No Right Answer: Best Female Protagonist in Science Fiction Ever

[puff ball]

why has no one mentioned the fact that they both went for the same guy yet(Michael Biehn).
oh well my vote goes to ripely.

 

[Dackflak]

Kyle gets 3 chances to speak, Dan only gets 2. Seems stacked to me.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Love both franchises and the female leads is one of the reasons that makes them "compelling". Plus I do agree about the issue at the moment with ice queens as the protagonists.

Also milk robots!

A lot of the 'ice queen' idea comes from what I'm gonna call the Michelle Rodriguez Problem. She states that she turned down roles playing the love interest, the captured princess, etc. until she defaulted to female badass. While she does a good job at that, I think that most actresses aren't willing to be typecast as that sort of action hero, so they take roles that avoid the stereotype of "willowy female who also carries big guns, curses, and is guaranteed to die before the movie ends, possibly saving the life of the female love interest", which leads to the new stereotype of the detached ice queen.

 

[RJ 17]

For once the two contenders are actually ones that I can't easily pick between. Both of them are good characters with similar backgrounds. Sarah starts out as a nobody who gets thrust into the position of being one of the key people to be able to stop the coming robot apocalypse, and Ripely starts out as a nobody who's thrust into the center of a conspiracy to harness the deadliest lifeform mankind has ever encountered.

Really I would have been happy with a tie between these two. But considering that I'm much more of an Aliens fan than I am a Terminator fan, I gotta go with Ripely.

That and lets face it, Aliens (the 2nd movie) was infinitely better than T2. Though admittedly, it's not because of Ripely.

Spoiler: It's because of the greatest Sci-Fi character of all time: Private Hudson

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Let's see...okay, Black Widow and the Bride were both mentioned, so that's taken care of.

What did Chris say at the end?

I believe he said "like Katniss", referring to the protagonist of The Hunger Games. Which would definitely explain the later comment to "GET OUT!" (Yeah...I think Hunger Games is really getting overexposed by now...)

CAPTCHA: drink milk

*laughs ass off considering the "milk robots" comments earlier*

 

[BrotherRool]

What did Chris say at the end?
Aside from no mention of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I'm with Dan. From 80's hair to crazypants to inspiring badass. I like that character arch.

This lovely lady who was really well casted, but was in an unfortunately bad movie based on a good book:
http://jsjacobs.scripts.mit.edu/evenjoshknows/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/katniss-everdeen-costume.jpg

captcha: once upon a time
Fitting.

Aww I love the Hunger Games in all it's forms. (Except for the cruddy twilighting of the romance subplot in the film) but I reckon Katniss is a pretty kickass female protagonist. I don't know much about Sarah Connor, but Ripleys... too out there by the end of it, even in the beginning her personalities kinda flat. She likes cats, is terrified of aliens but still willing to see things through with sheer deterimination. It's good, but when you compare to all the motivations and machinations of Katniss, Katniss feels more real. And she also feels like her arc is more tight (mainly because the Alien franchise is a bit tone schizophrenic and was definitely getting a bit ragged by the end).

Ripley is amazing, but I think we know more about Katniss and she has more to say, plus the psychological tortute that gets piled on her by the end...

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Ellen Ripley all the damn way!

Kyle forgot to mention that not only did she sacrifice herself and DIE in order to ensure the queen never made it into Weyland/Yutani's hands... she freaking came back from the dead to do it all again! [small]Against her will... but that's not the point.[/small]

 

[whattheblub]

My vote goes to Ripley since she tapes a flamethrower to a plasma rifle.

 

[Trishbot]

I'm going with Ripley since she was a key inspiration for Metroid's alien-slaughtering Samus Aran.

 

[ritchards]

Since Hunger Games has been brought up, allow me to pimp the latest Rifftrax of that very movie:
http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/hunger-games

 

[meatshield]

River Song or River from firefly?

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

The Valkyries from Alternative is easily my favorites. You can't actually get more badass, but I really like Ripley too.

 

[Firefilm]

Ripley is an alien mother. That's a lot more responsibility than caring for stupid John Conner, amirite?

Annihilation of Earth < Annihilation of entire universe

 

[Darth_Payn]

I would say Connor but it's probably because i like T2 more than the Alien movies.

Sarah Connor. She seems more insanely determined (á la female Batman) than Ripley.
Sarah has a long-term plan. Sarah is in the game. Sarah buries weapons in her tomb because she's fucking prepared!.

I'm a Sarah Connor man all the way. She's thrust into the conflict and comes out aces, even inspiring her son John to be the big hero, well after her death. Ripley got a lot of character derailment in Alien 3, like killing everybody Ripley saved from Aliens, but that was one of many problems of that pile of suck.

That bit at the end's hilarious! "Katniss!" "GET OUT!"

I agree on the ice queen thing. If a character is emotionally closed off the whole time, the audience can't connect with them as a person, making them unlikable. Exhibit A: Lightning from FFXIII

My votes for awesome female leads from other media:
Video Games: Princess Farah from the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy
Anime: Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell

 

[Firefilm]

why has no one mentioned the fact that they both went for the same guy yet(Michael Biehn).
oh well my vote goes to ripely.

Interesting! Thanks for passing that tid bit along.

 

[DustyDrB]

Let's see...okay, Black Widow and the Bride were both mentioned, so that's taken care of.

What did Chris say at the end?

I believe he said "like Katniss", referring to the protagonist of The Hunger Games. Which would definitely explain the later comment to "GET OUT!" (Yeah...I think Hunger Games is really getting overexposed by now...)

CAPTCHA: drink milk

*laughs ass off considering the "milk robots" comments earlier*

Ah, all right. I've heard of the Hunger Games, just didn't know the name "Katniss". I thought he said "catnip".

 

[Casual Shinji]

I liked Ripley when she was just Ripley; No 'Ellen', and none of this "she used to have a daughter, but she died" crap - That was all added in the Aliens director's cut which fucking sucked. Also, Ripley's character was totally ruined in Alien 3 and 4.

So Sarah Conner it is.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I mean, if you look at the implications of both these characters, what are they? That in order for a woman to be badass, she has to be a maternal figure.

Just thought I would pick at this. Ripley only has a maternal role in Aliens and Alien Resurrection, which is a steaming pile of shit. Alien and Alien 3 (my favourites, despite the bad reputation 3 has) have no maternal motifs at all.