DC MOVIEGIRL'S TOP 20 BLACK SCI-FI ICONS

Still coming down from the Presidential high. ....And we're back to (mostly) movies.

Once again, I have to correct a lazy, poorly researched, list from a mainstream source.

Now, I have NO PROBLEM with Entertainment Weekly. I read the magazine often while perusing bookstores, but this list?...

Is a big-time FAIL.

Look, I'm a Browncoat too, but three black people from the SAME source? Come on, now, that smacks of "I don't know that many sci-fi black people, so I'll just put all the ones I know from my favorite movie/TV show".

On some random blog like mine? That would be acceptable. In as big a mainstream publication as Entertainment Weekly? NO.

I'm a sci-fi head and I'm black. So, many of these characters really mean something to me. Believe it, a LOT of us are into sci-fi. Non-defaults understand other non-defaults, O.K.?

So, here you go. Here's my proper top 20 Black Sci-fi Icons list. Those who weren't mentioned on the EW list are italicized with an asterisk:

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MARTHA
The first black companion on Dr. Who was shorted writing-wise, just like a good chunk of the black characters on this list, but we take what we can get.

It took a long time for fandom to come around for her *cough*racistmofos*cough*, but Freema made the best of her character.

Optimistic, smart, and fearlessly loyal. She managed to amass a nice following by the time she left the show.






*MR. EKO
Micheal was a punk, point blank. Okay, not in regards to his son, but still... I NEVER forgave the writers for offing the coolest mofo to ever be on that show.

Him and his Jesus stick. He's my Lost icon, dammit.

I'll just take him and Sayid, please, thanks.









JULIUS P. CARRY
He's an icon in many a black household. Ask many a black Gen Xer to quote his inner-city samurai Sho' Nuff and they will. Between The Last Dragon and Brisco County Jr., the man deserved more attention than he got, in life.

R.I.P. Mr. Carry.









FRANK
"Look, you crazy mother...!"

Look, I love Keith David too, especially in John Carpenter movies (and as Goliath on Gargoyles *hee!*), but really...They Live is the proper choice. Why? Because despite not living through to the end, this scene?..:



...was A+.

*AUNTY ENTITY
She is Tina Turner.
She built a town out of pig-poop and for that, she deserves her place on this list. Plus, she was damn cool in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Cheesy an 80's classic, as that movie is, everybody remembers her lines:

"Bust a deal, face the wheel!"
"You're just a raggedy man!"

and more...

And of course, what's been captioned on the photo.











*KEVIN PETER HALL
Yes, Carl Weathers is cool and all, but for my money? If you're picking the coolest black character from that series, you go with the Predator himself, Kevin Peter Hall. He went from this to playing Harry in Harry and the Hendersons. He was also on the short-lived cult, Mistfits of Science show.

Before Doug Jones, he was the go-to"man in suit" who brought much heart and dignity to his roles.

Him being left off the list was the biggest FAIL of them all.

R.I.P. Mr. Hall.


ZOE
Like I said, I'm a Firefly fangirl too. But if you're gonna pick one black character from the show, Zoe is the one.

Why? Because she's only one who completely transcends the black sci-fi character archetype. She was neither neutered *cough*Book*cough*, killed, nor the villain. In fact, despite being the "tough woman" she actually *gasp!* had a life beyond just being a sidekick.

Plus, it just tickles me pink that in a Hollywood where far too many call-lists ask specifically for somebody white, that Zoe was written for the talented black woman, who played her.





*THE BROTHER
MASTERPIECE metaphor for that point I was making earlier. Yup. A lot of us love sci-fi because, we can relate. John Sayles' Brother from Another Planet demonstrates this oh, so well.

Also, Joe Morton is awesome. That they would pick his role in Eureka over this?! ...is just nuts.







*GUNN
Five seasons on Angel and not even a mention? EW, how could you? Especially with as many Joss-heads as y'all have on staff.

WTF, ya'll?

I loved that he had a decent normal relationship with a white woman on the show...Well, as normal as you could be fighting demons. But still no abuse, no OMGEVILRAPISTBLACKMENS!! Like far too many movies.

Again, he was shorted, mainly being the most minor of the main cast, but he still managed to be cool.


*TIA DALMA
You could argue that her character was more fantasy, but this is my list, I stretch the definition as I please, thank you, very much.

