For me, one of the great scenes in Firefly was at the ball, where a bunch of men gathered around Kaylee (Jewel Staite) as she described the merits of various starship engines.

Jewel Staite, of course, went on to portray Dr. Jennifer Keller in Stargate Atlantis. And speaking of competent lady doctors in SF, how could I (we) have missed Dr. Janet Frazier (Teryl Rothery) of Stargate SG1?

Whether it’s the first inter-racial kiss on TV or the first gay kiss on TV or, as here, a much stronger proportion of strong female roles than was common at the time, sci-fi has tended to be ahead. I suspect part of the reason in the attempt to envision a more ideal world, but a large part is also the taking existing social trends and projecting them to logical conclusions. Sci-fi also tends to attract a lot of logical or technical thinkers, who logically and non-idealogically won’t tend to argue “she couldn’t do that, because she doesn’t have a Y-chromosome, and you need one of those to pilot a spaceship or mend an engine!”

Terminator 2 is 20 years old, but many of the scenes in the video are younger than that. The new Doctor Who and Battlestar Gallactica bits, Firefly, Babylon 5, Stargate Atlantis, Gattacca, Fifth Element, Contact, The Matrix, etc. — all less than 20 years old.

Where have the space movies gone? Has Hollywood embraced whichcraft, and
abandoned the space dreams ?

– mrr

Dr. Samantha Carter, who completely pwns all the rest.

The point being that women formerly had no options in how they were portrayed, and now do. There are times to be tough and times to be compassionate. When limiting characters in their options based solely on gender, you’re doing them a grave disservice. The human race could always use more compassion, but not at the cost of restricting half of its members.

From #52: Was that the doctor’s granddaughter at 0:20 and 0:26?

Yes, from the third serial.

As for the Doctor’s companions being screamers, the problem wasn’t the screaming, anyone faced with something horrific can scream. The problem was that was all some of them did in the bad old days. Things got better as they went along, for the most part.

Logan’s Run (the movie, not the book) takes place entirely on Earth, with no spacecraft or visitors from other planets involved at all. “Space Girl” my patootie!

While it’s nice to see some acknowledgement of the presence of females in science fiction I think there’s too much screaming and spandex and not enough showing the ladies getting stuff done.

My example : In the clips shown there’s Denise Richards sliding down a banister looking pretty from Starship Troopers but no scene of the same character maneuvering a gazillion-ton spaceship out of dock.

Mike.

Yes, there were much better choices IMO: For Dr. Crusher, the time she was alone in a warp bubble on what seemed to be the Enterprise, or when she stopped the other female doctor who had replaced Worf’s spine using an experimental procedure; for Troi, when she was trapped by Armas on the crashed shuttlecraft (in “Skin of Evil”), or when she argued command decisions with Ensign Ro after the Enterprise was crippled and they were stuck on the bridge. (Two of many possible choices for each actress.)

I’d have liked to see a clip of Tasha Yar in there too.

And I think Voyager is worth including, but again I would have chosen different shots. (Does anyone remember Kes in an episode called “The Warlord”?)

Hey, if you’d just had your mind scrubbed by Nomad/Tan-Ru, would you do as well?

Sarah Jane screamed, but Elizabeth Sladen always used the screams to maximum effect — not volume or pitch, but emotional quality. “Understand that this is where you, the audience, is supposed to be scared.” (Or, occasionally, where the audience is supposed to laugh; she had good comic timing too.) She was extremely good at drawing the audience in, and her performance was always based around that. Not just at being Sarah Jane, but at filling out the story. Watching her stroll off with K9 by her side . . . yeah, that made me sad too. Sort of a happy sad, because I’m pleased to see her so well represented. I don’t have a favorite Doctor — but I do have a favorite companion, and it’s definitely Sarah Jane.

I wish there had been more B5 shots in there. Doctor Who, much as I love the show, seems a touch overrepresented. A very brief look at Ivanova in a Starfury really isn’t enough. And I swear I saw Emma Peel in there; as awesome as “The Avengers” is, I don’t think it really counts as a space girl story.

Now, Victoria Waterfield, now she had a set of lungs, and actually killed a monster with her screams amplified.

Mel (my least favorite companion) shrieks were like nails on a chalkboard.