We know hardcore sci-fi fans have their own top 10 - top 25 - or even top 50 best sci-fi characters. But for this article, for this time, for this shining moment, let’s just see how you like our Beautiful Babes of Sci-Fi - or not, because we know there will be disagreement!

1. Ellen Ripley – Sigourney Weaver - Alien & Aliens

Is it the fierceness of her eyes, the power of her voice, or the litheness of her sinewy female physique that makes sci-fi fans so excited when seeing Alien movies? Yes, there have been four flicks starring Weaver as the muscles rippling Ripley, but let’s face it, only the first two really matter to most of us. Introduced in Ridley Scott’s true classic sci-fi horror tale Alien in 1979, Weaver would return to warm our action loving hearts and be directed by James Cameron in an Oscar nominated turn as the galaxy’s best woman alien hunter. Studio Fox, who owns the Alien rights, tried to give us Ripley free Aliens Vs Predators – a disappointing two times – and while one was slightly entertaining, fans long for the return of Ripley. If Harrison Ford can competently do a grandfatherly turn as near rest home refugee Indiana Jones, then someone can put Miss Weaver back where she belongs – fighting the acid dripping, scissor jawed creatures spawned from the darkest reaches of space. In space no one can hear you scream, but if we scream LOUDLY enough for Ripley’s return, it may be heard! BRING BACK RIPLEY! BRING BACK RIPLEY!

2. Jaime Sommers – Lindsay Wagner - Bionic Woman

A tennis pro, a school teacher and a federally supported OSI secret agent working for father figure Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson), Jamie Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) was all these things, and so much more. First as The Six Million Dollar Man’s love opposite Steve Austin (Lee Majors), Wagner’s fans mourned her premature death so loudly, she was so brought back and given her own spin-off show. Wagner was so good at playing a cybernetic being, that she won an Emmy Award for her superb acting efforts. A little side note: Though all our ladies here can take care of themselves, it’s a safe bet that Ms. Sommers can bionically butt kick the lot of them on even a bad day – that means all of them at once! Ok, Ripley with Alien machine gun notwithstanding!

3. Commander Susan Ivanova - Claudia Christian – Babylon 5

Babylon 5 may not have enjoyed the great popular success as say Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – a similarly based space station show involving many races of the galaxy trying to get along – however it’s usually more critically praised, and the fan base is ever loyal. One of the characters which helped the spacey myth along was Cmdr. Susan Ivanova played by the lovely Claudia Christian. Christian’s performance is at once playful, curious, though always professional, and certainly never predictable. It’s like she’s always paying attention to every detail to everything around her, yet she’s always yearning to know more. It’s that type of intellectual curiosity that makes science fiction women so very appealing and Claudia Christian’s Ivanova dazzles as one of the most likable and unforgettable.

4. Nyota Uhura - Nichelle Nichols - Star Trek

Communications Officer of the first Starship Enterprise back in 1966, Nichelle Nichols created a breakthrough character for many reasons. Most notably, the great civil rights leader himself Martin Luther King Jr. urged Nichols to remain in the part, after she’d expressed frustration at being given little to do in the episodes. Knowing that and then having the first ‘interracial kiss’ on American TV with Captain Kirk’s William Shatner and you’ve got a truly historic character. Most of all, Nichelle Nichol’s multi-layered performance of a young woman confident in her abilities as a Starfleet officer, along with a sizable musical talent, make Uhura a most memorable woman of the 23rd century.
5. Sarah Connor – Linda Hamilton – Terminator & T2: Judgment Day

If there’s any other woman on this list who earns her place because of strength of sheer will – along with a super buffed up physique – it’s Sarah Connor from T2: Judgment Day.While it’s true her introduction in director James Cameron’s first Terminator flick gave us a plucky gal ready to assist Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to rid the world’s past of a gleaming death skeleton from the future, she wasn’t exactly Jack LaLanne material. Enter a beefed up and brawny Connor in the sequel, courtesy of a grueling physical exercise regimen Hamilton put herself through in real life, and we got a human female terminator to believably match up to the lethal liquid T-1000 (Robert Patrick) pound for pound. What I remember and relish perhaps most of Linda Hamilton’s dynamic performance is her smoky voice, as she screamed, shouted and emotionally narrated documented history to tell of humanity’s battle against the machines.

6. Princess Leia Organa – Carrie Fisher - Star Wars

In 1977, Carrie Fisher created a role that would come to dominant science fiction’s notions of female strength for years. With every young Hollywood actress vying for the plum part – including Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley) – Fisher won creator and Star Wars director George Lucas over to become the bane of Darth Vader, the holographic dream of Luke Skywalker, as well as nearly every human male on planet Earth. In the last of the original films, Fisher donned an outrageous gold slave girl outfit to fit in with mega blubbery slug Jabba The Hut’s motley crew, and although some more progressive – female fans – may have balked, it only added to Princess Leia’s overall mystique and cosmic sexuality.

7. Dr. Maureen Robinson - June Lockhart – Lost In Space

The Robinson family was indeed Lost In Space, yet June Lockhart always saw that they were well fed, washed and impeccably dressed in those crazy Crayola crayon colored costumes. Although never quite given enough screen time to utilize her science know how, she was educated as a Doctor and biochemist. Maureen Robinson was a real space pioneer for women, as well as housewives of the era who dreamed of really “getting away from it all.”

8. Rose Tyler - Billie Piper – Dr. Who

Piper’s Rose Tyler is one of many Dr. Who companions, and certainly one of the most popular. Piper brought a wide eyed innocence to the role, but never played it ditzy or dumb. Good thing, because as a blonde, some fans might have dipped into the stale and ancient stereotype of blonds having more fun and less brains. Rose was never anything but cleverly inventive, dramatically resourceful and even cheeky – in the best possible way of course – and when she had to say a bittersweet goodbye to the first season Doctor (Christopher Eccelston) she wept along with every loyal Dr. Who fan, me included.

9. Dax - Terry Farrell - Star Trek: DS9

She dazzled us as the stunningly beautiful alien woman with many lives – including those adventurous manly lives of men! Terry Farrell played the Trill science officer on space station Deep Space Nine formerly known as Cardassian mining hell Terok Nor. Due to a real world contract dispute, or wanting a change of career path, Farrell left the show, so she didn’t get to play out the last season of the highly successful Star Trek: The Next Generation spin-off. She would be replaced with Ezri Daz (Nicole DeBoer), who was younger, smaller and all around perkier. No discredit meant towards Miss DeBoer’s efforts, but most fans will always look at the statuesque Farrell as the original and the very best symbiotic joined host the galaxy has ever known.

10. Sarah Jane Smith - Dr. Who - Elizabeth Sladen

This is Dr. Who’s original right hand woman. Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) was so indispensable to the Doctors she earned the right to her own show – The Sarah Jane Adventures. This hit TV show is still going strong, so it only proves that sometimes real world experience and true wisdom really does triumph over youthful energy.