If you'll remember, I very much had a love-hate relationship with this character, when she was first introduced. Here we go again, with voodoo equaling some scary, boogie-man, Afro-mystic, mumbo-jumbo. Of course, there's the magical negress element as well, even as her role expanded as Calypso.

...But oh boy, talk about working with your character. Naomie Harris took a stereotypical mish-mash and made her magnetic, seductively entrancing, and infinitely more interesting smeared in grease and dirt, than Elizabeth, in all of her finery.





WORF
Everybody knows the Klingons are supposed to be *ahem*"ethnic".

Translated through the reliably solid Micheal Dorn, you get Worf, the ultimate in stiff cool, metal beauty pageant sash, and all.










*STORM
I had to include her, despite the gross miscasting, handling, and writing of her character, because she is an icon of color, in comicbooks and comicbook movies.


I'll just pretend Iman is in that costume as she should have been.









*RIDDICK
Oh, say what you will about Vin Diesel, Riddick was, is, and always will be the ish.












SISKO
As captain of the the most underrated Star Strek installment, ever, Sisko was shorted, but his character is significant just by virtue of the being the black lead on a dramatic show, a rarity even today.

It was a huge step in the trend of true diversity in the ST shows. Because the white human male in charge all the time, kind of goes against that.







GEORDI
Oh Geordi, with his silver banana-clip visor and so very little in the way of development, he too, was pretty well shorted.

It was, however, in his friendship with the other "other" stand-in on the show, Data, where he really shined. Being the caregiver of the ship with his incredible engineering skills didn't hurt either.








*BLADE
Before Spiderman, Marvel tested it's first property, with this risky R-Rated venture.

And oh boy, was it badass. Black vampires, without irony, yet another (accidental?) take on the struggle of oppressed "others" for respect. It's success insured that Spiderman, X-Men, and most recently, Iron Man would be made.

If for no other reason, you need to thank Blade for comeback of the comicbook movie.




*GRACE JONES - Let's forget the craptastic Vamp and Conan The Destroyer (she was so underused, back then). The woman herself, IS a sci-fi character.

She doesn't just play one. And that's awesome.









MORPHEUS
Oh Morpheus, how many ways can I count your cool? #1 The handle-less shades, #2 the unquestioning faith in what you believe to be true #3 The fact that YOU WEREN'T SACRIFICED in the first movie.

Believe me, that was a big one. Our heroes actually cared enough to go back to SAVE their black mentor and *gasp!* succeeded. Talk about avoiding the cliché .

Even Tank's crazy behind was shocked.



LANDO
No black sci-fi icon list is complete without Lando.

I've heard that Lucus originally intended Han Solo to be black (it all makes sense, now!) but the powers that be didn't think it would sell, and so pressured him to go white. So, Lando was the comprimise.... Billy-Dee Williams in all his Colt 45 smoothness.

I'd include Mace in here as well, but for the fact that he was in those awful prequels.

It makes me almost forgive him for Jar-Jar. ...I said, almost.





UHURA
Of course, Uhura is #1. The original. Often imitated but never duplicated. For so many black boomer black women, hers was the first positive futuristic reflection of themselves they saw on TV, and played with so much class.

I truly hope that tradition is carried on in the new Star Trek film, but the fact that her only clip in the trailer is of her removing her top is less than promising.

Yeesh.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

*RUBY ROD - He's not on the list because he annoyed the crap out of me. But I know many people love The Fifth Element and so, here he is.

Enjoy.



DUALLA - I don't watch Battlestar Gallactica.
Now, don't revoke my sci-fi card just yet...I have watched a good chunk of the first season, but quit when it got too depressing for me.

Still, I see Dualla as a new-aged Uhura. She has the respect of the crew, but she was relegated to the background and/or mainly involved to propel other (white main) characters' stories forward. She's not on the list because she's too recent and because I need to watch more Battlestar.



*MYSTIQUE - I don't care that a white woman was playing her. Mystique is an honorary black woman, as far as I am concerned. That bad-ass "slave-name" line cemented it for me.

If Magneto is pre-Mecca Malcolm X to Professor X's Martin Luther King, than Mystique is Angela Davis.









*TEAL'C
I never watched SG1. I thought the movie was pretty lame. Great music, though. And I hear this guy was pretty cool.

What was he, the Worf for Stargate?








Now, I have to admit, a few of the people listed on that EW list, I definitely agree with and or am curious about.

Neverwhere? Hmm, *netflixes!* ...But I could not find a place for them, here.

In other words, I'm lazy too, but I loved that Enemy Mine was included.