Top 20 Kickass Female Characters in a Sci-Fi Movie/Television Show

So, I was sitting around the other day sipping wine with some friends and we got on the topic of our favorite female characters in science fiction television and movies. After much arguing and laughter, we came up with the following list. Let me know what you think and who you feel we left out. Cheers!


20). The Bene Gesserit from Frank Herbert's Dune series. Composed of powerful reverend mothers, these ladies use their power of cellular memory, litany against fear and the voice to run the universe. Motto: Fear is the mind killer.

Reverend Mothers

19). Melina (Rachel Ticotin) from the original Total Recall: Can't get better than a hot resistance fighter battling along side Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to save Mars.Besides, who can forget the scene when her eyes bug out because of the lack of oxygen?

Melina in Total Recall

18). Ilia from Star Trek the Motion Picture: Now there's a lady that makes bald truly beautiful! And we love how she shot Captain Kirk down before he got a chance to even think about seducing her.

Ilia from Star Trek the Motion Picture

17). Rachel in Blade Runner: We love this character's inner turmoil and futuristic beauty. Those pouty red lips will forever haunt us.

Rachel in Blade Runner

16). Lornette "Mace" Mason in Strange Days: Patience seems to be this character's virtue when dealing with love interest Lenny Nero. He's sort of a loser who is constantly saved by Mace who is a gun toting limo driver.         
         
               

Mace in Strange Days

15). Pris in Blade Runner: Love, love Pris. That acrobat scene where she's defending herself against Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard is rad but heartbreaking. 

Pris from Blade Runner

14). Selena from 28 Days Later: We got in an argument  on whether or not Selena belongs in the science fiction family, her being a character from a zombie movie and all. We finally agreed that because the zombies are the result of lab experiments gone wrong, she qualifies. We love Selena because she is a hard ass, I can fend for myself sort of girl. We also like her evolution from not needing anyone to needing Jim (main protagonist).

Selena in 28 Days Later

13). Zoe Washburn from Serenity: Warrior woman, dutiful wife and all around bad ass. Need we say more?        

Zoe from Serenity

12). Neytiri from Avatar: Who doesn't love a giant, blue beautiful alien woman with a bow and arrow?            

Neytiri from Avatar

11). Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager: We love that she is the first Star Trek captain to have her own show. She also does a helluva job merging her crew with that of a maquis crew.

Captain Kathryn Janeway

10). Eleanor Arroway from Contact: She's smart (she's a SETI scientist), brave (she tests out alien technology) and she travels farther than anyone has gone before. She rocks!

Dr. Eleanor from Contact.

9). Elizabeth Shaw from Prometheus:  Her boyfriend gets torched with a flame thrower, she gives herself a c-section, her entire crew is lost except for an android head and yet she has the willpower to keep searching for answers about the Engineers. That about sums it up.  

Dr. Shaw

8). Uhura from Star Trek (Original series): We love Uhura for being such an iconic female character in the science fiction genre. Her character broke through racial and gender divides, and told us that women and minorities belonged in the genre. Besides all the social implications of this character, we love the fact that she can speak ANY alien language as the ship's communication office.

Lieutenant Uhura on the Enterprise

7). Michonne from the Walking Dead: She is the definition of badassery! She carries a katana, slaughters walkers and keeps two of them as her "pets." Oh, and if you need legal advice, she's a lawyer!

6). Trinity from the Matrix: This lady is the ultimate stuntman, hacker and heroine. She rides a motorcycle like a maniac, kicks ass like a superhero and is Neo's one and only. Trinity is one mean mother!                                                    

                   

    


5). Athena, Number Six and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace of Battlestar Galactica: They commit genocide, die and are born again, fall in love, fly raptors like geniuses and save humanity. What's not to love?

Starbuck, Number Six and Athena

4). Sarah Connor from Terminator 2: Don't try to mess with her kid. Sarah is awesome because she makes Arnold look out of shape. Just check out those guns! Now that is one tough mama.                      

Sarah Connor getting ready to kick butt!

3). Leeloo from the Fifth Element: We love her because she loves to eat platters of roasted chicken, picks up languages in a matter of hours, has flaming orange hair, and defends earth with a laser beam of pure love!

Leeloo, The Fifth Element

2). Princess Leia from Star Wars:  Why we love her? She's Princess Leia, duh!                           

Ready for action, Princess Leia

1). Ripley from the Alien series: Yes, yes, the most bad ass female character of all time would be Ripley. She battles and escapes death from the most vicious and terrifying alien encountered in science fiction history. She does this not once, but four times! Oh, and she does it all by herself. 

                              

We know what she does with that flame thrower...