Best Science Fiction and Fantasy shows for female characters?
I've got a question for you all. Which Science Fiction and Fantasy TV shows, movie franchises or movies do you think had the best treatment of female characters (best written, most memorable, important in the plot etc.)?
I'm writing an article for an online magazine, and I want to choose 10 franchises/movies/shows that I find the best in that respect, with some honorable mentions. I've got (chronologically listed) the Alien franchise for Ellen Ripley, The Terminator franchise for Sarah Connor plus Cameron and other ladies in The Sarah Connor Chronicles (maybe I should count the movies and the show as two different entries, but it doesn't sit well with me since Sarah is supposed to be the same character and it's set in the same universe), The X-Files for Scully, probably Babylon 5 based on what I've heard of it although I have only seen a couple of episodes (if anyone could tell me more about the ladies from B5 I'd be grateful), but Delenn and Ivanova are supposed to be great, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Kira Nerys above all, but also Jadzia and Winn etc.), Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (obviously!), Farscape, Battlestar Galactica... and then I'm not sure which one to include as #10.
There's Futurama - Leela is awesome. Firefly had interesting characters and half of them were female, but it didn't get to the time to develop them. So these are my frontrunners. I've heard that Olivia from Fringe becomes awesome in second season, but I've only seen half of season 1 and I'm kind of indifferent to her. What do you think, which should I pick?
I just can't make myself list Voyager, since I don't consider it a very well-written show for either female or male characters; I don't think Janeway was well written at all, too inconsistent (I don't think the writers had an idea what they wanted her to be except "strong female captain") even though Mulgrew's performance gave her some personality, and while Seven was an interesting character, putting her in that catsuit (which nearly made Jeri Ryan faint) just so teenage boys would be more sure to drool over her was really stupid and a negative example of the treatment of women. I'm also not a big fan of Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis female characters - I didn't watch their entire runs, but from what I've seen, Samantha Carter, Elizabeth Weir and Teyla Emmagan all seemed idealized in one way or another, and an example of writing "strong female characters" as perfect, which makes for dull characters.
What say you? Help me make up my mind...
I'm writing an article for an online magazine, and I want to choose 10 franchises/movies/shows that I find the best in that respect, with some honorable mentions. I've got (chronologically listed) the Alien franchise for Ellen Ripley, The Terminator franchise for Sarah Connor plus Cameron and other ladies in The Sarah Connor Chronicles (maybe I should count the movies and the show as two different entries, but it doesn't sit well with me since Sarah is supposed to be the same character and it's set in the same universe), The X-Files for Scully, probably Babylon 5 based on what I've heard of it although I have only seen a couple of episodes (if anyone could tell me more about the ladies from B5 I'd be grateful), but Delenn and Ivanova are supposed to be great, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Kira Nerys above all, but also Jadzia and Winn etc.), Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (obviously!), Farscape, Battlestar Galactica... and then I'm not sure which one to include as #10.
There's Futurama - Leela is awesome. Firefly had interesting characters and half of them were female, but it didn't get to the time to develop them. So these are my frontrunners. I've heard that Olivia from Fringe becomes awesome in second season, but I've only seen half of season 1 and I'm kind of indifferent to her. What do you think, which should I pick?
I just can't make myself list Voyager, since I don't consider it a very well-written show for either female or male characters; I don't think Janeway was well written at all, too inconsistent (I don't think the writers had an idea what they wanted her to be except "strong female captain") even though Mulgrew's performance gave her some personality, and while Seven was an interesting character, putting her in that catsuit (which nearly made Jeri Ryan faint) just so teenage boys would be more sure to drool over her was really stupid and a negative example of the treatment of women. I'm also not a big fan of Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis female characters - I didn't watch their entire runs, but from what I've seen, Samantha Carter, Elizabeth Weir and Teyla Emmagan all seemed idealized in one way or another, and an example of writing "strong female characters" as perfect, which makes for dull characters.
What say you? Help me make up my mind...