For me I would say “The Expanse” is a huge one. If there was ever a self made family, the crew of the Rocinante is one of the best. The amount of time they spend together and how they congeal into life long partners and friends in the face of some truly awful events is really inspiring to me.
Firefly and cowboy bebop both kinda come to mind. Not amazing examples, but seemed worth mentioning
Noragami.
I love and hate the Expanse because it’s entirely believable that we’d finally clear out the bullshit infighting/politics on earth today just to trade for bullshit infighting/politics in space. It’s realistic if a bit depressing in such. :-) The actual acting is also pretty great in the show, and the relationship between the crew kinda reminds me of Firefly.
As far as sci-fi shows go, The Orville was also cool this way, if a bit goofy at times. The crew acts like a large family in many ways but with a diversity of cultures/personalities that are used to reflect real societal issues kinda like the old Star Trek series did.
In terms of books… the Spellmonger series has a bunch of characters that aren’t all related but have a fairly familial relationship with each other.
If you haven’t read the books, I can not recommend them enough. The show is great! But the books are so much deeper and continue the story much further.
I’m further in the books (audiobooks actually) than the show but both are pretty great
They are really solid audiobooks. Jefferson Mayes (I think that’s who narrates) really kills it. Except for his pronunciation of Gimbal, that one drives me crazy!
At one point I had a throat infection and it really messed up my voice, so I kinda sounded like Avisarula from that series. You could tell which of my co-workers were fans when I’d slip “and James Holden will probably fuck the whole thing up” into a conversation
I think Odo’s complicated relationship with the Founders was an interesting take on it: he had to choose between his found family on DS9 and his kin whose values went against everything he believed.
Fast and Furious is pretty sci-fi these days, and that’s all about family
They did go to space.
F A M I L Y
The Wayfarer Novels by Becky Chambers https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet/becky-chambers/9781473619814
@Tenthrow for your consideration… https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Second-Chance-for-Yesterday/R-A-Sinn/9781786188274
“The Varkosigan Saga” follows generations of family Varkosigan, and their friends-become-family.
Unforgettably eventually arriving at “Miles, where have you left your brother?”
Spoiler for late in the series:
Title
A main character has to deal with an illegally created clone meant to assassinate and replace him…and realizes that his mother will expect him to bring his “new brother” home safely at Christmas, once she learns that the clone exists.
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture -trilogy’s one main theme is this meeting of people due to circumstances and growing into a made-family, with the good and the bad that such units entail. All in all its a fun space opera trilogy.
I love pretty much all of his books but this trilogy was truly epic.
I would say the first book of Dune has a pretty strong amount dealing with family throughout.
I recall Becky Chambers’ “A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” emphasizing the found family theme pretty heavily over the course of the story, especially non-traditional relationships. In fact, the ship crew’s relationships with one another forms the crux of the drama. Even though there are big “Important” events happening in the background, the narrative is focused on what those events mean for the characters on the ship, rather than what they mean for the galaxy as a whole.
‘The Lurking Fear’ by HP Lovecraft is about family. Actually a lot of his stories are. Just never in a good way.
For a less snarky answer I’d go with the original Star Wars trilogy as a good answer. Yes, I know the meme phrase regarding this, but it’s true that what elevated the trilogy above mere space adventure was the reveal (retcon, but who is counting) of Darth Vader and Luke’s connection. It gave the entire conflict a real sense of weight. The showdown in Return Of The Jedi where Luke cracks and goes beserk, followed by Vader sacrificing himself and unmasking is really great emotional closure for that story.
Voy was great for this. One of the things that make it so rewatchable despite the clunk
Well that and the crack
The Road
FireflyAll of Octavia Butler’s books. Not that all the stories are uplifting tales, not by a long shot. But the perspectives of the characters are rooted in family, she explores the ideas of family a lot.
To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Heinlein, but probably not in the way that you’re thinking.
