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Strong, effective female characters in cult TV
Trollheart
Posts: 5,093 Forum Member
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Come on, let's hear it for the girls! Cult TV has come a long way from the likes of Dale Arden et al, screaming and waiting to be rescued by the hunky hero!
Who would be your favourite female cult TV character who displays that women don't just have to be eyecandy (though that helps, of course!
)
Doesn't have to be a main character....
Who would be your favourite female cult TV character who displays that women don't just have to be eyecandy (though that helps, of course!
)Doesn't have to be a main character....
0
Comments
Buffy?
Supergirl?
Babylon 5 had some of the strongest female characters in any series...
BSG has to be good for that as well. Starbuck, Roslin, the female cylons....
and
Alex Drake
kob xx
It does always seem a bit strange in their locker room though!!
Zoe - Firefly
Aeryn Sun - Farscape
Sydney Bristow - Alias
Elektra (couldn't leave her out, she's got my name except for a bit of poor spelling)
On the one hand, she's a feisty, foul-mouthed female who just wants to suceed in her male-dominated career. Yet at the same time she's also very awkward and insecure.
I've noticed the actress who plays her gets a hell of a lot of stick on various messages boards across the interweb. I've never understood why. To me, she plays the part very naturally, and I find the character a complete breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the Hollywood/Televisionland clones.
Faith (Always preferred her to Buffy!
Cordelia
Claire Bennet
Servalan (spl?)
I'd add Willow to that list as well (Joss does write some good female characters).
and Anya (not Tara - pathetic female character)
Samantha Carter - Stargate
Kathryn Janeway - Star Trek Voyager
Of course she had her damsel in distress moments, it was pretty well balanced between her and Mulder, and even when she did have a pretty monumental damsel in distress situation with her abduction, the unfolding consequences of that were tackled by her a great deal of the time. Also, there was also Mulder's abduction which once again, helped put a great deal of balance between the two.
Anyway, there's a lot of stuff I could see about Scully, but overall I think the X-Files was pretty good for female characters overall. I did like Monica Reyes - but there wasn't a great deal of time to flesh her out too much as a character. I did really enjoy the other, supporting characters, that might not have had the same about of screentime, but had a longer tenure on the show on a recurring basis to blossom. Marita for example - was a great character - strong and sexy in her first couple of seasons before being turned on by the conspiracy, before coming back at the end of season seven to help Mulder and Scully and get her revenge on CSM.
Also, I think that Buffy was a great series for female characters - not just for the title character, but for the huge range of strong, female characters they had on the roster.
Willow - a massive character development going on, which to me, was just as important as Buffy's.
There was Joyce - perhaps one of the greatest tv Moms of all time, who was just a joy to watch.
There was Anya - fantastic female comedy role, not to mention some great villains (Dru for example).
I think almost all of the main female characters who cropped up on the show were pretty great to be honest - I liked Tara too, not a massively vocal or intense character, but she grew through season six before her untimely demise.
Stacie from Hustle
The first incarnation of Romana from Dr Who
- all strong-minded, intelligent people who were the equals of the male characters any day of the week.
Callisto (Xena)
Cpt. Janeway
Sam Carter
Vala Mal Doran (for comedy value as much as anything else)
Sarah Connor
Starbuck
Buffy