Top 100 Fictional Femmes of Genre Film and Television, 2008 Edition
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Star TrekStargate:AtlantisFireflyFor all our discussion about the lack of strong women in genre film and TV, we certainly had a hard time narrowing it down to 100 this year’s list of the most powerful fictional femmes.
The Pink Raygun list of the most powerful fictional femmes is inducting several newcomers this year as well making several changes from last year’s rankings. Most notably, last year’s number one, Death, dropping off the list entirely. Her movie, which had been announced at the time of last year’s list, has been stuck in development hell and appears to be going nowhere. Battlestar Galactica’s Cally Tyrol has also dropped off the list due to an incurable (and inexplicably sudden) case of the crazies. BSG’s Starbuck is still on the list, but has dropped in rank considerably, as has Heroes’ Angela Petrelli.
When compiling the list, Pink Raygun’s writers considered several factors. Who has been the most influential, both in their universe and our own? Who has the greatest real-world resonance? Who has the greatest power, physical, mental, super, or otherwise?
And now, the staff of Pink Raygun give you the 2008 edition of the 100 Most Powerful Fictional Femmes of Genre Film and Television:
| 90-81 | |
| 100. Penny (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog) - Penny doesn’t break stereotypes or do much of anything besides get snowed by Captain Hammer (corporate tool) and die, but she was an inspiration to Dr. Horrible. Her power lay in her death, caused by Dr. Horrble’s very own death ray, guaranteeing that he’ll be way more evil than he otherwise would have been. |  |
| 99. Princess Buttercup (The Princess Bride) - You can look at Buttercup two different ways. In one view she is a spoiled girl who forces her true love to go out and get possibly killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts just to prove how much he is willing to do for her and realizes a bit too late just how important he was to her. In the other she is a spoiled princess who is devastated when her true love is possible killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts and agrees to marry a controlling, murderous freak because she doesn’t care about anything anymore. However you choose to see her, she is a fascinating character, and a cultural icon ever since the first time she pushed her Wesley around and he whispered “As you wish” to her. |  |
| 98. Daisy Steiner (Spaced) - Providing a voice for the numerous girl geeks out there that didn’t have someone to represent them on screen, Daisy Steiner’s geekiness is accessible and real and proves that yeah, girls geek out just as hard as boys. |  |
| 97. Seven of Nine (Star Trek: Voyager) - Her Borgish background has given Seven of Nine heightened vision and the ability to sense when other Borg are nearby. She is physically strong and very intelligent, but has limited social skills and is in many ways a child. |  |
| 96. Mrs. Journeyman (Journeyman) - Yes, her actual name is Katie Vasser, but “Mrs. Journeyman” is so much more accurate because she was a true partner in dealing with their little time-travel problem (she didn’t consider it his problem, it was theirs to handle together). After the initial - and understandable - freak out upon finding that her husband is not only time traveling, but doing so with his hot, previously dead fiance, Katie is remarkably supportive, sane, and pragmatic. |  |
| 95. Molly Weasley (Harry Potter) - Thus far in the movies, Mrs. Weasley has been a good, old-fashioned, doting mum, but her moment of bad-ass against Bellatrix Lestrange is coming. |  |
| 94. Marion Ravenwood (Indiana Jones) - Sure, she was the only woman on the planet to snare Indy in marriage, Marion was also the only person on the planet who could save Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by injecting some life into what seemed to be a zombie Indy. And she raised a hell of a kid on her own. |  |
| 93. Judy Dench as M (007) - She’s so cold and mean that she’s been called “The Evil Queen of Numbers”. As head of the British Secret Service, she can have James Bond killed with a phone call. This M is also open about missing the Cold War when spy movie plots didn’t take an hour to set up because of the labyrinthine world of international terrorism. “Flamboyant Commie with a giant nuke” was much simpler. |  |
| 92. Sun Hwa-Kwon (Lost) - We only saw a little bit of what she was capable of after coming back from Craphole Island, but that little bit was significant. Sun took over her controlling father’s company and brought him to his knees. In the wake of Jin’s death, she is more driven than ever. |  |
| 91. Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man) - Model. Actress. (But please god don’t let her try to sing “Fever” again.) She often plays the role of damsel in distress, but she’s a bit of normalcy in Peter Parker’s otherwise hectic life. |  |
| 90-81 |
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