What is Fantasy?

People get very confused about what fantasy actually is, and often confuse it with Science Fiction. The difference is that Fantasy involves a world which is completely impossible, for example, the presence of magic or dragons. Yes, it's fine to have tough warriors (either male or female) fighting with swords - after all, this happened for real in our history, but introduce a wizard and it becomes fantasy.

Look at the picture above from One Million Years BC, it's fantasy because it is all wrong, great entertainment for sure, but there were no dinosaurs one million years ago. There were also no humans, as we know them, either. There were several Homo species of ape that eventually our species will evolve from. Certainly no gorgeous humans like the ones in the film.

So, what's the difference, science fiction also creates an imaginary world, but the sci-fi world is based (sometimes quite loosely) on science, e.g. starships, aliens etc and there is always the debate about whether science could advance enough to create starships and phasers and the oher things seen in science fiction. Somethings will probably never be developed, but the key word is "probably", whereas waving a small stick and doing magic is impossible.

I have always been a huge fan of fantasy films, particularly the classic swords and sorcery brand of fantasy. In the past this used to be seen as a little geeky, but now with Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, King Kong, Godzilla and the Tolkien films, to name a few, fantasy has gained a much broader audience. However, how can anyone look at a timeless classic fantasy film, like the pictue from One Million Years BC below, and the Wizard of Oz below, and not enjoy it on so many levels...