What is Space Opera

When you mention the science fiction genre to most people the first thing that will pop into their heads are shows like “Star Trek” or Star Wars. While these are examples of sci-fi they are a subset of the genre often called space opera that is set apart from the rest of the genre in several ways. What makes space opera different from the rest of science fiction? Why has it been so much better at capturing the imagination of the general public than other subsets of sci-fi?
read the rest
http://trbrownauthor.hubpages.com/hub...