improved
• No, not because they became stupid, testosterone-fests after they became popular
• No, not because they've lost their imaginative, hopeful, roots.
• No, not because...

Well, yes, okay, all of those.  This week, however, I want to talk about how all the races are D&D character classes.

This might take a moment.  Bear with me.

Or, you know, bare with me.  That works, too.

Dungeons and Dragons has five basic types of characters:

• Fighters  Big guys who like to fight. 
• Magic UsersMagic guys who like to magic.
• ThievesSneaky guys who steal things.
• ClericsHoly/healy guys who help.

What I noticed after years of watching science fiction shows and movies that the alien/magical races all tended to fall into those classes.  Every show has a tough, warlike race; a mystical race with godlike powers, an underhanded sneaky race, and a peaceful/holy race devoted to others.

Below is a chart I made to illustrate my point.  I'm including Lord of the Rings because it inspired DnD, so you could make the argument everything is copying it.  I'm not making that argument, but if you want to, I Can Write Funny is here.

	Fighter	Magic User	Thief	Cleric
LoTR	Dwarf	Wizard	Hobbit	Elf
Star Wars	Wookie	Jedi	Ewok	Droid
Star Trek	Klingon	Q	Ferengi	Vulcan
Babylon 5	Narn	Vorlon	Drazi	Minbari
Farscape	Luxan	Delvian	Nebari	Banik

Dear science fiction television and film makers: come up with something new.  That is all.